Sport! Who needs it?

By scrubber | Published: June 28, 2010

I hadn’t intended to write about football today, of all days. Frankly, I’d rather forget the appalling display I and about 20 million other people in the UK witnessed yesterday, but it’s hard to avoid. I’m really a rugby man, and I’d be quite happy to go back to reading the humourous texts flooding into my Nokia about the England team. However…

I think I’ll leave it to the LA Times to say what I think. The article’s worth a read, but this section sums it up for me:

    “The sad truth of the matter is that England’s players, with few exceptions, are an arrogant, ignorant and unpleasant lot. They are paid far too much by their Premier League clubs, where their true allegiance lies, and their ability individually and collectively in an England shirt does not match their swagger.

    It is not too much to say that the worthless and nationalistic English tabloids are reflected in the English team. It’s all about drinking, drugs, womanizing, gambling, fast cars and slow minds. Little England written large.”

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Posted in Education, Olympics, Sport | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Andrew Neal ambushes Diane Abbott

By scrubber | Published: June 25, 2010

I happened to catch This Week last night on the Beeb, and noticed that Diane Abbott had re-appeared next to Michael Portillo on the sofa. She’s been off campaigning for the Labour leadership, apparently.

Speaking personally, I have no major feelings either way on her, or her chances of winning the leadership. Frankly, I don’t care much either, except inasmuch as if either she or the dreadful Ed Balls wins, Labour will be lucky to ever see power again, which is a good thing. I have, however, not a lot of respect for her, believing her to be both a champagne socialist and a hypocrite.
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Posted in Ed Balls, MPs Expenses, New Labour, Parliament, Taxpayers' Money | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Woman not allowed to take dog on bus on religious grounds

By DiamondGeezer | Published: June 25, 2010

Instalment number two of ‘The World’s Gone Mad’ is this example, again from the Telegraph.

Judith Woods has twice in the last week been refused access to a bus because she wanted to take a dog with her. As far as my experience goes, you’re always allowed to take dogs on buses, unless they’re particularly poorly behaved, or wet and dirty. Or indeed if the bus company itself has a non-dog policy.

In both of these instances, however, she was refused access on religious grounds.
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Posted in Broken Britain, Legal lunacy, Nanny State | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

British Airways ban adult male from sitting next to unaccompanied minor

By DiamondGeezer | Published: June 25, 2010

Today’s (first) example of the world having gone totally insane is brought to us by the Telegraph.

Hedge fund manager Mirko Fischer was on a plane from London to Luxembourg, when he swapped seats with his pregnant wife so that she could be by the window. BA staff then stepped in and told him that he couldn’t, as company policy does not allow adult males to sit next to unaccompanied minors. Read more...»

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Posted in Broken Britain, Health and Safety madness, Legal lunacy, Nanny State | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Three cheers for Theresa Villiers!

By scrubber | Published: May 21, 2010

Hat-tip to Daniel Hannan for this one:

From Dan’s blog:

“The excellent Theresa Villiers has given her first executive order as a minister: she wants the EU flag removed from her department.

In the Yes, Minister world which she and several dozen colleagues have just entered, civil servants will often seek to frustrate or dilute any instructions of which they disapprove – especially if those instructions are Euro-sceptic. So it’s as well to start as you intend to go on, with a clear, measurable order whose implementation can’t be fudged.”

Well done, the new Minister of State for Transport! It may be a small thing, it may be no more than a gesture, but it’s a start.

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Posted in European Union, Uncategorized | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Will John Bercow get his comeuppance?

By scrubber | Published: May 18, 2010

The new Parliament sits for the first time today. The first job will be to confirm, or otherwise, John Bercow’s continuing role as the Speaker. The motion proposing this traditional vote, will be laid before the House by Sir Peter Tapsell, the new Father of the House at around 14:30. The members all shout “Aye” or “No”, and normally it’s a done deal, there are no contrary shouts. This time is different… If enough members shout ‘No’, it will force a division at which votes will need to be counted, and the role of John Bercow as Speaker hangs in the balance. In fact, “enough members” is just one, but Tapsell could choose to ignore the “Noes” if they are too timid or too few. If they are loud and numerous, that luxury will be denied him.

John Bercow was controversially elected last June as Speaker by the universal support of Labour MPs, and only a tiny handful of Conservatives. The actual figures were 322 to 271, with the admirable Sir George Younger being the losing candidate. After Bercow’s election, which was in the face of much covert and overt opposition from the Conservatives and many others, a Labour whip famously remarked that it was done to ’stick it to the Tories’.
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Posted in MPs Expenses, New Labour, Parliament, Uncategorized | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Gordon Brown’s new job.

By scrubber | Published: May 12, 2010

He didn’t hang about finding his true role in life…

gordon-brown

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Posted in Gordon Brown | Tagged | 1 Comment

Will Ed Balls have his “Portillo moment”?

By scrubber | Published: May 6, 2010

I stayed up, as I intend to again tonight, watching the election results in 1997. I saw Michael Portillo lose his seat to the odious, and so far ineffective Stephen Twigg. He lost his seat with dignity and honour, and has gone on to better things.

He has written of the experience, and of life since in today’s Guardian, and has offered Balls some advice he would be well advised to heed.

As we reported yesterday, the Sunlight Centre has produced a little infomercial about Mr. Balls, and if you haven’t seen it, then I recommend you do. The contrast with his Tory opponent Antony Calvert in Morley and Outwood could hardly be greater.

Ed Balls has a notional majority of 9,000 in the newly-created Morley & Outwood constituency. Notional is the right word, the seat was created after boundary changes, and in local council elections over the last 2 years Labour has polled badly, even coming fourth on occasion.
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Posted in Ed Balls, General Election, MPs Expenses, New Labour | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Lisbon Treaty; will it need re-ratification?

By lsb | Published: May 6, 2010

My thanks to Fausty’s Libertarian Blog for reminding me of this issue, and providing a link to this youtube video:

Almost a month ago I wrote this sceptical article based on one of Daniel Hannan’s blogs. Two things have changed since then. Firstly, we have the crisis in Greece having reached serious proportions, and secondly this is polling day.
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Posted in David Cameron, European Union, General Election, Lisbon Treaty | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Voting at 16? Good idea, bad idea or Trojan Horse?

By scrubber | Published: May 6, 2010

Both Labour and the Lib Dems have said that they favour lowering the voting age to 16. Why would they do that, I wonder, and is it a good idea?

My father used to say to me: “There is nothing in socialism that a little age or a little money will not cure”, but it was years later that I realised that it was actually a quote by William J. Durant, an American writer, historian, and philosopher.

He has a point, though, and this, I suspect, is at the back of the new-found zeal amongst the left for lowering the voting age. As I expect this election to show, each of these parties, for different reasons, has realised that they will be needing the votes of our impressionable youth in order to form a Government, and to help them remain in power for ever.

Anyone who has had any dealings with 16/17 year olds – and let’s face it, we’re all one at one stage in our lives – is terrified at the idea of allowing them a say in our electoral process. I’ll come clean here, I wish it were still 21; 18 year-olds are barely mature or responsible enough, and 16 year-olds not at all. Socialists must know this, so the only reasons they can have for wanting the age lowered are purely selfish ones.
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Posted in General Election, Gordon Brown, Ministerial incompetence, Nanny State, New Labour, Nick Clegg, Parliament | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment