You're all so much nicer than I am. When I saw Martyn's apology, my reaction was to point out to him that Paul's race is somewhat irrelevant -- he used an ugly, hate-filled word for which there is never an acceptable occasion in 2010.
So, while it's lovely that he apologised, I'm still finding it hard not to think of him as an ugly* little hypocrite.
*that is not a reference to his physical appearance, it's his character that I find ugly.
Mr Potato Head said that Martyn Richard Jones, otherwise known as MartynInEurope, would forever be remembered for his racist comment, along with those aimed at monkeyfish, which made the idea that the "N" word comment was just an accident seem pretty unlikely.
This is a very late and lame damage-limitation exercise by someone who knows their reputation on the central platform of their lives - WADDYA - has been irredeemably damaged.
Why was the first reaction not to apologise but to change avatars to Malcolm X? Well, obviously, to muddy the waters and attempt to make it seem that it was not just any old throwaway racist comment, but a bold and clever political observation, made in all innocence and unhappily misconstrued.
Why has it taken this long to actually apologise?
When there was trouble in Spain with demonstrations, Martyn Richard Jones kept sending little begging messages to BellaM, pleading with her to read his email.
Did he want a reporting gig? "Our Spanish Correspondent writes", perhaps?
This stinks of someone trying to mend the self-inflicted wreckage of their 18 000 post history because they could not keep their racist and nasty little typing fingers from revealing their true character.
As for Paul - credit to you for again showing yourself to be a decent person, willing to accept an apology.
Martyn Richard Jones still looks like a pile of shit with the WADDYA flies buzzing around it, though.
"This is a very late and lame damage-limitation exercise by someone who knows their reputation on the central platform of their lives - WADDYA - has been irredeemably damaged.
Why was the first reaction not to apologise but to change avatars to Malcolm X? "
Well said, Atomboy!
Paul, you are kind, but
"Please forgive me for my stupid, anaesthetised (from the dentist) and drunken remark. In my ignorance I thought you were natch a white guy - no excuse I know. So, please except my apology."
"...anaesthetised (from the dentist)...." - aka a lame or possibly insincere or qualified apology.
I suppose its really for Paul to determine and decide.
Lame excuses and post hoc rationalisations do get confused as in
I didn't rape the lady melord, I just happened to have an erect penis and accidentally fell upon the said lady who unfortunately had forgotten to put on her undergarments that morning and in the struggle to overcome me embarrassment and to get to my feet I came when I should gone.......and that is how my dna came to be found in the lady's ear and other assorted orifices. It wasn't rape.
BB knows all about excuses/explanations she hears them from the box each day. She's a good judge and since I'm nominating her for Lord Chief Justice post revolution I would welcome her views on this.
carrying on from names.... someone actually asked me if my name was errmmm... Spanish yesterday. Didn't know whether it was a veiled attack on my Irish name or plain stupidity.....
Un-Happy Birthday Maggie - may this be your very last on this Mortal Coil and may you rot forever in the deepest most despicable Hell, never to return to the Light. (Oh and you can take Rove, Rumsfeld, Kissinger and Cheney with you.....)
It is understood that the Commissioner had been investigating a series of claims made by Mr MacShane on his taxpayer-funded office expenses.
These included claims for nearly £20,000 a year for an office based in the garage of his South Yorkshire home. The claims totalled about £125,000 over seven years.
The Labour MP also submitted more than a dozen invoices to the Parliamentary authorities from the "European Policy Institute". Each bill was for "research and translation". The EPI was controlled by his brother, Edmund Matyjaszek.
He also claimed for eight laptop computers in three years.
Which all sounds highly innocent and above board.
It's not as if he claimed for eight lap-dancers, is it?
If you want to see some real cyber warfare, you need look no further than the What Do Want To Talk About thread last weekend on your very own website. Multiple logins using IP hiders, rigged recommendations, cyber stalking and malicious abuse reporting. Every low down dirty trick was being played and what is worse, the majority of spectators considered it jolly good entertainment or made long speeches about freedom of expression yet lacked the integrity or courage to do anything about it.
...
As he now introduces almost every comment he makes, "Nnnyyaaaaahhhh! Dagga, dagga, dagga..." etc, yawningly, ad nauseam.
And speaking of fraudulent politicians, anyone seen Vince Cable's nauseating apologia lately for doing everything the Tories tell them?
On Channel 4 news last night he was shown a copy of the pledge he had signed pre-election not to raise student fees. His reply was:
"If I ever knew I would actually have to be in government I would never have signed it."
This comes on top of his excuse for not opposing the rise in VAT when in Govt. The Lib Dems pre-election promise not to raise VAT was because:
"We were trying to score a point against the Conservatives, if you like. Okay, well that was in the election. We have now moved past the election."
Now you can admire him for his honesty but you can also justifiably ask why people were duped into voting for Lib Dems on the back of a fraudulent manifesto.
Although I accept the points you are making, we do need to remember that a manifesto, as proved by Gordon Brown, is not worth the paper it is printed on.
He established quite satisfactorily that it is simply another word for "lie".
So, you could promise suitcases of cash, jewels and hard-drugs to everyone, along with aeroplane tickets to exotic lands far, far away and lives spent lounging in the sun and indulging in major and minor criminal activity - in short, heaven on earth - and there would be no sense in which you could be expected to actually deliver on those lickspittle, lying inducements to con the voter.
We are simply seeing what we have always got because this time we were so desperate to be rid of the New Labour regime that we persuaded ourselves that this time it would all be better.
UNbelievable quotes, Duke, what a sham this place is. The vermin can now openly admit that electioneering is purely that - electioneering, and obviously doesnt have much impact on what they would actually do when in government.
If you get bored, it makes for fascinating reading to revisit the Tory and Lib Dem manifestos. There really is negligible correspondence between what they proposed and what they're actually doing, and still people balk at the suggestion that they lack legitimacy.
And let’s not forget Clegg. At the Lib dem conference on 20th September, he parroted the “economy as household budget” spiel that the Tories have been using as their excuse for ideological cuts:
”It’s the same as a family with earnings of £26,000 a year who are spending £32,000 a year. Even though they’re already £40,000 in debt. Imagine if that was you. You’d be crippled by the interest payments. You’d set yourself a budget. And you’d try to spend less. That is what this government is doing.”
Yet on May 1st (before the election), he was in complete opposition to what he said at the Lib Dem Conference:
“My eight-year-old ought to be able to work this out – you shouldn’t start slamming on the brakes when the economy is barely growing. If you do that you create more joblessness, you create heavier costs on the state, the deficit goes up even further and the pain with dealing with it is even greater. So it is completely irrational.”
An amazing U-turn to go from the rational to the 'completely irrational' in such an important sphere in such a short space of time.
I wonder if his 8 year old has also sold out his/her principles and any form of integrity he/she has?
Good stuff guys - your comments on the hypocrisy and cavalier indifference of the current shower of compromised shitty politicians are a pleasure to read.
Have been having a really shite last 10 days or so (only work! - could be a lot worse as has been made very obvious on these pages) but this news about MacShane has really cheered me up.
"but this news about MacShane has really cheered me up."
Its fantastic isnt it, it has left me genuinely euphoric all afternoon. The thought of him being the prison bitch to some 20 stone skinhead is bliss...
What is quite striking about the news is that it seems unlikely to trouble many front pages tomorrow (the FT is taking a 90-word digest).
That may reflect the way in which the media, and perhaps the public, have become almost blase about the subject of MPs’ expenses after two years of revelation upon revelation.
Three years ago the press would have reacted very differently.
Jay - maybe you could work it into my exam. I used to take pleasure in memorising a quotation or fact that had absolutely nothing to do with the matter in hand and working it in somehow.
As I said at the time with regard to both the spittle-spraying thunderings and the dewy-eyed, trembly-lipped promises to be good in future, all the politicians needed to do was to keep their heads down for a year or so and it would all be forgotten.
Which is not to say that little Denis will not be banged to rights or that we should not laugh or miss the opportunity to think of any old lags we might know who might be able to stick him with a shiv.
Just that there will be no long-term prevention of sticky-fingers dipping in the till.
The government has slashed the amount of tax-free income that high earners can put into a pension by 80%, from £255,000 to just £50,000, it was announced today by Mark Hoban, financial secretary to the Treasury. He said the move will affect up to 100,000 high-earning pension savers.
From April 2012, the government will also reduce the lifetime pensions savings allowance that benefits from tax relief from £1.8m to £1.5m.
That's a contribution of 50K per year!
And also that arch-misogynist Sean Fucking Connery having a bit of trouble.
Thanks thaum/Atom - Jens was yesterday, havent seen her at all since.
I dont know how exactly i'd work the quote into a philosophy exam, Thaum, it would be quite a feat, though perhaps on Chalmers zombie theory i might ponder whether MacShane's zombie double would feel any phenomenal qualities as he was buggered relentlessly by a Somalian bandit. But still doesnt seem quite right.
the 6 o'clock news had something interesting on the miners - there is going to be a football match in a month or so - the miners v the 'minarda' (? - a team from the government building) and whoever wins gets to stay in the minarda and whoever loses goes back to the mine!
Saw your lonesome pine post from last night this morning..... awwww.... Did you hear Gareth Pierce on Woman's Hour this morning? She's written a book which was reviewed/discussed in an article about her HR work - if only more people were like her.
As opposed to the vile, slimy, Max Clifford Shaz glad I missed it.....
Forgot to tell everyone (including most of my family!) my good news - I got the job I was going for.... first 'proper' job in about 5 years. Proper training, proper respect and proper money paid on time! Am Really very chirpy about it!
shazthewombat - cunts like clifford want a bullet in the face.
I'm just waiting for the CiF article on How the Media Normalises Sexist Macho Chilean Miners While Their Wives Have to Chew Coca Leaves Just to Get Their Kids Through School or someshit.
With the obligatory comments about how we should have let them die (market decides best) or how it was all a big hoax perpertrated by the CiA to access mineral rights...
Well done La Rit, that's awesome. Almost makes up for Max C!
Have had confirmation that no.2 child arrived safely in Madagascar (not from him, you understand... from the NGO he's working with...)and has begun work on the school. Good to know :o)
One of the things he said he'd do would be to get each of the men alone to try to break the vow of silence they made about the first 17 days underground. Cunt's too good for him.
BB, great comment (7.37pm) on waddya in response to Angie124. (I wonder who she is?) She reminds me of lostcauses (now deleted), but it wouldn't surprise me at all if she was bitey. What fun!
Anyway, how the hell are all you UT folk? Good, I hope, (in a rather depressing world).
Bloody hell... computer has just had a headfit.....
Thank you most koindly people for the congrats!!!!
It's very flexible and (apparently) they say the work is 'recession proof' - met someone who paid their way through Law School doing the same thing for the last 7 years - seems hard to believe I've landed on my feet (no more staring into the abyss I hope).
BW - ah yes, drunkeness to start on Sunday after my 2 day (yes, two whole days!) self-imposed liver recovery programme - off to the Disco de Horsemeat to have my brains twisted by the wonder that is Derek Carter in a cloud of disco lights, glitter and dry ice.... hehehehe
Shaz
Baby no.2, Madagascar, schools???? Apologies - could you explain? Am confused! ;)
Scherfig
Nice to see you ;0) This is weird though, first I wish evil on Maggie and she's taken ill, then I think of my cousin and she's sent me an e-mail and I was wondering where you'd got to lately and up you pop!
Sorry La Rit, you prob missed the conversation - my no. 2 child (aged 18) left for Madagascar on Sun on a 3-week school-and-possibly-latrine-building project - although logic told me that I'd have heard if he hadn't arrived, I was quite relieved to get an email saying he was there!
I was trying to be more reasonable yesterday evening with her but today's post just pushed all the wrong buttons with me, really, and I lost my temper a bit.
It is complete bollocks to suggest that the Graun deliberately bans anti-misogynist voices. Christ, they have enough articles by BiBuBiBu...
Thanks for the clarification! I was thinking of new born babies - you 'here'm baby being born over 'there' to a boy.....??? You can see I was confused !!!
Hello, Sir Harold Mayfield-Everett. QC signing in. What's the totty like on here? Are there any "goers"?...nudge nudge..wink..wink..know what I mean eh?...nods as good as wink to a blind bat and all that... e-mail me at fishnets.co.uk!
What ho, Lucie,you sound like a game old bird! Care to show me the ropes? Identify the riff-raff and all that. I'm sure I can rely on your discretion my dear girl. I have to go, just received an e-mail from my contact in Brussels: frightful snob don't you know but she does a good line in foie gras and caviar and the Bollinger is top notch. TTFN, Regards, Hal.
As part of the deal for accepting to sub-contract to the company I am presently working for I had to agree to attend an "Asbestos Awareness" Elf-n-Saftey presentation this morning.
On top of the £35 it cost, I also didn't get paid for the five hours it took (including travelling time and therefore petrol costs) so I'm now out of pocket to the thick end of a hundred quid for the privelege of listening to some Elf-n-Saftey jobsworth telling me nothing I didn't know before about the dangers of asbestos.
At least there was a Q and A at the end. Guess who asked this one:
"If asbestos is so friggin dangerous why isn't that risk reflected in the wages of those who are more likely to be exposed to it?"
BB - I really should not complain about me job. In effect I helped create it. I was amongst a team that wrote the software that allows my present job to be so enjoyable. I was lucky to be able to move into a position that allows me to reap the rewards of such, in that I now get the 'fun' side of all that hard work. It can be mundane, but occasionally it is fucking brilliant !!
I've discovered this version of {WOODSTOCK by Joni Mitchell.It's a bit like a swansong for the idealism of a generation who nevertheless still went and fucked things up just like the generations before them.
A good piece on 'Panorama' about Lord Ashcroft. Can't seem to bring him to justice for his inability to pay tax in this country.. and his affiliations with his own tax haven. Tory scum.
Well, what I have just been discussing with Martyn kind of breaks it down to its constituent pieces really. I do find the notion that women require some kind of special pleading and the silencing of male oppositional voices kind of insulting to my intelligence - and that of every other woman I know.
tascia - thing is, he really really wants to pay tax here, but there are these pesky loopholes that actually stop him from doing so, and his (immensely expensive) tax lawyer says it would be illegal if he tried to.
BB - and you've mentioned Law and Order UK 'over there' - saw an episode of that late at night here and genuinely thought I'd dropped off and started dreaming.
I'm guessing they thought the budget was better spent on the lovely Ben Daniels (amusingly, one of the Wiki links on him is to GaydarNation) rather than, you know, having a coffee with someone who has ever been a lawyer and calling it research...
What they have done is to transpose the way in which the highly-exaggerated-for-effect system works in the States to the UK.
I have never - ever - known of a defence solicitor/barrister going along to a CPS office for a conference to carve up a plea or whatever. That is just so ridiculous. Any carving goes on at the door of the court between barristers.
Neither have I ever known of CPS lawyers to behave so unethically and try to stitch people up just cuz.
Yes social advances have been made but regarding gender equality 'the Woodstock Generation' built on the work that had been done by generations before them.And the benefits haven't been evenly spread as i'm sure many working class women would let you know.And of course it's all relative as you're focusing on gender equality in the developed world.Not sure women in the develping world feel any sense of gratitude to the 'Woodstock Generation'.
Tascia
Cheers for the link.This track from Bob Marley is another favourite of mine.
Morning all!
ReplyDeleteA litle game from the Football Ramble - Your Tory Name.
Take the first name of one of your grandparents, the name of the street you grew up on hyphenated with your head teacher’s surname.
I would be Josephine Abnalls-Warnock
(having had lots of headteachers, I picked the last one)
Or, if I went with the other option, Betty Croft-Best.
ReplyDeleteWonder what your lib-dem name would be?
ReplyDeletePet's name, Secondary school, favourite traitor from history?
Minty Pates Quisling.
Rehmat Lidderdale-Kenyon.
ReplyDeleteUggh! Sounds like one of those empire builders who thought they understood the people they were subjugating.
Lib dem name:
ReplyDeleteYossarian Stretford-Blair
How exotic?
Tory: Roy Church-Milroy. Stout member of the “19th hole”… possibly a greengrocer.
ReplyDeleteLibDem: Benjy Ryedale-Tissaphernes. Sculptor. Not the marrying kind…
Clifford Wentworth-Bailey
ReplyDeleteHa ha ;)
Margaret Hilda Thatcher.
ReplyDeleteHabib:
ReplyDeleteLove the name Yossarian ;)
Duke:
ReplyDeleteBerry Fuddy ;) May I call you Hilda?
Not sure it works so much north of the border, all my names end up sounding like something from Brigadoon or Taggart
ReplyDeleteFor instance: Tommy Dryburgh McQuillan.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteLaRit,
ReplyDeletefeel free, I've been called worse. Just don't call me Thatcher ;)
LaRit - one of my grandfathers was a Clifford as well!
ReplyDeleteTissaphernes sounds too incontinent for a sculptor could have been a florist though.
ReplyDeleteWilliam Wellington Whitehall a worldly weary wordsmith/warior
.
Hmm.
ReplyDeleteCyril Southlands-McEwan: Permanent Secretary in the Colonial Office
Pip Eccles Stanley: something vague, possibly involving knitting.
Montana from yesterday evening:
ReplyDeleteYou're all so much nicer than I am. When I saw Martyn's apology, my reaction was to point out to him that Paul's race is somewhat irrelevant -- he used an ugly, hate-filled word for which there is never an acceptable occasion in 2010.
So, while it's lovely that he apologised, I'm still finding it hard not to think of him as an ugly* little hypocrite.
*that is not a reference to his physical appearance, it's his character that I find ugly.
Mr Potato Head said that Martyn Richard Jones, otherwise known as MartynInEurope, would forever be remembered for his racist comment, along with those aimed at monkeyfish, which made the idea that the "N" word comment was just an accident seem pretty unlikely.
This is a very late and lame damage-limitation exercise by someone who knows their reputation on the central platform of their lives - WADDYA - has been irredeemably damaged.
Why was the first reaction not to apologise but to change avatars to Malcolm X? Well, obviously, to muddy the waters and attempt to make it seem that it was not just any old throwaway racist comment, but a bold and clever political observation, made in all innocence and unhappily misconstrued.
Why has it taken this long to actually apologise?
When there was trouble in Spain with demonstrations, Martyn Richard Jones kept sending little begging messages to BellaM, pleading with her to read his email.
Did he want a reporting gig? "Our Spanish Correspondent writes", perhaps?
This stinks of someone trying to mend the self-inflicted wreckage of their 18 000 post history because they could not keep their racist and nasty little typing fingers from revealing their true character.
As for Paul - credit to you for again showing yourself to be a decent person, willing to accept an apology.
Martyn Richard Jones still looks like a pile of shit with the WADDYA flies buzzing around it, though.
Lorna Cockermouth-Henson (Dame)
ReplyDeleteBrilliant observation by your s-i-l, Deano!
ReplyDeleteHey BW - if we can have titles too I'm changing mine..
ReplyDeleteWilliam Wellington Whitehall (Warlord) a waspish worldly weary wordsmith/warior-wanker
from Wombwell.(with Warwicks wife)
I'm away for the day.
He's Irish thauma he has a fine eye and wit.
ReplyDeleteSplendid Deano. Do you know Rear Admiral Sir Colin Pantywaist ?
ReplyDeleteSadly not BW - but William Wellington Whitehall may have whipped or wanked him when at Westminster school together...
ReplyDeleteVewy wuffly, I fear !
ReplyDelete"This is a very late and lame damage-limitation exercise by someone who knows their reputation on the central platform of their lives - WADDYA - has been irredeemably damaged.
ReplyDeleteWhy was the first reaction not to apologise but to change avatars to Malcolm X? "
Well said, Atomboy!
Paul, you are kind, but
"Please forgive me for my stupid, anaesthetised (from the dentist) and drunken remark. In my ignorance I thought you were natch a white guy - no excuse I know. So, please except my apology."
Is bullshit.
Bullshit, explaining away hatred.
Had similar reaction to AB re: time lag/damage limitation. Cynical/desperate ?
ReplyDeleteAlso seconded:
Paul's being a gent about it all. Top man, Paul.
"...anaesthetised (from the dentist)...." - aka a lame or possibly insincere or qualified apology.
ReplyDeleteI suppose its really for Paul to determine and decide.
Lame excuses and post hoc rationalisations do get confused as in
I didn't rape the lady melord, I just happened to have an erect penis and accidentally fell upon the said lady who unfortunately had forgotten to put on her undergarments that morning and in the struggle to overcome me embarrassment and to get to my feet I came when I should gone.......and that is how my dna came to be found in the lady's ear and other assorted orifices. It wasn't rape.
BB knows all about excuses/explanations she hears them from the box each day. She's a good judge and since I'm nominating her for Lord Chief Justice post revolution I would welcome her views on this.
BW/Paul/Atom/Montana/MF/Deano:
ReplyDeleteNot being a frequenter of Waddaya I missed the whole debacle so apols for lack of comment. Puts MiE in a bit of a different light....
Bit of a shock tbh when someone starts acting as an apologist for racism - had similar myself recently....
PhilippaB:
Ah, Clifford - a sterling name in my fambly :)
S
MIE et al - if your reading here you might give some thought about the difference between an apology and an unqualified one.
ReplyDeleteFuck I'm late again must go.
carrying on from names.... someone actually asked me if my name was errmmm... Spanish yesterday. Didn't know whether it was a veiled attack on my Irish name or plain stupidity.....
ReplyDeleteUn-Happy Birthday Maggie - may this be your very last on this Mortal Coil and may you rot forever in the deepest most despicable Hell, never to return to the Light. (Oh and you can take Rove, Rumsfeld, Kissinger and Cheney with you.....)
ReplyDeleteK am off.... things to do I'm afraid x
sorry... should have read alleged apology and an unqualified one
ReplyDeleteWoohoo! Macshane has been reported to the cops and suspended from the PLP - could be expenses fiddling, according to the Telegraph.
ReplyDeletePeterJ you saint, that has warmed my heart:
ReplyDelete"Denis MacShane, the former Labour minister, has been reported by the Parliamentary watchdog to the police over his expense claims."
Magnificent.
Cyril Perth-Findlay.
ReplyDeleteDistinctly Scottishish!
That MacShane news has cheered me up a bit - does this mean that we won't have to read his stats-mangling articles any more?
ReplyDeleteOr - ooh, nasty thought - that if he gets binned he will have even more time on his hands...
(James - Cyril Perth-Findlay sound likes a crime-solving gent from a 1920s series of novels. nice one.)
marvellous - will check in later to see what's happened...
ReplyDeleteafternoon all.
Philippa,
ReplyDelete'nice one'
Why, thank you m'am!
*tips fedora, and twangs braces*
Tory: Catherine Howard-Hobbs
ReplyDeleteLib-Dem: Cinnamon Jones-Arnold
Thanks, AB, et al. Nice to know I'm not the only one who wasn't terribly impressed. And kudos to Paul for taking the high road.
Whoa! Well spotted Peter ... am going to suggest an article! :-)
ReplyDeleteThe Telegraph MacShane report says:
ReplyDeleteIt is understood that the Commissioner had been investigating a series of claims made by Mr MacShane on his taxpayer-funded office expenses.
These included claims for nearly £20,000 a year for an office based in the garage of his South Yorkshire home. The claims totalled about £125,000 over seven years.
The Labour MP also submitted more than a dozen invoices to the Parliamentary authorities from the "European Policy Institute". Each bill was for "research and translation". The EPI was controlled by his brother, Edmund Matyjaszek.
He also claimed for eight laptop computers in three years.
Which all sounds highly innocent and above board.
It's not as if he claimed for eight lap-dancers, is it?
Meanwhile, in cloud-cuckoo-land news today, we have this from EnglishHermit on an editorial thread about government and big business computer hacking, cyber-warfare and espionage:
englishhermit
14 October 2010 1:23AM
If you want to see some real cyber warfare, you need look no further than the What Do Want To Talk About thread last weekend on your very own website. Multiple logins using IP hiders, rigged recommendations, cyber stalking and malicious abuse reporting. Every low down dirty trick was being played and what is worse, the majority of spectators considered it jolly good entertainment or made long speeches about freedom of expression yet lacked the integrity or courage to do anything about it.
...
As he now introduces almost every comment he makes, "Nnnyyaaaaahhhh! Dagga, dagga, dagga..." etc, yawningly, ad nauseam.
WADDYA calling! WADDYA calling!...
Article just up on the Graun:
ReplyDeleteLabour withdraws whip from former minister facing police inquiry.
Need popcorn.
Fuckinell: "it is understood the complaint was submitted in June last year by the British National party".
ReplyDelete@thauma:
ReplyDelete”…it is understood the complaint was submitted in June last year by the British National party…”
LOL, they’re not all bad, then.
And speaking of fraudulent politicians, anyone seen Vince Cable's nauseating apologia lately for doing everything the Tories tell them?
ReplyDeleteOn Channel 4 news last night he was shown a copy of the pledge he had signed pre-election not to raise student fees. His reply was:
"If I ever knew I would actually have to be in government I would never have signed it."
This comes on top of his excuse for not opposing the rise in VAT when in Govt. The Lib Dems pre-election promise not to raise VAT was because:
"We were trying to score a point against the Conservatives, if you like. Okay, well that was in the election. We have now moved past the election."
Now you can admire him for his honesty but you can also justifiably ask why people were duped into voting for Lib Dems on the back of a fraudulent manifesto.
Wybourne
ReplyDelete...on the back of a fraudulent manifesto.
Although I accept the points you are making, we do need to remember that a manifesto, as proved by Gordon Brown, is not worth the paper it is printed on.
He established quite satisfactorily that it is simply another word for "lie".
So, you could promise suitcases of cash, jewels and hard-drugs to everyone, along with aeroplane tickets to exotic lands far, far away and lives spent lounging in the sun and indulging in major and minor criminal activity - in short, heaven on earth - and there would be no sense in which you could be expected to actually deliver on those lickspittle, lying inducements to con the voter.
We are simply seeing what we have always got because this time we were so desperate to be rid of the New Labour regime that we persuaded ourselves that this time it would all be better.
UNbelievable quotes, Duke, what a sham this place is. The vermin can now openly admit that electioneering is purely that - electioneering, and obviously doesnt have much impact on what they would actually do when in government.
ReplyDeleteIf you get bored, it makes for fascinating reading to revisit the Tory and Lib Dem manifestos. There really is negligible correspondence between what they proposed and what they're actually doing, and still people balk at the suggestion that they lack legitimacy.
[still no word back on the other stuff...]
Indeed,
ReplyDeleteLib Dems were largely untested, having never had a chance to renege, reverse or 're-assess' anything, but they've sure as shit made up for that now!!
Still, at least we know for next time.....
Jay,
ReplyDeleteAnd let’s not forget Clegg. At the Lib dem conference on 20th September, he parroted the “economy as household budget” spiel that the Tories have been using as their excuse for ideological cuts:
”It’s the same as a family with earnings of £26,000 a year who are spending £32,000 a year. Even though they’re already £40,000 in debt. Imagine if that was you. You’d be crippled by the interest payments. You’d set yourself a budget. And you’d try to spend less. That is what this government is doing.”
Yet on May 1st (before the election), he was in complete opposition to what he said at the Lib Dem Conference:
“My eight-year-old ought to be able to work this out – you shouldn’t start slamming on the brakes when the economy is barely growing. If you do that you create more joblessness, you create heavier costs on the state, the deficit goes up even further and the pain with dealing with it is even greater. So it is completely irrational.”
An amazing U-turn to go from the rational to the 'completely irrational' in such an important sphere in such a short space of time.
I wonder if his 8 year old has also sold out his/her principles and any form of integrity he/she has?
Duke
ReplyDeletehad a winge about this yesterday, check Libdems' manifesto claims for PFI... they're full of it.
Afternoon all
ReplyDeleteThe mother of Stephen Lawrence has been the victim of a carjacking in South London.You can find the story HERE.
You'd think the poor woman would have already had enough trauma in her life.Kind of puts your own problems into perspective.
Good stuff guys - your comments on the hypocrisy and cavalier indifference of the current shower of compromised shitty politicians are a pleasure to read.
ReplyDeleteTheir arrogance really is offensive.
After reading today's comments, I've just got the picture in my head of this shower of shit behaving like the Dukes Avatar.....
ReplyDelete*Posh Voice*
MEEEeeeeeeee the 13thDukeofWybourne .....
La Rit,
ReplyDeletelooks like you may have some sort of power there.
(Maggie was taken ill today, and will not be attending her own party at no. 10!!)
Do you do requests...??
Have been having a really shite last 10 days or so (only work! - could be a lot worse as has been made very obvious on these pages) but this news about MacShane has really cheered me up.
ReplyDelete"but this news about MacShane has really cheered me up."
ReplyDeleteIts fantastic isnt it, it has left me genuinely euphoric all afternoon. The thought of him being the prison bitch to some 20 stone skinhead is bliss...
Yes, but don't grin too soon.
ReplyDeleteThis from an FT blog:
What is quite striking about the news is that it seems unlikely to trouble many front pages tomorrow (the FT is taking a 90-word digest).
That may reflect the way in which the media, and perhaps the public, have become almost blase about the subject of MPs’ expenses after two years of revelation upon revelation.
Three years ago the press would have reacted very differently.
Jay - maybe you could work it into my exam. I used to take pleasure in memorising a quotation or fact that had absolutely nothing to do with the matter in hand and working it in somehow.
ReplyDelete*my* exam????
ReplyDeleteNoooooo!
Yours!
Good luck with it.
AB - time to raise the noise level on the internets then! Anyone got one of those twatty thingies?
ReplyDeleteAs I said at the time with regard to both the spittle-spraying thunderings and the dewy-eyed, trembly-lipped promises to be good in future, all the politicians needed to do was to keep their heads down for a year or so and it would all be forgotten.
ReplyDeleteWhich is not to say that little Denis will not be banged to rights or that we should not laugh or miss the opportunity to think of any old lags we might know who might be able to stick him with a shiv.
Just that there will be no long-term prevention of sticky-fingers dipping in the till.
thauma
ReplyDeleteI've got loads of those, if you mean "Twitter" (snigger, naff) accounts - if I can remember the login stuff.
Want one?
Jay and Jenn
Good luck and best wishes to you both, if I have not already said so.
speaking of which - where's jen? hope everything went ok, if she's lurking...
ReplyDeleteThanks, AB, but I shudder at the thought of touching it.
ReplyDeleteThere's quite a bit of good news today. We've already covered the Chilean miners, Macshane and Maggie.
Here's more:
Pensions of high earners targeted for £4bn savings.
The government has slashed the amount of tax-free income that high earners can put into a pension by 80%, from £255,000 to just £50,000, it was announced today by Mark Hoban, financial secretary to the Treasury. He said the move will affect up to 100,000 high-earning pension savers.
From April 2012, the government will also reduce the lifetime pensions savings allowance that benefits from tax relief from £1.8m to £1.5m.
That's a contribution of 50K per year!
And also that arch-misogynist Sean Fucking Connery having a bit of trouble.
Thanks thaum/Atom - Jens was yesterday, havent seen her at all since.
ReplyDeleteI dont know how exactly i'd work the quote into a philosophy exam, Thaum, it would be quite a feat, though perhaps on Chalmers zombie theory i might ponder whether MacShane's zombie double would feel any phenomenal qualities as he was buggered relentlessly by a Somalian bandit. But still doesnt seem quite right.
Go for it, Jay, you know it makes sense.
ReplyDeleteJamesD:
ReplyDelete(Maggie was taken ill today, and will not be attending her own party at no. 10!!)
That's weird..... I heard it on the 6 o' clock news when I got in.
I have been known to radiate strange pyschic powers from time to time!
Requests? Of course! Bring 'em on and I'll get the voodoo dollys out ;0)
Evening all!
ReplyDeleteGreat day for good news indeed. His Royal Smugness McShame has had it coming for a while.
And Maggie poorly? Bless. I hope it isn't anything too trivial
"One day we'll dance on their graves
"One day we'll sing our freedom..."
Thauma
ReplyDeleteSean Fucking Connery - brilliant ;)
The other one I can't stand is Michael Tory Arse Licker Caine.
JayR
berry vest of luck for yer exam and (Jen hope yours went well and you're celebrating!)
the 6 o'clock news had something interesting on the miners - there is going to be a football match in a month or so - the miners v the 'minarda' (? - a team from the government building) and whoever wins gets to stay in the minarda and whoever loses goes back to the mine!
ReplyDeleteBB - Hello ;0)
ReplyDeleteSaw your lonesome pine post from last night this morning..... awwww.... Did you hear Gareth Pierce on Woman's Hour this morning? She's written a book which was reviewed/discussed in an article about her HR work - if only more people were like her.
As opposed to the vile, slimy, Max Clifford Shaz glad I missed it.....
BTW:
ReplyDeleteForgot to tell everyone (including most of my family!) my good news - I got the job I was going for.... first 'proper' job in about 5 years. Proper training, proper respect and proper money paid on time! Am Really very chirpy about it!
shazthewombat - cunts like clifford want a bullet in the face.
ReplyDeleteI'm just waiting for the CiF article on How the Media Normalises Sexist Macho Chilean Miners While Their Wives Have to Chew Coca Leaves Just to Get Their Kids Through School or someshit.
With the obligatory comments about how we should have let them die (market decides best) or how it was all a big hoax perpertrated by the CiA to access mineral rights...
I almost miss cif sometimes.
No I don't.
@La Ritournelle
ReplyDeleteWe must get drunk immediately !
Congrats !
Well done La Rit, that's awesome. Almost makes up for Max C!
ReplyDeleteHave had confirmation that no.2 child arrived safely in Madagascar (not from him, you understand... from the NGO he's working with...)and has begun work on the school. Good to know :o)
@LaRit
ReplyDeleteWoohoo!
cunts like clifford want a bullet in the face
ReplyDeleteOne of the things he said he'd do would be to get each of the men alone to try to break the vow of silence they made about the first 17 days underground. Cunt's too good for him.
Great news LaRit.
ReplyDeleteHope things went well Jen
woot woot LaRit!
ReplyDeleteWell done - be chirpy!
off visitin' - back later.
Shaz - the rest of your post after "What a loathsome piece of shit Max Clifford is" is redundant... :o)
ReplyDeleteLaRit - I didn't hear Gareth on R4, no. I have enormous respect for her though.
Congrats on your new job!
And I hope Jen's exam went well, and that Jay's will go well tomorrow.
Hi everyone else xx
Philibee
ReplyDelete"off visitin' - back later. "
Heheh - "visiting". Took me back to my 70s childhood Sunday afternoons. "We are going visiting", "We've got visitors".
Not phrases that I hear much these days at all.
BB, great comment (7.37pm) on waddya in response to Angie124. (I wonder who she is?) She reminds me of lostcauses (now deleted), but it wouldn't surprise me at all if she was bitey. What fun!
ReplyDeleteAnyway, how the hell are all you UT folk? Good, I hope, (in a rather depressing world).
Love to all.
LaRit
ReplyDeleteNice one.I'm pleased for you :-)
BB, great comment (7.37pm) on waddya in response to Angie124
ReplyDeleteYes.
Bloody hell... computer has just had a headfit.....
ReplyDeleteThank you most koindly people for the congrats!!!!
It's very flexible and (apparently) they say the work is 'recession proof' - met someone who paid their way through Law School doing the same thing for the last 7 years - seems hard to believe I've landed on my feet (no more staring into the abyss I hope).
BW - ah yes, drunkeness to start on Sunday after my 2 day (yes, two whole days!) self-imposed liver recovery programme - off to the Disco de Horsemeat to have my brains twisted by the wonder that is Derek Carter in a cloud of disco lights, glitter and dry ice.... hehehehe
Shaz
Baby no.2, Madagascar, schools???? Apologies - could you explain? Am confused! ;)
Scherfig
Nice to see you ;0) This is weird though, first I wish evil on Maggie and she's taken ill, then I think of my cousin and she's sent me an e-mail and I was wondering where you'd got to lately and up you pop!
The spirit's in me obviously....
Quick word to Paul - hatchet - buried - fer sure ;)
ReplyDeleteK - off to look at Scherfig's BB's comment recommend..... on waddaya
ReplyDeleteSorry La Rit, you prob missed the conversation - my no. 2 child (aged 18) left for Madagascar on Sun on a 3-week school-and-possibly-latrine-building project - although logic told me that I'd have heard if he hadn't arrived, I was quite relieved to get an email saying he was there!
ReplyDeleteHey Scherf - nice to see you!
ReplyDeleteI was trying to be more reasonable yesterday evening with her but today's post just pushed all the wrong buttons with me, really, and I lost my temper a bit.
It is complete bollocks to suggest that the Graun deliberately bans anti-misogynist voices. Christ, they have enough articles by BiBuBiBu...
LaRit - congratulations! Great news.
ReplyDeleteShaz - also very good! ;-)
Scherf - thought I saw a Danish flag lurking ealier ... good to hear from you! How's about ye?
God I'm sick of pre-mod - it's a bloody pain in the arse.
ReplyDeleteBB - worth trying to listen again to the G. Pierce interview on Woman's Hour ;)
Shaz - glad No 2 child has arrived safely.
ReplyDeleteIf it had been my lad, I would have been following him disguised in a long raincoat, hat and sunglasses...
Hi All-Porter Parker-Peters here, with LibDem foe Lily Elphinstone-Ephialtes.
ReplyDeleteGood on you LaRit! Shall raise a glass to you.
Paul--As others have said, well done to you in staying above the cesspit.
Shaz:
ReplyDeleteThanks for the clarification! I was thinking of new born babies - you 'here'm baby being born over 'there' to a boy.....??? You can see I was confused !!!
I too am glad he arrived safely ;)
Thauma:
Thanks chuck ;)
LaRit - just hope this bloody job isn't going to prevent you from joining us on Nov 6/7th!
ReplyDeleteGood to see you about, Scherf, hope alls well.
ReplyDeleteAnd great news on job, LaRit, congrats!
ReplyDeleteHello, Sir Harold Mayfield-Everett. QC signing in.
ReplyDeleteWhat's the totty like on here? Are there any "goers"?...nudge nudge..wink..wink..know what I mean eh?...nods as good as wink to a blind bat and all that...
e-mail me at fishnets.co.uk!
Evening, Sir Hal... and what a relief to find someone of your...er...class... on here...
ReplyDeleteyours,
Lucie Driffield-Wolynskji.
H'm, not sure that works frightfully well - let's try a different headteacher...
Lucie Driffield-Pickard.
I have to be careful here.
ReplyDeleteThe first street I can remember living in was Swallow Close
The last headmistress I had was Miss Ball
Which would make me Margaret Swallow-Ball?
Well done, La Rit. Good for you.
ReplyDeleteHello, Scherfig.
A general congratulations and commiserations to everyone, as I have only skimmed though and may have missed things.
What ho, Lucie,you sound like a game old bird! Care to show me the ropes? Identify the riff-raff and all that. I'm sure I can rely on your discretion my dear girl.
ReplyDeleteI have to go, just received an e-mail from my contact in Brussels: frightful snob don't you know but she does a good line in foie gras and caviar and the Bollinger is top notch.
TTFN,
Regards, Hal.
Congratulations, LaRit!!! Must be an incredible load off your mind.
ReplyDeleteAnd glad to hear Shaz's son is safe and sound. Madagascar at 18. Wow -- jealous.
BTW: congratulations La Rit. Hope this marks a new and more prosperous chapter in your life.
ReplyDeletesorry, needs must etc...hope all are well...anyone heard from Jen?
ReplyDeleteAs part of the deal for accepting to sub-contract to the company I am presently working for I had to agree to attend an "Asbestos Awareness" Elf-n-Saftey presentation this morning.
ReplyDeleteOn top of the £35 it cost, I also didn't get paid for the five hours it took (including travelling time and therefore petrol costs) so I'm now out of pocket to the thick end of a hundred quid for the privelege of listening to some Elf-n-Saftey jobsworth telling me nothing I didn't know before about the dangers of asbestos.
At least there was a Q and A at the end. Guess who asked this one:
"If asbestos is so friggin dangerous why isn't that risk reflected in the wages of those who are more likely to be exposed to it?"
@La Rit
ReplyDeleteSounds ace, enjoy
Hey scherfig, long time.
Hope things are ok mate.
Catch youse over the weekend some time ?
@ La Rit,
ReplyDeleteGood on yer girl. Hope you enjoy the job. There is no better feeling than waking up in the morning thinking.. 'Can't wait to get into work'.
There are few jobs around that provide that. I'm also lucky, I get occasionally get that feeling now and again.
Euphoric again, pool team won tonight. WhooHoo, we might get out of the relegation zone with 2 games to go.
Best wishes to Jen and Jay.
One too many 'gets' Ooops
ReplyDeleteI think I can honestly say that almost every day I wake up looking forward to working.
ReplyDeleteI don't always look forward to getting there, though, as I am dotted about all over the place. But I love my job.
Feeling good tonight so here is a classic done by 'Muse'
ReplyDeleteFeeling good
Not as good as the original, but at least the new groups are going back to roots !!
Tascia
ReplyDeleteOne of those rare examples where I prefer the cover to the original. A real gutsy, raunchiness about this version that I love. Ta for that
BB - I really should not complain about me job. In effect I helped create it. I was amongst a team that wrote the software that allows my present job to be so enjoyable. I was lucky to be able to move into a position that allows me to reap the rewards of such, in that I now get the 'fun' side of all that hard work.
ReplyDeleteIt can be mundane, but occasionally it is fucking brilliant !!
I've discovered this version of {WOODSTOCK by Joni Mitchell.It's a bit like a swansong for the idealism of a generation who nevertheless still went and fucked things up just like the generations before them.
ReplyDeleteNice one, tascia. We spend so much of our time working that if we are not enjoying ourselves at least a bit, it is a feckin shame.
ReplyDeletePaul - nice, but melancholic, version.
Fucked up - well, yes. But there have still been huge leaps forward, not least in terms of gender equality, for which we can thank them.
REEeeespect to ya Paul for your dealing with Mutton In Europe. I 'Catch a fire' in your deliverance !
ReplyDeleteSo much trouble in this world
oh my.
ReplyDeletejust went on waddya to check out what BB has been saying and saw a reference to this gorgeous piece of deisgn jiggery-pokery from unexceptional...
vari - ave, hope you are well - haven't seen jen around, trust she is painting the town in a fit of post-exam relief...
ReplyDeleteAllyF also rather on fire on that thread - here
ReplyDeletePhilibee
ReplyDeleteHermione, in true Hermione style, summed the thread up as "Menstruation, machinery and misogyny".
She really does make me smile. :o)
BB - props.
ReplyDelete(for the comment to angie6789 or whathaveyou)
ReplyDeleteoops - manufacturing, not machinery.
ReplyDeleteA good piece on 'Panorama' about Lord Ashcroft. Can't seem to bring him to justice for his inability to pay tax in this country.. and his affiliations with his own tax haven. Tory scum.
ReplyDelete'me.. with my reputation'...
Well, what I have just been discussing with Martyn kind of breaks it down to its constituent pieces really. I do find the notion that women require some kind of special pleading and the silencing of male oppositional voices kind of insulting to my intelligence - and that of every other woman I know.
ReplyDeletetascia - thing is, he really really wants to pay tax here, but there are these pesky loopholes that actually stop him from doing so, and his (immensely expensive) tax lawyer says it would be illegal if he tried to.
ReplyDeletearsewipe.
BB - and you've mentioned Law and Order UK 'over there' - saw an episode of that late at night here and genuinely thought I'd dropped off and started dreaming.
ReplyDeleteI'm guessing they thought the budget was better spent on the lovely Ben Daniels (amusingly, one of the Wiki links on him is to GaydarNation) rather than, you know, having a coffee with someone who has ever been a lawyer and calling it research...
He really is the personification of all that is wrong in bringing about tax dodgers to justice !
ReplyDeleteLOL Philippa
ReplyDeleteYep, must have done that, I reckon.
What they have done is to transpose the way in which the highly-exaggerated-for-effect system works in the States to the UK.
I have never - ever - known of a defence solicitor/barrister going along to a CPS office for a conference to carve up a plea or whatever. That is just so ridiculous. Any carving goes on at the door of the court between barristers.
Neither have I ever known of CPS lawyers to behave so unethically and try to stitch people up just cuz.
Hilarious stuff.
BB
ReplyDeleteYes social advances have been made but regarding gender equality 'the Woodstock Generation' built on the work that had been done by generations before them.And the benefits haven't been evenly spread as i'm sure many working class women would let you know.And of course it's all relative as you're focusing on gender equality in the developed world.Not sure women in the develping world feel any sense of gratitude to the 'Woodstock Generation'.
Tascia
Cheers for the link.This track from Bob Marley is another favourite of mine.
Definitely off now.
Nite all.
Right - time I was in bed.
ReplyDeleteI managed a fairly reasonable five hours of continuous sleep last night, so I am hoping for a bit more tonight xx
night night BB! and Paul!
ReplyDeleteYea, good track Paul - love the lyrics. Good party opener !
ReplyDeletebitey outs self at 1.53...
ReplyDeleteanyway. night all.