No Spikki Inglis (Part 2)

"The second half was a crazy game and when it is a crazy game you can't control things. Why was it crazy? Because it was crazy."
Rafa Benitez - not crazy about Liverpool's draw at Wigan.

Bloody foreigners taking our jobs and not even learning the language properly! Perhaps all the English football managers should go on strike against these foreign workers.

Mind you, he has been learning English in Liverpool.

Let's All Be Optimistic

Gordon Brown has delivered a plea for Britons to remain optimistic in the face of the financial crisis.

Despite forecasts that the UK will experience the worst downturn out of the major developed nations, he urged against "talking the country down".

He said he has "utter confidence" the UK will recover, but warned failure by the G20 in April to agree to financial reforms could have severe consequences.

So now Gordon wants us all to be optimistic about the economy. After 12 years of New Labour we all know he really means "let's pretend everything's fine". You may remember the WMDs in Iraq as the justification for invasion. What weapons? Exactly!

It's interesting though, that Mr Brown is already lining up the G20 in April as a scapegoat if the optimism proves misguided. I can't imagine a welder I know being very optimistic when he as had no work since before Christmas. Or the Woolworths staff, now they must be brimming with optimism and confidence.

I really do think that the only way Gordon will see us walking round all happy and optimistic about the economy would be to send us all a pack of free hallucinogenic drugs.

More On 'Leaving' UKIP

I was heartened yesterday to receive a letter from senior and respected members of the UK Independence Party expressing their thoughts, and fears, on the future of the Party. I agreed with them and some of the reasons I stood down as lead candidate in the North West for the Euro elections, and as Regional Organiser, are virtually the same.

Of course the clique in control of the party have tried to blacken my name. They have accused me of using a pseudonym on an internet forum to criticise the Leader. I was not registered on that forum but anyway, big deal, it shows how small-minded the current leadership clique are and how they respond to criticism perceived or real.

They also accused me of using my position as Regional Organiser to gain advantage in the election for the list in the North West. Paul Nuttall, and his little sidekick in Brussels, Michael McManus, lodged a complaint about a letter I supposedly sent to members canvassing their support in the Euro election poll. Of course the letter doesn't exist as every member in the North West knows. The complaint was withdrawn anyway, but they have still used the imaginary letter to try and blacken my name.

Note that this blog is no longer 'Gregg Beaman's Blog'. The reason being that I was tired of receiving unpleasant 'anonymous' comments after I stood down. Who was sending the unpleasant 'anonymous' comments? Well at least one sender was Rachel Oxley. How do I know? Because I goaded the 'anonymous' one and received a text message from Rachel Oxley owning up. How very grown up and mature. Is she the kind of woman who should be Vice Chairman of a national political party?

I then had Lisa Duffy emailing people claiming that I stood down because of a debilitating illness and because I had only expected to come third rather than first. More fibs from a member of the ruling clique.

One of life's ironies is that it was only in May 2008, at the North West Spring Conference in Morecambe, that Rachel Oxley and Lisa Duffy had complained to me that Annabelle Fuller had spent the Saturday evening texting Nigel Farage, quite suggestively and quite openly, about what she wanted to do with him when he came to the North West the following day. Lacking the courage of their convictions they happily passed it on to me. But later Duffy was terrified that the Party Chairman was upset with her for 'spilling the beans' on the Leader. And that was after them specifically asking me to pass on their concerns to the Party Chairman.

But Lisa Duffy was that way inclined. Before the last leadership election she had phoned me in a terrible panic after she had been contacted to consent to Farage's nomination but had already promised to consent to David Campbell Bannerman's candidacy. She didn't understand that democracy worked that way. She clearly lacks the courage of her convictions, if indeed she has any convictions. Don't fight for what you believe, just stay in with the right people seems to be her philosophy.

A few weeks before I stood down I had been critical of Nigel Farage to Rachel Oxley, describing him as a liability. It may be a coincidence but Rachel Oxley never spoke to me again after that. I only received an email from her informing me that she would no longer speak at a meeting of members that I had organised in Cumbria. Not very professional I thought, but very spiteful. I now see that it typifies the lack of respect for the members that typifies certain people in the current leadership clique.

That is some of the background that added to my increasing disillusionment over the last couple of years and, ultimately, to my decision to walk. But, most importantly, I had come to realise that after having MEPs since 1999 the Party had failed to move our cause forward. In 2008 we still only achieved 2% in the Crewe and Henley by-elections. A quarter of our MEPs elected in 2004 had gone, and I don't need to go into detail. In my opinion too many of the remaining MEPs have been seduced by the position, especially the current party leader, and they ignore the fact that we have failed to make any impact in Parliamentary elections, which they continually argue will come with the resources gained from having MEPs.

In August I was told that Paul Nuttall was to become Party Chairman. I knew then that I could no longer continue. I had always felt that Paul was only in it for what he could get. The way he grovelled to Farage, even starting to dress like him, had made me cringe and some of us in the North West had even started referring to him as 'Scouse Farage'.

When the results of the members' poll were announced I was told that Farage was jumping up and down ranting that I had to be removed from the top of the list, and I heard that from three different sources. I wondered what had happened to the Party that had offered so much hope to so many of us. All my doubts about even standing in the European elections were still there and I was not prepared to stand if all it meant was a good living for five years for no political gain. Their behaviour had convinced me, more than ever, that there is an element in the Party only interested in the 'gravy train', their own vanity and little else.

As far as Farage is concerned I knew when I met him, during the Preston by-election in 2000, that he was the personification of vanity and ego with little behind that wafer thin facade. I have seen his childish temper tantrums when he doesn't get his own way, when I was on the NEC and later when I was on the Elections Committee. I have seen him bully people and have stood up to him when he has tried to bully me. He must be one of the coarsest most vulgar individuals I have ever come across. The proposed changes to the party constitution are a result of the complete lack of principle of the current leader and chairman and, it must be said, the lack of courage shown by certain members on the Party's NEC.

One thing Farage has excelled at is driving decent, honest people away. There is no room under Farage's leadership for open debate and discussion, and God forbid there should be any disagreement with him. When people have had enough and go his clique then proceed to try and blacken their names, and others have had much worse smears than I have had directed at them. He only wants around him people who are easily flattered and who do not think for themselves.

The current changes to the constitution, if approved, will remove the right of the members to contribute to the party's future and will certainly remove the right of members to criticise the decisions of the leadership. UKIP will then be no different from the European Union that it was formed to fight.

Finally I remember appearing in a TV debate in 2004 when Labour MEP Arlene McCarthy accused UKIP of lacking the principle of Sinn Fein, who refused to take their seats in a parliament they opposed. I have thought long and hard about that comment since and have to say that Sinn Fein are now power sharing in Ulster. Where are UKIP?

No Spikki Inglis!

More than 300 primary schools in England have a majority of children whose first language is not English.

The local education authority with the most primaries where English is not the mother-tongue of 70% or more pupils was Birmingham, with 60 schools.

The statistics were revealed by schools minister Sarah McCarthy-Fry after a parliamentary question from Labour's former minister Frank Field.

Now that statistic need not be a huge worry if those speaking English as a second language are the chldren of newly arrived immigrants who have some grasp of English and are making serious efforts to learn. My worry is that many have made little effort to learn and, with growing levels of militant Islam, have parents who don't care whether they speak the language of the infidel or not.

Language is a code, a means of communicating and that code must be as universal as possible. I do not see this as cultural or linguistic imperialism, as the left claim when this issue is raised, those most disadvantaged are the people who do not have sufficient English. Nor do I blame the children or, to a lesser extent, their parents. I blame the establishment.

The root cause of many of today's problems is the socialist revolution of the 1960s. It preached that western civilization and capitalism are bad therefore all else, especially if it loathes our western civilization, is good. It preached that society was bad and should be restructured, under vile authoritaian socialism, whilst encouraging the worst excesses of individualism that have damaged the very fabric of 'society' with a 'me, me, me' philosophy.

The very people who attack those who want to encourage integration, rather than ghettoisation, are the ones who vilify British people abroad for turning parts of sunnier climes into British enclaves. The height of hypocrisy.

Immigration need not cause problems to any country. It is those, on the left and the right, who use it for their own purposes who cause the problems. Language is the first, and most crucial step to integration, tolerance and understanding for all.

Young Drivers

Here's an example of the kind of thing that bumps up car insurance for younger drivers. It's a church roof.

Puritanical Bastards!

It's strange but the older I get the less respect I have for authority and so-called 'standards'. I worry I may be immaturing and heading towards the youthful rebellion I avoided by partying away my youth instead of rebelling. In the current climate I fear that we are just around the corner from having some Cromwell style puritan bossing the country again and spoiling all the fun.

My anger today is directed at the puritanical bastards who have decided to be offended by Jonathan Ross. The type who decided to listen to his comeback radio show on Saturday morning, which I thought was superb, in the hope of being offended thus giving them something to complain about. What is about this current trend, driven by Political Correctness, to find anything and everything offensive to somebody somewhere?

I heard the comments on Saturday and they were, as I remember, quite innocent. His producer/co-presenter mentioned doing work on his property in Spain and that an 80 odd year old local woman still has an eye for young men and is in the habit of coming up to flirt and kiss younger men. Ross responded with something like, "oh go on, give her what she wants, one last night to remember with a young fella". More music hall comedy than vile filth designed to offend.

But no, there has been an outcry led, it seems, by the Sun, that paragon of virtue, good taste and responsible journalism. It seems that they found out the place in Spain where the property is and got the old woman's son to spill the beans on how deeply offended they were. Forgive me but if the son had kept his big gob shut his mother would have remained anonymous. If anybody is guilty of anything he is. Then why did the Sun have to go and do what they did? Because the Sun is a morally bankrupt, unprincipled rag that I wouldn't use in the smallest room in my house if I ran out of Andrex! Don't tell me a little old lady and her son, in the middle of Spain, listen regularly to Radio 2. Perhaps they listen to the Archers omnibus on a Sunday too.

But what really angered me today was listening to the small-minded bigotted morons phoning in to the radio phone-ins spewing forth mock indignation. Typically a thick cockney, probably a taxi driver, coming out with stuff like: "Bang aht of order mate. How would you feel if it was your old mum or nan he was talking abaht? The geezer should be strung up". Nothing quite like missing the point to make the righteously indignant sound like complete dickheads.

It's no wonder paediatricians panic when the mob want to string up a paedopohile.

The Price Of Gold

Mrs B is taking a great interest in the recession and is convinced that gold is the way to go. So we've been snouting around, more from curiosity than actually planning to buy. As a consequence my interest in financial matters has been aroused and I am receiving bulletins from Money Week. Below is one of their articles which I found particularly interesting.

From Dominic Frisby, in London

Twice a day – at 10:30 am and 3pm - the price of gold is set on the London market by the five members of the London Gold Pool (HSBC, SocGen, Deutsche Bank, Scotia-Mocata and Barclays). This is known as the London fix and it’s used as the benchmark to price gold, gold products and derivatives in markets around the world.

I’ve been looking at some charts and an astonishing pattern has become apparent. It’s a pattern which, if you’d traded it methodically, would have earned you 1% a week over a period of 24 years. That compounds to a staggering 24,720,000%!

What is this spectacular strategy?

The astonishing pattern in London gold fixing

The strategy is really quite simple. You buy gold at the London PM fix (3pm), as the American markets have just opened for trading, and you sell your gold the following morning at the London AM fix (10:30am), as the Asian markets are closing.

My thanks, as always, to Tom Fischer of Herriot Watt Uni for the charts below. The first demonstrates the weekly 1% gain that would have been yours since 1985 (the green line).





And, as our next chart shows, if you reversed the strategy, bought gold at the AM fix and sold at the PM fix, you’d be down a bankrupting 0.67% per week.




What is more astonishing is how this pattern has accelerated since 2007. Sell gold in the morning, buy it back in the afternoon, and a cool 1.78% weekly profit will be yours:



Do the opposite, however, and you’d have suffered a weekly loss of 0.86%, despite the fact that gold is in a runaway bull market.



The trouble is, of course, that transaction costs all but invalidate this strategy. But there is nevertheless a great deal we can read into this pattern.

Why would anyone want to manipulate the gold price?

What other free market shows such a consistent behaviour over time? Unless, of course, it’s not a free market and the invisible hand of Big Brother is getting involved. Many of you will have read about manipulation of the gold price, and heard that there is a deliberate conspiracy to suppress the price of gold.

Every time I hear the words ‘manipulation’ or ‘conspiracy’, my every instinct screams ‘No’. There must be a less Machiavellian solution – most conspiracy theories are poorly researched and facile. But several people have done excellent research into this one, including James Turk of Goldmoney, the people at GATA and Paul Mylchreest in his Cheuvreux-Credit Agricole Report.

Why would anyone want to manipulate the gold price? Well, despite the fact that it is of barely any industrial use, gold is a highly political metal and a runaway gold price – which, by the way, we will eventually see, I am sure – tells you ‘something is rotten in the state of Denmark’. If people are rushing to buy gold, it shows they do not trust the ability of the government to maintain the value of paper currency. So the aim of the manipulators, the theory goes, is to devalue gold and preserve the status of unbacked government currencies such as the dollar.

One reason for the theory is that there is more gold and silver sold on the Comex than is actually possible to deliver. In the case of silver, more is sold than is actually mined on an annual basis.

And certainly, the remarkable trading pattern of the London PM and AM fix adds more weight to the theory that the West is selling gold during Comex opening hours, possibly to suppress the price.

On the other hand, of course, we have Occam’s Razor – lex parsimoniae. This is the principle that the simplest solution is the best. So rather than resorting to some mass conspiracy theory, could the answer simply be that Asians are buying gold and Westerners are selling just because Asians like, value and appreciate gold more than we do?

Whatever the reason for this price pattern, this transfer of gold from West to East is yet another demonstration, if you needed it, of the generational shift in wealth and power that is taking place. After all, they say that ‘he who owns the gold makes the rules’.

Perhaps the 'powers that be' are manipulating the price of gold.

Obama's Pals.

For years the existence of the Bilderberg group was denied as the product of conspiracy theorists' imaginations. Eventually the group did declare itself publicly but claimed to be just an informal grouping of powerful politicians, and financiers, meeting occasionally to discuss current affairs away from the glare of publicity.

Mandelson, Kenneth Clarke, Dennis Healey and many other British politicians have been, certainly are, members of the group. So are they the sinister clandestine powerhouse behind 'The New World Order'? Or are they just a benign group of polticos offering mutual support? Who knows?

Whatever your view this article from the Alex Jones website Infowars is worth a read.

It might infuriate you, it might make you laugh. On the other hand you might just find something out that gets you thinking about world events in a different light.

What Is Abuse?

On Tuesday Mark Wadsworth blogged about misleading headlines in relation to alcohol abuse. Today I came across this ridiculous 'study' by a team at University College London:

Majority of carers 'abusive'

More than half of carers looking after a relative with dementia have been abusive towards them, a study found.

Experts from University College London questioned 220 carers looking after people with dementia at home for a study in the British Medical Journal.

Of these, 52% of carers had been abusive in some way, with 34% reporting significant levels of abuse such as swearing often or being insulting.

Forgive me but the headline suggests physical abuse, locking people in cupboards under the stairs and more. What they actually mean is occasionally carers, quite understandably, swear or mildly insult the person they care for, probably from sheer exasperation and frustration. Big deal.

The problem now is that unprincipled charities will use the study to beg for more cash to break the relationship between loved ones, one of whom is seriously ill, in order to bring in 'professional' carers and thus expand their own empires.

Police State Further Tightening Its Grip

Here, yet again, plod seems to set out to further undermine our trust in the authorities.

OK the Tory MP admits he should never have handed over the letter, which shows a degree of trust in the police that is seriously misguided and naive. The Speaker, like a true stooge commented:

"at no time did the officer exercise any compulsory powers" and that this was "not a matter that required a search warrant".

You may be right Mr Speaker, but the excellent relationship between the police and the public has always depended on a great deal of trust. Ten years or more of authoritarian statism has destroyed that, even the politicians in the House of Commons now live in fear of the police state.

Perhaps if Mr Speaker occasionally came into contact with real people he would appreciate how his colleagues have destroyed the peoples' trust in the police, let alone our trust in the other institutions of the state.

Scottish Cash

A Tory dimwit is putting forward a bill to FORCE English shopkeepers to accept Scottish money.

Yet another example of authoritarian Tories trying to remove choice.

If the Scots want independence let them have it, I don't wish to cling on to days gone and as an Englishman I am sick of whinging Celts mithering, and that includes the Welsh and all the nutters in Ulster!

Let the English vote and I'm convinced that day by day, an ever increasing majority would happily cut ties with the 'Celtic Whinge'.

Deluded People and Conmen

I cannot get excited about what is happening in Washington today. The US election was like some sort of second rate reality TV show, 'Who's Got the Pres Factor?' or something similar.

What really worries me is that all he seems to have been elected for was being 'black', although his white momma might have something to say there, and for constantly gobbing off about the need for 'change'. What concerns me is that nobody in the States seems to have asked what that change actually is.

What about the overt racism? The hysterical assumption throughout the world, not just in the USA, that because he is black he is good and will be a great president. Why?

Finally on Obama, if Bono is over there grovelling and crawling then he must be a complete shit! I would go so far as to say that Obama is as big a conman as Bono, but more scary considering his position.

Step forward the next international conman in the news today, Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the owner of Manchester City Football Club. He did a great 'Obama' on the football world. Poor deluded City fans fell for the waffle, yet again, that they were about to become the richest and therefore best football club in the world. After all they were buying Brazilian genius Kaka for an obscene £100,000,000 weren't they? But what they got instead was Craig Bellamy, a £12,000,000 Welsh misfit.

Still the great Sheikh bought them the £32,000,000 genius Robinho didn't he? Except it is reported today that Robinho has thrown a tantrum and run off to Brazil.

You can fool some of the people some of the time, you can't fool all of the people all of the time.

But then there are Yanks and Manchester City fans.............

Holidays

We should have been off to Europe next week for one of our regular breaks, but with the state of the pound we decided it's too expensive at the moment to bother. So here are the words to Majorca by John Cooper Clarke, a poem about package holidays.

m a j o r c a


fasten your seatbelts says a voice
inside the plane you can't hear no noise
engines made by rolls royce
take your choice
...make mine majorca

check out the parachutes
can't be found
alert those passengers
they'll be drowned
a friendly mug says "settle down"
when i came round i was gagged and bound
...for Majorca


and the eyes caress
the neat hostess
her unapproachable flip finesse
i found the meaning of the word excess
they've got little bags if you wanna make a mess
i fancied Cuba but it cost me less
...to majorca


(Whose blonde sand gently caresses the cool blue lips of the mediterranean)

they packed us into the white hotel
you could still smell the polycell
wet white paint in the air-conditioned cells
the waiter smelled of fake chanel
gaulois... garlic as well
says if i like... i can call him "mig u el"
...well really


i got drunk with another fella
who'd just brought up a previous paella
he wanted a fight but said they were yella'
...in Majorca


the guitars rang and the castinets clicked
the double diamond flowed like sick
mother's pride, tortilla and chips
pneumatic drills when you try to kip
...in majorca


a stomach infection put me in the shade
should have joined the international brigade
'cause the fascists won and by christ i paid
...in majorca

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

LYRICS © JOHN COOPER CLARKE

A Bishop I Won't Be Bashing!

A heartfelt thanks to Bishop of Lancaster the Reverend Patrick O'Donoghue.

Some time ago he warned the Catholic Caring Services in the diocese that if they complied with the government's authoritarian 'Sexual Orientation Regulations' they would no longer be recognised by the diocese. That has now happened. Here is a short piece on it.

It seems that in this age of tolerance and respect for other cultures and lifestyles, that toleration doesn't extend to Roman Catholics, indeed Christians of any church. Why couldn't the government just allow Catholic agencies to quietly point gay couples in the direction of agencies that allow adoption by same-sex couples? Because that would involve tolerating people with other views and beliefs, and that is only allowed if they do not contravene current orthodoxy. Another word that could be used is hypocrisy.

Well done Bishop Patrick for sticking by our faith, showing backbone and moral leadership. You will be missed when you retire in May.

Britain Is Homophobic!

Yet another useless study by a so-called 'academic' has been published. Here is a link to the Torygraph report.

Here is Dr Jones's brief summary of his findings:

Dr Pete Jones, who led the research, said: "Without detracting from the seriousness of the prejudice that still exists against people because of their ethnic origin, the results of our study suggest that being gay or lesbian could be 'the new black' when it comes to being a victim of prejudice.

Well yippidee Doc, I could have told you that without spending months, if not years, doing pointless research. But this next quote from the article is much more telling:

The study found that while seven per cent of volunteers were "strongly" anti-gay, 35 per cent had underlying prejudices against homosexual men and 41 per cent against homosexual women.

If 7% of people are "strongly anti-gay" then by their reckoning less than 7% of the population could be "strongly racist". As ever, when the PC brigade gets disappointing results that fail to prove theier case they then try and claim that, 30% (or whatever) show underlying racism/homophobia or whatever else they want to prove British society guilty of. 'Underlying' means, to them, that there's no evidence at all so we are probably hiding it very well, and are guilty as charged regardless.

Personally I am pleasantly surprised by the figures. To hear the Trevor Phillips and Peter Tatchell's of this world we are one step away from a nation about to introduce apartheid to protect us from other races and sexualities. Obviously not.

I am more convinced than ever that the figures would be even lower without the hysteria of the race relations/equality/divesity industry pissing people off.

Too Honest To Give Evidence

I was awake early this morning and saw this story on a TV news bulletin. At first I thought it must have been April 1st, then I nodded off again. When I awoke a second time I thought I'd had a bizarre dream, but no it actually happened.

I'm no 'legal eagle' but isn't the point of a trial to give the jury enough information to decide who is innocent and who is guilty? Which means, inevitably, that jurors are swayed one way by honest, upstanding citizens, the other way by lying little scroats. Evidently not.

Jonathan Ross

Great news, Jonafan Woss is back on 23 January. OK he was a prat but I have missed his chat show. But I suppose that's the puritan age in which we live.

Here is the line up for his first show back.

The Farce Continues

Shock, horror: Prince Charles refers to an Asian friend as "Sooty". Off with his head.


The hysteria around Princes Charles and Harry really does show what a sad state of affairs British society is in. If anybody is so delicate as to be mortified upon hearing the words "Sooty" or "Paki", whatever the context, then they really shouldn't get out of bed in the mornings.

On 'Leaving' UKIP

I never actually left UKIP I am still, for good or ill, a member. Indeed this post will be very brief because I am off to meet a UKIP stalwart for lunch and am still in contact with many decent members of UKIP.

What I did was to stand down as number one on the list in the North West for June's European elections and resign as regional organiser. I had seen too many people leave the party before me who then sat on the sideines griping, I would just walk away and that would be an end of it, no griping.

But there is a clique in UKIP now with a gang mentality, if you leave they lie and spin against you to show that you are wrong rather than their little gang. They know who they are and in due course I will be talking more about them.

This campaign against me has happened in the last few months and I am preparing a full response to the smears. But until I do respond in full this fellow has enough about the current state of play regarding my departure, and other worrying developments in UKIP, to suffice.

Another Data Loss

If you still trust the authorities with any of your information then you must be mad. Read this and see if you change your mind.

It like drives me mad!

Why have people suddenly started abusing the word 'like'?

I don't think I'm a fuddy-duddy old fart, not just yet, and I accept that language evolves, if it didn't we would still all be grunting like cavemen or speaking some form of Saxon or Norman French. But occasionally evolution becomes corruption. The abuse of 'like' is as maddening as that annoying upward inflection at the end of sentences that makes the user sound like he is asking a question with every sentence, I think it came over here with Aussie soap operas, I suspect the abuse of 'like' came from the United States.

Now, when I was at school 'like' was verb, a 'doing' word: I like, you like, he/she/it likes and so on. It was also a preposition as in "the EU is like 1984 come true". There is also the combination form such as "there was a blood-like substance on the carving knife".

But suddenly we get: "I was like driving this like BMW last week". STOP NOW!

Were you driving or doing something similar? Was it a BMW or a similar car? The person was actually driving a BMW so what was the point of the completely redundant 'likes'?

STOP IT NOW!

George Galloway and Gazza

Left; the famous Gazza strip (England not Spurs).

With all the furore about Paul Gascoigne's deteriorating health due to alcohol problems, it is good to know that the latter day St Jude (George Galloway) is organising national support for our ex-footballing hero, including a national rally:

Gazza: A Message of Support from George Galloway, Respect MP

(Surely that should be Gaza? Ed.).

New Labour New Hamas

I've found the last week or two very strange. Young Miliband and the New Labour government desperately calling on Israel to cease fire in its defensive action against Hamas. Strange, unless there is even worse media bias than I thought, that they weren't quite so vociferous in their condemnation of Hamas when launching rockets into Israel for the last few years, the Egyptian government was more vociferous in its condemnation.

But then I thought about it, and our government's action in Iraq is the moral eqivalent of Hamas's actions against Israel in recent years, a pointless aggression that had nothing to dowith defence. Also, in 1970s socialist style the New Labour government daren't be seen to be too supportive of Israel, it might upset the left-wing anti-Semites/anti-capitalists.

The Middle East really does create strange bedfellows. Here is a neo-Nazi blog called Final Conflict. Here is the website of the Workers' Revolutionary Party. Similar in so many ways, the main two being anti-democratic and anti-Semitic.

Shite Street

We all think our local council is the worst in the country, but Lewes District Council takes some beating. They have popped up before in some bizarre context and now, here they are again, this time renaming politically incorrect streets.

And, as ever, they are streets that couldn't offend a single soul but some useless bureaucrat probably spent weeks searching for something that could, just about, possibly might, just offend if you were the ultra-hyper sensitive type who should be in care anyway to protect you from yourself.

Strange enough talking to my niece and nephew this weekend, who have yet to be introduced to the joys of Steptoe and Son, we laughed at their address which was Oil Drum Lane, Shepherd's Bush. Now Lewes would change the stret name because it conjures up aestetically unpleasing images and Shepherd's Bush for.....well think about it!