14 November 2010
So Much, So Quick..
Such a lot of things have happened in the last month or so since the last posting. Think we will need to do quite a in-depth posting when I get back from the gym.
One thing is for sure, nothing will ever be the same now.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
4 October 2010
Mellow Monday
Now heading home, get some FIFA action in before some five-a-side this evening!
Excellent!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
26 September 2010
Starting Afresh
It has been a long time since I last posted on here. A lot of things some good, some not so good have happened in my life - however we are trying to move on as quickly and as easily for everyone concerned.
In keeping with this chain of thought - I am considering closing this particular blog - and starting anew with a much more fresher and in keeping with my thoughts - more positive blog with more random and eclectic thoughts - instead of being fixed on pretty dour and boring topics of choice.
Hmmm. That's what I'll do....
Bob Bob - Posted on the iPhone using Blogpress.
13 August 2010
Getting Through The Tunnel
Quick post this evening - have had a bad day today to be honest - perhaps it's to be expected. I have had quite a good run in recent weeks without feeling down and fed up.
It is too much to expect probably for me to be constantly smiling and looking like I am on permanent Duracell batteries - but it would be good that I have a good reason to be down instead of just being down for the sake of being down.
Off to bed,
Night, Night.
- Posted Straight From The iPhone...
12 August 2010
Questioning Yourself...
Do you wonder whether the best time yo answer questions to yourself, regarding your life, future and past is when you're recovering from a heavy night?
Last few times the following day after a heavy night - I have had an hour or so when I have had time to myself to think about the previous few days and to try to plan out some form of plan of action to work towards in the coming days and weeks - whether that is from a professional point of view or personally.
I do think that it could be beneficial to use one's vulnerablilty that we have after a night on the sauce - it allows you to be so far more critical of yourself as none of your nervous defensives are up in the aftermath of a piss-up.
- Posted Straight From The iPhone...
7 August 2010
Critical Friends...
On my way to meeting a friend for lunch - and am wondering whether or not the best friends are those who will say what they think regardless of whether or not you would agree or not with it.
Had what turned out to be a friendship ending conversation with someone on Facebook this past week - and the crux of the argument was that she was not happy about the fact that myself amongst others did not stand up for her regarding criticism from other members of our team whilst she was unwell prior to her birth of her first baby.
Now, i know full well what is bullying and what isn't. She gathered from a disaffected former employee of where we all work that she had been bad-mouthed about, was tantamount to bullying.
It wasn't. It was people voicing their opinion.
I told her to grow a pair.
She didn't like that and has now removed me from her friends list on Facebook.
Cheers, thanks for reminding me that my friends list is in need of a mass cull.
- Posted Straight From The iPhone...
28 July 2010
Thatcher's Children...
I see that the Home Secretary, Theresa May has announced that she would like to see the end of the much heralded ASBOs - on the basis that they are not working - and is wanting to combat thuggery and disorder by getting communities to work close together. Ah very conservative.
This idea that those communities who are in some of the worst parts of the country, should be encouraged to in effect police their estates is utterly laughable. Such communities have been cowering to the scum of this country for decades - probably since Thatcher's regime was in control. Thatcher's Children? Apt that.
By removing ASBOs, surely the government is encourgaing the lunatic fringe in each town to go about and shooting down thugs and criminals. Fucking make South Central look tame by comparison.
Utter Madness.
- Posted Straight From The iPhone...
25 July 2010
Old Fashioned Ideas?
I've just listened to an intriguing and entertaining interview with the Spurs manager, Harry Redknapp. In it he says that the problem with the England team, stems from the fact that we have lost our old fashioned methods of playing the beautiful game from a young age.
And I can see his point, completely. Back in the day, I remember playing Footy in the street, especially in the summer months till 9 or 10pm most evenings. Now, some 20 or so years later, those places are getting more and more reduced. Dare I say, outside Rooney and Gerrard, I am thinking hard of the last player of relevance that came from a working-class background outside of those two.
Perhaps we need to get back to those roots instead of continuing to go down this dark hole of nothingness.
- Posted Straight From The iPhone...
18 July 2010
Slaughter Of The Innocents...
Evening all,
One thing that did not come across as much as the massive levels of cuts that were being proposed in the emergency budget is the way that it is going to affect the most vulnerable members of our society. Of course, these include those who are unemployed and the disabled. It is the case sadly, that you are more likely to be one of the former if you come from the poorest areas of the country, particularly in these times of austerity that we are in.
No surprise, however as in previous Conservative administrations, (and before you start, do you genuinely think the Limp Dems have any power, then you are a fucking twat – that’s why I am a Labour party member now) – it has been the least represented in society who have been forced to take it up the jacksie when it has come to cuts. Whether that is cuts in public sector workers, or cuts in school buildings, hospitals or the Police, it will always be those members of society who rely on the essential services who will suffer.
As always.
Of all the measures in that emergency budget that has undermined the government's bare-faced claim to "fairness", the paring of unemployment benefit has to be the meanest cut of all. Jobseeker's allowance, to which unknowable crowds of people will be condemned if George Osborne's 25% public expenditure cuts are implemented, is already a pittance, impossible to live on.
People who have lost their jobs are shocked, when forced to sign on, to discover they are expected to eat, pay their bills, clothe themselves and get around – including for job interviews – on just £64.45 a week if they are over 25. For those under 25, weekly subsistence must be attained on just £51.85.
And there is this somewhat twisted idea, that some people who go on the dole have some form of wonderful lifestyle. Where the fuck do you get a cushy lifestyle on SIXTY QUID a week! Just wait until the gas and electric companies put up their charges by 30-40% this winter, which they will do and we shall see people starving and freezing in their homes and then those cunts in government and their traitorous friends propping them up can chuckle at the very same people whom they said that they would utmost protect dying in the cold this winter. Probably joining Ivan in hell.
Osborne's announcement that the rate at which benefits rise will decrease, by linking them to the consumer price index (CPI) rather than, as currently, the retail prices index (RPI), was actually set out by the Treasury under the heading "Fairness".
Talking about Fairness, what’s fucking fair about those who are under 25 to be getting less benefit? It’s been the case for fucking years, long before I had to take up the benefit. There is legislation to ensure that people don't get unfairly treated because of their age at work, so why is it acceptable for the government to deem young adults to be second class citizens? So much for Fairness.
Of course what would be fair is this, all Call Me Dave has to do is go to the banks they handed £1.2 TRILLION to and say WE WANT OUT MONEY BACK. If the banks go bankrupt, tough fucking shit, cuntflaps. The post office can easily take over from them for mortgages, loans, savings etc and the government can lower taxes for the workers when they make money from the interest on loans and mortgages that they have seized from the banks.
But of course, they are not going to do that to their friends. With the sheer level of cuts that are being proposed, and that sadistic misuse of the word "fair", the always ludicrous claim by Osborne and David Cameron, sons, both, of multimillionaires, that "we are all in this together", has irretrievably fallen away.
It is going to be an long, cold winter...
17 July 2010
Save My Club...
Evening all,
Liverpool Football Club is in serious and dire trouble.
That has been known to anyone and everyone who has known the situation at the club over the past 18 months or so, which is slowly but surely coming to some form of grand crescendo as we speak.
It is for this reason, that several organisation including the SoS (Spirit of Shankly) movement have been formed in recent times, to not just fight off the owners who are in our midst at the moment, but to prevent anything like this ever again happening at the club.
There has been a website set up for all forms of ideas as well as information regarding the current plight of my beloved Reds at http://www.savelfc.org/
14 July 2010
Raoul Moat – The Aftermath...
Evening all,
In the light of the death of Raoul Moat early Saturday Morning, one cannot help but be staggered by the sheer number of messages of sympathy and support that him and his family have go from well-wishers and strangers.
Let’s be fair, sympathy and admiration aren't emotions you'd expect to be engendered by a man who shot his ex-girlfriend, killed her boyfriend, maimed a policeman for life, and had a history of assaulting previous girlfriends.
But sympathy and admiration are, it seems, what a lot of people feel for Raoul Moat. By late yesterday, over 15,000 people had registered their "like" of a Facebook site called R.I.P RAOUL MOAT YOU LEGEND! [♥], and the numbers continue to climb even though (or possibly because) the Prime Minister has come out this afternoon to condemn this. As we write, that figure is now over 30,000. Perhaps that has some legs...
On the one hand, are those who bizarrely blamed the entire fiasco on women, from his girlfriend to women in public service: "At his court appearance they would have handcuffed him to a 'policewoman' to prove a point," suggested one. "If there had been any police 'women' armed with guns he should have opened fire on them and taken one down with him. Women are the problem today." Twisted indeed...
But many thought he might be mentally ill: "Poor Man. He obviously had a problem, what I don't know, but I just think he desperately needed help and didn't know it," wrote one reader of the Daily Mail website. "I don't think this guy is evil or a bad person i think he made a huge mistake . . . Everyone makes mistakes," wrote another. Hmmm. Perhaps.
While repulsed by what Moat had done, there were people were also impressed that he had managed to elude such a huge operation for an entire week. "I don't agree with wat [sic] he done but he did have his reasons, the lad is a legend in my book – he out ran and out smarted the police for over a week."
While in some eyes, that created a kind of twisted glory – "enuff respect my man . . . your da best soldier 2ever cum outa da north" – criminologist David Wilson's glib and patronising assessment, to Sky News, that Moat had tapped into "that dispossessed, white working-class, masculine mentality" and become a "kind of anti-hero" might also have a certain ring of truth in it. The Daily Mail has described it as some form of
And then there are those like myself who felt nothing but pure and utter revulsion at the 24-hour news coverage and size of the police hunt. Broadcasting the comments from his mum was completely irresponsible – and as for the news conference where he was described as a "nutter"...
Perhaps the tide is turning against the 24-hour news lust for a story by any means. This might be the start of people standing up and thinking for themselves.
Night, Night.
2 July 2010
Blatant Cheating..
That was an extraordinary game in Jo'burg this evening, ruined by a shocking act of football vandalism by Ajax's Luis Suàrez.
Fucking dreadful handball. Thinking that perhaps something like a penalty goal should be thought about for episodes like this along similar lines as Rugby's penalty try.
But that'll be too much common sense for FIFA...
- Posted Straight From The iPhone...
What If The Electoral Gamble Goes To The Shitter...
Evening all,
So it looks as though we are going to get that much vaunted referendum on electoral reform – and the alternative vote (AV) model – and much earlier that we all thought it would be, with Mr Clegg having been able to persuade Call Me Dave to go for 6th May 2011, as reported by the media this morning.
If this was easy it would have been done by now, but voters inconsiderately insist on getting on with their own lives and moving jobs/homes without regard to constituency boundaries. The more they move from city to suburb and beyond, the more Conservative votes pile up to no additional purpose – and ditto with the lorry loads of Labour votes stored in the urban areas of deprivation.
And there is the serious possibility that Clegg loses the vote.
If Clegg were to lose his referendum, he would be put in a situation where overnight, massive party management problems among his MPs and activists could cause an implosion not just within the Parliamentary party but to the coalition – and at a time when the Lib-Con cuts would be biting deep into public services and jobs. Many activists have already jumped ship and joined myself with Labour.
Worse still, even if he was to win, Cameron might be able to hold the promised 2015 election under FPTP and the current boundaries.
If we are locked in deepening economic crisis – and we may well be – it may all look a bit frivolous, as the AV deal offered by the Labour minority administration to Lloyd George's Liberals did in 1931.
It's all a gamble, as life so often is.
And it can be argued that he already taken the biggest gamble of all. Jumping into the same dirty bed as Cameron.
Beautiful.
1 July 2010
Coping With My Depression...
As I lie down naked on my bed, sprawed all out and sundry, I am suffering one of my all recurring depressive moments. They can come about at just about any time, with or more likely without reason and can keep me down for minutes or days or even weeks.
This time it is in the aftermath of a spat between myself and mother dear - and it's all my fault. I was looking for one of my much adored AllSaints tops (it's the one with the Houston, Touchdown tagline, for those of you into fashion!) and mother dear (bless her) had been constantly telling me that it was downstairs, but of course - yours truly doesn't believe that for one minute and so wants it back in his drawers for future wearage.
Inevitably, mother sees the mess that I leave her room (that's where my wardrobe is) and quite rightly kicks off about it.
It is a typical reason for a row, and normally it can escalate to something else, but this evening I cannot be asked - the weekend is coming and it's gonna be fun and games down
the beach with some of the guys, so I cannot be asked to take up the baton and mouth off.
Getting back to the point of the blog this evening, as readers would have realised from previous postings, I have suffered from depression for about 14 years - predominantly due to some pretty traumatic experiences as a child, which I will not go into right now, because to do that I would need to be in a dark place psychologically and I'm not there at the moment and don't want to go there because that would take a few days to get away from that state of mind.
At first, I found dealing with my depression extremely hard, if not impossible - the counselling sessions I had both at school and particularly back home in the aftermath of Dad leaving Mum was not that great - as it made me have to go and trough through all the shit that had been thrown down on me.
I admit there was times when I was very worried and concerned for my own welfare - in the immediate days after having my birthday money stolen from me by a Crack-Head on a training course just before my 18th birthday, I will admit, the thought of suicide truly did seem like the logical and only plausible option available to me - something that reared it head twice since - the days after Dad left home, and about 3 and a half years later, when I left a Christmas job at Argos and everyone I knew was working but I wasn't and it felt like I was going nowhere.
As time has moved on however, I have been able to deal with it in small and manageable doses. In some aspects it can be a good thing, in getting me off a massive high after a night off.
Having the support of my family (when they themselves are not down there themselves) but more pertinently my friends at work and elsewhere has been invaluable. You cannot deal with depression on your own. I tried for six years, and my sheer stubbornness almost cost me my life. Only with those around you can you deal with it - and work, live and play around it.
End of essay!
Night, Night!!
- Posted Straight From The iPhone...
27 June 2010
The End Of The Party...
With the exit of England out of the World Cup, and the inevitable media and social meltdown in full flow - I am getting the feeling that this moment signifies a end of an era. A time for reflection and a moment to think about what does lie ahead for this country.
Whether we want to admit to it or not, the time for spending, partying and generally not having a care in the world is coming to an shuddering halt. This country has a debt mountain which needs to be curbed and curbed immediately. There is a certain part of the social spectrum who have been spending and spending for probably the best part of a decade.
I should know, I'm one of them!
Now, might be a good time to start thinking about how the fuck we are going to individually get ourselves out of the massive shitheap that we, aided and abetted by the financial institutions - have got ourselves into.
The next few years are going to be long, parlour and fucking painful.
Still, the Olympics are just over two years from now, any excuse to start saving!
Night, Night!
- Posted Straight From The iPhone...
20 Years In The Making...
This embarrassment has been some years in the making - and the reasons behind it have been staring right in our faces for the same period of time.
For as long as I can remember, players in this country have been taught mainly one way to play, that way is to get the ball out of danger by any way and means possible - ala Route One, Crazy Gang style. We put so much pressure on kids when they first play to just win the game that the basics of technique and getting enjoyment out of playing football are forgotten.
Why is it that the likes of Rooney, Lampard, Gerrard and Barry are all at sea when they play for England - its because the tactically and gifted players that they play with in the Premiership are probably playing for England's opposition.
Until, we change the emphasis to technique for our youngsters, and allow them to express themselves in the way that they want to instead of being shackled, we are not going to get anyway from a international football point of view.
A kid sees one of his heroes doing a fancy step over on the TV and tries to replicate it on the pitch and is immediately told to play the percentage ball, there is one of the fundamental problems. We have to allow them to have the freedom to play how they want, develop their own skills and the tactical side of the game can be developed later when they are playing proper football.
The FA was supposed to be having a 'root and branch review' into youth football, and that was to include a Clairefontaine style National Academy at Burton-upon-Trent but they cancelled that when Wembley came in over budget. Today is the culmination of 20 years of mismanagement.
Money, like everything in our dirty, corrupt game, rules.
26 June 2010
Out Of Date...
As I have mentioned on twitter, of which feed you can see on the right hand side of the page here, I am getting increasingly agitated and concerned at the ever continuing barracking of our German opponents ahead of the game in Bloemfontein tomorrow afternoon. The front pages of both the Mirror and the S*n shows three lions being overlooked by a bus carrying the German squad, the idea being that the German team faces being mauled by their English counterparts.
The very idea of the England team being able to even consider mauling a dilapidated doll prior to the Slovenia game would have caused much laughter amongst our beloved Fourth estate.
Of course it is not the first time the media have tried to belittle our German friends - and it probably won't be the last.
But surely you would have expected them to have learnt from past mistakes...
- Posted Straight From The iPhone...
24 June 2010
It's The Old Foe...
So we are some 65 hours away from the biggest match for English football since the last biggest match. Of course, the fact that it is our cuddly friends that gave you Vorspung Dus Technik probably makes the situation slightly easier for Capello's boys than say Ghana - on the premise that any game against Germany is automatically going to gee the players up 10 times more than a match against the Black Stars.
Inevitably, everything that has been written by the rags in the previous 96 hours before yesterday's afternoon game has been forgotten - England's Brave John Terry is being seen as some kind of hero by the media - yep, the same media who was ridiculing him some 24 hours beforehand. Wonderful.
I do wonder just how far England are going to go in this tournament - Germany are not the experienced team that they have been in previous tournament - perhaps with the likes of Ozil, Khedira and Schweinsteiger they may play without fear. That could be exactly what England would like - playing on Germany's lack of experience - they could quite easily beat them.
- Posted Straight From The iPhone...
21 June 2010
Going Into Labour
I have just completed my online form to become a member of the Labour Party.
I have wanted to spend some time thinking since the election about what sort of action I could take to show my disgust at the Liberal Democrats' jumping into bed with the fucking Tories.
That could not go without a response, in fact in the preceding 48 hours after the coalition came into being, some 4,000 Lib Dem supporters changed their allegiance to Labour.
Big business needs to be given a bloody nose in the aftermath of the madness of the credit crunch, which those bastards in the City initiated in their own selfish manner.
The Tories are the party of privilege and of the aristocracy. They need to be bought to account.
Whoever becomes Labour leader needs to do that.
- Posted Straight From The iPhone...
Delusional...
Morning,
I have about twenty minutes to get my thoughts down this morning prior to going out on my bike for the morning prior to the Portugal/DPR Korea showdown at lunchtime. However I have to yet again use my blog to air my latest musings about the on-going comedy down in Rustenburg.
This morning, it seems that the media are split down the middle regarding what the fuck is going on in regards of the players’ rebellion against Signor Capello. They are either praising Terry for having the balls to say what he said in that press conference yesterday, or accusing him of all out treachery. Not the first time he’s been accused of that now...
This whole Terry incident is a complete farce. Who does he think he is? I read somewhere he was quoted as saying 'I was born to do this' (i.e. speak his mind and lead his men). Doesn't he give a fucking fuck about undermining the captain (Gerrard), or the management liaison (Beckham) or Capello himself? Rhetorical question obviously, he is an ignorant ego maniac who's pretending that he's 'doing it for the best fans in the world'. The best fans in the world, wouldn’t be chanting ‘No Surrender to the I.R.A’ – yep I heard that pathetic ditty down the pub on Friday – Cunts...
Given Terry's somewhat stormy history with Capello (losing the armband after inappropriate behaviour), you'd think he'd have the decency to keep his fucking cunt of a mouth shut. Ah, but I forget he still thinks he was 'born to do this'. Are you fuck. Questioning the manager in a press conference puts the whole set up in the fucking shitter. It pours fuel on a minor fire and turns it into a fucking inferno.
It may not have been an 'outburst' or 'meltdown' in the style of the French, but when a player like Terry starts voicing his pathetic, ill-informed opinions to the press when it isn't his place to do so, you know there is something seriously wrong with how English players view their sense of self-importance. I mean for fuck’s sake, telling Capello to pick his mate Joe Cole despite the fact that Cole has done next to nothing this season and is seen as surplus to requirements by his own club! Isn’t that also undermining Mr. Ancelotti?
Capello is demonstrably a good manager, as were Erickson and, yes, even Shteve McLaren, (actually, let’s scrub that last name...). The common denominator over the last decade hasn't been the manager but a group of players, who are tactically and technically naive – who are only made to look good in the Premiership, but the superior qualities of their foreign counterparts – why is it that Messrs Whiskynose, Wenger and Ancelotti are continuously going around the world scouring for talent – it is because they have more superior technical qualities. Jesus fucking Christ. And people are still scratching their heads as to why it isn't working.
You do have to feel for Signor Capello though.
How on earth could he get England to win the World Cup, when the typical England international is just too much of a fucking retard to follow the most basic of instructions on the pitch? Or that the players would feel that being asked to rest in their rooms for a few hours in the afternoon was the equivalent of being waterboarded at Guantanamo? Or that John Terry, a man with less intellectual power than a sack of shit, would feel that he had the gravitas to stage a coup d'état?
England simply can't hack it in a tournament like this, a fact that's obscured by the staggering number of foreign players in the Premiership. Draws with the USA and Algeria aren't an aberration, it's just England's natural level. We should get used to it.
20 June 2010
A Week Off and an Inevitable Cold...
Well here I am again, at home starting my week long sojourn from work and yet again for the second time in a fucking year I have another fucking cold, but alas I am not bitter...
It's going to be a week of Footy heaven, and probably in the case of Wednesday afternoon, Footy hell. My opinion has not changed one bit from last night - however the way that John Terry has tried to get the media onside this morning with his fucking pathetic media conference has made me think whether or not there is a sense of inevitability over where the blame is going to lie if and when England ignominious exit does come about.
It is ridiculous!
Fabio Capello is the only person who should be allowed to air any grievances, mostly because he thought that the players he sent out, with specific instructions and a (no doubt) excellent tactical plan, would be able to execute on the pitch. These players (who he trusted) completely failed in their task.
The fact that they could not carry out the simplest of instructions (play the ball out from defence, press the opposition high up the pitch) means that the fault lies with the players and the players alone. This pathetic attempt to shift blame to a manager who wins everywhere he goes is a disgrace, and for the press to back them like this is sickening.
Now I am beginning to see some seedy signs that the media is beginning to get back onside with the players. The FA have not helped matters this evening by saying that they would expect Capello to resign if England was not able to muster a result against mighty Slovenia in Port Elizabeth on Wednesday.
Yep, that is really going to stop the pandemonium isn't it.
Still could be worse, we could be a certain team from over the Channel. Night, Night.
- Posted Straight From The iPhone...
Location:Keyes Pl,Folkestone,United Kingdom
19 June 2010
Just Where Does Fabio Go Now?
I'm in bed listening to FiveLive and the chairman of the PFA has just been on the radio with his thoughts and ramblings over just where Mr Capello is going wrong. Considering he's always been one who has been in favour of a English manager - I suppose that is always was going to be a given, the first sign of discontent in the country with Fabio. A Rent-A-Gob...
There can be no doubt that the formation that Capello has adopted for not just the tournament but pretty much from the outset of him taking over the biggest job in the country is not the formation that allows England to be able to use their two most potent players in their favoured positions. Both Steven Gerrard and especially Wayne Rooney looked lame and nowhere near their world-class ability.
Surely, you would think that any country with players with the potential greatness of those two would work any formation around their two best players. Spain plays it around Messrs Torres and Xavi, with Iniesta being the playmaker who runs the show - ditto with Brazil, allowing Robinho a free role instead of restricting him, which is what would be normally be in Dunga's DNA.
For England to have any chance of progressing any further this time around, Mr Capello has to allow those two, the freedom to play in their preferred position. Let Rooney play on his own up top, and let Gerrard play just behind him and allow him the freedom of the pitch.
If only it was that simple...
- Posted Straight From The iPhone...
Location:Keyes Pl,Folkestone,United Kingdom
Thoughts...
Long time, no read - better change that right now. Am currently under a tree overlooking the Channel on the East Cliff, wind picking up - and the weather probably sums up the mood of a nation. Down, Overcast and the sense of a storm brewing. But that's enough about the Emergency budget on Tuesday!
Seriously, the performance by the English football team last night is down there with some of the very worse performances over the years. The performance that came to mind for me was the shocking performance in Norway in 1993 - where we played a 3-5-2 formation (something that we had never done before) and duly lost. Without even trying!
Of course we are not in that dire a situation yet, for one thing we know that a win on Wednesday will be sufficent enough for us to qualify for the knockout stages - but there has to be a part of us all which want us to be put out of our misery now. Let's say we get through, and get Germany...
You see my point!
- Posted Straight From The iPhone...
31 May 2010
Outrageous..
There is very few words that you can think of to sum up the mood of world opinion in light of today’s act of state-sponsored terrorism by Israel on the Freedom Flotilla, some 60km west of the Israeli port of Ashdod.
Are we supposed to believe that the IDF are the fucking victims in this attack? They had weapons – the protesters were defending themselves and they were massacred. I see that Comical Ali lookalike – Mark Regev, is trying to say that this was proportional. Like Jenin then...
When ships are boarded off the coast of Somalia it's called piracy. Being boarded off Gaza it's called self defence. How fucking convenient...
The response from countless governments the world over has been one of anger and bewilderment – some such as Sweden has expelled its ambassador, something that I implore the Foreign Office to do likewise. Others are considering more stringent action. As of now the US state department has not commented. I wonder why...
There are demonstrations across the world springing right now, in support of the Flotilla, thousands are outside the Israeli embassy in London right now. If the British government is not willing to condemn OUTRIGHT this act of terrorism, then we must take the fight to not just Israel but to the ConDem coalition.
Nick Clegg described the situation in Gaza in December last year as a “living nightmare for one and a half million Palestinians squeezed into one of the most overcrowded and wretched stretches of land on the planet”.
Over to you Mr Clegg...
29 May 2010
Victim Or Just Desserts?
One thing is for certain, however this looks from a personal point of view, this will not help convince voters that the New Politics that is being peddled by Clegg and Cameron.
The honeymoon - what of it, is well and truly over...
Fighting The Hate...
Afternoon,
The EDL is holding yet another demonstration in Newcastle today following previous demonstrations in Bolton, Dudley and Stoke amongst other towns and cities, the length and breadth of the country.
In recent demonstrations, the threat of violence and disorder has been growing with time, and there are now serious concerns at just what could happen this coming summer, with plans being released that suggest that they plan to step up their campaign in coming weeks, culminating in marches through some of the UK's most high-profile Muslim communities, raising the spectre of widespread unrest.
It could be a long, hot, painful summer...
25 May 2010
Getting Into It...
Am at the gym at the moment - actually am in the toilet in the dressing rooms here at the local sports centre.
Considering I don't start work till 12:30 I am here rather early which gives me more time to work out and get refreshed for the afternoon's work.
All in a good cause!
- Posted Straight From The iPhone...
24 May 2010
Building Up Expectations...
Good Evening all,
Watching the England – Mexico game at Hackney Marshes Wembley this evening, and the thing that is coming to mind right now, is that whilst we are looking very good going forward, defensively we are looking extremely patchy and poor – woeful at times, the goal that Franco got for Mexico at the end of the first half is a example of that point.
Which is probably a good explanation for Fabio to be desperate for the legend that is Jamie Carragher to return from his self-enforced international exile. The last time Carra played was in the ill-fated World Cup Quarter-Final in Gelsenkirchen when he missed a penalty in that shoot-out.
So with England’s farewell match going swimmingly well, the question that needs asking is how far can the team go in South Africa. It has to be said that the draw has been a lot more kinder for them, than in previous tournaments – and there is the argument that England’s recent nemeses’ Germany, Argentina and Portugal are not in the rudest of health in recent months.
My prediction: Semi-Finalists, but do not be at all surprised if they are participating in Johannesburg on July 11th.
And in other related news, Portugal drew 0-0 against mighty Cape Verde...
22 May 2010
Love Will Tear Me Apart...
Evening,
A few years back, I remember a conversation with a wise lady – at that time she was in a stable marriage and I was a depressed singleton and it was during a period when a number of my friends were involved in some messy relationships, which were going south – and I never forget what she said.
“we have it so easy, we do not need to worry about this,”
Hmmm. I think I now see what she meant when she said that...
19 May 2010
Over The Horizon...
Currently sitting on the doorstep outside Chez Bob Bob here in Folkestone - not a cloud in the sky. And after some 12 years in Singleton Valley, things seem to be looking up on the love front.
Had a date last weekend with a lovely girl called Georgia who is of a similar age as yours truly and it seems to be a match made in heaven.
I will keep you abreast of developments!
- Posted Straight From The iPhone...
17 May 2010
Britain Is Broke...
The letter was from Liam Byrne and consisted of just one sentence - “I’m afraid to tell you there is no money left.”
It might have been a joke but with the coalition seeking to make Labour’s financial record the first battle-ground post election, I cannot help but see this being used time and time again as the shit begins to hit the fan.
- Posted Straight From The iPhone...
14 May 2010
Business As Normal...
It was only a few days ago that everyone in the country was being told that we are entering a new era – a new politics.
Going on today’s moves to amend dissolution plans for parliament, I think not...
The funniest aspect of this story, particularly from the BBC’s point of view is that they have got none other but Lord Andrew Adonis to comment on the story. Now considering he was up till about 8pm on Tuesday, the Transport secretary, and even then an unelected one at that – I think that he is probably one of the last people in the country who should be allowed a comment regarding anything to do with parliament...
So a week where the new era of politics was heralded from all above high, it seems that it is truly is business as normal...
11 May 2010
Summer Of Chaos...
So now Call Me Dave is in power, as was their birth right in the first place – it will be fucking hilarious to see just how on earth they are going to be able to work in hock with the Liberal Democrats. Rumours abound tonight that Nick Clegg will be given the role of Deputy Prime Minister, a role as powerful as the Tea lady, who comes up with the Bourbons at 10am each morning. Know your place, Nick...
Still, the Liberal democrats have probably going to only have one go at being government because make no mistakes – the moment those £6billion worth of cuts come and burn the public sector, all bets are off. The workers are going to be in revolt rather quickly.
New Prime Ministers are supposed to have a honeymoon period. That ended, the moment he left the palace...
Inevitable...
Evening all,
So it has come to past. Noooo, not the Rainbow Coalition, come on that was never going to happen. Brown has quit as PM, Cameron is now in No. 10 – and now the fun and games truly do begin. Let see what Darling has left behind...
10 May 2010
...and Still We Are Not There Yet!
What an astonishing day in this country.
It started with ever increasing expectations that the Lib-Con coalition talks were getting close towards an agreement of some sort. One of the main negotiators of the Lib Dem team pretty much said that.
Then Big Ben tolls at 5pm...
It has been reported this evening that the first draft of Chairman Brown's resignation speech had been completed by Saturday evening - proof that there was some form of movement going on between Downing Street and Cowley Street.
This evening, many of Labour's old guard such as John Reid and Diane Abbott have stated that such of a coalition of the Losers would be catastrophic for the Progressive Left. There can be no doubt that such a coalition would be extremely unstable and it looks like highly unpopular in England.
Elections will probably be called within six months - The Tories will win handsomely. There will be parts of Southen England where they will just have to weigh the Tories vote...
And it will be all OUR fault.
We should have got rid of Chairman Brown, 12 months ago - after the car crash at the European elections. We didn't and now we are going to get fist-fucked.
But no. We have got ourselves into this deep shithole and now we are going to have to reap the whirlwind.
One person will be pissing himself laughing tonight.
Tony Blair.
And with that depressing thought, I will bid you farewell for tonight.
Night, Night.
- Posted Straight From The iPhone...
9 May 2010
Will They Or Won’t They?
Afternoon,
In the words of a Liberal Democrat source this afternoon, the first substantive talks regarding a possible coalition have been taking place this afternoon between Conservative and Lib Dem negotiators.
The thinking is that with the markets opening at 8am tomorrow morning, there is the urgent need to get something concrete on the table by the end of play tonight, whenever that is perceived to be. As Paddy Ashdown said, it seems that events in Greece “have concentrated the mind”. No doubt, some people in those negotiations have a lot to lose...
This can only mean one thing - that being that Clegg and Cable are coming round to Osborne’s thinking on the need to reduce the deficit to calm the markets. On Friday, I would’ve said that a Lib-Con pact was unthinkable; it is looking a little more likely this afternoon.
And with Mr Brown having returned to Downing St, without warning – it makes the talks that bit more urgent on the Tories part. They cannot afford any mistakes...
Rainbow Coalition or A Carve-Up?
As things stand some 36 hours after the last but one seat was declared we are no nearer to seeing what hue of government the British population are going to have next.
Both Clegg and Cameron spoke face to face to each other at Admiralty House last night - minutes after Chairman Brown spoke to the Lib Dem leader - Brown seems to be feeling a bit left out of the fun and games.
However, Labour sources continue to plug the possibility of a so-called Rainbow Coalition, if Clegg is not able to come up with a viable plan of action with Mr Cameron.
So who and what would the Rainbow Coalition consist of?
Apart from the obvious, the SNP and Plaid Cymru would be possible kingmakers of any potential PM of the coalition. It is said that members of the SDLP and the solitary Alliance MP of Northern Ireland would take the whips of Labour and the Lib Dems respectively due to both parties links.
Also being mentioned is the Greens solitary MP, Caroline Lucas and again from Northern Ireland, Lady Sylvia Hermon, who walked out of the Ulster Unionists earlier this year, because of the re-establishment of links with the Tories.
Now, this seems all good.
But, with assemblies and parliaments already formed in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland - and Labour being a extremely poor second in England - my fear is that this could cause the break up of the Union, because make no mistake, the English electorate voted in remarkable contrast to the Celtic nations because of the total dominance of the Scots and the Welsh in power.
Be very careful what you wish for...
- Posted Straight From The iPhone...
7 May 2010
An Initial Meeting...
As I write, George Osborne, William Hague, Oliver Letwin and Mr Cameron's chief of staff, Ed Lewellyn has just left the cabinet office in Whitehall following what is being described by Mr Hague as an initial meeting. Chris Huhne, Danny Alexander, Andrew Stunnell and David Laws will represent the Lib Dems....
I get the feeling that the Liberal Democrats recognise that some arrangement with the Tories is pretty much the ONLY way we’re going to get a good majority government – which is what is needed at this critical time - and anything else at this time risks fiddling while Rome burns.
The fact that high-level talks (not just niceties, not just ‘we may get back to you’s) have already begun between the Conservatives and the Lib Dems suggests to me they know it.
Gordon, you better start packing...
Hanging In There...
Apologies for the lack of posting since last nights initial exit poll - and even though everyone was cynical about it, including my good self, it has turned out to be remarkably accurate. A good day to be a bookie...
Now the thoughts are turning to the future and who is going to be given the uneviable task of taking us through what will be the most austere of cost cutting since Rafa was told there was no transfer budget at Anfield.
There can be no doubt that people have voted for change and that will no doubt mean for some that Chairman Brown has to leave Number 10.
Others will beg to differ...
- Posted Straight From The iPhone...
6 May 2010
That Sinking Feeling...
Hearing rumours abounding from one group and another regarding what they are hearing across the country. We won’t hear anything for sure until 10pm, when the Sky/BBC/ITN exit poll comes out.
I have a bad feeling about tonight...
Some Numbers...
4,149 - The total number of candidates battling it out for seats in parliament.
315 - The number of independent candidates.
650 - The number of seats in the Commons.
632 - The number of constituencies in mainland Britain.
50,000 - Polling stations open from 7am to 10pm.
150,000 - Staff running them.
One - constituency (Buckingham) where all the main parties are standing aside for Speaker John Bercow.
44,000,000 – The number of people eligible to vote.
325 – Number any single party need to have a working majority.
50,000 - Council workers counting votes
627 - Westminster constituencies that start counting overnight
4 - Hours within which returning officers must begin counting after polls close
164 - Council polls in England, including those for 32 London boroughs, 36 metropolitan authorities and 20 unitaries
15,785 - Candidates in the running at local level
4,222 - Council seats up for grabs, with five already returned unopposed
4 - Mayoral elections
I Voted...
And I voted for the Liberal Democrats’ candidate down here in Folkestone and Hythe, Lynne Beaumont.
The alternatives are too hideous to think about...
5 May 2010
Nothing Else To Do...
The campaign is pretty much over - and all the party leaders have just about got back to their home constituencies. Brown in Dunfermline, Call Me Dave in Witney and Mr Clegg in Sheffield Hallam.
In little over 24 hours, we will have the first exit polls coming in.
Good Luck, unless you're a Tory.
3 May 2010
Keeping The Tories Out...
Interesting link here
It is pretty self explanatory. Where the Tories are favourites in that particular constituency, it shows you which party has the most realistic chance of usurping them out on the big day.
Use it wisely!
Does Newspapers Matter Anymore?
Britain's national newspapers are hardly known for their political reticence. Historically, most of them have been blatantly partisan, propagating the opinions of the party that they support according to the bias of the editor or proprietor.
They did not need to wait until just before an election to tell their readers how they should vote: their daily political agenda was patently obvious. There has been somewhat of a change over the last 20 years – dating from the fall of Margaret Thatcher and the Poll Tax Riots – because almost all papers have tended to proclaim their independence from political parties.
But now as we see the internet and social networking coming into its own this time around, are we beginning to see the decline of power that certain papers have had over their political puppets?
With Facebook and Twitter being used more commonly by the up and coming generation of which I see myself as part of – and of which, where we get our news nowadays instead of the Dead Tree Press, I think that newspapers are going to have to come to terms that the power that they welded, even a decade ago has been eroded irreversibly.
That it has happened so quickly, might be down to people wanting to decide for themselves what is best for them and their families, instead of what Sly Bailey, Rupert Murdoch and Viscount Rothermere tell them to do.
I think on Friday morning, there are going to be some unhappy paper owners.
The Day After The Night Before...
Afternoon all,
I was somewhat hung over this morning as I went into work – as a result of a blowout here in Folkestone last night. Just like the good old days...
Whilst at work doing some double bubble action, I was trying to do a post on my iPhone regarding how the electorate have become reinvigorated into politics in the last four weeks or so – whether that is through the debates or via the medium of social networking such as Twitter and Facebook. See a later post for that...
There is one big area that I think needs looking at. The Dead Tree Press...
That should be on here within a few hours, because I am going to start writing that now.
Think I better get some caffeine inside me...
2 May 2010
This is Change...
Afternoon,
I have been out at the gym, been shopping this morning and have got back in and had my dinner ahead of a night of drinking and other assorted entertainment in Folkestone. Having looked around the various blogs that concentrate on the British political scene. Guido’s blog has attracted my eye, purely because I am thinking the complete opposite to him.
There is no reason at all to be scared of the weirdie beardies that dominate the LibDem activist base – perhaps that’s because a lot of young people like myself actually agree with a lot of what their manifesto, which was majorly written by the activist base – so there is not really a great deal of fear in there – unlike those soft Tories who have a liking to Clegg because he is to them very much different to previous leaders. Think the term is an anti-statist libertarian...
It seems to me that Tories only want change, but on their terms only...
1 May 2010
Labour Losing Friends...
Good Evening,
Now that the debates are out of the way and we are in the home straight of this truly remarkable election, the thing that anoraks, commentators, columnists and politicians are asking is who the newspapers will suggest their readership vote for. There is no doubt in most of our minds that we are seeing a seismic change in British politics, possibly irreversibly.
Already this weekend, we have seen the Guardian and this evening the Observer pull their substantial weight behind the Liberal Democrats, though they did the same back in 2005 – so that is probably not a surprise all in all. Could we see other papers, such as the Independent, or dare we say the Mirror pledge their support for Clegg?
Citizens have votes. Newspapers do not. However, if the Guardian had a vote in the 2010 general election it would be cast enthusiastically for the Liberal Democrats. It would be cast in the knowledge that not all the consequences are predictable, and that some in particular should be avoided. The vote would be cast with some important reservations and frustrations. Yet it would be cast for one great reason of principle above all. - Leader in The Guardian
At the same time, the Tories have gained the support of the Times this morning, reports are suggesting that the Sunday Telegraph will do likewise later this evening – and there is opinion strengthening that the Financial Times will put 18 years of Labour support into the archive cabinet next week, and come out in support of Cameron.
There is no doubt that we are seeing the final rights of New Labour – hopefully we will see the party renew itself and allow itself to revert back to its socialist and working class roots, whilst disowning its links with big business and making the likes of Mandelson and Blair irrelevant.
However, there is the deep and dark fear that for Labour, the White Working Classes could be gone for a generation if not forever, due to the perceived pandering by Labour towards certain minorities – and as much as we hate to admit to their existence, the B*P are doing a good job in encouraging those same disillusioned voters to support them.
That is one thing that comes out of this election that will need to be dealt with...
Labour And The People...
Labour just isn’t listening to the people...
Their campaign has been so controlled, those North Korean rallies look like random acts of chaos in comparison. Gordon needs to take a leaf out of the other two main candidates and talk to the people instead of ignoring them.
Thursday could well be an Annus Horriblis...
UPDATE, 18:00 – Nick Clegg has been heckled by what seems to be more than one voter during speaking in Malvern, Worcestershire. Interesting...
28 April 2010
Feeling Sorry for Gordon..
As much as it is catastrophically bad for Chairman Brown, I cannot help but feel sorry for him.
He was right in what he said privately. It was getting caught which has nailed him...
27 April 2010
Coming Clean...
Evening all,
Bit of a odd day to be fair – which has had a massive dose of reality in the past few hours in the race to Number 10.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies – an independent think-tank has denounced all three main political parties for not being clear-cut in what cuts will need to enforced in the blood-letting that will follow the election.
Now, they have accused all three main parties ‑ and particularly Labour ‑ for failing to come clean over the scale of tax rises, welfare cuts and spending retrenchment necessary after the election. At last some home truths...
In an attack on the plans sketched out by Labour, Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, the Institute for Fiscal Studies also claimed the Tories were planning the sharpest spending cuts since the second world war, while the Labour and Lib Dem spending slowdowns amounted to the biggest retrenchment since the IMF crisis in the mid-1970s. Rationing anyone?
It does make the background for the final Leaders Debate in Birmingham on Thursday that little more fussy. On the same day as the IFS cam out with their damning verdicts on the parties’ economic plans – Greece's debt has been downgraded to junk status by rating agency Standard & Poor's amid concern it could not take steps to tackle its economic crisis. The high price of joining a one size, fits all economic junket...Greek debt has lower rating than Lebanon's. How fucking damning...
S&P said it was lowering its rating on Greece's debt to BB+ from BBB-. It also reducing Portugal's debt rating by two notches to A- as doubts intensified about countries with substantial debt relative to GDP. Ditto as above...seems like Sterling may not be the only currency facing a threat from the profiteers...
The markets are going to drop like a stone in the morning...
26 April 2010
Another Week Begins...
Good Morning,
This promises to be one of the most intriguing weeks in this country’s modern history – as we head towards the big electoral day on 6th May.
The last television debate happens on Thursday in Birmingham, something that I will not be watching as I have another curry night to attend in Dover at about that time – I get paid on Wednesday so probably this time next week, I’ll be all depressed with no money left. As per normal...
And as normal the Tories have been going on and on about the negatives of a hung parliament – on the thinking that any uncertainty politically will be seen as a gloomy sign for the city – fears that there might be an run on the pound, have so far proved to be just pie in the sky. The IMF have been mentioned by the same doom-mongers...
Still, it could be worse, we could be Greece...
25 April 2010
Heading Into The Penultimate Week...
Good evening,
Am feeling like I am in my own personal sauna in my bedroom as the temperature is threatening to hit 80°F – nowhere near the temperature that it must be in Chairman Brown’s head this evening following the fiasco that was the Elvis concert in Corby yesterday morning. Was a surreal sight that was...
Gordon seems to be having a major problem haemorrhaging votes if the latest polls are anything to go by. I see the latest YouGov daily poll released in the past hour shows that the Lib Dems are back in the 30% territory – whereas Labour are struggling to push over the 28%. That re-launch didn’t go according to plan...
However, the Lib Dems were saying this morning that they are beginning to look beyond May 6th and any possible coalition – stating that they would be more than likely talk to the Conservatives in the first instance, further insisting that Labour will have forfeited the right to govern if it comes third. Whoops, talk about opening a can of worms....
Could Clegg being a bit more upfront with his agenda, persuade those wavering voters on the Left, myself included from lending their vote to the Yellows, and put all of our fruits in the Labour basket?
Perhaps...
Rest And Relaxation
On the bus on the way back to Chez' Bob Bob after a morning of relative calm at work - I'm taking the Nick Clegg approach this afternoon - and doing nothing - bit of downloading online - might update that playlist on the right hand side of you - throw some Balearic grooves for your ponderous.
On the election and Cleggy has confirmed to us all that he won't prop up any Brown regime that is left after May 6th - which means he's in bed with Call Me Dave.
Not acceptable that under any circumstances...
- Posted Straight From The iPhone...
23 April 2010
Decision Time
Late I know, but still at least I'm posting now.
Had a bit of a crap day at work, really depressing - so much so that this evening I've applied for a position outside of the current company I'm working at.
More money, but more importantly - away from home. More opportunity to be independent, which I cannot be with the current state of play being as it is.
Hopefully, I'll hear something sooner rather than later - I need a change of scenery as of this moment because I do not see anything at all happening with me in my current position right now...
Night, Night.
- Posted Straight From The iPhone...
22 April 2010
Well it was a darn sight fucking closer than last week - but then considering that Cleggy waltzed away with the first debate in Manchester last week that was a given.
Quite clear that Cameron was much better than he was last week - but again he couldn't be any shitter than he was previously.
Brown was again much better than last week but I get the sense that people just do not want to listen to him anymore - the level of support (or lack of) that Labour are getting in the polls are indicative of that.
So Clegg won it for me, closely followed by Cameron and Brown.
The polls at the weekend, including a much awaited marginals poll will make intriguing reading...
- Posted Straight From The iPhone...
Location:So Who Won?
Seconds Out...Round 2!
Chairman Brown must be hoping for a similar workmanlike performance as he was last week.
One thing must be certain, Call Me Dave will not be as appalingly woeful as he was last week. Surely he will be that more focussed and clued up unlike the previous debate.
Lots of questions, plenty of answers...
- Posted Straight From The iPhone...
19 April 2010
What Made Them Change Their Minds?
Amongst the relief amongst passengers, airline companies and the authorities across Europe, one cannot help but note the lack of thought behind one particular viewpoint.
That being that this morning we were being told by our wonderfully responsible press that the chances were that the airspace across Europe was going to be closed for anything up to a further week in light of further sprewing of ash from that Volcano in Iceland.
So what's with the change of mind?
Admittedly, the wind direction has somewhat changed so the wind is forcing the ash cloud to head towards the Eastern Seaboard of the United States and Canada - causing flights to be cancelled - so there is that, that allows them to reconsider their originally hard-line stance.
However, I cannot help but think that the predicament of several major European airlines whom are still in a financial shithole following the credit crunch is clouding the thoughts of those high above us at EuroControl. See what I did there, fuck me I'm good!
And another thing. EuroControl? They have control of our skies as well?
UKIP will be livid...
- Posted Straight From The iPhone...
18 April 2010
Lib Dems: In The Lead...
The Latest poll for YouGov and the S*n (via politicalbetting) is saying that the Liberal Democrats are heading for an unprecedented share of the vote of 33%. Now of course, with little over two weeks to the big day – polls such as these should be treated with the large dose of salt that politicians normally do treat them with.
But then, this is not the first poll to show such a lead as one for the Mail showed similar figures this morning.
Will it last?
Can’t help but notice Labour are dropping like a stone...
Missing In Action...
Apologies for the lack of posts this weekend - was out last night and by time I got home I was not in a state to be able to write anything meaning.
Went out on my bike this morning to cure te hangover which it did - not a bad thing that. 12 miles done with my sister in tow done in just under two hours pretty special that - need to work out a route to do next weekend as I'm off on Saturday so might end up doing 20 miles that morning. Immense.
Just as immense has been the Lazurus style performance of the Lib Dems in the recent polls that have been done in the last few days since the first debate - I get the indication that a lot of young, politically liberal voters are beginning to mobilise to kick the old guard of parliament into the history books.
What beggars me though is how and why has Nick Clegg purely benefitted from this surge and not other parties with a small or non existential foothold in parliament - and what will be the result of the two bullies in the playground and their mates in the media ganging up on the resurgent Liberals.
Is Anti-Politics the way forward?
- Posted Straight From The iPhone...
15 April 2010
First Round To Clegg
No doubt where the first debate went to this evening. Nick Clegg only needed to do as well as Cameron and Brown and I think there was some areas tonight where he actually did superior better than the two reprobates that he was taking on.
However, there is a instant poll done by Sky News that is saying giving Cameron victory with 53%, Clegg 28% with Chairman Brown on 19%.
The worry was that Brown would somewhat crash and burn but he didn’t – not a bad thing. The polls were always going to be bad for Chairman Brown purely because he is the incumbent so he has to work that bit harder.
Similarly with Cameron – because he has had so much more press time than Clegg and with more finances behind him meaning that he has got more support to help him – he had to perform and although he didn’t do anything bad – I get the sense that some people was expecting him to go for the jugular.
Never was going to happen that...
Round two is going to be very intriguing next week.
Reports: Seven Foreign Workers Killed In Afghanistan, (Reuters Say They Are British...)
Hmmm.
Not exactly what Chairman Brown needs to be hearing this evening...
and It’s 5, 4, 3, 2... and Action!
Good evening,
Well fuck me sideways, the big night is here and everyone cannot help themselves in predicting what on earth is going to come out of the first Leaders Debate, in Manchester.
I predict that Nick Clegg will probably win this first debate, whereas Messrs Brown and Cameron will get through it relatively unscathed.
I think they are more concerned about getting the satellites sorted out due to some ash falling out of the sky...
14 April 2010
Backward Reverse...
I see that the Shadow Homophobic Minister, Chris Grayling has been on the telly this evening to say that he does not think that Gay couples should be turned away from bed and breakfast establishments.
Which is contrary to what he said only a week. So what is the electorate supposed to think...
However he has said that he did once upon a time oppose Gay adoption...
Hmmm.
Sounds like the cunt is still living in the past...
12 April 2010
Now This Is Farcical...
Just when we all thought that the scandal regarding MPs expenses was going away from the headlines...
And as you can see in the video below, everyone just cannot help themselves in a getting a dig into the entire system...
Now it would be wholly inappropriate of me to suggest that that video is nothing short of full-scale electioneering...
But it is, if we remember what the Chancellor got up to...
Go For Broke...
Evening,
Having been at work today – I missed out on the fun and games surrounding the introduction of Labour’s manifesto.
And from what I gather it took the form of a North Korean style rally – with supporters heckling journalists in almost Mugabesque fashion. Hmmm.
And as for the cover of the Manifesto is well, um...something out of the 1920s...
In fact let compare and contrast...
Let’s be blunt these sort of tactics will not give Labour the level of support that is needed to get even the most seats on the big day.
Therefore – why not just go the fucking full wedge.
The question that needs to be answered this evening is whether Labour are willing to go for broke and tell it like it is. Admittedly that might mean having to tell some brutal home truths, but in the long run – the electorate might just respect them for it.
It’s all well and good trying to hide the shitty aspects of what is to come for the country over the coming 12 to 18 months – however it is safe to say that we are probably over the worse of the crap that has been thrown at us – but, they need to go for the jugular and take the fucking Tory cunts head-on. If it means using provocative class-war language from here on in, then so be it.
If it means losing some of the fucking wet, Middle England cunts that Blair and Mandelson went out of their way to appease in the past 13 years or so, then fuck them. Bring the party back to its roots. If they were to do that perhaps the Working Classes (and by that I mean those who are working, not those who are in the dole and benefit queues – that the client state) wouldn’t be deserting Labour in their droves.
It’s time to be thinking radical, to be thinking different, to be thinking Labour.
11 April 2010
10 April 2010
Marriage? For Three Quid A Week!
So it seems that Call Me Dave has decided that those who decide to tie the knot as well as those who get together through civil partnerships are more worthy of tax-payers money than everyone else - now considering that marriage is getting more and more uncommon nowadays why would they be pushing such a mention - wouldn't say that it was an Edwardian form of moral right - but still...
As inevitable as a plane crash in thick fog - the other major parties, with respect to the Greens - (UKIP and B*P do not constitute parties in my mind more like reptilian cults, but enough of them) have gone over the edge with their response with Labour not being able to help themselves but to lambast the Tories proposals.
But certain core demographics that the Tories are trying to win over, such as the Church of England, Saga and the Mothers’ Union have according to the Telegraph implied that they think that marriage should be explicitly recognized in the tax system. Hmmm.
9 April 2010
Lord Adonis - Fail
That unelected no-mark Lord Adonis has used a piece in the Independent this morning to implore those of us intending to vote Liberal Democrat to re-consider and to vote Labour. The argument being that by voting Liberal we are allowing the Conservatives in via the back door.
Perhaps if Labour didn't appoint cunts like Lord Adonis into cabinet and ignored it's core vote for well over a decade amongst other things - then perhaps we wouldn't feel that we have any other alternative. Perhaps.
For the record I'm only voting Liberal Democrats because Labour have no chance of winning down here in Folkestone and Hythe, but more pertinently, Labour has become as rabid a right wing party as the Tories are.
- Posted Straight From The iPhone...
8 April 2010
Explosive Figures
It has been confirmed that petrol prices has gone and hit a new high of £1.20 per litre.
The AA has also said that with Sterling's valuation against the Euro having dropped by some 13% in the last few months - that it is plausible that it will go up by another penny a litre soon.
Now, it might be me but this sounds like a good time to kick off fuel blockades whilst Labour are on it's knees.
- Posted Straight From The iPhone...
Walking To The Inevitable...
Morning,
I have just finished watching Chairman Brown’s press conference on Sky News – and as I have just mentioned on Twitter, but was it me or are were those journalists so fucking bored out of their skulls – perhaps they were thinking like I am beginning to think and reckon that this game is getting more and more difficult for Labour to win.
They seem to have been caught out quite decisively by the Conservatives being able to get more business leaders to back their proposal in not raising National Insurance that Labour are going to introduce in the event of a Brown victory. Having time off work is allowing me to devote more time to the blog and give some thoughts over where I think the election is going.
Off topic, I am introducing some new hash-tags to my twitter feed:
#GE2010 – will show general coverage of the election campaign across the country – the majority of my posts will have this tag on my links.
#FkH – will show posts which relate to my neck of the woods and although I have already had a tweet from a Liberal Democrat councillor saying that their candidate is taking the battle to the Tories – I sadly cannot predict anything less than a comfortable victory for Damien Collins – who is high on Call Me Dave’s A-List – though with a reduced majority.
Like anything in life, it’s not what you, but who you know...
7 April 2010
Afternoon Thoughts
Apologies for this morning's serious posts - yes that is deemed to be a serious write-up. The phone in on Five Live so riled me that something needed saying at that moment.
Anyway, on to more surrealist stuff - I watched Prime Minister's questions this lunchtime for the first time in a long time due to work - of course - but good to see that it is still representative of Britain.
Childish, Boorish and fucking pathetic.
- Posted Straight From The iPhone...
Is Cameron Too Posh To Be PM?
Now the cum stains have been wiped off the laptop, let gets down to business.
Five Live’s phone in this morning was in regards of the question that I put on the heading of this piece. The argument being that Mr Cameron cannot appreciate the hard grind that someone from a working-class background has to go through on a day to day basis. Or other statements like 'how can somebody like Cameron understand what its like to be a single mother'
There can be no doubt that whilst Cameron has come from an extremely privileged background that he has suffered tragedy in his own life – with the death of his severely disabled son, Ivan over a year ago.
Perhaps such episodes in one’s life forces someone to question their own belief system.
I know that going to the school that I did, with the wide-ranging spectrum of backgrounds that students came from made me more driven – in the way that in my eyes – the school catered more for those of a more privileged background – particularly in the last few years of my education where the influence of a small clique of parents of students from a particular part of Surrey became more and more pronounced and obvious swayed me towards my class warrior leanings.
Nevertheless, if we are to ask whether Cameron is too Posh, are we saying that you can someone could be too common to be PM? For that would be preposterous to even suggest such nonsense.
Why is that this even being considered now? Why was it not open to debate when Blair went for the Premiership, back in 1997. For he went to Fettes which is Scotland’s equivalent to fucking Eton.
And moving the case on from there - why does a privileged education seem to be seen as a hindrance by some? Gandhi was educated at Oxbridge and then led the civil disobedience which ended the Raj and Partition in India and Pakistan.
Chairman Brown's background is actually fairly humble in comparison, but still of higher standing to the average yokel; He had parents that were from a upper-class/authoritarian background (dare I say elitist...) and was taught outside of mainstream classes in school. Not very socialist, that seems to me...
In the end it should be down to the person who is able to show the electorate that they are the one who can show the best form of leadership that is needed in these difficult times.
It Needs Saying...
We saw a remarkable performance last night at Camp Nou.
The world was treated to a glorious master class by the little man.
And he is still only 22...
6 April 2010
Is This More Accurate?
This seems far more plausible a picture of just how the country is feeling at the moment – admittedly it does show that warmth to both Clegg and Cameron has grown since the last poll of this sort back on March 19th from YouGov.
It is said that some pundits who actually bet on these type of events – actually take far greater notice of these polls, rather than the polls concerning party support – which make also show why there has been concern for many years that we are heading towards a more presidential type of politique, rather than the party and ideological driven politics that we have had since year dot.
Safe to say that as the big day gets ever nearer, that we will see more of these sort of polls getting churned out by the Fourth Estate – it will be interesting to see how leader approval rating compares with the actual election result come the early hours of the 7th May.
With regards to PoliticalBetting.
From Now On...
I have been wondering how I will be able to update my thoughts on a constant basis between now and the big day on the 6th May – I am in the process of trying to find a twitter ticker-tape style tool which can go in between the title and the posts – where you’ll be able to read my twitter thoughts.
As well as that – I am wanting to find a specific feed for the latest news from the campaign trail, across the country.
This is going to be a momentous moment in our nation’s modern history – who knows, we might be in the same shithole in about six months!