Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Happy New Year

There are so many reviews of 2008 knocking around, in the papers, on t'internet and elsewhere, that I will not waste your time or mine doing one. Suffice to say I hope everybody had a wonderful Christmas and that we have a better New Year than the old one was.

Although personally I found 2008 to be one of my better years but I know for many it wasn't so good.

Anyway best wishes and have a great time tonight, whatever you are doing.

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Socialist Misfits

Don't ever believe all that equality crap from the lefties. They love women and want to encourage them in public life, as long as they toe the line. Not if they are Mrs Thatcher according to these papers released after the thirty year rule expired.

Ask any leftie who whines about "wimmin" being oppressed about Mrs T and they come back with "she doesn't count". How come the Tory Party ended up with a female leader who went on to become Prime Minister? Because the Labour Party obsession with equality is a complete and utter fraud.

A Scouse Joke

Michael Shields has been spotted in the nick wearing a 'Free Stephen Gerrard' tee-shirt.

They just can't behave can they?

Monday, December 29, 2008

Firepersons Needed!

It is that time of year for silly stories and this one, from Ananova, must take the prize for daftest of the year.

Pressure is now being brought to bear on fire brigades to ensure that each appliance attending an emergency has at least one woman onboard. A prat, sorry spokesman, from the Local Government Association, Anthony Duggan, made the following statement:

"The fire service needs to be representative of the area it serves.

"It is important that the fire service attracts more women and ethnic minorities so that it can work more effectively in partnership with local authorities and other organisations to meet the needs of local people."


Wrong Anthony. I think you'll find that people want to have fires put out and their loved ones saved from danger or death, we don't actually give a toss about the make up of those attending an emergency, just so long as they can do their job. If that means an all black female crew in a majority white area who cares. I'm just gateful that they have the bottle to join the service in the first place.

Bishops Bashing Labour

How refreshing that five Anglican bishops have attacked the governmnent for its lack of morality. It's just a shame that it took the shit hitting the fan for them to stand up and be counted, but better late than never.

The problem is that politicians now, more than ever, seem to exist merely to buy off the electorate at all costs, so few political parties have principle any more. Indeed even the parties outside the big three, who have extremely principled and honest members, appear to be led by professional politicians with few morals or principles. Let's hope that one side effect of the current shambles might be a cleansing of the political system.

Saturday, December 27, 2008

Boxing Day

Sadly Mrs B and I didn't have the chance to join the 300,000 other hunt supporters yesterday, which we usually do on Boxing Day. The reason being that while Parliament wasted hundreds of hours 3 years ago debating and passing the loathed Hunting Act, our glorious political class was allowing the NHS to fester in a mire of bureaucratic incompetence, inefficiency and infection.

Instead of joining the local hunt yesterday we had to drive to Manchester to spend the day with Mrs B's parents. Her mother was in hospital last November and, although not very frail, was so badly treated by the nurses that she lived in fear of them. When she had to use the loo but despite ringing the bell could get no assistance, she tried to get their on her own and fell. It took nearly a week for them to diagnose a broken hip, and then only after Mrs B and her sister mithered and mithered. She is now having to live in one room and can't walk without a zimmer. Going out she has to be put in a wheelchair. So rather than the hunt we took Mr and Mrs Ford off to a nice pub in Chesire for an enjoyable Boxing Day meal in front of a roaring log fire. All in all a great Christmas with my parents joining us for Christmas Day.

More of the last year in the coming days. For now I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and have a peaceful New Year. Off now to watch some football and spend the evening at Nutter's gourmet evening near Rochdale, a true treat for anybody who likes decent food. The diet starts on Jan 1st! Oh no, off to my sister's on Jan 2 when we ill no doubt enjoy more superb food and plentiful drink, so the diet starts Jan 4th.

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Pope Benedict and Gender

Thank God for the Pope who actually has the courage of his convictions. Interesting that in this article the BBC, as ever, only give reaction from the Pope's detractors such as a man called Vladimir Luxuria who now claims to be a woman. Interestingly Vladimir is now a 'woman' but is probably as feminine as the woman in the states who became a 'man' and then became pregnant.

Somebody suggests in the article that being critical of the blurring of 'genders' encourages people to go out and bash gays or transexuals, if that was the case we would never be critical of anyone or anything. By criticising the Pope are these people encouraging attacks on Roman Catholics?

I think it's time we had a proper debate about the dangers of the feminisation of society, but I would never dream of attacking people because of their sexuality, ultimately it is their choice and their decision, but I don't have to approve of or endorse it.

What I take serious exception to is the present situation where everybody is to be tolerated, unless you happen to be a Christian, then you are up for being attacked and ridiculed. How many times do you see gay men in a march dressed as nuns? Do they not think their behaviour is offensive? There have been continuous attacks on Christianity and other religions in recent years, not least by gay groups, so don't squeal when religious leaders begin to reassert their beliefs.

Monday, December 22, 2008

Scrooged!

Here are two news stories from the North West that prove Ebenezer Scrooge is alive and well, in the form of New Labour officialdom, ever increasingly resembling the old Soviet Union or the DDR.

This 72 year old milkman is in the shit for delivering cannabis to his customers to ease their aches and pains. Big deal!

This story is incredible. The Employment Minister, Tony McNulty, has ordered an investigation because staff at a Birkenhead job centre adapted a Christmas carol to take the mickey out of their clients. It seems that each verse ended with " and a scally in a hoodie". Nice to know the Employment Minister has bugger all else to do with his time than mither staff having a laugh.

Humbug!

Police Pantomime Clown

I know it's the pantomime season but the following quote from the senior officer investigating the Damian Green fiasco is actually quite disturbing, as pantomime clowns can sometimes be:

"The Tory machinery and their press friends are mobilised against this investigation," the Metropolitan Police assistant commissioner told reporters.

"I think it is a very spiteful act, possibly to intimidate me away from investigating Mr Green, and I feel it has put my family at risk."

He later withdrew claims that the Conservatives had acted in a "corrupt" way, and issued the full apology on Monday in a statement.

"I have now reflected on the comments I made yesterday at a difficult time for me and my family. I wish to make clear that it was not my intention to make any allegations, and retract my comments," he said.


But this is the copper responsible for anti-terrorism at Scotland Yard, which is really worrying. No wonder we get the odd alert that there will be an atrocity then nothing happens, he probably bottles it whenever he sees somebody with a tan and a rucksack on CCTV in Oxford Street. Nowhere near as cool as Bodie and Doyle is he? There again he probably joined the Met on a fast track after completing his Ph.D. in Equality and Diversity Awareness.

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Boris Was Right!

What a fantastic weekend. Caught up with my old mate Steve in Sheffield on Friday for a cracking pre-Christmas Chicken Madras, not far from Hillsbrough which is one of my favourite football grounds.

On Saturday I went to Bury to watch FC United beat the Scousers from Marine FC. If you don't know then Marine are based in Crosby, described as the 'posh' bit of Liverpool. That really means it's the part of Livrpool where the real Scousers go to burgle and rob off wealthier people than themselves.

Which reminded me how right Boris Johnson was when he savaged Liverpool a few years back, and how cowardly and hypocritical he was to grovel and apologise because the Scousers whinged. People from outside Manchester often ask why Mancunians dislike Scousers with such intensity. It's basically because they rob, steal, murder and maim each other then wallow in self-pity and victimhood and blame the rest of the world. Even when one of them is found guilty of attempting to murder a Bulgarian waiter Scousers organise a campaign and manage to turn him into the victim.

Mancunians on the other hand just enjoy a good party and having a good time. Of course the government puritans have now announced that Manchester has the highest level of drink related illness in the country, they always have to look for a negative! No, we just party harder than anywhere else. I'd rather die of cirrhosis in Manchester than an overdose of dodgy coacaine in Liverpool or a stabbing by a 10 year old Scouser on a mountain bike he'd pinched.

So what got me onto this train of thought? Apart from FCUM beating Marine it was going to see James at Manchester Central last night. We went for a Turkish meal before one of the best concerts I've been to, other than Morrissey, for years. The restaurants were packed with people going on to see James or to the Arena to see Elton John, typifying Manchester on a Saturday night. I couldn't help thinking that while Manchester was partying Liverpool would have been full of people buying cocaine from ice-cream vans and stabbing each other. Shame on you Boris.

Which reminds me of the old joke. What do Scouse girls use for protection during sex? A bus shelter.

And finally. Did you know that Sheffield, like Rome, is built on seven hills?

Thursday, December 18, 2008

The Redbreast by Jo Nesbo

I have had pops at, and sometimes defended Jon Gaunt,the former TalkSport presenter who is now ex-presenter after offending the PC thought police. This time I am thanking him.

It must be nearly two years now since I heard him singing the praises of Henning Mankell's Kurt Wallander books. He droned on about them so much that I had to go out and try one. Within weeks I had read the lot and am eternally grateful to Jon Gaunt for the introduction.

Previously I could take or leave crime books but I am now hooked, especially on Scandinavian crime writers. They really do fill their books with the darkness of Scandinavian winters and the characters, especially the central characters, are never the stylised perfect human beings of much crime fiction, but are flawed and human in a strangely refreshing, not to say reassuring way.

From Mankell I have gone on to try Ake Edwardson, who is another superb Swedish writer, but have now struck gold again as I did with Mankell. If you are wondering what to get somebody for Christmas then look no further than Jo Nesbo and his Harry Hole books.

Harry is a detective in Oslo and is an even more fragile being than Wallander. The book I am reading now, 'The Redbreast', is one I can't put down and is a fascinating mix of crime, political thriller and historical novel with the themes intertwined.

I'm on a long train journey tomorrow and can't wait to have four hours just sat devouring my Nesbo book. And if you do buy it and don't like it, or he/she doesn't like it, you can blame me!

Archbishop In Commonsense Shock!

I rarely agree with Dr Rowan Williams but, for once, he talks sense.

Yes the recession is making people stop and contemplate their lifestyles. For far too many the shopping malls, especially monsters like the Trafford Centre, have become the new cathedrals and as long as they got their hands on cash, or credit, they continued to worship at them.

Now the shit has hit the fan the lesson has been learned surely? No, it hasn't. The government is now playing the greedy shopper extraordinaire and borrowing masses more money so people and businesses can continue behaving in the exact same way that got us in the shit in the first place. Pity the generations to come who will have to pick up the tab, because the government is merely buying off today's nitwits who will probably now vote for them, regardless of the consequences, on June 4th 2009 when I am convinced the general election will be held.

Where I do take issue with Dr Williams is on the role of the Church of England in the last few decades. He can squeal now but where was the CofE when they could have stood up and said "enough is enough" and given a moral lead in many areas of life that would have helped save us from the nation's current plight?

Oh, that's right, they were trying to be cooler and trendier than anybody else in the establishment. There are no men of real principle in Parliament and it seems there are few in the christian churches either, until they can react in a way that doesn't rock the boat because it's what everybody is thinking anyway. It's people prepared to go against the tide when necessary that we need now, not the gems at stating the obvious when it's too late.

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Rod Liddle And Trendy Vicars

There really is a 1970s feel creeping into 21 century Britain, inevitable I suppose with a Labour government with prehistoric principles. But there's a trendy vicar in Dorset, yes they do still exist, who went to Bethlehem and came over all pro-Palestinian, to the extent that he has banned "O Little Town of Bethlehem" from his church this Christmas. Very 1970s. Personally I take the Ayn Rand view on Israel as expressed here by Edwin A. Locke.

Then there's the prat headmaster in Nottinghamshire who withdrew his children from a carol festival because it was 'too religious'. Forgive me but isn't Christmas a religious festival? Read all about them in this cracking article by Rod Liddle.

I've always thought that the pinko liberals have caused as much racial hassle in this country as the far-right by, amongst other things, seeing all kinds of imaginary offence on behalf of ethnic minorities. This was brought into sharp focus for me yesterday when, hanging around outside a shop waiting for Mrs B., I got talking to a Muslim fellow. After a pleasant chat about ice hockey, I had my woolly Manchester Phoenix hat on much to Mrs B.'s embarrassment, he headed away with a real hearty and sincere "Have a very happy Christmas". He obviously doesn't find Christmas offensive.

Saturday, December 13, 2008

More Ice Hockey Fights

This post is specifically for Mark Wadsworth, whose blog you really should visit.

Mark was sceptical about a hockey fight I posted a few days ago. He wondered whether it had been staged. I hope the film, set to music by Guns 'n' Roses below, will convince him that there are very real,very ugly but quite spontaneous fights regularly in ice hockey.

YouTube Hockey Fight

Or you might prefer this compilation.

And the girls at games seem to love the fights at least as much, if not more, than the fellas do. It's not a game for fairies!

Congestion? Use Vicks!

Congratulations to the commonsense people of the former Greater Manchester on telling the politicians to stick the congestion charge up their exhaust pipes. Is this the start of the fightback against the nanny state?

Strange but when the people are actually asked they tend to throw out the 'brilliant' ideas of the politicos. Remember the referendum in the North East nearly 5 years ago? Prescott wanted elected regional assemblies but the people shouted NO.

In Manchester and surrounding boroughs the vote was around 4:1 against. It's perhaps time that the politicians realised that we are their masters not the other way round.

Finally, if the charge had come in, and they may still sneak it in as the EU does when people vote against it's ideas, what would have happened if everybody used public transport and nobody paid the congestion charge? Just a thought.

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Ice Hockey

Aggression is one of the great aspects of ice hockey, but it can sometimes boil over into this kind of thing.

What a fight,perhaps politicians should decide issues like this. Anyway, if you like your sport fast and furious, with the odd bout of hand-to-hand combat, then get down to your nearest ice hockey club. It's great entertainment.

Tuesday, December 09, 2008

Tyranny Of The Masses

I was unfortunate enough to hear Health Secretary Alan Johnson on the radio about an hour ago. What a mealy mouthed bastard, and I used to think he was one of the less bad of the undead in the House of Commons.

He was justifying forcing shopkeepers to hide fags under the counter. He thinks that non-smokers are so weak and feeble that the sight of a packet of fags makes them start smoking, especially kids. Utter crap! I pass casinos on a regular basis but would rather rip my eyes out than go in one. I see mucky mags in newsagents but don't buy them. I see booze on shop counters but am not an alcoholic. I see vegetarian food in shops and restaurants but would rather starve to death. And on, and on, and on, and.......

I gave up fags some time ago but have no problem with people smoking in my company, indeed I would regard it as rude and inhospitable to force visitors to my house who smoke outside for a quick fag. It'll soon be easier to buy pot than perfectly legal tobacco. So why don't the govenment just ban it? Because it needs the cash from the ludicrously high tax on tobacco.

But what really riled me was Johnson using the old bollocks justification that "in a survey 80%of the population agreed with us". In that case if 80% of the population think all MPs should be shot can I please fire the gun? No, I thought not. My point being that just because a majority want it doesn't make it right, take the hanging debate over the years for example.

The fascist bastard really angered me!!

Immigration And Training

The Institute for Public Policy Research, that 'progressive' think tank, is yet again singing the virtues of mass immigration and decrying opponents as xenphobes. You really know the lefties have lost the argument when they can't talk rationally about immigration without throwing abuse like xenophobe or racist at people who diagree with them.

In this article by the IPPRs resident immigration/race obsessive Dhananjayan Sriskandarajah he is so fanatical in his obsession with immigration that even Frank Field and Tory porker Nicholas Soames are attacked for questioning the wisdom of unlimited immigration. They are hardly Hitler and Goebbels now are they?

Also in the news today the IPPR are claiming that at least 40,000 new immigrants per year are going to be needed if things such as the Olympic facilities for 2012 are going to be completed on time. What utter bollocks when we have unemployment soaring upwards. Why don't we train properly the people here now to fill any gaps in certain trades but, more importantly, why is the 'progressive' IPPR talking in this way when hundreds, if not thousands, are being laid off every week in the construction industry?

When the left rattle on about us needing immigration to fill the skills gap I agree, as long as every existing citizen who could fill the gap is doing. When the left talk about needing migration to pay pensions because of an ageing population I wonder where they find young migrants who don't age. When the left argue that we need migrants to pay forthe NHS (and I don't see 40,000 per year making a huge contribution) I wonder where they find migrants who will never use the resources of the NHS themselves, merely contribute. Finally, I have yet to find a serious academic study, other than one to justify a 'progressive' political agenda, that shows immigration making a net contribution to the host country's economy.

As long as the self-proclaimed 'progressives' continue spouting this nonsense there will be a reaction to it leading to an unfortunate growth in support for the far-right. It is the 'progressive' left's obsession with race and immigration that sees the far-right making advances, without them the far-right would be starved of publicity and irresponsible talk of unlimited mass migration worries people of all races who live in this country, sometimes driving decent non-racists misguidedly into the arms of the far-right.

Personally I support an open door policy on immigration. But if migrants can't legally make their way in this country, they receive absolutely no state benefits whatsoever and, if they try to make their way illegaly, they are immediately deported.

One last thing on the question of training to fill skills gaps. The government is now urging universities to help middle-class people who have lost their jobs, by encouraging them to complete masters degrees for example. Well forgive me but why not re-train them to be brickies, sparks and carpenters? And the City whizz kids who got us into this mess? Well they could re-train to become lavatory attendants, especialy in Salvation Army hostels.

Monday, December 08, 2008

General Election Talk

Over recent weeks there has been much speculation about a general election being called to coincide with the Euro elections on June 4th next year. It got to such a pitch a couple of weeks ago that Gordon denied it and Mandy said he had mentioned June 4th just to wind up a few media types.

So if Gordy and Mandy deny it, it is most probably true. But remember, I blogged about the possibility here on October 20!

Slaggin' Off Them Tories!

I'm not one of those UKIP members who is really a closet Tory, I think the Conservative Party is just as useless as the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats. So I was pleased when Mrs B blogged yesterday and walloped Cameron's poncy programme.

I won't repeat it but instead recommend you visit Julie Beaman's Blog and read it yourself.

She really should blog more.

Emotional Incontinence

On breakfast news this morning I saw the emotional cripples from X Factor. I was watching because I had heard that the new Geraldine (aka Peter Kay)video of his/her Christmas song was going to be shown. As it happens I missed it.

Now, forgive me but I thought show business was a pretty tough business, from what I saw of the misfits in X Factor, albeit about 30 seconds of it, they will spend the rest of their lives in the Priory if they have a hit single. There were so many tears, from the men and the women, I really feared the flow of moisture would get into the electrics and blow up the studio.

Perhaps they should see a psychologist before they are allowed onto a reality TV show. Mind you, stopping the emotional cripples and nitwits would probably spoil the sado-masochistic appeal of the genre.

Elf and Safety for Santa

The Nanny State doesn't even have a breather for Christmas with this news from the Sun via Ananova.

Once, when working from home, my employer informed me that I was going to be visited by a health and safety wallah to check my workstation conformed to requirements. My workstation was a desk, computer, chair and phone in the spare bedroom. They got short shrift as I refused to allow an unecessary bureaucrat into my home.

There flowed an exchange of emails the gist being, on my side, that if I couldn't set up a desk and chair properly I really shouldn't be in the job. They quoted pseudo-legal jargon to which I said that they could then get me a proper office outside my home, with all the associated costs, and they could inspect to their heart's content.

I ended up signing a disclaimer, stating that I wouldn't sue them if I crippled myself because my chair hadn't been checked by 'an expert'.

Friday, December 05, 2008

Police State

As Labour cram the committee looking into Damian Green's disgraceful arrest with stooges, our glorious constabulary turn their attention to rickshaw drivers in the West End of London.

I suppose most people lie awake wondering about the safety of rickshaw passengers, it's good to know that this is now the worst crime happening in London.

Personally I like these rules.

Thursday, December 04, 2008

What A Bitch!




Question: Which of these two is Jacqui Smith and which is an ugly bitch?
Answer: The one on the left is Jacqui Smith and she's the ugly bitch too.

If you don't believe me read this. And if I don't blog tomorrow please start a 'Free The Carnforth One' campaign because Smith's Stasi will have dragged me off to penal servitude in the early hours.

Wednesday, December 03, 2008

Sportsmen Bottling It!

The Bombay murders were shocking but why do our sportsmen, usually cricketers, bottle it whenever something like this happens and rush back home then threaten to never return? Like this.

Throughout my lifetime appalling atrocities have been carried out by Irish republicans in the United Kingdom, and latterly Islamic nutters, and as far as I know not one foreign sporting team has legged it home or refused to come and play here, including foreign teams playing in Belfast in the 70s and 80s.

A fine example is the 1996 European Football Championship held here. The Manchester bomb went of in the middle of it, thankfuly nobody was murdered, but there was no panic reaction about what could have happened or might happen next. What happened to that 'the murdering bastards won't beat us' attitude?

Pansy of the year award for 2008, until a bigger bunch of pansies surface in the next 28 days, goes to the England cricket team and the England and Wales Cricket Board.

Tuesday, December 02, 2008

Michael Moore-Prat!



Yesterday I gratuitously abused Michael Moore. Today I thought, let's have a look at what the fat prat is up to these days and he never disappoints. Below is an example of his pathetic sycophancy from the excellent website Moorewatch.com

"Who among us is not at a loss for words? Tears pour out. Tears of joy. Tears of relief. A stunning, whopping landslide of hope in a time of deep despair.

In a nation that was founded on genocide and then built on the backs of slaves, it was an unexpected moment, shocking in its simplicity: Barack Obama, a good man, a black man, said he would bring change to Washington, and the majority of the country liked that idea. The racists were present throughout the campaign and in the voting booth. But they are no longer the majority, and we will see their flame of hate fizzle out in our lifetime".

What a complete and utter prat. And people buy his books and watch his films!
Excuse me while I vomit.

Teletext Letters

Teletext letters can be useful as a quick barometer of public opinion, but occasionally maddening when the loonies get a look-in. The letter reproduced below is a splendid example of good, old-fashioned, Lancastrian commonsense.Oh that R.W. of Preston were a politician.

A world without blame
It's not surprising that Haringey Social Services are taken aback by all the public and media criticism of their efforts, when they have followed all the government guidelines to run a perfect bureaucracy.

Where on earth does child welfare come into it? Most of Westminster operates on the same principle - just tick all the boxes and you'll be OK. Everyone is in charge, but no-one is responsible.
R W, Preston, Lancashire

Monday, December 01, 2008

Sarko's A Prat Too



It seems that Sarkozy is as big a prat as any politician over here judging by this Voodoo story.

At least Segolene Royal, like Sarah Palin, showed she has a sense of humour.

And if you're wondering about the piccie of Michael Moore, well he's a prat too. I just like gratuitously insulting him.

Politicians and Principle

The Bombay murders were truly horrific not to say extremely cowardly. But one thing that demonstrates the stark difference between public life in India and the UK is this story.

It seems that people in public life in India actually take responsibility. In the UK, as far as I'm aware, nobody in public life took responsbility for the London bombings, the Manchester bombings in 1996, or the shooting of an innocent Brazilian at Stockwell. In fact the last resignation, on a point of principle, that I can think of was John Profumo.

Even complete stinkers like Blunkett and Mandelson hold out until sacked, then quickly make a comeback when Blair/Brown think the public aren't looking.

Time to think about moving to India I think.

EU and Democracy

If you are in any doubt about the totalitarian nature of the EU then please read the following from ITV Teletext news, especially noting the last line:

UK 'closer to joining euro'

The UK is closer to joining the euro than ever before, says EC President Jose Manuel Barroso.

He said some British politicians are considering signing up to the currency in a bid to beat the effects of the global economic crisis.

"We are now closer than ever before," he said, while admitting the majority of UK people are still opposed to the idea of joining the single currency.

Sunday, November 30, 2008

Mancunians Rejoice

The Council House (aka Wastelands) was actually full today, because Manchester City were playing United. And happily United cruised to a 1-0 victory against the Berties, known as that to United fans because of 'Bertie Magoo The Bitter Blue'.

So, here is a little ditty sung by the red three quarters of Manchester after a few pints and a derby win over City:

My Old Man Said Be A City Fan - (tune of 'Don't Dilly Dally On The Way')

My old man, said "be a city fan",
And I said "bollocks, you're a tw*t!",
"I'd rather shag a bucket with a big hole in it,
Than be a city fan for just one minute".

With hatchets and hammers,
Stanley knives and spanners,
We'll show those city b*stards how to fight (how to fight),
"I'd rather shag a bucket with a big hole in it,
Than be a city fan! (all together now)".

The only part I take issue with is the fact that my old man, like any self-respecting Mancunian, would never have told me to be a City fan.

The Bitch Is Back Again

Jacqui Smith says here that the arrest of a Tory MP was not Stalinist. That means it obviously was because she's a lying Stalinist old bag.

Friday, November 28, 2008

Annual Police Terror


No sooner do the Christmas decorations go up than traffic plod (pictured left) begins his Scrooge-like terror campaign against the motorist.

I have just got back fom Lancaster where plod are stopping every fourth or fifth motorist for spot checks. It seems that they were out earlier this week stopping people en route to work in the morning. The idea being that they have a quick whiff of your breath in case you are still a bit pissed from a party the night before, or in case you are in the habit of having sherry trifle for brekkie.

I blogged some time ago about how Mrs B was stopped in Lancaster around Christmas last year, plod was most miffed when she was evidently sober as a judge.

So I will now recycle the same old joke:

Q: What's the difference between a police traffic car and a hedgehog?
A: A hedgehog has the pricks on the outside!

The Headmaster Ritual

I've spent some time this week in a couple of local schools and it was a tremendous experience. If you read the newspapers and watch the TV news you get the impression that kids do nothing but run around stabbing each other, and the occasional teacher. Not so in these schools.

In both I found the pupils to be polite and attentive and the teachers dedicated and professional. Neither was a particularly 'posh' school, I would guess they were full of kids with parents ranging from middle class to working class, in fact the full spectrum. Note no upper class as they have been wiped out after decades of socialism and pinko liberalism.

My last school experience had been in a particularly pretentious private school where the juniors were made to wear Dicken's style smocks. And yes that was this century! I used to think that if I had kids I would send them to private school, not a chance now.

Anyway, as I do occasionally I will now indulge my Morrissey/Smiths addiction with The Headmaster Ritual. Here is a link to the live Smiths' performance on YouTube, and below are the words. Singalong now:

Belligerent ghouls
Run Manchester schools

Spineless swines
Cemented minds


Sir leads the troops
Jealous of youth
Same old suit since 1962


He does the military two-step
Down the nape of my neck


I wanna go home
I don't wanna stay
Give up education
As a bad mistake


Mid-week on the playing fields
Sir thwacks you on the knees


Knees you in the groin
Elbow in the face
Bruises bigger than dinner plates


I wanna go home
I don't wanna stay


Da-da-da ...


Belligerent ghouls
Run Manchester schools


Spineless bastards all ...


Sir leads the troops
Jealous of youth
Same old jokes since 1902


He does the military two-step
Down the nape of my neck


I wanna go home
I don't want to stay
Give up life
As a bad mistake


Please excuse me from gym
I've got this terrible cold coming on
He grabs and devours
He kicks me in the showers
Kicks me in the showers
And he grabs and devours


I want to go home
I don't want to stay...


Da-da-da ...


Of course you could always change it from Manchester to wherever you want, such as Merseyside.

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Prostitutes And The Womens' Institute

In its never ending move to manage every aspect of our lives the NewLab puritans are once again turning their attentions to sex. In this article we read about their attempts to 'Stasify' the WI by getting them to grass up ads in local papers that are a bit naughty.

Forgive me but if a lonely fellow wants a bit of sexual comfort, and a girl is happy to make a few bob providing it, then why not? As ever the puritans cite the worst possible cases, such as human trafficking, but again that is a consequence of prostitution being effectively illegal. In fact here is a Q&A on what is and isn't legal.

Like drugs, prostitution would be cleaner and less dangerous, for all participants, if we were just a bit more grown up and legalised it. Instead Harriet Harperson is playing the Roundhead again. Watch out Christmas, you may be banned next!

Creeping ID Cards

The following is a letter in today's Torygraph signed by, amongst others, Gerard Batten UKIP MEP, Phil Booth of No2ID and the great Brian Eno of the orginal Roxy Music line-up:

Creeping identity cards

Sir - From today, the Government is issuing what it calls "ID cards for foreigners". These will affect students and those marrying Britons.

Over time, residents from outside Europe will be fingerprinted and have to account for their movements. Later, so would we all.

Refugees and the unskilled poor have nothing to lose, but successful foreigners such as Robinho or Kevin Spacey, and the overseas students who subsidise our universities, have a lot of choice over where they study or exercise their talents.

Some will decide Britain has become too unfriendly. When America introduced more hostile visa conditions three or four years ago, Bill Gates complained that Microsoft could no longer hire some of the best software engineers.

If this scheme is continued it will lead to less fee income and lower international status for our educational institutions. British students will have to pay higher tuition to make up, and will have less money to spend with local businesses. Fewer of the world's leading performers in every field will choose to make their homes here.

We value the contribution that these people make, economically and culturally, to our institutions and our society. We think our country should treat them as guests, not criminal suspects.

Phil Booth, National Coordinator, NO2ID
Guy Herbert, General Secretary, NO2ID
Prof Ross Anderson, University of Cambridge
Mark Ballard, Rector, Edinburgh University
Anthony Barnett, Founder, openDemocracy
Sophie Barrett-Brown, Chairman, Immigration Law Practitioners Association
Gerard Batten MEP
Tony Bunyan, Statewatch
Shami Chakrabarti, Director, Liberty
Barbara Cohen, Discrimination Law Consultant
Dr Rachel Lara Cohen, Warwick University
Kevin Eldon
Matthew Elliott, Chief Executive, TaxPayers' Alliance
Brian Eno
Mohammed Esharif, Chairman, Exiled Journalists' Network
William Heath, Ideal Government
Becky Hogge, Executive Director, Open Rights Group
Gus Hosein, Privacy International
Sally Hunt, General Secretary, University and College Union
Chris Huhne MP, Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary
Helena Kennedy
Prof Douwe Korff, London Metropolitan University
Crispian Mills
Henry Porter
Adam Price MP
Philip Pullman
Lucy Porter
Simon Richards, Director, The Freedom Association
Alexandra Runswick, Unlock Democracy
Samuel Tarry, Chairman, Compass Youth
Neil Tennant
Mark Thomas
Martyn Thomas
Lisa Tarbuck

Monday, November 24, 2008

Old Labour Still Cocking It Up

Every day feels more like we have travelled back to the bad old days of the 1970s. I don't claim to be a financial wizzard but commonsense says that the government is cocking up the economy, as socialists always do.

In an effort to back up my instincts from various sources I found John Redwood's explanation of why it is wrong. It makes sense to me.

Gaunt Sacked

I've blogged before about my views on Jon Gaunt. In a nutshell I think he's just a big gobby nitwit with little to offer, however, that does not mean I want him sacking, just that I don't like him.

In yet another erosion of free speech Gaunt has now been sacked by TalkSport. His crime? Calling a Nazi councillor from Rebridge a Nazi for supporting a ban on smokers fostering children.

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Jonestown 30 Years Ago

It is one of those events that still seems unreal but sadly, 30 years ago this month on November 18th, 900 people died in the Jonestown Massacre in a tragic suicide pact. The man responsible was a frightening megalomaniac, messianic figure, Jim Jones.

Sadly people still get drawn into cults as witnessed by Cultwatch. Thankfully few end up dead but people still face terible difficulties within cults which can become worse, to some extent, when they eventually escape.

Part of the cause of the Jonestown Massacre was the return of an ex-member to the compound in the South American jungle with a US Senator, part of a group trying to investigate conditions in the compound.

The problem for people leaving groups with megalomaniac leaders is that they are branded, by those remaining, as heretics or traitors and can be hounded for years. The reason being that the megalomaniacs in charge fear that others will begin to question so they have to smear and attack in order to defend their positions. Sadly 900 people died 30 years ago for the ego of a madman.

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Not So Smug Britons

One of the first signs, to me at least, of a degree of anti-Americanism in a person is when they attack Yanks for not knowing that Ulam Bator is the capital of Mongolia, or that the River Keer runs through Carnforth, England. I then usually point out that the U.S.A. is the size of Europe so we are not comparing like with like. This survey, for National Geography Week, shows that there are plenty of dense Britons too.

The other thing that really riles me is when Britons self-flagellate over our perceived lack of foreign language skills. The answer to that is that we are just as skilled as any other people but which language do we learn? Dutch? German? Mandarin maybe or French? Then how often do we get to practice and use it? The problem, if there is one, is that English, like it or not, is a universal language. If German was the universal language we would be fluent in German as others are now in English, from necessity.

In Paraguay in 1991 we met a girl who worked at the airport who was learning English. She decided to be different at college and learned French because all the others were learning English. It was a mistake, she never got to use French as the world seemed to all speak English, she was then catching up.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

It's All Bollocks Really

What is happening to the world? I was unfortunate enough to pick up a copy of the Daily Mirror today a Preston station and had forgotten, it's that long since I read it, what a load of sanctimonious crap it contains.

It seems the Mirror has started a new puritan campaign to clean up the airwaves and get rid of bad language. Tell you what, if there is bad language on TV or radio either switch off or switch over, easy. The targets for their righteous indignation today were those notorious foul-mouthed miscreants Ant and Dec. Yes, those loveable Geordie cheeky chappies who get the hearts of the nation's grandmothers fluttering whenever they pop up on our screens.

And what torrent of foul and disgusting language had they unleashed on an unsuspecting nation? My, they had used the word bollocks when it was only 20 minutes past the 9-00pm watershed. To compound the felony they had used the word not once, not twice but three times. And it wasn't even gratuitous, a contestant on 'I'm a Celebrity.....' had actually eaten a kangaroo testicle, otherwise known as a bollock.

Strange to think that the Daily Mirror's view is that everything else in the world is so perfect it has a fit of outraged self-righteous indignation and moral outrage at that. All bollocks in my view!

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Racial Politics

I have often worried about the impact of the politics of race and was interested to read this article by Alvaro Vargas Llosa of the Independent Institute.

His argument is that Republicans in recent years, probably from desperation, focussed so sharply on a perceived immigration problem that they pushed away a high proportion of Hispanics who had previously supported them. However, those same Hispanics, in referenda held on the same day as the presidential poll, voted right of centre on many social issues. The Republicans shot themselves in the foot and drove some of their supporters into the arms of Obama.

The left set out to scare ethnic minorities into supporting them, the right exaggerate the perceived dangers from immigration to garner support for themselves from the majority. This article points out that it is the libertarian politicians who look at people as human beings first and foremost, regardless of race.

Monday, November 17, 2008

What Might President Obama Do?

Here is an interesting take by David Boaz, of the Cato Institute, on what Obama may do when he takes over as President.

Like the Conservatives when in power here, he points out that under successive Republican governments the state has grown rather than shrinking as they declare they want when seeking office. Could it be that the Republicans in opposition will revert to their roots and once again become a libertarian type of party?

If you look at the Conservatives after 11 years in opposition here I wouldn't hold out much hope.

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Food Heaven

Mrs B and I are considering a holiday in England next summer and Devon and Cornwall look the likeliest venues. After reading this story it is now highly probable, and no prizes for guessing where we'll be visiting.

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Buried Together

In some areas people are going to be buried in twos to save space. It's strange but I've never fancied cremation for myself but see the sense in this proposal.

It seems pretty obvious that the intention is primarily for loved ones to be buried together, but I immediately began wondering who it might be nice to be buried with, other than my other half.

In terms of being buried with a hero my current one is the writer Patrick Hamilton. Otherwise, I would just go for bust and like to go for a world record and be buried with about 650 politicians, the contents of the House of Commons. That would merit a posthumous honour for services to the country.

Friday, November 14, 2008

Kurt Wallander-Great News


It seems that Henning Mankell's Inspector Wallander will be making his Britsh TV debut on Sunday November 23. At least an Inspector Wallander fans' website believes so.

If you like your detective stories dark, atmospheric and slightly disturbing then you will love the Inspector Wallander stories. He is based in Ystad, Sweden and the stories really evoke the atmosphere of dark Scandinavian winters, but there is also a heavy element of social observation and comment running throughout the tales.

I am sure that Kenneth Branagh will make an excellent Wallander so the next few Sundays, from 23 November, will be spent in the west wing of Chateau Beaman watching the telly. I can't wait.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Hitler's Demise


I have been trying to put some kind of order into my collection of DVDs and videos today and thankfully managed to find Downfall. If you have any degree of interest in WWII then you really should watch this film.

It is German, with English subtitles, and tells the story of the last days of Hitler from Traudl Junge's perspective. Frau Junge was one of Hitler's personal secretaries and a fascinating character who seemed to be in denial about the true horrors of Naziism until her death in 2002. This view of her was reinforced when I saw an interview with her filmed in the year of her death, Blind Spot: Hitler's Secretary, when I was doing a history course in London in about 2003.

The power of Downfall is that German actors played the parts of the Nazi hierarchy for the first time since the war. In some ways the DVD extras, which include interviews with the main characters, are just as fascinating as the film. The actors discuss their feelings as they worked on the film, and the response of the German public to them as the project developed.

The most frightening part of the film, and the whole history of that time, is the terrifying level of loyalty that Hitler commanded. Even as the Soviets were on the outskirts of Berlin Hitler was convinced that the Reich would survive and victory would still be theirs. His henchmen continued to believe him, although many army generals were less deluded.

His paranoia, and that of his followers, reached such a pitch that even to the day Hitler committed suicide, those who dared to even question eventual victory were being put before firing squads. The film frightenigly depicts the fear that pervaded Berlin as those, even at that stage, who were seen by Hitler and his henchmen as disloyal were dragged from their beds to be shot.

The fact that the film is German makes it all the more powerful and the special effects are some of the most graphic and realistic I have ever seen. I think Mrs B and I will be having a special viewing on Saturday night with a decent bottle of red. I can thoroughly recommend it.

Health Fascists


This really has pissed me off. I heard about it yesterday when I had a break from grafting and was having a brew at a butty wagon.

When will people wake up to this creeping fascist state and actually do something rather than sit in the house or the pub whining. If I want to eat rabbit food I won't go to a roadside butty wagon or a greasy spoon. If the owners of aforementioned dining facilities want to start selling yoghurt and rabbit food then that's their decision.

What I hope one of them does is humanely put down the first environmental health/salad/yoghurt inspector who turns up at his establishment and proceed to spit roast him and serve him on burger buns with fried onions at £2-00 a time. I'll have some of that.

And if they insist on forcing butty wagons to sell stuff they were not invented for then why not force veggie cafes to serve me a nice rare sirloin or duck breast? After all who looks healthier to you, somebody who loves a full fried brekkie or a pasty faced, skinny, anaemic looking veggie?

Old Film Found

This story is fantastic. Old film dating back to 1925 has been found in an archive in Worcestershire. For anybody nearby it seems that the films, having been restored, are now being shown to the public in small venues in the Midlands

Mitchell and Kenyon films of pre-WW1 Lancashire also provide a fascinating insight into the lives of ordinary people at that time. M&K used to spend the day filming everyday scenes then would charge people to watch them in a marquee in the evening. Of course they had a tremendous audience of people desperate to actually see themselves on film for the very first time.

Film and TV provide invaluable material for historians and, whether documentary or drama, provide a glimpse of life, values and social behaviour of the era. It's a shame so much old film was lost in the 1960s and earlier when film was so expensive it had to be wiped clean and used again.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Jon Gaunt And Health And Safety Nazis

I'm no great fan of Jon Gaunt and didn't listen to the show that got him suspended from TalkSport Radio, but on what I have read he has my sympathy on this one.

The PC brigade throw the word "Nazi" at anybody who they disagree with, whether they do show sympathies towards the National Socialist German Workers' Party or not. Why such uproar when one of the PC brigade gets it thrown back at them? Let's face it, the word Nazi means bugger all these days it is so overused by most of us.

I wonder if Gaunt, and last week Clarkson, would have copped so much stick if Brand and Woss hadn't been such plonkers. I fear now that any group who dislike a particular broadcaster will be able to organise themselves, fired up with righteous indignation, to make enough complaints to the authorities that the wimps in charge will suspend or fire said broadcaster.

RIP free speech.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

In Flanders Fields

by John McCrae, May 1915

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep,
though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Monday, November 10, 2008

Happy Hour

Those miserable sods in the House of Commons now want to abolish cheap booze and happy hour in pubs and clubs. I suppose they went us all to be like them which means we will, instead, have to have a misery hour.

I am currently finishing off Through a Glass Darkly, the biography of Patrick Hamilton by Nigel Jones. Hamilton wrote his finest work when hitting the bottle, at one point drinking three bottles of whisky a day. Drinking over £2000 of booze a year before the last war took some doing, quite an admirable feat in my view.

Bruce Robinson writer and director of Withnail and I, and others, got through numerous bottles of red wine a day to get the creative juices flowing. Dylan Thomas and many others were also extremely heavy drinkers and were none the worse for it. Apart from dying young perhaps.

If any of us wants to drink ourselves into an ealy grave that is our choice. Making alcohol more expensive only means that the desperate will cut down on other things, such as the government's dictat to eat 5 bits of fruit and veg a day, and die even earlier in even more squalor.

Sunday, November 09, 2008

Lest We Forget

For the Fallen
Laurence Binyon, September 1914

With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children,
England mourns for her dead across the sea.
Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of her spirit,
Fallen in the cause of the free.

Solemn the drums thrill: Death august and royal
Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres.
There is music in the midst of desolation
And a glory that shines upon our tears.

They went with songs to the battle, they were young,
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,
They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

They mingle not with their laughing comrades again;
They sit no more at the familiar tables of home;
They have no lot in our labour of the day-time;
They sleep beyond England’s foam.

But where our desires are and our hopes profound,
Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight,
To the innermost heart of their own land they are known
As the stars are known to the Night;

As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust,
Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain,
As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness,
To the end, to the end, they remain.

Nice Mr Morrissey

It's strange but with Morrissey you either love him or loathe him. I think the man is a genius and my sister, Julia, thinks he's pretty good too. But, being an old hippy, her and Barry's first love is Bob Dylan. Julie, Mrs B, thinks he's a great poet but a crap musician. That's life.

But I find that when life hits you there is usually a Morrissey song that provides a soundtrack. Since my very remote brush with fame yesterday, of which I blogged, the words of 'Paint a Vulgar Picture' have been playing on my mind, one verse in particular. So, as I do occasionally, I am providing you with the words, powerful in themselves but much more so if you listen with the music. These words are from The Smiths' last album, 'Strangeways Here We Come'.

Paint a Vulgar Picture
Lyrics by Stephen Morrissey
Music by Johnny Marr

At the record company meeting
On their hands - a dead star
And oh, the plans they weave
And oh, the sickening greed

At the record company party
On their hands - a dead star
The sycophantic slags all say :
"I knew him first, and I knew him well"

Re-issue ! Re-package ! Re-package !
Re-evaluate the songs
Double-pack with a photograph
Extra Track (and a tacky badge)

A-list, playlist
"Please them , please them !"
"Please them !"
(sadly, THIS was your life)

But you could have said no
If you'd wanted to
You could have said no
If you'd wanted to

BPI, MTV, BBC
"Please them ! Please them !"
(sadly this was your life)

But you could have said no
If you'd wanted to
You could have walked away
...Couldn't you ?

I touched you at the soundcheck
You had no real way of knowing
In my heart I begged "Take me with you ...
I don't care where you're going..."

But to you I was faceless
I was fawning, I was boring
Just a child from those ugly new houses
Who could never begin to know

Who could never really know
Oh ...

Best of ! Most of !
Satiate the need
Slip them into different sleeves !
Buy both, and feel deceived

Climber - new entry, re-entry
World tour ! ("media whore")
"Please the Press in Belgium !"
(THIS was your life...)

And when it fails to recoup ?
Well, maybe :
You just haven't earned it yet, baby

I walked a pace behind you at the soundcheck
You're just the same as I am
What makes most people feel happy
Leads us headlong into harm

So, in my bedroom in those 'ugly new houses'
I danced my legs down to the knees
But me and my 'true love'
Will never meet again ...

At the record company meeting
On their hands - at last ! - a dead star !
But they can never taint you in my eyes
No, they can never touch you now

No, they cannot hurt you, my darling
They cannot touch you now
But me and my 'true love'
Will never meet again

Saturday, November 08, 2008

T'Internet

I've had two strange experiences this week. One was when a woman serving me in a shop said how much she enjoyed my letters in the local press, the second just now when I bumped into a neighbour out shopping. The neighbour said how much she had enjoyed my blog this week. It feels strange somehow, even though you obviously want your stuff to be read. Being famous must be very bizarre, I don't think it would suit me.

So t'internet works, to a degree. It took me years to blog, as it did to get into computers to any degree. But my neighbour works in a field that really interests me at the moment and she suggested I join a particular internet forum specialising in that area. Now I have to admit to being a Luddite, still, when it comes to internet fora. I have only ever registered on two, one a football forum for Manchester United fans the other one for Ice Hockey fans, Manchester Phoenix specifically. To be honest they weren't really my cup of tea.

But I might give her suggestion a try, it might be third time lucky and could open up a whole new career. Who knows?

Pass The Sick Bag

The Obama effect continues.

The Labour Party is now "institutionally racist" according to that luvly liberal chappie, Trevor Phillips. But when you look at the likes of David Lammy, Keith Vaz and Shahid Malik who but their own mothers would want them to be Prime Minister?

Ever thought Trevor, that the reason we are unlikely to have a black PM soon, if that is the case, is because unlike a political bandwagon jumping tart like you most blacks are smart enough to see how rotten politics is and avoid it like the plague?

Friday, November 07, 2008

Kenyan Obamas

Now, I don't want to sound churlish, but am I the only one who is tired of the race obsession surrounding Obama's victory? Yes he won, and won convincingly, but black people only seem to have voted for him because he is 'black' and white people only seem to have voted for him because they want to be seen to be progressive and cool. Witness the drooling over him on Question Time last night with Bonnie Greer almost weeping with emotion whenever she mentioned his name, and the other panellists not far behind.

If you were Obama's white family wouldn't you be a little pissed off to have been shunted into the background so utterly completely. He's black, don't mention the white mother any more than you mention Bob Marley's white grandfather. Oh yes, apart from when his white grandmother was dying and he could go for the sympathy vote.

To me Obama is a man whose mother was white and whose father was black, end of story. If a white man became leader of a black country you can bet the world wouldn't be drooling over him just becaue of his colour. And if his father was from Accrington I bet the people of Accrington wouldn't be carrying on like this.

Glenrothes

No real surprise with this result in my opinion.

But I can't wait to see the faces of Cameron, Salmond and Clegg now their smugness should have been wiped off. Though Tories and Lib-Dims weren't expected to do well they did so exceptionally badly it made me smile this morning.

And Salmond, remember, your party is a major protest vote party, nothing more nothing less.

Results in full
Lindsay Roy, Labour: 19,946
Peter Grant, SNP: 13,209
Maurice Golden, Cons: 1,381
Harry Wills, Lib Dem: 947
Jim Parker, SSCUP: 296
Morag Balfour, SSP: 212
Kris Seunarine, UKIP: 117
Louise McLeary, Solidarity: 87

Thursday, November 06, 2008

The Bitch Is Back


Here we go with the further rolling out of the government's despised ID card scheme.

Two airports are to introduce ID cards for workers as part of a pilot scheme, pardon the pun. But the link to the BBC website outlines other plans for gradual compulsory/voluntary introduction.

I don't think I've seen such a slappable face as Jacqui Smith's before. Oh, course I have, I forgot Hazel Blears.

Tuesday, November 04, 2008

The Difference Between Clarkson And Brand

The difference between Clarkson and Brand is that Jeremy Clarkson has a brain. Don't forget the tasteless and tedious Brand wrote a book and called it "My Bookywooky". The brain of a comatose snail obviously.

So this furore about remarks Jeremy Clarkson made about lorry drivers killing postitutes is just puritanical bandwagon jumping.

The big difference is that Clarkson didn't phone a murder victims family gloating. So get off his back.

Monday, November 03, 2008

Honda SS50


Steve Allison's Blog has a post, complete with picture, of a Suzuki moped, the type he had in the 1970s. That got me all dewey eyed and nostalgic for that great summer of 1976, the heatwave. I'd done my 'o'-levels and spent the summer posing around, trying to impress the girls, on my red Honda SS50, just like the one on the left.

Spiteful Britons

Tax exiles should not be called Brits
If Lewis Hamilton wins the F1 Championship the media will be full of headlines about a "Brit" winning something. But remember this, after being brought up and educated at the taxpayers' expense he went to live in Switzerland so that he did not have to become a taxpayer himself.

All tax exiles should be deprived of their British passports.
C S, Harrogate, North Yorkshire

How sad to read the letter above on Teletext. It just goes to show how petty minded and spiteful so many people are. No wonder NuLab is taking us back to the1970s, it seems like swathes of the population still have the small-minded spitefulness of
1970s style socialists. Or perhaps it's just Yorkshiremen.

Pork Sausages And Bacon


I wouldn't apply for a job in abortion clinic so Muslims, if they refuse to touch pork sausages and bacon, shouldn't apply for a catering job like this.

Sunday, November 02, 2008

A World Champion


God bless Lewis Hamilton. Back where we belong.

His Dad questioning the lack of sporting decency from the Brazilian spectators was cool too. Good on you lad!

Groundhog Day

Yet another data cock-up by HMG. The good thing about putting sevices out to private companies is that the government can try and hide behind them when personal data is left in a pub car park, like this!

But it doesn't wash. The government screams about ID theft to justify ever more intrusive surveillance of us, then repeatedly does its best to give away our identities, and any personal data it has on us to any old passerby.

So the next time some muppet says, about ID cards, CCTV etc. "nothing to hide nothing to fear" give them a good bollocking and point them in the direction of
No2ID.

Saturday, November 01, 2008

The Perils of Poetry Reading

Step forward Elizabeth Bailey, principal environmental health officer for East Cambridgeshire District Council. Now pelt the old bag with rotten eggs, tomatoes and rotting fish.

Here is the story of how this Hitler in skirts has banned a poetry reading group from holding readings in an Ely pub.

Here's what the bureaucratic bitch said:

"We have licences for all sorts of reasons - fire and police need to check it is safe - it is not just us being petty. There need to be certain checks in place."

And here's what the pub landlord had to say:

"It's trivial and pathetic. We've got a licence for 200 burly men to bounce around to whatever music they want, but not for a small number of quiet people to have a talk.

"When they give recitals it's not even amplified. They just get up and speak."


Ms Bailey should be immediately suspended, preferably from the same lamppost as Russell Brand.

Supporting A Team Called City


We often joke that my family have never tolerated mixed marriages. People then point out that I'm a Pape married to a Protestant. That is correct, what my family would never have tolerated would have been one of us marrying a Manchester City fan.

My family, on both sides, have been United fans as far back as anyone knows, probably back to the days when they were known as Newton Heath. So it still feels strange that one of my local teams now is Lancaster City FC, who I am off to support this afternoon. The fact that they too play in blue, as well as being called 'City', doesn't help. You see this tribal thing in us Mancunians runs deep.

But the most important thing is that since 1995, when the Glazers took over Manchester United and we returned our season tickets, we have been watching non-league football, and it has been fantastic. No prima-donnas earning more in a week than I'm likely to earn in a year or more, and not getting ripped off by clubs at every opportunity. Good banter between fans with no segregation or fighting, well very rarely any fighting. The whole thing is honest, down to earth fantastic value and has renewed the faith of many former Premier League supporters in the game itself.

Over the last ten years there has been a steady trickle of supportrs leaving top flight football, disillusioned or just priced way from the game. Non-league is thriving because, like junkies, we really do need a regular fix of football.

So it's off to watch a local derby at the Giant Axe, Lancaster City versus Chorley. Even if it's a bit chilly you just wrap up warm and treat yourself to a cup of Bovril and a hot pie at half time. Heaven!

Police State Further Tightening Its Grip


Here we go again. Grampian police are now testing people for drugs as they enter pubs in Aberdeen. Nice to see that real crime is so non-existent in Scotland that police have the time to mither the odd person who has had a joint before going out for a pint.

Let's just legalise drugs then we could make the all police redundant and save a fortune in taxes. Howard Marks would appreciate that I'm sure.

Interestingly Grampian plod claim the test is voluntary, but if you don't volunteer to be tested you don't get in the pub. Bastards!

Friday, October 31, 2008

It's A Mad World

This story really is the most absurd of the week.

A Scouse chav calls a Paddy a 'Leprechaun' and the glorious CPS decide to prosecute for racial hatred, or similar nonsense, costing the taxpayers thousands of quid. Thankfully the case has now been dropped.

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Assisted Suicide

Debbie Purdy has failed in her attempt to have the law on assisted suicide changed, she fears that if her husband helps her to visit the Swiss clinic, run by Dignitas, he may face prosecution when he returns after her suicide. She has a particularly aggressive form of Multiple Sclerosis. The judge stated that it was a question for parliament not the courts.

An average of two Britons each year travel to Switzerland to die in the way they choose, and until now nobody has faced prsecution upon return to the UK. However it seems that the family of the young rugby player who went there to die after being paralysed are being investigated by the CPS.

Part of the problem is deciding what constitutes assisting a suicide. Buying a plane ticket to Switzerland for your loved one? Holding his or her hand while they die? It doesn't have to actually be as stark as giving them the lethal dose of drugs.

The question of assisted suicide crops up on a regular basis and, while I believe it to be wrong, I have every sympathy for those who feel it to be their only option. What I do not want is for the law to be changed so that we, society, are consenting to people commiting suicide. I am extremely sympathetic to the authorities turning a blind eye in cases where it is obvious that the person who went to Switzerland was was fully aware of what they were doing and made the decision themselves. To hold the hand of a loved one as they die, be it suicide or not, should not be a prosecutable offence.

For several years I worked for the Motor Neurone Disease Association and a few years ago a Liverpool man with MND went to Switzerland to die. This caused a huge media furore similar to that this week around Debbie Purdy. I saw the other side of the impact this had on people living with MND. At that time nobody with MND that I spoke to wanted to take that route themselves. Most of them had the view that their lives were being cut short becaue of MND and they didn't want to shorten it any further. Many people with MND and their families found the whole thing terribly distressing. That side of the argument is rarely covered by the press.

As with any of these things there are reactions and repercusions for years to come that affect those left behind after a suicide. Could I have done more? Could I have encouraged him/her to stay a few more weeks or months? What about the immense feeling of guilt that may be faced by the loved one left behind? I've no doubt people like Debbie Purdy will be discussing all these things with her husband. But we need to be very careful that we look deeper than the media coverage that makes it all sound so clean and compartmentalised.

One of the more worrying aspects of this recent publicity is the position of Ludwig Minelli, the founder of Dignitas. It seems he wants the option of suicide extending beyond the terminally ill to people such as manic depressives. As ever one of the worrying things about legalising assisted suicide is how it would then extend into areas for which the original law was never intended.

And finally, we no longer tolerate the state taking the life of murderers so it seems to me even less acceptable for the state to condone the taking of innocent life whether by your own hand or not.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Brand and Ross

The two nitwits, Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand, have eventually been suspended by the BBC. It's a shame in one respect because I've always quite liked Jonathan Ross, especially his radio stuff. Russell Brand however is a different thing altogether. He is just a talentless muppet who deserves suspending, preferably from a lamppost.

What it does show is the utter contempt the BBC have for the taxpayers who fund it. The show wasn't even live, the 'prank' phone calls actually being given the all clear for broadcast by a BBC production team. Without continuing public and media anger the BBC probably would never have taken the belated action they did today.

The whole thing just convinces me all the more that the BBC should be privatised.Commercial considerations, alien to BBC staff, would have been an excellent moderating influence in this case.

Mrs Thatcher

Here is a report of Mrs Thatcher attending a Bruges Group dinner given in her honour.

Great to see Nikki Sinclaire getting a good mention. Nikki is number 2 on UKIP's list in the West Midlands for next year's Euro elections.

Death Of The British Pub

Now I'm not prone to sanctimoniousness when it comes to booze, I enjoy a tipple as much as the next man, I am a Mancunian after all. In fact last night we had parents and sister and other 'arf round and we probably need a skip to take away the empty wine bottles. Anyway, the point is that TalkSport's Jon Gaunt is thankfully away and the much more cerebral Ian Collins is standing in. So I listened a bit this morning.

The debate has been on why Britons are now drinking themselves into oblivion. Yes, there has always been a healthy drinking culture and long may it last, but there is now something a bit worrying about the nature of it. By that I mean the level and nature of the drunkenness and the type of alcohol consumed. As ever the blame can be put fairly and squarely at the door of the politicians.

Some years back the Tory government messed up the laws on pub ownership drastically reducing the number of pubs that breweries were allowed to own, all in the name of competition. Enter 'pub chains' such as Wetherspoons and others. The nature of the pub changed, many becoming 'bars'. The trendies also wanted a continental style 'cafe culture', let's make the problem even worse in other words.

Successive governments then proceeded to tax booze so heavily that 'continental cafe culture' became the 'booze cruise'. Not just from Dover, for people down south, but a cheapie overnight from Hull for northerners too. And for those who couldn't afford the booze cruise, or the pub, cheap and nasty cider and spirits were the answer. And if you've stocked up properly then why stop drinking it until you have to?

But the level of public drunkenness is down to the death of the pub. In my youth, all those decades ago, we used to meet up in the pub and spend the night socialising over pints of bitter. After the pubs shut we would go on to a nightclub and carry on drinking bitter. Trying to appear sober, despite drowning as many pints as you could physically manage was a badge of honour.

Nowadays too many pubs, especially in city centres, resemble nightclubs and the noise makes old fashioned socialising virtually impossible. Furthermore drinking beer seems to be for old biddies, unless it is some super strength foreign lager. So kids are now getting pissed on spirits, which are much stronger than beer and have much more radical results.

Oh for the return of the good old fashioned pub, stinking of stale tobacco, just like the Hare and Hounds (above) in Gorton.

Fabian Crap

Every now and then it's nice to visit the Fabian Society website just to remind yourself how very flaky socialists really are.

They now patronise Muslims by claiming Sadiq Khan to be a 'leading Labour MP', just because he is London's first Muslim MP. Khan then goes on to claim that Muslim isolation can be ended by them becoming more isolated according to this article.

For Christ's sake get on with life and stop whining, equality will then follow. In fact it already exists, but muppets like Khan and the PC brigade have a vested interest in perceiving racism where it doesn't exist.

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Grey Squirrel For Lunch


This story is as far as conservation should go. Vegetarianism is really just another eating disorder so eating meat should always be encouraged. However, help save our native red squirrels by eating grey ones instead. Yummy, yummy.

Monday, October 27, 2008

Leopard Man of Skye

One of the great things about Britain is the number of eccentrics we are lucky to have, the Leopard Man of Skye being just one.

I very often see somebody and think they must be barking mad, but then, on reflection, feel quite envious. This chap, living in a ruined bothy like a hermit for years, I quite admire. Although I intensely dislike tattoos.

And for all of us softies who think a lifesyle like that must age you prematurely, then the photo with this BBC coverage, of 73 year old Mr Leppard, suggests otherwise. Doesn't seem to have done him much harm does it?

Financial Mess

I remember back in the late 70s early 80s wondering what monetarism was. Although being politically active since school, where I also studied politics, government and economics, I would never profess to be an expert on government finance. I was surprised back then to discover that monetarism turned out to be exactly what I thought it was, don't live beyond your means.

It seems to me now that the main reason for this current fnancial fiasco is people, and business, living beyond their means, including government. So the message seems to be, to me at any rate, that many individuals, businesses and government need to tighten their belts, pretty damn quickly and pretty damn severley. Like most things in politics and life I favour the simple and commonsense approach, it is usually pretty effective.

So I am confused at the moment, especially having read this article. A rash of public borrowing and spending may mask the problem, and give the government some very short term political benefit, but in the longer run we are even more knackered thanks to this irresponsible government response.

Police State Tightening Its Grip

Police will soon be checking the identities of people in the street using hand-held mobile fingerprint scanners.

It is understood that the BlackBerry-sized devices are being issued to every UK police force under a scheme called Mobile Identification At Scene (MIDAS). They always have to have a smart acronym don't they?

They will enable officers to scan suspects' fingerprints and compare them against national records. So that will be more justification, in the eyes of the government, for a national database carrying all our fingerprints. After all, if you have not been fingerprinted and therefore don't show up on MIDAS what will they do? Probably drag you down the nick in case you are here illegaly. Then suggest it would save such misunderstandings in future if you 'volunteered' your fingerprints.

Saturday, October 25, 2008

Old Fashioned Saturdays.

Today has a real old fashioned Saturday feel about it. For the first time in ages in the dull, wet, windy season I am not off to a football game on Saturday afternoon. Instead I was dragged off to Satan's own retail outlet, Ikea. But more of that anon.

The big thing I hate about driving at weekend is all the Sunday/weekend drivers. You know the sort, they sit in their spotless little runarounds and daren't ever leave the middle lane (lane 2) of the motorway. It's as if they fear actually moving from lane to lane so just sit there causing a huge tailback and effectively reducing the motorways to two lanes.

Then, on days like this, when there is a bit of rain and spray on the road, on go the fog lights. Why?! What kind of brain fault do these people have that makes them think 'fog light' when they see rain? All it does is refract the light across the windscreens of following vehicles thus causing an immediate danger, they look like brake lights and cause the vehicles behind to suddenly brake.

Then when you do try to pass them they have another brain fault that makes them speed up as you draw level so you end up passing them at 85mph. But as soon as you have passed they retreat back down to 60mph. And, as you pass, you glance left and they are invariably gripping the wheel as if their very life depended on it, their faces are about a foot from the windscreen and contorted with concentration, and they often have driving gloves on. Get the bus you idiots!

So why am I venturing along the M6 on a Saturday with no football to watch? As I said at the start I had to join Mrs B at Ikea. The place truly is evil and I have been given more red cards there by my beloved than in any other shop. The Warrington one is worst of all. I was once yellow carded in the car park there for getting angry when I couldn't find a parking space. Five minutes later we parked and I was so pissed off that I only got into the huge barn of a foyer and Mrs B brandished the red card and sent me back to the car for serious stropping. A blessing really.

But today I behaved and got round without even being tutted at. We got our storage boxes but, as happens in Ikea, the lids for the ones we got were not very good and barely fitted. So we got lids for another type of box that actually fit ours better. Not so clever you Swedish geeks! How can one country produce a monster like Ikea then at the opposite end of the spectrum a writer like Hening Mankell? God only knows.

So here I am now, having left home with Mrs B at the crack of dawn, sat waiting in Manchester for a costume fitting while Mrs B visits parents. Yes a costume fitting. Next week I am working as an extra on my first ever film, Sherlock Holmes, directed by Guy Ritchie and starring Jude Law. It's really exciting because over the last twelve months I have been an extra on a few TV programmes but never a film. And a Hollywood film at that, even if it is being filmed in Manchester.

So that's why I'm not at the football.

Friday, October 24, 2008

President Obama?

It seems that the pinko liberal media in Europe are already drunk on celebrating Obama's victory in the US election next month. Certainly the media here are putting everything into making us believe that victory for Obama is a certainty.

Channel 4, and its associated channels, have been showing 30 second cameos of 'celebrities' endorsing Obama and attacking McCain/Palin for weeks now, with increasing venom. Today even the Daily Torygraph had a front page carrying predictions of riots if McCain wins, because it would obviously have been rigged.

So I was pleased today to discover Accuracy in Media. This website debunks some of the biased and downright lying media coverage attacking McCain/Palin and also the irrational, often plain untrue, media backing for the vacuous Obama.

I look forward to reading much more on this website.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Nitwit Pulled From Question Time

Serious government nitwit Phil Woolas has been pulled from Question Time by the government. It seems that with the country in recession a Home Office minister is being replaced by a finance minister.

That and the fact that the man is a complete clown who, in true Prescott style, drops a clanger every time he opens his huge gob. Only this week he was predicting the disestablishment of the Church of England as we now live in a 'multi-faith society'. Crap! But it is so urgent that he predicts it would take 50 years. More crap!

At the last census over 70% of the population declared themselves at least nominally Christian. We live in a Christian country that is extremely tolerant of other religions, and so it should remain. Not being an Anglican I have no problem with the C of E being in such a position and have no problem with current restrictions on us Catholics becoming king or anything else.

Perhaps Woolas should bugger off and join Prince Charles on his farm. Let's face it when the time comes for Chas to become 'Defender of the Faiths' rather than 'Defender of the Faith' it's time to sack the Saxe-Coburg-Gothas as well as Woolas. Long live the Republic!

Let's All Move To Swindon

At last, a bit of commonsense with Swindon Borough Council getting rid of those ridiculous speed cameras. Let's hope the next move is to get rid of traffic lights, then all the other paraphernalia that makes motoring such a bind.

Martin Cassini, and others, must be pleased at this move in the right direction. But a little cynical part of me can't stop thinking that the only reason the Tories did it was because they pay £320,000 each year to maintain them, then the government keeps all the revenue from 'fines'.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Free Speech

Some time ago I posted about freedom of speech. I have just read this article on the UKIP website by Gerard Batten, MEP for London which goes into more detail about the dangers of the European Arrest Warrant.

Scary Old Gits


Those humourless prats at Age Concern are at it again, taking offence at the drop of a hat on behalf of old folk. This time they are ranting at Woolworth's for flogging halloween masks in a range they call 'scary old people'. It seems that Age Concern, forever patronising old biddies, think the masks are grossly disrespectful and old biddies will be mortally offended. So let's scrap pantomimes that depict ugly sisters in case they offend the siblings of the world, and ban Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice for being anti-semitic.

I was unlucky enough to catch a few minutes of GMTV this morning and the slimy cow Fiona Philips was sat there being all offended by the masks. The next thing they went to an Age Concern social centre in Hull to see how terribly offended the old biddies were. I was just thinking how ugly and scary the masks were when I realised the old folk in Hull weren't wearing masks. Scary!

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Mayor of London

Interesting to read the very politically correct reasoning of Ken Livingstone here, outlining why he wants Barack Obama to win the US election.

Oops, sorry, it's Boris Johnson. I got a bit mixed up there.

Monday, October 20, 2008

Elections 2009-A Prediction

On June 4 next year we have the European elections and the local elections, including county council elections. It is interesting that the governmnent has been so keen to move the local elections back from May but there is good reason. The EU elections have traditionally created abysmal turnouts, so by holding the locals at the same time, they are hoping to bump up the turnout in the EU election.

The EU elections are on proportional representation rather than first past the post, which massively assists smaller parties such as UKIP and the Greens. Smaller parties, with extremely motivated members and supporters, will turn out to vote in what are seen by the general populace as worthless elections thus giving them success that it is very difficult to replicate in first past the post elections. Low turnout through apathy is great for smaller parties. Have other elections at the same time and hope that supporters of the big three will then vote in the EU elections too while they're at it, thus damaging the smaller parties.

On that basis what better to bump up voter turnout than having the general election on 4 June too? I wouldn't bet against it. In fact I may just have a flutter on it being held on June 4th. After all, New Labour do enjoy playing around with our democratic process.