Chocky shock

Well, actually I don't think they're that bad myself.

Lies that life is black and white

This week I got a £15 HMV voucher from my daughter (I bought it off her 'cos it was a Xmas present she'd overlooked) and as I'd already pre-ordered the Dylan Live CD I browsed and came across a gem of a DVD. Alan Bleasdale's The Boys From The Blackstuff. Brilliant! If ever historians want to look back on life in the early 80's under the Tories then they could sit down for 6 hours and watch this and laugh and cry with Chrissie, Loggo, Dixie, George and Snowy & company. If we want to whinge about New Labour, and let's face it, there's a fair bit to moan about, we shouldn't forget the Tories and the way they sucked the life out of a generation. And to-day, at PM's questions, Michael Howard fell back on the old Tory cliche of a 'country swamped by immigrants' just to jog our memories of how vile they can be. As ever with the mealey-mouthed, they dress it up a Home Office inefficiency, but how much more efficient would they make the Civil Service with their promise to throw them on to the dole. Errm... this is where I came in.

Hospital penalised for treating too many patients

Regular readers of Private Eye will have probably read the history of scandals associated with the Private Finance Initiative (PFI). The real problem associated with of PFI is that those councillors and NHS administrators who are so keen on promoting it will, in most cases, be either pruning their roses, or have had their ashes scattered on them by the time the big bills start rolling in. At the last General Election an Independent MP was elected in Kidderminster because of public hostility to the virtual closure of their acute hospital in order to support a PFI hospital just outside of Worcester. Kidderminster closed. Worcester was operating at 98% capacity. Worcester has to pay a £200,000 fine, money that could have been spent on patient care, to a private company because, to quote the Trust spokesperson "people who come into A & E are given a bed when they don't necessarily need one."

If it wasna for ya wellies

When the young Bobby Dylan wrote A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall back in 1963 we were all so impressed with his sense of imagery. It would appear that those nice people at the Ministry of Defence took him just a tad to literally.

Outing Howard

Is there anything more ridiculous in the news today than Michael Howard, the Local Government Minister who oversaw the introduction of section 28 cynically deciding to woo the 'gay vote' (as if there were such a thing)? I didn't think there was until I saw this terrific reference on Tim's site at Bloggerheads. I must get some!

Now the man on the stand, he wants my vote...

When the Today programme on Radio 4 decided to try a 'phone in vote to introduce a new piece of legislation, it was a disaster. So what chance now of a psycho with a shotgun winning a parliamentary seat?

Smoke signals

Smoking will be banned in bars in the Irish Republic after tonight. The Tobacco Manufacturer's Association has urged the UK Government not to follow in their footsteps. Bears also defecate amongst the trees, apparently.

In Gaza you can live like a dog, or go with a bang

The Guardian weblog recommended a blog called Ihath, written by a former Iraqi citizen, who now lives in Israel with her Palestinian husband. It is a really good read. Until the wrongs that results in people having to live like dogs is addressed, then they will choose to go with a bang.

Pants on fire

"It’s time to restore honor and dignity to the White House." That, according to a book by the Washington Editor of The Nation magazine is No.1 in his own hit parade of the top ten lies by George W. Bush. As Corn says, narrowing down Bush's lies to a top ten from a book of fourteen chapters and 120,000 words, is no mean feat.

If the US sneeezes...we catch a cold!

Please, please don't anybody tell Blunkett about this.

All the best...

Going to the wedding party for an old mate tonight. I hope Mick and Susanna have had a good day and are very happy together.

Off the rails

Was this the most short-sighted and stupid decision of the 20th Century... or was the Tory privatisation of 'public' transport even more stupid?

Another one bites the dust

The curtain has barely closed as Jose Maria Aznar slinks off the stage, when another Leader of the Coalition of the Willing begins to prepare his leaving speech.

Among the stars

Went to the Sandwell 30th Anniversary celebrations today, and it was great fun. Cyrille Regis looked as fit as a butcher's dog and seemed a genuinely nice bloke. Frank Skinner was hilarious. He wouldn't normally qualify as one of my favourite comedians, but his wit was razor sharp, and not as cruel as he sometimes comes across on the TV. But the undoubted star was Julie Walters who was so natural, so friendly to everyone she spoke to, and together with Frank and Cyrille spent hours having her photo taken. Julie is the patron of my local park which is run by a Community Trust and myself and my fellow Councillor, Ann Jaron, had our photgraph taken with her, hopefully for inclusion in their newsletter.

The Freedom to tether your horse on common land...

Be honest, do you really know where Sandwell is? Well, this week we celebrate the 30th Anniversary of the creation of the borough in a local government re-organisation. Sandwell is not the most obscure borough, I mean, where is Thurrock? I could have sworn it was in Scotland.

To commemorate the 30th Anniversary (of Sandwell, not Thurrock) this Saturday the Council is awarding the Freedom of the Borough to three people, Julie Walters (who was born and brought up in my Ward), Frank Skinner (who is actually Chris something or other and used to live in the next Ward) and Cyril Regis who was born in French Guyana, which is not near here, but who made his name hear about 25 years ago. Which should answer the question: West Bromwich and the surrounding Towns.

And then he kissed me....

..or not, as the case may be. Very disappointing for me old mate Reg who was hoping the Colonel would give the lad the full, tongue down the throat job!

"We have no permanent allies -only permanent interests" - Lord Palmerston

Madness is a strange illness. It has a tendency to strike amongst all sorts of political leaders, and yet, seemingly without any medical treatment or drugs, there apparently is a miracle cure available and the insane become sane.

President Nasser of Egypt was one of the first people I remember in my childhood being widely described as ‘mad’. Shortly after he nationalised the Suez Canal and introduced agrarian reform for the peasantry in the 1950’s, Nasser was vilified in the country as the madman ruler of Egypt. Later, when it transpired he was not going to convert the Arab world to communism and nationalise all Western interests, Nasser was declared sane and fit to sip tea with the Queen.

Since then there have been a string of ‘mad’ dictators from Kaunda to Mugabwe, from the Ayatollah to Arafat, most of whom seem to have incredibly regained their sanity and been welcomed back into the ‘world community’. From pathalogical terrorists to world statesmen, and you can hardly spot the join. Today, one of the most dangerous mad men in recent years less than a year ago, Colonel Qadaffi of Lybia, moves from being the ‘Mad dog of the Middle East' according to Ronald Reagan (people in glass houses, Ronnie) through to being a statesman who can shake hands with our own great world leader. Only a few (Fidel Castro) seem to fail to respond to the miracle cure.

This afternoon I will be attending a meeting of my local mental health nhs Trust. What they would do for a miracle cure that they could dispense which would transform their patients in such a radical way. Obviously it is a cure that, like so much in this world, is only available to the rich and powerful.

It's alright Ma, it's life, and life only

The Tories are jumping up and down about Blair's visit to Libya to meet with the Colonel. Party Chairman Michael Ancram seems particularly incensed about it. So is his Leader Michael Howard. How dare the boy Blair shake hands with a tyrant who is directly associated with the Lockerbie bombing, they squawk. Is this the same Michael Ancram and Michael Howard who were Tory MPs when Hurd, Channon and their cronies were sitting on Saddam's white sofa flogging him WMD as long as he only used them on Iranians and the Kurds? But just in case you are labouring under the delusion that Tone's visit to Libya is about fostering world peace and bringing the Colonel back into the world community, forget it. Where there's oil, there's muck! "You can be sure of Shell."

In total comparison, the attitude shown by Dr. Jim Squire, whose daughter Flora was killed onboard PanAm Flight 103, could serve as an example to all the mealy-mouthed headline grabbers as an exercise in sheer dignity and understanding.

Dazed and confused

Former BNP councillor Maureen Stowe has admitted that when she was "conned" into standing for election to Burnley Council she was "naive and politically clueless." Say what you will then, no-one could say she didn't represent those who voted for her. Fortunately, Maureen has subsequently seen the error of her ways and has ditched the BNP.

Freeloaders!

I go to Planning Committee, I raise the issue, and then some publicity-seeking, freeloading Tory who couldn't even take the trouble to come to the Committee, and doesn't even represent the Ward under discussion, shoots off at the lip and tries to claim the credit. Brass neck we call it where I come from.