Good Riddance Kim Jong-il
Is there anything else to say after his death?
Except possibly the devil you know is better than the devil you don’t.
Farewell Vaclav Havel
The death of Vaclav Havel was not unexpected given his health problems. It is very sad and he will be missed by many. He would be on any sensible person’s list of the greatest of the twentieth century.
If I look at countries that have thrown off dictatorships successfully in the last few decades, they seem to have needed a figure to whom they could rally. The charismatic Havel was a supreme example as he took Czechoslovakia from under the heel of the Russians to a free and proud country.
He was no mean playwright either!
When we lived in that flat in St. John’s Wood, we had no television, but we did have a radio and often listened to it, after the children had gone to bed. Some nights we listened to the play on Radio 4.
One night, I can remembering listening to a play called The Memorandum by a Czech author. It may have starred Donald Pleasance, but I can’t find any reference to the production.
It is a superb play and one of the best I’ve heard on radio.
The author, who was unknown to both C and myself, was Vaclav Havel.
How many politicians, even the good ones, will be missed for what they did outside politics? Not many!
Newt Gingrich
Newt Gingrich says he is pro-life with respect to abortion.
Does that mean that he is against the death penalty?
I doubt it!
He has one of those special mirrors so he can shave both of his faces at the same time.
The By-Election That Was a Disgrace
The by-election in Feltham and Heston yesterday was a disgrace.
After a record low turnout of just 29%, do they really deserve an MP.
Perhaps if the turnout is below say 40%, then the election should be rerun.
Boris on the Euro Crisis
Boris Johnson is always quotable, but this is one of his best.
The EU’s move to protect the euro might “save the cancer rather than the patient”.
Where would newspapers be without Boris?
The Fightback Against Cable Theft Has Begun
Last night there was a debate in the House of Lords about the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill.
Lord Faulkner of Worcester said this, whilst proposing two amendments to deal with scrap metal theft.
As an indication of what we are up against, I would draw your Lordships’ attention to a giant screen advertisement at West Ham United’s football ground,which was seen on 27 September and which, I believe is there on a regular basis. It says, in huge letters, “We want your scrap for cash”, followed by three exclamation marks. All that was missing were the three words “No questions asked”.
So what was the evidence on the 27th of September? The picture is shown here.
Milliband To Pledge To End “Fast Buck” Culture
According to this report, Milliband is going to pledge to end the “fast buck” culture.
Ed Miliband will vow to end Britain’s “fast-buck” culture and ensure the “right people” are rewarded, in a speech to Labour’s annual conference.
The Labour leader will say later that the country needs “a new bargain based on a different set of values”.
Unfortunately, the get rich quick ideas have always been with us at all levels of society. As an example, the only shop I can see from my house is a betting shop. If I go down Dalston High Street, it is a sea of similar shops and pay-day loan companies. And look at the success of those legalised loan-sharks, Wonga.
In fact, it will be much easier to curb, the “fast buck” culture in the City, as many responsible people I know, steer well clear of the more dodgy practices that brought us some of the very high risk financial instruments, that took a lot of banks to their knees. It used to be in the city, that when you invested in Lloyds and similar companies, if it all went wrong you lost everything. Consequently, the risk management was a lot better, proving Dr. Johnson totally right about hanging.
Incidentally, I was urged to join Lloyds and didn’t! Why? Because it’s my money and I like to have some slight control over what happens to it.
Thinking after what I have just written about Lloyds, wouldn’t it have been better to have put the various bad banks like HBOS and Bank of Scotland into receivership, rather than use them to poison Lloyds TSB. After all, they were very much a victim of Milliband’s “fast buck” culture. But NuLabor made the mistake of saving them. And who was at the centre of that process?
What’s In A Name?
There are reports that Staines is going to change its name to Staines-upon-Thames.
Will it make any difference to the punchline of so many jokes. It’ll probably create a few more.
It got me thinking about whether your name makes any difference. For instance if your first name was Eustace, would you ever get elected to parliament. If you were no good, you’d probably get called “Useless Eustace”!
Prime Ministers have also had names with a certain gravitas or style; Churchill, Callaghan, Cameron etc. Even Thatcher and Blair aren’t names without style. But look at the two main Labour figures now. Balls to the man in the pub will always talk bollocks and Milliband is one of those names with milli or very small in it.
So I don’t think that they will get elected, unless they change their names.
How NuLabor Fiddled The Books
Two papers today; The Times and the Daily Mail have a story from an updated edition of Anthony Seldon and Guy Lodge’s book, Brown at 10, that Ed Balls asked Treasury officials to produce economic forecasts that Brown would like. The report in the Mail is here.
According to The TImes, a spokesman for Mr. Balls said it was all “absurd and untrue”. In other words a load of old balls!
Project Management – NuLabor Style
When I read stories like this, I get very angry.
The new fire control centres didn’t benefit anybody and cost everybody in the UK ten pounds.
I hope the idiots who put this forward were fired. But I suppose if they were, they probably got a gold-plated pension.
I also hope that the company who didn’t deliver the computer system, don’t get another government contract! But they always do!
The Anonymous Widower 