I Bet Elliot Morley Wishes He Was French!
Elliot Morley has just been jailed for expenses fraud for sixteen months.
What would he have got in France?
After all, the French believe that Dominique Strauss Kahn is innocent and it’s all a setup, so I suspect someone like Eliot Morley would have probably been given a guided tour of the Bastille.
Liz’s Triumph
The Queen’s visit to Ireland has passed so far without any serious hitches or gaffs. But then visiting Ireland, where nearly all the population are hospitable to all visitors, is a lot less tricky than visiting some of the places governed by some of the worst or the worst, she has been told to go by successive governments. I’m sure she really enjoyed her visits to Saudi Arabia and Rumania!
There might however be a problem for the Queen on the horizon, where Ireland is concerned.
Currently, her horse, Carlton House, is favourite for the Derby. He also has entries in the Irish and French Derbys.
Many Epsom Derby winners have followed up their victory at Epsom, with a run at The Curragh. And of course, there are horses, who have run in Ireland because of minor problems that prevented them competing at Epsom.
The permutations are endless.
But it is not inconceivable that a horse as good as Carlton House is, will run in Ireland.
So as with the visit to Ireland, it’s all so far and so good!
But she has undoubtably shown politicians how to forgive and forget and move on constructively. And many of those she’s met in Ireland have shown the same positive attitude.
So many of those in trouble spots around the world could follow this lead in looking forward rather than hundreds of years into the past.
Those That Live By The Shredder Die By The Shredder
It is often said that everything comes to him who waits. The partial lifting of the so-called banker’s, Fred Goodwin‘s super-injunction, shows that no matter how tight you jam the lid on a can of beans, eventually the pressure builds and it blows up in your face.
There are some choice headlines.
- Daily Mail – Sir Fred, adultery and the public interest.
- Independent – Goodwin’s affair at bank exposed after peer breaks gagging order
- Daily Mirror – No good in these gags
- The Sun – Fred the Bed
There’s a lot more.
The tone is set by this from the Daily Mail.
While RBS was undergoing the biggest collapse in British corporate history, he was busy carrying out an extra-marital affair with a senior colleague involved in the strategic direction of the bank.
Truly, there can be no doubting the public interest in disclosing Sir Fred’s conduct. The collapse of RBS, under his control, led to a £45billion bailout by taxpayers.
Thousands upon thousands lost their jobs and businesses in the financial devastation which followed.
If Fred had had an affair with a Page 3 bimbo, that wouldn’t have mattered so much to the bank and in the end UK taxpayers. The tabloids might have made us laugh as they did years ago with Ron Halpern, a long forgotten businessman in the 1960s or 1970s, but because he had an affair with a senior executive, it meant that his crazy policies were able to get through board and other meetings. I had problems years ago with a company, where I served on a technical committee that had a husband and wife on it. We all had to convince two people who slept together of the correct course of action. It was not easy and the company suffered.
Two people having a relationship in an organisation is rarely a good idea!
Fred Goodwin was knighted in the 2004 Queen’s Birthday Honours List for his services to banking. So at least we can’t blame that one totally on Prudence, as he wasn’t Prime Minister until four years later. It will be interesting to see in twenty or so years time, when the details of Sir Fred’s knighthood are released, what dicussions took place on his suitability for such an award.
If ever there was a case for a knighthood to be taken away, then Sir Fred is at the top of the list.
Strauss-Kahn Reporting in the United States and France
I have read this enlightening report on Bloomberg about the difference of the reporting of Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s arrest in New York, in the United States and France.
Here’s a typical couple of paragraphs.
For the U.S., the public’s right to know about an arrest is paramount, while in France the privacy — even of a criminal suspect — takes precedence.
“For the moment, the French media has been very restrained” in avoiding saying or writing anything to imply guilt, said Dominique de Leusse de Syon, a member of Strauss- Kahn’s legal team. “The problem is the images, whether they convey Mr. Strauss-Kahn as guilty.”
In other words anything goes in France, if you are French.
After all, the French published any old tosh they could find about Princess Diana, when at the time several high-profile French politicians were as crooked as a hurling stick.
Strauss-Kahn may indeed be innocent, but then seeing the allegations that have appeared in respected newspapers, he doesn’t appear to hsve been a saint in matters sexual.
The Anonymous Widower 