Cruel & Unusual Punishment.

SOHAM monster Ian Huntley has a topless photo in his cell of his secret girlfriend - sent to him by the besotted saddo.  

To be honest after seeing a photo of the woman in question I can't help feeling that this is part of his punishment.

Still it is weird how serial killers and sexual predators get fan mail from besotted women when they're identified, I mean how low do someone's standards have to be before murderers become sexy? Why not go a step up and forge a relationship with a tramp or an MP?

RIP Paul The Octopus

We should have seen it coming, well Paul should have given that he's psychic, but the eight legged soothsayer has passed away.

If a football pundit had to die why couldn't it have been Alan Shearer, at least that would have spared him from dying each week on Match of the Day.

Writers Block

Sorry.

A Sense Of Proportion

Polly Toynbee writes of the government's spending cuts:

At last the Tories have a final solution for the poor

Quote Of The Day

This quote by Liberal Conspiracy contributer Kate Belgrave, exemplifies the intellectual ri gidity, intolerance, and overwhelming smugness of a considerable chunk of the left:

Companies that support the CSR [Comprehensive Spending Review] are failed corporate citizens

Having a different point of view to the hard left (as most of the country do over the budget) then you aren't considered merely to be mistaken or misguided but a failed citizen in need of re-education.

Irish Politics- Confusing But Interesting.

I don't follow Irish politics as much as I probably should, mostly because I find it baffling- the main point of difference between the two major parties- Fianna Fail and Fine Gael- isn't socialism versus the free market or social liberalism versus conservatism, instead it appears to be whether you support the people who supported the treaty that granted Ireland independence in the 1920s. Even so as Ireland is one of my favourite parts of England* I think it is worth looking at.

Fianna Fail appear to be ideologically flexible with no real principles whereas Fine Gael are like a European Christian Democratic party except they are in semi-permanent coalition with the Labour party when they govern.

Ireland's economic woes have been more severe than the UK's though and unlike the UK the party in power making the cuts (much more severe than ours) were also responsible for getting into the mess. Anyway the current polling suggests that enough damage has been done to Fianna Fail to push them from being Ireland's permanent largest party to lagging in 3rd place. From the outside that suggests the potential for a realignment in Irish politics.

It also suggests that the British Labour Party may have been lucky to lose the 2010 election- getting into a mess is one thing and cleaning it up is another but when you're responsible for both things the electorate don't like it one bit.

* I tried a variation of that line on a Welshman once, he didn't like it.

Britain's Worst MP

Whilst Denis Macshane hangs around for now like a recalcitrant floater it seems that even if he does avoid spending the next few years being bummed by a cellmate in Wormwood Scrubs he isn't going to be as high profile in future as he is now.

So clearly someone else has to step into his shoes as the most obnoxious MP in Britain. For me there can only be one possible successor- Nadine Dorries. It is in some ways tempting to defend her on the grounds that some of her fiercest critics are complete and utter nutjobs. I'm sure some liberals and socialists were probably willing to give Macshane a pass on account of the loathing he inspired in hardline Eurosceptics- but a good choice of enemies does not a hero make. Whilst I am late to the anti-Dorries bandwagon that's no reason to jump on board with enthusiasm.

There are three main problems with Nadine- she is as dumb as a rock, she is a shameless hypocrite and a relentless self promoter.

Dorries is by her own account a liar- admitting that her blog is mostly fictional. This is a woman who is so devoid of shame or self reflection that she described the revelations about MPs' expenses as a form of torture- putting people who have fleeced the public purse of hundreds of thousands of pounds as latter day Solzhenitsyns. This is a woman who at the height of the outcry into MPs' expenses saw no problem with giving her newly graduated from Bournemouth University daughter, with no experience, a £28000 year job as a PA- even after bleating that she was finding the job market tough (if you are looking for £28000 as an entry level job for an arts graduate, I assume she's an arts graduate,  then maybe that's why you aren't finding work).

This is someone whose lust for self promotion and lack of self awareness is so monumental that after denouncing benefits cheats she goes on a Channel 4 documentary about living on benefits for a week and cheats. This is a woman who believes that anyone who tweets cannot be disabled despite proving that you can be a borderline retard and still blog regularly.

I don't doubt that there have been MPs more stupid than Nadine or more shameless or even more self promoting but no one beats her in two out of three categories.

Except Diane Abbot of course.

Meet The New Boss

Whilst British politics is usually characterised as being more left wing that the United States, compare the very real cuts in public spending being made by the very centrist coalition with what is on offer from the Republican Party in the upcoming midterm elections.

Even propelled on a Tea Party inspired wave, the GOP's platform pretty much rules out any cuts in spending, with promises to protect the most bloated areas of federal spending- social security, medicare and defence.

When you're being outflanked on fiscal conservatism by a coalition that includes Simon Hughes then it is hard to believe that the likely electoral success of the Republican party in November will mean any real change from the big spending ways of Obama.

No Gloating

Incidentally, whilst I do support the cuts I would also add my support to the point that no matter how much the cuts are necessary they will still cause real pain in the short term at least to many blameless individuals.

Even the occupants of non jobs are hardly responsible for the creation of those posts. So gloating over "parasites" losing their jobs is not something that anyone should indulge in, at least unless the people in question were in the key decision making roles that chose to waste the money in the first place.

Minorities Not Hardest Hit

On a weekly basis an article will appear in the Guardian or Independent claiming that ethnic minorities will be hardest hit by the cuts in public spending. However the coalition government's dedication to keeping the WaBenzi in the style to which they are accustomed belies the idea that they don't care about black people.

Quote Of The Day

They paywall protected Times has a "Speak your branes" style voxpop on the merits of the spending cuts announced yesterday. One member of the public came out with this gem:

Cuts should not be made at the expense of the public sector.

Interesting Defence

Wouldn't it be less embarrassing just to admit the doping offence, even in the unlikely even that he is telling the truth?:

AMERICAN 400m Olympic champion LaShawn Merritt received a 21-month ban for an anabolic steroid which his lawyer claimed was contained in an over-the-counter penis enlargement product.

It's like trying to get yourself off a speeding fine by arguing that you were having sex with a sheep at the time.

The Lesser Crime

I wonder what the Saudi authorities are most annoyed about- the gay sex, the drinking or the murder. This quote says a lot about our immigration laws too:

Jonathan Laidlaw QC, prosecuting, argued that if he was convicted and recommended for deportation after serving his sentence he would be able to claim asylum in Britain by arguing that his life was in danger, whether or not he actually was gay.

Oh great, commit a murder win asylum!

That's A Bit Extreme

Defence cuts: David Cameron attacked by Royal Navy Harrier pilot
How did he survive?

Clowns

Whilst it is noce to see Obnoxio back blogging, does this mean that his gig at Alton Towers fell through?

Mine Shaft

Here is a game for evertyone to play- which well known people would you least like to be stuck down a Chilean mine with for 66 days. I think my list would be:

1. Piers Morgan
2. Jeremy Kyle
3. Esther Rantzen
4. Wayne Rooney
5. Jo Brand
6. Jodie Marsh
7. Susan Boyle
8. Danny Dyer
9. Gore Vidal
10. Peaches Geldof

Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha!

Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha HaHa Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha !

Housework Disgrace

Leaving 18% of the housework undone isn't really on:

Wives and partners STILL do 82 per cent of housework

The EDL's Hearts & Minds Campaign.

The EDL march in Leicester unsurprisingly descended into violence. En route to the rally a large group of them stopped off at Market Harborough, a place I spend a fair bit of time.

The people I know in the town are generally younger and less middle class than my wider circle of acquaintances and are all white, in other words tending towards the EDL's target demographic, yet they largely came to the conclusion that the EDL were a rebranded National Front and were intent on causing trouble*.The homoerotic overtones were also mentioned.

As this was not the EDL's main event there was no mob from the SWP front group- Unite Against Fascism- to oppose the EDL. Yet just seeing the group in action was enough to put people off them and their message. In fact the only thing which can win wide scale sympathy for them is allowing the impression to develop that they are only thuggish because they are being confronted by more thuggish groups who are intent on restricting their freedom of speech.

So can people please stop pretending that the UAF are anti-fascists when they are the prime recruitment tool for groups like that.

* They didn't actually kick off, but they were drinking in the street, chanting aggressively and generally being a nuisance.

Marrvelous

Andrew Marr claims that bloggers are "inadequate, pimpled and single".

Harsh.

No one could accuse Andrew Marr of being single of course. I would personally not be calling other people "seedy" if I were in his position.

Posting Light

Sorry but it is the start of the dogging season.

The Provisional Wing Of New Labour Strikes.

The headteacher who has ordered her deputy to "work from home" after she spoke at the Conservative Party conference turns out to be the same headteacher who let her school be used for the launch of the 2001 Labour election campaign. So speaking a party conference is too political but inviting one party to actually use school premises is perfectly fine. This is like Richard Hammond suspending a member of the Top Gear team because he jumped a red light.

The school issued a statement:

‘Teachers will always have opinions about the ways in which schools should be run. Our concern is that the position of the Academy should not be misrepresented.
‘Generalisations about teachers and schools can be seen as insulting to many teachers who have worked hard to make a difference.’

Arguing that the speech was wrong because it "can be seen as insulting" is basically saying that Katherine Birbalsingh isn't merely responsible for what she says but for what morons could take away as being what she said. In so far as the school's argument is that their teachers are too stupid to understand a simple speech, they actually are insulting them.

"Honour"

Not often I say this, but Robert Fisk's column is a must read. It's about honour killings and the examples given are horrifying.

Defend Sally Bercow- Being A Moron Is Not A Crime.

Sally Bercow is so unpleasant that she can actully make people feel sorry for John Bercow whereas Andrew Green of Migration Watch seems like a pretty decent sort of person who has been useful in bringing facts into the debate about immigration.

His sensitivity to being smeared is more than understandable given the nature of the topic but by deciding to threaten the less charming of the Bercows with a libel writ he has managed to make her deserving of support.

Yes her comments were offensive and both slimed Andrew Green and trivialised the holocaust but stupidity should not be punished in a court of law.

Quote Of The Day

The Obama administration will issue a warning Saturday to U.S. travelers in Europe to avoid places frequented by Westerners

Er should someone tell them?

Information Bleg

If someone wants to give a friend a driving lesson, for free, what is required under law? I gather that paid instructors need to register with some kind of licencing authority. What I am mainly  wondering is whether standard comprehensive insurance would be sufficient and whether there are any unforeseen restrictions that need to be considered.

Hay Found Near Horses

Who could have imagined finding a stash of cocaine on a trip with a bunch of celebrities?

The Thin Blue Picket Line

The problem with electing a left wing extremist as leader of the party is that they will inevitably use their power to enable bolshie unions play havoc with the countr.

Which is why it is no surprise that David Cameron's government are considering whether to allow the police to go on strike.

How can that possibly work, the whole point about the emergency services is that they need to be available in an emergency- are we really going town centre's on Friday night to become free for all zones because the police aren't happy with their doughnut allowances? Who would police a picket line of striking police officers?

Finger On The Pulse

Newspaper pundits like to refer to popular cultural phenomona of the day to make their commentary seem relevant and modern as well as to show how tuned in to the zeitgeist they are. Here for example is the Telegraph's Nile Gardiner showing that he is down with the kids:

When über liberal Hollywood director James Cameron had a global box office hit back in 1997 with his epic depiction of the 1912 sea disaster, I doubt he thought the name Titanic would later become synonymous with the most left-wing presidency in American history. Thirteen years on, instead of Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet clinging for dear life, it’s now Obama’s desperate White House team struggling for survival, but without the CGI effects.

Has he really been waiting 13 years just to make that rubbish and obvious analogy?

Observation.

Last month was the first on over two years where I've averaged under one post per day.

Best Burqa Ban Protest Ever

I like this protest for three reasons, it supports the principle of allowing the burqa, it mocks the burqa itself and it features two women wearing hot pants.

Update: I've had to remove the video because it plays whether you press play or not.