I'll answer my own question from yesterday: Remind me again when Resolution 242 was passed. It was passed in 1967 when there was a person called Brown in the UK's labour cabinet, which did not go in for military adventure in Vietnam.
Oh, dear. It looks like the tyres are being stripped from the ConDem's training wheels as it tries to negotiate the rocky road of political intrigue in the internet age and suddenly lurches into a shuddering skid heading for the ditch.
David Cameron’s hopes of limiting the political damage from the telephone hacking affair suffered a setback yesterday as ministers were urged to order an independent inquiry into the actions of the Metropolitan Police.
Despite the resignation of Andy Coulson as the Downing Street director of communications, the spotlight was thrown back on to the links between Mr Cameron and Rupert Murdoch’s empire.
The Independent has learnt that James Murdoch, son of Rupert and chairman of News Corporation in Europe and Asia, attended a private dinner with Mr Cameron just days after the Prime Minister stripped Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrat Business Secretary, of responsibility for the crucial decision on whether News Corp should be allowed to buy the 61 per cent of BSkyB it does not already own. [...]
The disclosure that James Murdoch was present provoked calls last night for the Cabinet Secretary to intervene, amid claims that it raised questions about Mr Cameron’s judgement.
A bit of a PR tailspin as well, then, from the sleekest member of the Three Stooges.
Interesting comparison between the powers and responsibilities (or lack of) between countries fourth estates.
Dutch newspapers reporting on the arrest and charging of the Dutchman for the murder of Joanna Yeates have not been allowed to identify him as Dutch law states that suspects cannot be identified in criminal cases until proven guilty. In the Dutch press he has only been referred to as 'Vincent T'.
Compare this with the gleeful free for all in the UK press the last two days when the suspects entire history has been dredged up. Of course this is after the disgusting press campaign against Chris Jefferies who I hope sues the arse off of the media.
It does put in the spotlight the lack of control there is over the UK press in criminal cases where suspects are tried and condemned in a media circus before the rule of law has taken its course.
I'd be interested to hear what BB thinks of this from a legal perspective.
"It does put in the spotlight the lack of control there is over the UK press in criminal cases where suspects are tried and condemned in a media circus before the rule of law has taken its course."
Lilac-breasted roller is what the caption said. Are they really that colourful? Almost seems like that photo had to have been doctored to come up with those colours.
It's likely that to his mates he's even more spectacular: birds can see further into the UV end of the spectrum than us, he's possibly got colours and markings we can't even see!
Montana - I thought it was. They're gorgeous birds, very neatly put together, and, to quote Monty Python, beautiful plumage. They are very vivid, but I think that pic makes the blue look a bit more fluorescent than they really are. Southern Africa has spectacular birdlife. I look at all the LBJs that visit our garden in the UK, and really think I traded down! My little house in Durban, we used to have a crested Loerie that visited once a year, and nested just outside our bedroom window on the pawpaw tree. Again, a very noisy bugger, but somehow you just didn't mind being woken up by something that gorgeous.
You can be driving along and there are bushes at the side of the road which, when you get close and they are startled by the noise of the car, explode into colour and noise.
bird looks like his been to the hair dressers for a colour change whilst tripping on acid....as they say hear faccetta del furbetto (he's got a crafty little face)
yep pretty unfuckingbelievababble....the mother was on a show that is infact pretty well respected it's about missing people, the mother poor thing had pushed the media to highlight the disappearance of her daughter, being august literally the country comes to a standstill....she was there with the sister in law the cousin of her daughter when her phone rang and she heard someone had been arrested, the reporter there heard as well and told her...it was pretty distressing to say the least. so many justified this as "well she wanted the media involved didn't she...." empathy is tangible at times in italy....not....there is a lack of a sense of personal responsibilty in all stratum of society from collecting your dog poo in a plastic bag to this where journalists justifiy this inhumanity because the mother wanted to find her daughter and was forced to "advertise" it over the media otherwise nobody would give a shit.......says a lot..
everything seems as if it has to be made into a show, even death, even peado prime ministers...
just took a look......pretty standard superficial analysis nothing new really guess it's better than the porno star article from yesterday, however it doesn't cover the couple of things that IMO are important: populist politics anti politics the failure of the 2nd republic and of the clean hands (mani pulite) trials of the 90s
the fact that berlusco is there is because of the failure of mani pulite
the left also have a lot to answer, they haven't been able or willing to really fight PDL and there have been zillions of opportunities. Is it becaus they can't or is it because they are waiting for a total melt down? i really don't know a bit of both i guess.
I am a bit bore with the all italians want to be berlusconi i haven't met one yet that has said that.....nor have i met one that admires him.....and through work i have quite a bit of contact with industrial types, government agencies and ministries and everyone has said the opposite that the man is destroying the country economically and socially and ruining its reputation......
Looks like we are facing a glut of propaganda trying to convince us all to fill our freezers and cupboards with "Mmm-mmmm" GM foods - or see the world become a desert and watch everyone die.
Despite widespread popular concern about the health and environmental risks posed by GM produce, scientists are increasingly convinced that they are essential to global food supply. The Food and Farming report was commissioned by the *Department of Business* to look at ways in which the world can feed itself over the next 40 years.
Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman said there was a need for a global approach to food security that also tackled poverty and climate change and reduced losses to wildlife and environmental damage.
"We can unlock an agricultural revolution in the developing world, which would benefit the poorest the most, simply by improving access to knowledge and technology, creating better access to markets and investing in infrastructure.
"To fuel this revolution, *we must open up global markets, boost global trade and make reforms that help the poorest.*
"Trade restrictions must be avoided, especially at times of scarcity.
"And we must manage price volatility by building trust and cooperation - and in particular by creating greater transparency around the true levels of food stocks," she said.
* Another clue?
The poor are going to be even more fucked than they were before.
They are going to be fucked so good and so proper they will think that they are at a Berlusconi party. Or wish they had gone to one instead.
Strange, though, that the UN says that we can actually feed the world twice over on current production and that a huge proportion of starvation is caused by speculative trade.
The man on the wireless a week or so ago who was told that this trade was causing death from starvation for hundreds of thousands of people and may have to be regulated was so affronted, so incandescent with outrage that it was hard top know whether he was close to tears or total meltdown by the sheer vehemence of his anger.
Basically, how dare you say that the lives of thousands of children should trump our ability to make money by prodding a screen and braying.
I am a bit bore with the all italians want to be berlusconi i haven't met one yet that has said that.....nor have i met one that admires him.....and through work i have quite a bit of contact with industrial types, government agencies and ministries and everyone has said the opposite that the man is destroying the country economically and socially and ruining its reputation......
But...but...that's like saying that CiF has repeatedly got it wrong and is just peddling vacuous nonsense.
Evening all. Angry wanking eh? I bet George Osborne does angry wanking - he strikes me as that sort.
I am enjoying see the coalition having a bit of a rought time of it. Haven't kept too abreast of events as had a busy old time of it. But they do seem to be losing control of the wheels a tad.
True Gando, but in fairness, Jezza (wonder if she's any relation to Prezza?) did realize while cycling to work last week "Shit. I've enthusiastically okayed an article on book covers and summarily dismissed a suggestion for an article on homelessness. Did I say "We've done it already" or "What's the topical news hook?" Nothing brings about a change of heart quicker than the notion you might look like an insular middle-class luvvie.
I spent 2 years requesting an article on NEETs. Now in boom times, NEETs tend to be those who leave school with very few qualifications and spend their lives on the dole. There is no 'topical news hook'. They live, they fail and they die in obscurity. As such, they have no place on the radar of your average compassionate Islingtonite. There are the deserving poor (single mums, refugees, blind Albanian jazz quartets) and the undeserving poor (chavs, more chavs, NEETs, anyone who ears a Burberry knock-off). Compassion is far too valuable a commodity to be dispensed indiscriminately.
i did question jeeza why the homelessness article, which don't forget she all but credited to herself despite paul plugging for it incessantly, was suddendly deemed newsworthy and less than 24 hours later ceremoniously binned as lacking a "hook"...all i got was a sarky response and that she would elaborated on in depth the next day if the question was still on topic...then the sarky moll told what she was eating for dinner......classy
she has not even bothered to reply on the total abolishment of the IDF and possible options for a people's panel......as i said before people with severe physical and learning disabilities aren't "juicy" enough for the Graun... why give people that have learning disabilities a voice hey i mean they can't express themselves can they.....to me it's not enough to have the voices of parents, carers, support workers social workers etc
Hello everyone: thanks for your reponses to Amelie's post.
BTW: just watched David Lambert (retiring head of the CBI)on Channel 4 news, a rough translation of what he said being; "we need an un-diluted source of cheap labour."
do like a decent bbc drama....watching "our friends in the north" loved it the first time round wonder whether it will have the same effect 15 years down the line.... jeeze 15 years.......
@Thauma: Victoria Coren is usually worth a read even if her logic doesn't always stack up and she doesn't take herself too seriously either which is always a plus!
BTW; interesting programme on BBC4 right now about "Justice"
The prime minister and the chancellor have been playing a double game. They claimed they wanted to tame the banks. In reality, they were protecting them. They never meant to address the economic polarisation of this country, or to check the incentives which caused the last crash. Their intention was always to pamper the rich and to make the poor pay for their follies. As the leaked document shows, the Conservatives are ready to risk the whole economy to help the filthy rich get richer.
Apparently, Cameron and Osborne prefer bankers to plebs and lie a lot.
"so spill the beans amelie is better at football than you and that's why you sent her to bed before she could reply,,,,,you furbetto chekhov!!!
Pah: rumbled already!
BTW: I once spent a weekend on a Creative Writing course with Peter Flannery who wrote the screenplay for "Our Friends In The North" (which was/is brilliant)
He also wrote the screenplay for another movie which I can't remember the name of in which Johnathan Cake, Patsy Kensit and Richard Roxborough co-starred and it was bloody awful!
I have tried different approach, we will need something from recipients in fear of losing it as well as somethig from someone who has missed out. The latter could tell us about council provision and how much/little choice the recipient gets in services provided.
When it comes as cash the recipient has personal agency - is this still true if council determines and provides services ?
The only Patsy Kensit movie I can think of is Absolute Beginners, which was a long, long time ago, before she became an A lister on Emmerdale.
Natalie Henman's last twatter was on Jan 12th and it said "Do I have any followers who could recommend an English-speaking Japanese writer well versed in feminism?"
Ah, that'll be for the article on the long-term unemployed in Rochdale then.
I hope nobody minds if I address a couple of Nap's points from last night.
"Nothing will happen at all until the Arab countries get their heads out of the sand and recognise the right of Israel to exist and engage in diplomatic reactions."
Diplomatic reactions would be a fine thing, I fear that Israeli policies have always been arranged to encourage non-diplomatic reactions.
"Now if, decades ago, the Arab countries had agreed to diplomatic relations with Israel and made peace overtures instead of printing antisemitic cartoons in newspapers then a Palestinian state would exist today."
Are you seriously saying that people should have been glad to have had their land taken away from them?
from reading what has been published existing users will continue to theoretically receive ILF however the funds will not be increased via the ILF so effectively frozen then no doubt there will be a fight between social service and the local health authority about whose responsibility it is to fund what considering the fund is both about health and social support. leni i really don't know about how the fund is managed and levels of choice etc of the recipient i could ask some friends who are still involved in the area....maybe allyf may know not sure whether its his area though.....
checkov
furbetto is a diminutive of furbo and means smartly astute but normally it's used in a cheeky way......or when someone is a stronzzo !! don't worry about the latter you ain't a stronzzo!!
ILF independent living fund (deceased more or less now)
RapEd ".....an English-speaking Japanese writer well versed in feminism?"
maybe to translate her sushi menu or order her noodles at wagamama...yeah......
LOL couldn't make it up .....see the sky fairies are weeping again........heyho
@gandolfo0: "furbetto is a diminutive of furbo and means smartly astute but normally it's used in a cheeky way......or when someone is a stronzzo !! don't worry about the latter you ain't a stronzzo!!
I don't really have a clue what you are on about but I'm assuming not being a "stronzzo" is a good thing!
Bit of a spat on waddya over the remarks about women referees.
I have been a footie ref - in a special schools league. my main problem was stopping fights - as long as the ball went up and down the field, nobody ran off with it or bit someones nose of the game was deemed a success.
leni the learning disabilities coalition has loads of info and personal stories......an organisation that the graun could contact for an article also there is this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5m0iAyQUm0from sky news i think there is loal action planned for the 1st of feb........
Keys and Gray, by some distance. I really can't see how they can keep their jobs, unless Sky Sports have abandoned women as a potential market share. They certainly wouldn't sack them for the right reasons.
It's an easy mistake to make and I don't get pedantic about it 'coz it happens frequently.
However I do sometimes wonder that people confuse my alias with that of the character on "Star Trek" and whether the names are spelt identically; ie the Star Trek character and the Russian playright?
Thanks for your comment the other day...I thoroughly agreed (on neoliberal logic to social issues).
"Evening all. Angry wanking eh? I bet George Osborne does angry wanking - he strikes me as that sort."
I reckon he pays people to do dark, twisted, demented wanking on him. Anyone who spends some time on Deripaska's yacht with Mandy is probably into weird stuff - seriously weird stuff.
I'm in a kind of usual lefty-odd-position; the feeling that we are steering towards some kind of 'stand-off' both here and internationally. It seems everything is so much more angry (Palestine, Russia today, Hungary, Italy, Pakistan etc...), but presumably we'll just carry on taking it rather than doing what is probably now essential in the face of the neoliberal extremism - a violent upheaval.
violent upheaval is actually happening. As it is happening to the poorest and most invisible it is more like a hidden, underground rumbling which , so far, hasn't disturbed the surface.
@gandolfo: I didn't know there was a closet for "Trekkies" but if there is I was never in it! That is not to say I didn't like "Star Trek" however I preferred "Land Of The Giants"!
Leni, precisely. The disturbance part is what's needed. It's uncomfortable, but I think probably the only way to undo the neoliberal madness (it's too advanced and enshrined now) is probably some kind of violent rupture (WWII, for instance, was a violent rupture) of sorts, most likely something we cannot really envisage right now, but judging by the growing disconnect between politics, decision-makers etc and the increasingly atomised and disenfranchised public (or sections thereof), it seems not unlikely.
i believe that if something is going to happen it will have to be almost cataclysmic and will have to be at the least european wide for starters.....but i'm actually amazed that people who previously condemned violence as a viable means now can see it as the only option..a sign of the times and a sign that people realise that it's all that we really have left.... so the means will probably be violent but the end what will that bring that's the big question...
People know what they don't want. They do not like the status quo. They say they want, fairness, more redistrubution, self autonomy, security etc. but there is nothing you can really pin down. There is no alternative on offer which offers a rallying point.
Too often upheavals lead only to social breakdown and a way in for unscrupulous opportunists.
But - millions share a feeling that 'something must be done'.
My feeling of violent upheaval is far less optimistic than I let on. What I can envisage is either a shift towards right-wing extremism (followed by some kind of violent engagement within and outwith Europe) or something following on from Asian capitalism in which society is restructured violently.
The problem is that we do not know what will happen next and is most surely not that which we recognise from the past.
I can already see the machinations of the controlling elite stabilising the "great stupid middle" of England.
Focus in news broadcasts is already on "beacons of growth" in towns which don't have quite so much to lose as towns with economies based on normal social sector requirements.
Like a few foreign owned factories in Milton Keynes are the green shoots for the Midlands.
Trouble is, people buy this shit.
Until *their* services are cut... THAT is the time to stick the fucking knife in those twats.
"Just enough education to feel safe" "Just enough buying power to feel superior" "Just enough tolerance of the rich to keep our efforts - fiscal, corporeal or mental - on pursuing aims they would prefer we chose"
Sunday supplements... careers... keeping an eye out for pikeys, etc.
Ok Leni, here's the offside rule: the offensive side is "offside" if they find any of their players behind enemy lines when the ball is kicked from one of their own team if there is less than one player and the goalkeeper over the half way line between them and the goal.
BTW: you can't be "offside" from a throw in or a corner kick or a "direct free kick".
so - in simple girlie terms - if the offensive player is ahead of all players in defensive side - other than obviously the goalie - when he goes for goal he is off side?
This explains why the linesman runs up and down so he/she is level with him and is not viewing goal kick from angle which could be deceptive.
Tell me I am right chekhov , then I can tick it off my must know/must do list.
Good morning.
ReplyDeleteOur feathered friend above is a very handsome chap, isn't he?
disco bird.
ReplyDeleteNaw, he looks too chilled for a disco inferno. The morning after the disco maybe?
ReplyDeleteLook at his face, though.
ReplyDeleteThere is something a bit harder in it than glitter-ball disco, a louche glint.
He's more of a rockin' Roller.
he does look rather determined.
ReplyDeletealso borderline neon.
like it.
Morning Regulars
ReplyDeleteI'll answer my own question from yesterday: Remind me again when Resolution 242 was passed. It was passed in 1967 when there was a person called Brown in the UK's labour cabinet, which did not go in for military adventure in Vietnam.
Over 40 years and look where we are medve...it's hard not to despair.
ReplyDeleteThat bird does have a rather shifty look about it...more of a slightly rumpled mod I'd say AB
Sheff
ReplyDeleteIs that a mod as in rockers or as in a mod over at evil Compassion is Fucked towers?
Now you mention it medve....! No but....I was thinking - a mod to AB's rocker. He could be wondering where he left his Vespa.
ReplyDeleteOh, dear. It looks like the tyres are being stripped from the ConDem's training wheels as it tries to negotiate the rocky road of political intrigue in the internet age and suddenly lurches into a shuddering skid heading for the ditch.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/hacking-call-to-investigate-police-2192447.html
David Cameron’s hopes of limiting the political damage from the telephone hacking affair suffered a setback yesterday as ministers were urged to order an independent inquiry into the actions of the Metropolitan Police.
Despite the resignation of Andy Coulson as the Downing Street director of communications, the spotlight was thrown back on to the links between Mr Cameron and Rupert Murdoch’s empire.
The Independent has learnt that James Murdoch, son of Rupert and chairman of News Corporation in Europe and Asia, attended a private dinner with Mr Cameron just days after the Prime Minister stripped Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrat Business Secretary, of responsibility for the crucial decision on whether News Corp should be allowed to buy the 61 per cent of BSkyB it does not already own. [...]
The disclosure that James Murdoch was present provoked calls last night for the Cabinet Secretary to intervene, amid claims that it raised questions about Mr Cameron’s judgement.
A bit of a PR tailspin as well, then, from the sleekest member of the Three Stooges.
The feathered friend is a roller, isn't he? Such beautiful birds. Noisy buggers, though. :-)
ReplyDeletehttp://liberalconspiracy.org/2011/01/24/labour-mp-launches-campaign-against-kettling/
ReplyDeleteFinally, an MP realises imprisoning people isn't compatible with rights to protest. Only took nearly a decade, but better late than never eh...
Anyone seen Will Hutton's 10 ideas for better britain?
ReplyDeleteIs he serious?
- No 1 is sort of OK but would rather 'nationalise (properly) than break up naturally!
Mind its about par for the course for our Will hey!!
Interesting comparison between the powers and responsibilities (or lack of) between countries fourth estates.
ReplyDeleteDutch newspapers reporting on the arrest and charging of the Dutchman for the murder of Joanna Yeates have not been allowed to identify him as Dutch law states that suspects cannot be identified in criminal cases until proven guilty. In the Dutch press he has only been referred to as 'Vincent T'.
Compare this with the gleeful free for all in the UK press the last two days when the suspects entire history has been dredged up. Of course this is after the disgusting press campaign against Chris Jefferies who I hope sues the arse off of the media.
It does put in the spotlight the lack of control there is over the UK press in criminal cases where suspects are tried and condemned in a media circus before the rule of law has taken its course.
I'd be interested to hear what BB thinks of this from a legal perspective.
"It does put in the spotlight the lack of control there is over the UK press in criminal cases where suspects are tried and condemned in a media circus before the rule of law has taken its course."
ReplyDeleteIts alright, Duke, our media "self regulates".
"self regulates" being a euphemism for "wanking like an angry orchestra over anything titillating that'll sell a few more copies."
ReplyDeleteYeah pretty much. I don't know why they dont setup a FSA equivalent for the press - a regulator that doesn't regulate, spare blushes all round...
ReplyDeleteThough Hutton's ideas good in places,
ReplyDeleteCGT on all property I am in favour of.
Constitution and PR, yes.
End monopolies - yes.
Restructure take-over laws - yes.
Break up banks, yes.
5/10, not a bad piece imo.
yeah suppose I'm just too greedy - want it all and want it NOW! :)
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfLD-7bCtME
Do angry orchestras wank?
ReplyDeleteFeel better now!
ReplyDeleteMeerkatje ????????
ReplyDeleteIt wasn't me, it was Duke!
ReplyDelete@Meerkatjie:
ReplyDeleteLilac-breasted roller is what the caption said. Are they really that colourful? Almost seems like that photo had to have been doctored to come up with those colours.
Meerkatjie/anne
ReplyDeletethink of the arm movements of an orchestra's string section as they reach the crescendo of carmina burana
Afternoon all!
ReplyDeleteMeerkatjie/Montana
It's likely that to his mates he's even more spectacular: birds can see further into the UV end of the spectrum than us, he's possibly got colours and markings we can't even see!
Like an avian Bootsy Collins...
ReplyDeleteMontana - I thought it was. They're gorgeous birds, very neatly put together, and, to quote Monty Python, beautiful plumage. They are very vivid, but I think that pic makes the blue look a bit more fluorescent than they really are. Southern Africa has spectacular birdlife. I look at all the LBJs that visit our garden in the UK, and really think I traded down! My little house in Durban, we used to have a crested Loerie that visited once a year, and nested just outside our bedroom window on the pawpaw tree. Again, a very noisy bugger, but somehow you just didn't mind being woken up by something that gorgeous.
ReplyDeleteHm. Homesick.
This is more the kind of colouring I'm used to seeing - very spectacular still.
ReplyDeleteRoller
Interesting vid that touches on some of the things discussed after Guillam's article.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/video/2011/jan/24/maurice-glasman-blue-labour-big-society-london-citizens
You get Rosellas like this in Australia.
ReplyDeleteYou can be driving along and there are bushes at the side of the road which, when you get close and they are startled by the noise of the car, explode into colour and noise.
Chiropractors rock. That is all.
ReplyDeleteevening all
ReplyDeletebird looks like his been to the hair dressers for a colour change whilst tripping on acid....as they say hear faccetta del furbetto (he's got a crafty little face)
as with press coverage of criminal cases whilst i was back in the UK it all seemed quite restrained compared to italy.......a similar case that happened in august a young girl 16 yrs old was murdered and her body discovered a month later, the press coverage (predominantly TV) peaked at the point when her uncle admitted murdering her and the mother was told that he had been arrested whilst on live TV... over 5 days there was 60 hours of TV (5 channels)dedicated to the case. Interviews with brothers, cousins....etc etc analysis from the so called experts and for the love of god ex-tv showgirls© and interviews with pathologists, psychologists all possible "..gists" available.......
of course the fact that there is not a jury system here allows for less reporting restrictions but really people know more about "cronaca nera" (crime news) here than anything else and the disproportionate amount of time dedicated to such cases is IMPOV a reflection of quite a sick society........yet they have one of the lowest crime rates in europe..believe it or not......
© style berlusconi
hear???? here......that's better!
ReplyDeleteMeerkatje - sorry missed Duke's comment! Thing is I said "I want it all" you said "do angry orchestras wank?" and I said "I feel better now" ;0 !!
ReplyDeleteJust a serendipitous combination of posts but it tickled me a bit!
ReplyDeleteGets coat...
anne
ReplyDeleteI have lived my entire life following the motto never wank in anger nor in public. No regrets about that ...
Thauma Hi!
ReplyDeleteyep pretty unfuckingbelievababble....the mother was on a show that is infact pretty well respected it's about missing people, the mother poor thing had pushed the media to highlight the disappearance of her daughter, being august literally the country comes to a standstill....she was there with the sister in law the cousin of her daughter when her phone rang and she heard someone had been arrested, the reporter there heard as well and told her...it was pretty distressing to say the least. so many justified this as "well she wanted the media involved didn't she...." empathy is tangible at times in italy....not....there is a lack of a sense of personal responsibilty in all stratum of society from collecting your dog poo in a plastic bag to this where journalists justifiy this inhumanity because the mother wanted to find her daughter and was forced to "advertise" it over the media otherwise nobody would give a shit.......says a lot..
everything seems as if it has to be made into a show, even death, even peado prime ministers...
medve
ReplyDeleteyeah a bit risky having a wank if you're angry i guess....it could lead to a trip to A&E
gandolfo
ReplyDeleteHave you seen Who else but Silvio Berlusconi?
Haven't ventured to comment.
"yeah a bit risky having a wank if you're angry i guess"
ReplyDeleteEspecially if you're a double bass player. Have you seen the length of their bows?
just took a look......pretty standard superficial analysis nothing new really guess it's better than the porno star article from yesterday, however it doesn't cover the couple of things that IMO are important:
ReplyDeletepopulist politics
anti politics
the failure of the 2nd republic and of the clean hands (mani pulite) trials of the 90s
the fact that berlusco is there is because of the failure of mani pulite
the left also have a lot to answer, they haven't been able or willing to really fight PDL and there have been zillions of opportunities. Is it becaus they can't or is it because they are waiting for a total melt down? i really don't know a bit of both i guess.
I am a bit bore with the all italians want to be berlusconi i haven't met one yet that has said that.....nor have i met one that admires him.....and through work i have quite a bit of contact with industrial types, government agencies and ministries and everyone has said the opposite that the man is destroying the country economically and socially and ruining its reputation......
Looks like we are facing a glut of propaganda trying to convince us all to fill our freezers and cupboards with "Mmm-mmmm" GM foods - or see the world become a desert and watch everyone die.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/8277851/Britons-must-swallow-fear-of-GM-crops-to-feed-world.html
Despite widespread popular concern about the health and environmental risks posed by GM produce, scientists are increasingly convinced that they are essential to global food supply. The Food and Farming report was commissioned by the *Department of Business* to look at ways in which the world can feed itself over the next 40 years.
* Is this a clue?
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/report-advocates-gm-crops-in-food-supply-measures-2192790.html
Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman said there was a need for a global approach to food security that also tackled poverty and climate change and reduced losses to wildlife and environmental damage.
"We can unlock an agricultural revolution in the developing world, which would benefit the poorest the most, simply by improving access to knowledge and technology, creating better access to markets and investing in infrastructure.
"To fuel this revolution, *we must open up global markets, boost global trade and make reforms that help the poorest.*
"Trade restrictions must be avoided, especially at times of scarcity.
"And we must manage price volatility by building trust and cooperation - and in particular by creating greater transparency around the true levels of food stocks," she said.
* Another clue?
The poor are going to be even more fucked than they were before.
They are going to be fucked so good and so proper they will think that they are at a Berlusconi party. Or wish they had gone to one instead.
Strange, though, that the UN says that we can actually feed the world twice over on current production and that a huge proportion of starvation is caused by speculative trade.
The man on the wireless a week or so ago who was told that this trade was causing death from starvation for hundreds of thousands of people and may have to be regulated was so affronted, so incandescent with outrage that it was hard top know whether he was close to tears or total meltdown by the sheer vehemence of his anger.
Basically, how dare you say that the lives of thousands of children should trump our ability to make money by prodding a screen and braying.
Nice.
gandolfo
ReplyDeleteI am a bit bore with the all italians want to be berlusconi i haven't met one yet that has said that.....nor have i met one that admires him.....and through work i have quite a bit of contact with industrial types, government agencies and ministries and everyone has said the opposite that the man is destroying the country economically and socially and ruining its reputation......
But...but...that's like saying that CiF has repeatedly got it wrong and is just peddling vacuous nonsense.
Say it ain't so!
Evening all. Angry wanking eh? I bet George Osborne does angry wanking - he strikes me as that sort.
ReplyDeleteI am enjoying see the coalition having a bit of a rought time of it. Haven't kept too abreast of events as had a busy old time of it. But they do seem to be losing control of the wheels a tad.
alas AB it's the CiF myth syndrome....the more you say it the more it becomes the truth......
ReplyDeletebit like jeeza and nats bum and bella smella are journalists...they sit in a group circle every morning holding hands and chanting incessantly
"we are journalists we are journalists"
before facing that great challenge of "what suggestion shall we nick and make it our idea.......
they've done it for so long now that they rweally rweally believe it.....
Atomboy - yes, saw an article a day or two ago wherein on of the government's chief science boffins declared that it was time to look at GM again.
ReplyDeleteFirst thought: how much is Monsanto paying him?
Hiya Princess!
True Gando, but in fairness, Jezza (wonder if she's any relation to Prezza?) did realize while cycling to work last week "Shit. I've enthusiastically okayed an article on book covers and summarily dismissed a suggestion for an article on homelessness. Did I say "We've done it already" or "What's the topical news hook?" Nothing brings about a change of heart quicker than the notion you might look like an insular middle-class luvvie.
ReplyDeleteI spent 2 years requesting an article on NEETs. Now in boom times, NEETs tend to be those who leave school with very few qualifications and spend their lives on the dole. There is no 'topical news hook'. They live, they fail and they die in obscurity. As such, they have no place on the radar of your average compassionate Islingtonite. There are the deserving poor (single mums, refugees, blind Albanian jazz quartets) and the undeserving poor (chavs, more chavs, NEETs, anyone who ears a Burberry knock-off). Compassion is far too valuable a commodity to be dispensed indiscriminately.
Now we have the prospect of little Patchouli and Beowulf joining the NEET ranks once they're spat out of the ringpiece of the nearest Russell Group establishment, I look forward to a heart-rending exposé on The Plight of the NEETs. Perhaps Penny Dreadful can do it. She's very down with the young people.
News is only news once it's happened to someone you know or their domestic staff.
AB
ReplyDeletei did question jeeza why the homelessness article, which don't forget she all but credited to herself despite paul plugging for it incessantly, was suddendly deemed newsworthy and less than 24 hours later ceremoniously binned as lacking a "hook"...all i got was a sarky response and that she would elaborated on in depth the next day if the question was still on topic...then the sarky moll told what she was eating for dinner......classy
she has not even bothered to reply on the total abolishment of the IDF and possible options for a people's panel......as i said before people with severe physical and learning disabilities aren't "juicy" enough for the Graun... why give people that have learning disabilities a voice hey i mean they can't express themselves can they.....to me it's not enough to have the voices of parents, carers, support workers social workers etc
sorry ILF not IDF
ReplyDeleteHi...my name is Amelie. I am 8 years old,and i love to play football do you like to play football?
ReplyDeleteHello Amelie. How are you?
ReplyDeleteSoory, I'm not keen on playing football anymore, but I used to play when I was your age.
Hi amelie!
ReplyDeleteactually i don't play football I'm more a scrabble gal myself... what position do you play? :) and are you better than your dad?
That should be 'sorry;, not 'soory', Amelie!
ReplyDeletei have to go to bed now.Bye from amelie.
ReplyDeleteHello Amelie, nice to see you posting!
ReplyDeleteFootball is fine, but have you tried rugby? ;-)
Hope you can dribble a ball past your old dad - if not yet, then soon!
Goodnight, Amelie!
ReplyDeletei have to go to bed now
That's a coincidence; so do I shortly!
Night night, Amelie, and sleep tight. Tell your dad to let you come and talk to us again sometime.
ReplyDeleteHave just read a few of yesterday's opinion pieces from the Observer.
ReplyDeleteHenry Porter: good.
Victoria Cohen: bizarre.
Nick Cohen: bizarre.
*Coren, obv.
ReplyDeleteHello everyone: thanks for your reponses to Amelie's post.
ReplyDeleteBTW: just watched David Lambert (retiring head of the CBI)on Channel 4 news, a rough translation of what he said being; "we need an un-diluted source of cheap labour."
do like a decent bbc drama....watching "our friends in the north" loved it the first time round wonder whether it will have the same effect 15 years down the line.... jeeze 15 years.......
ReplyDeletenight amelie!
chekhov
ReplyDelete"we need an un-diluted source of cheap labour."
well cuts to the chase eh......no bullshitting there.........
so spill the beans amelie is better at football than you and that's why you sent her to bed before she could reply,,,,,you furbetto chekhov!!!
@Thauma: Victoria Coren is usually worth a read even if her logic doesn't always stack up and she doesn't take herself too seriously either which is always a plus!
ReplyDeleteBTW; interesting programme on BBC4 right now about "Justice"
Moonbat:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/jan/24/curb-the-banks-government-propped-them-up
The prime minister and the chancellor have been playing a double game. They claimed they wanted to tame the banks. In reality, they were protecting them. They never meant to address the economic polarisation of this country, or to check the incentives which caused the last crash. Their intention was always to pamper the rich and to make the poor pay for their follies. As the leaked document shows, the Conservatives are ready to risk the whole economy to help the filthy rich get richer.
Apparently, Cameron and Osborne prefer bankers to plebs and lie a lot.
I was shocked. Shocked!
Evening all
ReplyDeleteBrain is beyond mash potato. More a vegetable smoothie. Reading back, but too tired to try and find anything intelligent to say.
Hope everyone is well - did I read that Jen was back posting yesterday or the day before? Hugs to Jen especially, and hugs to everyone else.
And Phil back in la Douce France again. Hope Crimbo v 2.0 was brilliant.
Off to find a quiet corner to slump into while dribbling inanely. xxx
And an extra special hug for Amelie too x
ReplyDeleteAB
ReplyDeletei've had to have a sit down and a medicinal tonic after that revelation
shocked? I'm flabbergasted
Quick and brief "Hello" to everybody.
ReplyDeleteGandolfo - have asked again on waddya for something on ILF.
"so spill the beans amelie is better at football than you and that's why you sent her to bed before she could reply,,,,,you furbetto chekhov!!!
ReplyDeletePah: rumbled already!
BTW: I once spent a weekend on a Creative Writing course with Peter Flannery who wrote the screenplay for "Our Friends In The North" (which was/is brilliant)
He also wrote the screenplay for another movie which I can't remember the name of in which Johnathan Cake, Patsy Kensit and Richard Roxborough co-starred and it was bloody awful!
'Brain is beyond mash potato. More a vegetable smoothie'.
ReplyDeleteSame here, so off to my bed.
NN.
leni
ReplyDeletethanks i think you will be noticed more than me! but i shall do another again, to keep it going later
chekhov
hehe!
watching the 1st episode of OFITN is as good if not better 2nd time round....!
Just had quick read of your witterings friends
ReplyDeleteChekho
I missed Amelie again - say hello.
Gandolfo
I have tried different approach, we will need something from recipients in fear of losing it as well as somethig from someone who has missed out. The latter could tell us about council provision and how much/little choice the recipient gets in services provided.
When it comes as cash the recipient has personal agency - is this still true if council determines and provides services ?
@gandolfo: what's a "furbetto"?
ReplyDeleteRegards to Amelie, I hope she doen't let the two fools on Sky Sports dissuade her, I think a woman will play in the men's league some day.
ReplyDeleteHow great would it be if it was Amelie and we spotted her here, first?
The only Patsy Kensit movie I can think of is Absolute Beginners, which was a long, long time ago, before she became an A lister on Emmerdale.
ReplyDeleteNatalie Henman's last twatter was on Jan 12th and it said "Do I have any followers who could recommend an English-speaking Japanese writer well versed in feminism?"
Ah, that'll be for the article on the long-term unemployed in Rochdale then.
BTW: I rarely bother with CIF these days unless someone posts a link on here but what does "ILF" stand for?
ReplyDeleteI hope nobody minds if I address a couple of Nap's points from last night.
ReplyDelete"Nothing will happen at all until the Arab countries get their heads out of the sand and recognise the right of Israel to exist and engage in diplomatic reactions."
Diplomatic reactions would be a fine thing, I fear that Israeli policies have always been arranged to encourage non-diplomatic reactions.
It's how they keep getting militarily funded.
"Now if, decades ago, the Arab countries had agreed to diplomatic relations with Israel and made peace overtures instead of printing antisemitic cartoons in newspapers then a Palestinian state would exist today."
ReplyDeleteAre you seriously saying that people should have been glad to have had their land taken away from them?
leni
ReplyDeletefrom reading what has been published existing users will continue to theoretically receive ILF however the funds will not be increased via the ILF so effectively frozen then no doubt there will be a fight between social service and the local health authority about whose responsibility it is to fund what considering the fund is both about health and social support.
leni i really don't know about how the fund is managed and levels of choice etc of the recipient i could ask some friends who are still involved in the area....maybe allyf may know not sure whether its his area though.....
checkov
furbetto is a diminutive of furbo and means smartly astute but normally it's used in a cheeky way......or when someone is a stronzzo !! don't worry about the latter you ain't a stronzzo!!
ILF independent living fund (deceased more or less now)
RapEd
".....an English-speaking Japanese writer well versed in feminism?"
maybe to translate her sushi menu or order her noodles at wagamama...yeah......
LOL couldn't make it up .....see the sky fairies are weeping again........heyho
sorry not checkov but........chekhov!
ReplyDelete@gandolfo0: "furbetto is a diminutive of furbo and means smartly astute but normally it's used in a cheeky way......or when someone is a stronzzo !! don't worry about the latter you ain't a stronzzo!!
ReplyDeleteI don't really have a clue what you are on about but I'm assuming not being a "stronzzo" is a good thing!
Bit of a spat on waddya over the remarks about women referees.
ReplyDeleteI have been a footie ref - in a special schools league. my main problem was stopping fights - as long as the ball went up and down the field, nobody ran off with it or bit someones nose of the game was deemed a success.
Offside - what's that ?
leni the learning disabilities coalition has loads of info and personal stories......an organisation that the graun could contact for an article also there is this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5m0iAyQUm0from sky news
ReplyDeletei think there is loal action planned for the 1st of feb........
"Offside - what's that ?"
ReplyDeleteKeys and Gray, by some distance. I really can't see how they can keep their jobs, unless Sky Sports have abandoned women as a potential market share. They certainly wouldn't sack them for the right reasons.
chekhov
ReplyDeletebeen a long day.... i don't understand me 99% of the time!!!
it's a good thing not being a stronzzo....but you were a bit furbo earlier on!!!
leni
sounds like refereeing hannibal lecter.....
"sorry not checkov but........chekhov!"
ReplyDeleteIt's an easy mistake to make and I don't get pedantic about it 'coz it happens frequently.
However I do sometimes wonder that people confuse my alias with that of the character on "Star Trek" and whether the names are spelt identically; ie the Star Trek character and the Russian playright?
well i'm quite disappointed chekhov i thought you might be an out of the closet trekkie.......:)
ReplyDeleteAppeal to james
where are you? how are you? let us know if you are ok :)
PrincessChipChops
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment the other day...I thoroughly agreed (on neoliberal logic to social issues).
"Evening all. Angry wanking eh? I bet George Osborne does angry wanking - he strikes me as that sort."
I reckon he pays people to do dark, twisted, demented wanking on him. Anyone who spends some time on Deripaska's yacht with Mandy is probably into weird stuff - seriously weird stuff.
I'm in a kind of usual lefty-odd-position; the feeling that we are steering towards some kind of 'stand-off' both here and internationally. It seems everything is so much more angry (Palestine, Russia today, Hungary, Italy, Pakistan etc...), but presumably we'll just carry on taking it rather than doing what is probably now essential in the face of the neoliberal extremism - a violent upheaval.
On the sexism row...perhaps Gray and Keys should see how badly male linesmen can fuck up:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBTwMn7DmJk
Where Sian Massey got it right with Torres, the linesman above got it badly wrong.
But then what do you expect from Nazisky?
olching
ReplyDeletedidn't recognise you without your horse.
violent upheaval is actually happening. As it is happening to the poorest and most invisible it is more like a hidden, underground rumbling which , so far, hasn't disturbed the surface.
Rapid Eddie
ReplyDeleteNews is only news once it's happened to someone you know or their domestic staff.
Nice one! LOL!
@gandolfo: I didn't know there was a closet for "Trekkies" but if there is I was never in it!
ReplyDeleteThat is not to say I didn't like "Star Trek" however I preferred "Land Of The Giants"!
I hope the horse is visible now.
ReplyDeleteLeni, precisely. The disturbance part is what's needed. It's uncomfortable, but I think probably the only way to undo the neoliberal madness (it's too advanced and enshrined now) is probably some kind of violent rupture (WWII, for instance, was a violent rupture) of sorts, most likely something we cannot really envisage right now, but judging by the growing disconnect between politics, decision-makers etc and the increasingly atomised and disenfranchised public (or sections thereof), it seems not unlikely.
Olching,
ReplyDelete"I reckon he pays people to do dark, twisted, demented wanking on him."
Reminded me of something Bill Hicks said about Rush Limbaugh. I really wouldn't listen to this if you've just had dinner...
olching and leni
ReplyDeletei believe that if something is going to happen it will have to be almost cataclysmic and will have to be at the least european wide for starters.....but i'm actually amazed that people who previously condemned violence as a viable means now can see it as the only option..a sign of the times and a sign that people realise that it's all that we really have left....
so the means will probably be violent but the end what will that bring that's the big question...
@Leni: ooh the offside rule; look forward to having a good chin wag about that!
ReplyDeletechekhov
ReplyDeletebefore we have a chin wag on the subject you will have to - erm - 'remind' me of the rule.
olching gandolfo
ReplyDeletePeople know what they don't want. They do not like the status quo. They say they want, fairness, more redistrubution, self autonomy, security etc. but there is nothing you can really pin down. There is no alternative on offer which offers a rallying point.
Too often upheavals lead only to social breakdown and a way in for unscrupulous opportunists.
But - millions share a feeling that 'something must be done'.
Leni, gandolfo,
ReplyDeleteMy feeling of violent upheaval is far less optimistic than I let on. What I can envisage is either a shift towards right-wing extremism (followed by some kind of violent engagement within and outwith Europe) or something following on from Asian capitalism in which society is restructured violently.
The problem is that we do not know what will happen next and is most surely not that which we recognise from the past.
Depends what "people" you're talking about.
ReplyDeleteI can already see the machinations of the controlling elite stabilising the "great stupid middle" of England.
Focus in news broadcasts is already on "beacons of growth" in towns which don't have quite so much to lose as towns with economies based on normal social sector requirements.
Like a few foreign owned factories in Milton Keynes are the green shoots for the Midlands.
Trouble is, people buy this shit.
Until *their* services are cut... THAT is the time to stick the fucking knife in those twats.
PS I have TM'd the "Great Stupid Middle". Works, doesn't it ?
ReplyDeleteDefinitions thereof...
ReplyDelete"Just enough education to feel safe"
"Just enough buying power to feel superior"
"Just enough tolerance of the rich to keep our efforts - fiscal, corporeal or mental - on pursuing aims they would prefer we chose"
Sunday supplements... careers... keeping an eye out for pikeys, etc.
Very well indeed mate thanks - you ?
ReplyDeleteI have to hit the hay now. Unfortunately.
Ok Leni, here's the offside rule: the offensive side is "offside" if they find any of their players behind enemy lines when the ball is kicked from one of their own team if there is less than one player and the goalkeeper over the half way line between them and the goal.
ReplyDeleteBTW: you can't be "offside" from a throw in or a corner kick or a "direct free kick".
I'm sure that clarifies it all for you!
Probably not the best explanation of the "offside rule"....I'm sure and I hope anyone else could do better!
ReplyDeletechekhov
ReplyDeletethanks for that - it was something I intended to get round to before I died.
"one player and goal keeper" - does it matter if the one player is on the offensive or defensive side ? Will just any old player do ?
If the is a GK and a guy from either team - that is more than 2 - can you be offside?
"one player and goal keeper" - does it matter if the one player is on the offensive or defensive side ? Will just any old player do ?
ReplyDeleteGood point Leni: I knew I'd missed something!
It's the defensive side that counts with the one player and the goalie.
Should have made that point!
"thanks for that - it was something I intended to get round to before I died."
ReplyDeleteLeni; you owe me a new key board...that was so funny I splurted red wine all over mine!
chekhov
ReplyDeleteso - in simple girlie terms - if the offensive player is ahead of all players in defensive side - other than obviously the goalie - when he goes for goal he is off side?
This explains why the linesman runs up and down so he/she is level with him and is not viewing goal kick from angle which could be deceptive.
Tell me I am right chekhov , then I can tick it off my must know/must do list.
NN x
chekhov
ReplyDeleteShould have writ ahead of all but one player from defensive side - other than goalie...
too tired to think or scriven proper. x