28 October 2010

28/10/10


Politicians are the same the world over: they promise to build a bridge even when there is no river.
-Nikita Khruschchev

85 comments:

  1. Love the Escher Montana!

    Have a great time in London, those who are going. I'd love to be there too but must toil on the treadmill instead. A couple of pics are a must!

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  2. Yes, have the time of your lives everyone.

    It normally goes from:

    "Oh, hello! Wow! You made it all right, then? Brilliant to see you!"

    to:

    "You're my best mate, you are. I mean it, you're fucking brilliant, you."

    I think smearing kebab all over your face and dropping it down your front before vomiting into the gutter is optional, but a tradition it would be a pity to lose.

    Or is all that just me?

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  3. @Sheff

    See you some other time!

    @Atom

    I'll be trying to remain upright, at any rate, since I have to catch a train back at midnight.

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  4. I am not going to hog the thread today, but just wanted to quote this from Timothy Garton Ash on CiF:

    Take David Cameron's slogan of the "big society", for example. In his speech presenting it this summer, he said: "You can call it liberalism. You can call it empowerment. You can call it freedom. You can call it responsibility. I call it the 'big society'." In its evangelical incoherence, this is a passage worthy of Tony Blair. Liberalism, empowerment, freedom and responsibility are all good things, but they are not the same thing – and none of them are the same as "big society". So this is like saying: "You can call it milk. You can call it cheese. You can call it socks. You can call it internal combustion. I call it baked beans."

    Stripped of the Blairish blather, the idea is that people should be empowered at the lowest possible level, in their homes, neighbourhoods, communities, rather than depending on "top-down, top-heavy, controlling" government bureaucracy, sapping local initiative and civic action.


    I thought the bit about socks and baked beans was funny and true and also thought that we should remember what both Dave and Dave said repeatedly before and just after the election.

    They kept talking about giving power to the people - the usual "empowerment" guff - and radically changing politics "for good".

    We need to accept that all the sloganeering is just empty words (the witch-doctor making incantations over the bones of a slaughtered toad) but the gestures will be translated into reality, however vicious and however many people get hurt in the process.

    We have been told that we are emphatically not all in this together.

    Why have they kept repeating it to the point of making themselves look like rejects from the ventriloquists trunk?

    They are telling us we are completely and utterly alone and that governments are moving towards never having to lift a finger to help us.

    We are like the children of the drug- and booze-addled derelict mother, who tells us there is food in the fridge and some loose change on the kitchen counter and that she is popping out for a bit.

    She is catching a plane to some distant, plastic wonderland of garish exoticism, riddled with bars and clubs and drugs and sex and anything is better than having to be trapped with fucking whining kids for the rest of your life and I'm never going back to that shit I'm just going to disappear I am fucking so fucking gone I am that's it I'm finally free.

    We are utterly alone.

    We have been abandoned.

    We are refugees in our own land.

    We need to get together and learn to survive.

    They are not messing around any more.

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  5. Spike

    It might be worth just jotting down an early morning of the next day plan B.

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  6. Sheff:

    Sorry we'll miss you ;(

    Atom:

    Or is all that just me? hehehehe!!!

    I'll make them all swear an oath of secrecy!

    Still got a terrible cold but going to make it - against my better judgement.

    Spike - see ya on the ice!

    ;)

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  7. morning all - tis PhilippaB, if i don't manage to get the logon thingy to work off friend's 'puter.

    looking forward to seeing peeps later! have a good day, all...

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  8. Have a good meet-up - is it on London? (OMG am so out of touch).

    Atom - some brilliant posts :) you are on format the mo!

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  9. Atomboy:

    Just wanted to join in the applause for that one - brilliant. ;)

    As for recognising me - I'll be the one speaking in the voice of an old man and blowing nose copiously ;)

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  10. Have fun at the shindig folks....

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  11. Michael Gove is a repellent little shit. Having scrapped TAs training budget, he's now scrapped the working party that was working for a national pay structure/working conditions for support staff.

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  12. Remember people. Today is Thursday *.

    Some of you have work tomorrow.

    The fact that I was up til 3.30 last night is neither here nor there.

    Everything in moderation I say.


    *(you can check here)

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  13. @Duke, if you're around - after your link yesterday, I see that Richard 'Lenin' Seymour has a piece up on Thatcherism.

    @Drinkers - go to it.

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  14. Thanks everyone, although it is utterly undeserved, since no thought or effort goes into it.

    I think turminderxuss mentioned Tristan Garel-Jones the other day and his catchphrase: "Thank goodness it's only a game."

    I have been glancing at an old John le Carre novel and have been reminded of the way he portrays the "spooks" as clumsy and inept, pretending to be people they aren't (not for the job, but because their lives are essentially fantasy) and how they are not trying to protect or save anything for ordinary people.

    They only want to ensure that those who are socially their superiors are protected, insulated and saved.

    In fact, when the lives of the common people intrude - unless in the capacity of the servant classes - they are affronted and feel that somehow the filthy poor have cheated them, have soiled and damaged their world.

    So, no change there, then.

    The poor idolise the rich and the rich despise the poor.

    Actually, the meeting tonight sounds like something from a spy novel. You need some codewords.

    Like this, perhaps:

    "You can ring me here tonight from Finland. If you've got the film, just say the deal's come off."

    "And if not?"

    "Say the deal's off."

    "It sounds rather alike," Avery objected. If the line's bad, I mean. 'Off' and 'Come off'."

    "Then say they're not interested. Say something negative. You know what I mean."

    You are all going to the same pub on the same day, I take it? That much, at least, is probably necessary.

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  15. Bitterweed

    That has to be the best site I have ever seen.

    Simple, to the point, useful and no messing around.

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  16. Wasnae me AB, but I did like it, much like;

    "The world is like a ride in an amusement park. And when you choose to go on it, you think it's real because that's how powerful our minds are. And the ride goes up and down and round and round. It has thrills and chills and it's very brightly coloured and it's very loud and it's fun, for a while. Some people have been on the ride for a long time and they begin to question, is this real, or is this just a ride? And other people have remembered, and they come back to us, they say, "Hey - don't worry, don't be afraid, ever, because, this is just a ride..." And we... kill those people.

    St. William of Hicks, peace be upon him.


    And I'll add to the props, AB youm on fire at the mo... ; )

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  17. Bitters,

    there was a piece in the Indy a while ago, where Gove revealed he'd been caned at school, regularly, for insubordination.

    Various BTL comments such as, 'obviously not hard enough', 'what I wouldn't give...', etc, had me chuckling away for a while!!

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  18. You are all going to the same pub on the same day, I take it? That much, at least, is probably necessary.

    Good God, no - that would have massive security implications. Philippa's going to the Crown, I'm off to the Prospect of Whitby... not sure about the rest, but as long as we all synchronise watches we can all take that first drink at once...

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  19. shaz

    I can see that nothing slips past you.

    Just watch out for friendly fire.

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  20. Actually, that reminds me of a story someone told me about going to some kind of military display, involving, amongst others, UK and USA aircraft which showed how to take out a target.

    Apparently, everyone could hear the scream and thunder of the American aircraft coming for long, tedious minuted before they were seen.

    They came from all directions, swooping and rolling and completely missing the target, before performing victory rolls and everything short of dragging flapping banners across the sky declaring: "USA! USA! Fuck, yeah!"

    A little later, everyone jumped out of their skins as the RAF aircraft shot across the sky without warning, blew the target to smithereens and disappeared almost before anyone could react to their arrival.

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  21. Which reminds me of another story.

    Apparently, the French Foreign Legion's record for completing their own assault course was about 45 minutes.

    Obviously, the American Marines were just itching to show them how it should really be done.

    So, the French Foreign Legion let them.

    Seven hours later, as the Legionnaires were enjoying a beer and a smoke and a chat, the first American had still failed to complete the course.

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  22. AtomBoy some great stuff from you these last few days just been reading through some of it.

    I think you are bang on re them ''not messing around anymore''.

    My other halfs great uncle flew a bomber in the second world war and he said the Americans were always dropping their bombs early and not over the right target. seems like not much has changed!

    London guys and gals - hope a good night is had by all.

    LaRit - I bet that 'Kosovo' comment by Boris has got right on Dave and Gideons tits! Wonderful how all these Tories like their 'tough' policies but only when it doesn't affect their constituents. Like all the Tory's demanding schools in THEIR constituency got built etc.

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  23. It get's better AB the version I heard has the US Marine Corpse(sic) being helicopter rescued after 24 hours from less than half way round... : )

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  24. Hope they don't mind but just thought would re-post some of this from Shebunkin here as it is pretty interesting:

    ''i keep hearing statistics for increased manufacturing trotted out, and wondering why it contradicts the evidence of my own eyes - for indeed, Thatcher closed nearly all the factories - the steel industry is gone, the car industry and supply chains... all gone.

    i got a clue the other night, on hearing on tv of a company which sells rice described as a manufacturer (on account of its new line of cooked microwaveable rice). it's all in the classification, which, it turns out, is far more
    complicated than a mere mortal might imagine, and changes periodically. filletting fish qualifies as manufacturing.

    it's all in here - http://www.statistics.gov.uk/methods_quality/sic/downloads/uk_sic_vol1%282003%29.pdf''

    The PDF doc is long but indeed does show that freezing fish or peas is manufacturing. What is manufacturing has been changed by governments a number of times since 48 with many big changes in 82 (hhmm) and some in 97. Interesting reading.

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  25. Shazz,

    Jay asked for this to be followed up on WADDYA. Gove truly is an unspeakable little twerp who in any other political era would not have gotten anywhere near the reins of power.

    The country is run by political pygmies and puppets at the behest of their masters in the city and banks.

    PeterJ,

    Seymour's piece an excellent analysis of the final actualisation of a socio-economic and political process began in 1979.

    If you check his blog he is particularly incisive on Thatcher's gurus esp Hayek and the fundamentally authoritarian/corporatist nature of the neo-liberalist agenda hiding underneath the cloak of 'liberal freedoms'.

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  26. Princess;

    I've no time for Boris after the Mayoral elections, but perhaps his non-conformity is going to really put the cat amongst the pigeons. His 'Kosovo' moment has moved up to first place on the news items on the Radio.... makes a bloody change from hearing some lickspittel droning on about benefit scroungers living in luxury and hard-working tax payers....

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  27. i have had a request from a national newspaper to contribute to their obituary of Margaret Thatcher - it seems we are all anticipating her coming demise.

    Should any of you have anything you wish to contribute please let me know and I'll try and get it in. (its not a spoof I checked)

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  28. LaRit - I bet that 'Kosovo' comment by Boris has got right on Dave and Gideons tits!

    It seems to have pissed Vince Cable right off...

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  29. Sheff

    If you could squeeze in batshit crazy anywhere, that would probably do me, but I will have a think.

    I'm assuming you have the Nazi sympathiser angle covered anyway.

    Oh, and the fucking good riddance street parties across the land side of things.

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  30. And the bit about producing an alcoholic parasite for a daughter and franglais arms-dealer for a son.

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  31. Sheff,

    If you could get something in about her dislike of men with beards, and the feeling being mutual among many bearded men, my Dad would be eternally grateful!

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  32. And the fact that Jon Snow said - guardedly, of course - that the al-Yamamah arms deal was the most corrupt bit of British business in history, with billions sloshing around and in and out of government coffers and into back pockets.

    Strange that her unemployable and delinquent son went into arms dealing afterwards

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  33. Being sloshed all the time...

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  34. Being a desperate, insecure social climber...

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  35. The video of her in a tank with a pith-helmet and a mosquito-net stuck to her head pretending she was Boadicea (in old money).

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  36. Hair, voice, bag, clothes...

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  37. Sheffpixie
    Really ???

    Try the angle on how

    "Her agitation to get the rebate completely blinded her to how much we were signing up to in the 1986 SEA negotiations. Further, she was too haughty to read much at all of the proposals (let alone the whole thing ) - and was way too up herself to ask her craven weakling advisors to spell it out. Result; it's now almost impossible for UK public to have any faith in Brussels. The thick wanker."

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  38. That story* about her wearing a strap-on, and 'showing' Pinochet exactly what to do to the people of Chile, while the Chicago Boys watched and played with themselves, always struck me as sweet....

    *possibly apocryphal.

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  39. Succeeding in crushing the unions and quite effectively eradicating the working class as a political entity...

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  40. AB

    How much space are you going to get, Sheff?

    Not much I suspect. Its related to those events was involved in back in 1984/85

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  41. Sheff

    Perhaps - 'Pity she didn't pop her clogs 35 years ago'

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  42. Sheff

    Say something about how only the good die young.

    Evil bastards hang about forever.

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  43. @Sheff

    The thing I most remember was her slagging off those who "drool and drivel that they care" about unemployment on the eve of the 1987 election. There's a transcript here.

    Meanwhile, as Boris has his arm twisted to recant over housing benefit, there seem to be problems for another flagship policy, as Iain Martin recounts at his WSJ blog...

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  44. Peter I would find that story hilarious if it wasn't so worrying, the country is in the hands of people who are genuinely stupid.

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  45. Where are the revellers? Are we going to get reports? it's a UT tradition to send the odd drunken post from the party.

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  46. Yeh

    @thauma - I want a two inch thick folder on my desk, 8am prompt.

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  47. I'm sorry. I know that you're all eager to see the Wicked Witch of the West leave this mortal coil, but the bitch is not allowed to die until I'm in Britain.

    I can survive the disappointment of not having been there when the Berlin Wall came down, but if I'm not in Britain for the parties when that evil cow dies, I will not survive the disappointment.

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  48. montana

    We'll get you over - by hook or by crook!

    Am now going to watch that old goat Keith Richard - he's being interviewed on BBC2 - and re-live my youth!

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  49. When may you be coming to these shores Montana? We could try and get a campaign to keep her on life support for a while?

    Sheff - I second AB - one four letter word should sum it up. But then I doubt it would be printed so can you just get across a general sense of pure loathing for me?

    James - that was brilliant.

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  50. I suppose as Margaret Hilda has made it clear that the 'lady is not for 'URNing' we can assume that when she does eventually pop her clogs she'll be buried and not cremated.

    (and yes i do deserve to be shot for that!)

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  51. Thatcher obit - "an outstandingly good politician, who achieved all her aims. Sorrowfully missed by the IRA..."

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  52. A thoroughly unpleasant money-grubbing millionaire's wife with: no taste or grace, flat feet, disagreeable kids and a propensity to flatulence, who will not be missed or lamented round Yorkshire. May the worms enjoy her vexatious remains.

    Have fun in London everybody

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  53. Atomboy (and scherfig yesterday) definitely been on a roll there ! Many lols.

    Late to bed, Atomboy's fault!, because I found "Surely You're Joking, Mr Feynman!" , hugely amusing and very wise . Young Charles Karamazov would learn from his take on so much that is supposed to be University 'Education'. Learning by rote, rather than understanding, which Robert Persig also attacked in "Zen and the Art ..." .

    PrincessCC 14.31-- on 'manufacturing' hehe -- lies, damn' lies ??

    Sheffpixie -- my dad was 18 in 1939 and was in till 1946, but I think the only person he actually hated was Thatcher . His thing was incremental reform ( Free Radio stations for aboriginals et al one achievement) but he saw how destructive that woman was. He'd either be on the streets today, or more usefully, devising evil plans for the discomfiture of the comfortable .


    Al Yamamah -- always wondered what they fixed the oil-price at on that one ...

    Local 'activities' today in the French provinces ... from the article below we see that Guillaume Sarkozy is getting his mitts on millions of peoples' complementary Pensions.

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  54. Hi Habib

    One of the few times Thatcher was put in her place by a member of the public can be seenHERE in a televised BBC1 Q +A session back in the 80,s.

    Enjoy!

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  55. She was a stinking alcoholic. 2 bottles of gin a day. Well known.

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  56. Hey, Paul, always had a prob with that, because the ship could have turned around any time. Strategically dangerous. If I was commander of the Conqueror, I would have sunk the Belgrano.

    Of course, I never would have been - pacifist and all.

    Turminder - "She was a stinking alcoholic." Fuck me, defending her twice in a row - don't make me do that again!

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  57. Oh Paul! At least you're having a decent discussion with cocks on the Turkish thread, I'm, having a playground fight!

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  58. Paul, great clip, I could hardly bear to watch it.

    Habib, ships can always turn around, that is why war has rules.

    You don't sink a ship that is heading away from you when it is outside the exclusion zone or else we would basically have felt free to sink any fecking boat we liked.

    Personally I find the idea that war has rules bizarre but that is the way it is.

    Just looking at her and hearing her repeat the phrase 'I am asking you to accept' gives me the chills.

    She was using an early version of PR and wasn't it successful.

    Well done Ms Gould.

    The alcoholic stuff is pointless and to be honest a bit cheap.

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  59. Evening all

    Just a quick post before I get to bed - yes, I'm the lightweight and left them all behind me with their pints.

    Lovely evening with Philippa, Spike, Shaz, Chekov, LaRit and special guest late arrivals Thaum and Tascia!

    Photo on its way from Philippa, all suitably disguised of course.

    I gotta get to bed as early school tomorrow.

    Hugs to all, BB x

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  60. Chekov, I didn't realise that you were heading down that way.

    Give me a shout next time you are going to a meet up and I will do my best to join you (begging a lift basically). x

    Hope you are all having a great time.

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  61. Jenn, war is war.

    "The alcoholic stuff is pointless and to be honest a bit cheap."
    She was our Prime Minister. You could just about understand Churchill being a few sheets to the wind, but Maggie's performance... angry drunk.

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  62. Habib

    I,m throwing in the towel for the night on that Turkish thread as the ignorance on it is beginning to piss me off.The thing is these stupid people can't see that in the long term the EU may well need Turkey more than Turkey needs the EU.And that if Turkey gives up on Europe what's to stop them giving up on NATO where strategically they are extremely important.

    As you know Turkey has it's problems but the fact the EU refuses to even set down a conditional timetable for Turkish entry speaks volumes.And the countries most against Turkish entry do have a racist and islamaphobic agenda whatever they may say to the contrary.

    Anyways here's a track for you that i heard recently from the Sounds of Blackness

    Hope you're well

    Nite

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  63. Paul, ... I get you...
    I know, I can't be doing with CiF, why did I go on tonight? But you know me, I always have to try and be the smart arse...

    People of UT! don't do it - CiF is over run by neo-nazis!

    Nite, pal.

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  64. Habib, what I meant was that she was evil and blaming it on the drink gives her too much of an exuse.

    I am drunk a lot of the time but I have yet to destroy the manufacturing base of a country while setting up some kind of legacy for public school boys to aspire to.

    I don't want Thatcher to die, I want her to suffer eternally, apparently she comes out of her Alzheimers coma every now and again, she recognizes what is happening.

    Long may it continue (I feel a bit shitty for wishing that on her but I will get over it).

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  65. jenni

    looking at many of the people exercising a cruel power over the lives of others I realise that they are completely unaware that they are as vulnerable as the rest of us to sudden illness or accident - they believe themselves to be in some way special and protected.

    If I had done to millions what Thatcher did I would count memory loss a blessing. No memory= no guilt.

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  66. Jenn, would you like me to be serious or silly?

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  67. leni

    Very well said.

    I know she is probably too far gone now to know what she did, but I do like the idea that she remembers every now and again.

    I hope she suffers (that is why I feel bad), I hope she cries every day, I don't give a shit if she remembers Dennis but I do hope she suffers every day.

    I really hope she dies crying.

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  68. Hallo Habib

    Looked at Turkish thread - I hadn't realised before reading it that Turkey is , in fact, peopled by an alien, barbaric race - something quite differant to we, wonderful europeans. How many legs do they have ?

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  69. Habib, I want you to be silly, what kind of question is that. ;)

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  70. "How many legs do they have ?"
    Weirdly, Leni, it's two for each face.

    "I am drunk a lot of the time but I have yet to destroy the manufacturing base of a country"
    Jenn, have you tried Jack Daniels, neat?

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  71. Leni

    The last job but one I had brought me into contact with Turkish immigration.

    My boss (who was a fuckwit) had met a Turkish guy on holiday and they ended up getting married.

    They had a son together (and he was a gorgeous big handsome lad).

    She actually told me one day that Turkish men were just white men who had spent too much time in the sun and so passed the sunkissed skin onto their children.

    I don't want to have a go at the working class but some of them are shameful.

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  72. Jenni

    racism defies social class I'm afraid. The amount of ignorance in our society is quite astonishing and shameful.

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  73. Jen - just popped in to have a quick read in bed and just nearly choked on me cuppa when I read this:

    ''I am drunk a lot of the time but I have yet to destroy the manufacturing base of a country''

    Fooking brilliant.

    Allegedly Thatch drank stupendous amounts. A good few gins or brandys before PMQ's a few after, then more through the evening. She never seemed pissed to me though but then she had such an odd way of speaking that who could tell?

    I needed that laugh though so thanks - after watching that absolute cock Hugh Hendry on Question Time

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  74. Great evening. Everyone brilliant. A special mention for Shaz who by a weird coincidence was able to take the same train there and back as me and was excellent company with marvellous literary tastes.

    Just returned to Whitstable after taking two hours to travel 50 miles on Southeast. Mainly on a train with "high speed" written all down the side. More tomorrow.

    @Sheff

    For the Thatcher obituary, perhaps a word about the MP who asked the Speaker if the evil old crone would accept a peerage in an East London location since he had always wanted to refer to her as the Lady Barking.

    Dennis Skinner?

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  75. PS :

    Suite à la demande populaire des camarades qui s'exprimaient en français ce soir, j'ai l'honneur d'annoncer la formation de la Section Française des Sujets à Mefiance.

    By popular demand from the comrades speaking French this evening, I am delighted to announce the creation of the French Section of The Untrusted.

    Vagins -- soyez conscients de vos limites!

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