Lipman Says Corbyn Must Leave The Stage
This title of this post, is the same, as that of a small article in The Times.
Ms Lipman used the words, malign, scary and antisemitic.
Enough said!
I sent a text to a friend, who knows Maureen Lipman.
Strangely, she received the text, as she was talking to Ms Lipman on the phone.
My Father’s Politics
In a A Trip To The Berlin Olympic Stadium, I said this about my father’s politics.
My father hated both extreme-right and extreme-left politics with a vengeance and I can honestly say, that I never heard him tell a racist joke.
With the rows going on this morning about antisemitic elements in the Labour Party, I looked up Stalin and antisemitism in Wikipedia.
My father had a Jewish male line, but no religion of any kind, although the more I learn, his outlook on life and morals were fairly Jewish.
In the Battle of Cable Street, he was there to stop Oswald Mosley and his supporters marching through the East End.
I know he moved in left-wing Tory Party circles, nearly stood for Parliament against one of Mosley’s supporters, and once said he had been at the League of Nations in Geneva. But, he remained largely silent about what he did in the 1920s and 1930s.
But I do think his Jewish genes drove him to take up his strong centrist views, especially when you read about Stalin and the Jews.
It is one of my regrets in life, that I didn’t find out more about my father’s life, in what must have been exciting times for those, who thought about politics.
The Price Of Lust
Stormy Daniels once appeared in a video called The Price Of Lust.
I’ve no idea, how good it is from any perspective!
Is Donald Trump going to pay?
Is There Hope Yet For The Metropolitan Line Extension?
This article in the Watford Observer is entitled Hertfordshire County Council Tables Plans For Met Line Extension Project To Still Go ahead.
This is the start of the article.
Plans will be tabled for the Metropolitan Line Extension to go ahead despite last month’s shock rejection from the Mayor of London.
An emergency cross-party motion has been tabled for Hertfordshire County Council’s budget council on February 20 in a bid to show there is still political support for the project is still ongoing.
The motion has been agreed with the Conservative leader of the council, David Williams, and Liberal Democrat group leader Cllr Stephen Giles-Medhurst.
The plug was pulled on the scheme last month despite additional government funding of almost £74m.
It looks to be more optimistic about this difficult project.
The article makes the point that TfL are paying for step-free access at Amersham and Rickmansworth, which outside the London area.
I can’t help feeling though that this project is all about politics and very little about seeing, if a more pragmatic solution can be found.
There are several rail projects that serve Watford that need to be taken together.
- Crossrail up the West Coast Main Line.
- New trains for the Watford DC Line.
- The future of the Milton Keynes to East Croydon service.
- What to do with the Northern end of the Bakerloo Line.
- Improved Watford services by West Midlands Trains.
- Possible Chiltern Railways access to Watford Junction along the Metropolitan Line Extension.
I suspect that if all projects are looked at together, a better solution can be found.
Thoughts On The National Lottery
The phone-in on BBC Radio 5 Live this morning is discussing the National Lottery.
I sent in this text.
The lottery, like religion, is just another way to extract money from the poor. If people need the buzz of gambling, there are much better ways of using sums of surplus money like local charities, crowd-funding bob-sleighers and peer-to-peer lending.
The lottery has served it’s purpose, but no politician dare kill it!
I doubt it’ll be read out!
Ulster Says No!
Twas ever thus! This article on Wikipedia, is about the protests against the 1985 Anglo-Irish Agreement between Margaret Thatcher and Garret FitzGerald.
Let’s face it! Many of the views of the Democratic Unionist Party are very alien to this left-wing Tory voter.
For a start, I have known, three women in the UK, who might have decided to have an abortion for three different reasons. All of their reasons would have been illegal in Northern Ireland, but perfectly legal in the rest of the UK and most of Europe.
In this and several other areas, such as same-sex marriage, Northern Ireland must be brought in line with the rest of the UK.
Assange Isn’t A Dreamer He’s A Destroyer
The title of this post is the same as that of an article in yesterday’s Times, by David Aaronovitch.
It is subtitled.
Don”t be fooled by the Wikileaks e founder’s supposed idealism; he is in the same destructive club as Putin and Trump.
It is thoughtful and well worth a read.
Auckland Rows Back On Battery Train Plan
The title of this post is the same as this article on the International ailway Journal.
This is said.
Following approval by Auckland Council, the proposal went to the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) for final sign-off. However, in the run-up to New Zealand’s general election on September 23, a political consensus emerged in favour of bringing forward electrification of the Papakura – Pukekohe line, prompting the NZTA to reject the case for battery trains.
Can we assume the reason for the change of order is political?
Certainly, CAF, who are building the trains seem to have the required battery technology. This is also said.
CAF says the contract will include an option to equip the trains with battery packs at a later date if required.
I just wonder if battery trains are just too risky for politicians, who tend to be rather conservative and badly-informed about anything technological.
An MP Guilty Of Sexual Impropriety
One night many years ago, C and myself had a dinner party. One of the guests brought her husband with her. At the time, the husband may have still been an MP, or he may just have just lost an election.
At dinner, he constantly fiddled with C’s leg, but she had been warned of his probably behaviour, by one her best friends and had worn protection in the shape of a long dress, with layers of petticoats underneath.
Even with permission, it was difficult to find you way in!
C handled herself and anyway, he was the sort of man, she wouldn’t have fancied in a whole century of Sundays.
A few days later on meeting her friend, C related the incident.
Her friend then told her what had happened at a party that she had given. One of her female friends had got rather drunk and had been led upstairs by the MP.
Everything was apparently going well, until the MP got undressed.
On seeing his filthy grey vest that was full of large holes, the lady came to her senses, laughed extremely loudly and long and returned to the party.
Australia’s Dual Citizenship Row
This article on the BBC is entitled Barnaby Joyce: Australia Deputy PM Disqualified From Office. This is said.
Australian Deputy PM Barnaby Joyce and four other politicians were wrongly elected because they held dual citizenship, a court has ruled.
The High Court of Australia decision means three of the politicians, including Mr Joyce, are disqualified from office. The others quit in July.
Australia’s constitution prohibits dual citizens from being elected.
So what are the rules in the UK?
This page on the UK Parliament web site is entitled Who Can Stand As An MP?. This is said.
People wishing to stand as an MP must be over 18 years of age, be a British citizen or citizen of a Commonwealth country or the Republic of Ireland
Candidates must be nominated by ten parliamentary electors of the constituency they wish to stand in.
There of course a few other rules with respect to things like criminal records.
But it would appear that Barnaby Joyce would be free to stand in a UK Parliamentary election, as he is an Australian citizen.
Andrew Bonar Law, who up until now, is the only Prime Minister born outside the British Isles, was born in Canada.
The Anonymous Widower 