More Sept. 11th conspiracy theories than you can shake a stick at

Courtesy of Space Hardware, I refer you to a whole string of Sept. 11th (why do people in this country insist on saying 9/11?) conspiracy theories at Rigourous Intuition. Spooky, eh?

The British Summer

Having just come back from the Algarve, my heart goes out to the residents and holiday makers in North Cornwall who have had to suffer the dreadful flooding we saw on the news this evening. Strangely, 52 years ago today saw some of the worst floods on record in Britain in Devon. I think I'll get the 2005 holiday brochures tomorrow.

Watching them : watching us

If you haven't already linked to the excellent Daily Mail Watch, give it a try, it's good.

"Let's begin with this: 77% of Venezuela's farmland is owned by 3% of the population, the 'hacendados.' " Greg Palast on Chavez's victory.

Venezuela

When BykerSink departs these shores for Vietnam next month, the blog world will be much poorer unless he is able to find the time and inclination to maintain both his Space Hardware site and his new postings about life in Vietnam. Today, for instance, Byker considers Venezuela in the context of oil reserves, US interests, Cuba, democracy and dictatorship, and comes up with a potential recipe for disaster. I hope it is just pessimism, but I suspect it is a pessimism firmly rooted in historical lessons, and Chavez could turn out to be another Allende.

For more on Venezuela, read this article by Selma James, one of the observers to the referendum.

Selective reporting

A hurricane hits the Carribean... and the BBC give as much coverage to the fact that Disneyworld had to close as it does to the deaths in Cuba.

Expect some interesting coverage next week if Chavez wins the refendum this weekend. For a less establishment-biased coverage, check out Hands off Venezuela or Venezuela Solidarity.

Watching him watching you

Ivan Pope has decided he has had enough of David Blunkett's authoritarian 'clamping down on everything populism' and has set up a Stalking David Blunkett blog. Well worth keeping an eye on, methinks.

What's the fuss?

Instead of David Blunkett jumping up and down about a convicted rapist winning the lottery, why doesn't he simply adopt the solution suggested by a letter writer to The Guardian today? He could charge the chap for his board and lodgings, in exactly the same way as he has done for the men wrongly convicted for the Carl Bridgewater murder. Or, as the letter writer asks, does that rule only apply if you are found to be innocent?

Not very Pc t-shirt from the Philosophy Football people... but worth a smirk. The man is on £4 million a year!

Nicked

Two good referrals from the excellent Howling Spoons. Firstly, Mornington Crescent online, and then a Clash Tribute bootleg, London Booted!

I'm writing this in a terrific cafe, with some excellent sounds, particularly Boozoo Bajou, Satta, which is terrific.

Welsh Lib Dems to the rescue

Thanks to Lib Dem Watch and David Taylor for this reference to the Welsh Lib Dems who are pledging to abolish Section 28 of the Local Government Act. Errm... the Government has already abolished it, though, as Lib Dem Watch suggests, the Lib Dems will no doubt now claim the credit as a result of their belated campaign.

Educate, agitate, organise

Don't mourn, organise, said Joe Hill, just before his execution by the US state. Well, I am getting well peed off by all those people (inside and outside of the Labour Party) who want to carp and moan, and say "why do you stay in that Party?". When you ask them what they are doing instead, at least the wish-washy liberals and the RESPECT people can say they are doing something. What are the others doing? Yoghurt knitting for victory?
Rant over... for those still in the party, you can always try to Save The Labour Party.

One small step for man...

For over 12 months now I have been trying to establish a Farmers' Market on a piece of land near the main Bearwood shopping centre in my Ward. I identified the land, spoke to the market traders to see if they were interested, canvassed local residents for support... and then waited whilst the Council's markets section, Planning dept. and Highways dept. all got involved in a highly convoluted discussion about the suitability of the site, parking arrangements, safety considerations etc.. I began to despair... but today, whilst I am over 1,000 miles away from sunny Sandwell, I've had an e-mail saying the whole thing should get off the ground in the next month. I'm chuffed!

Pilger on Paul Foot

John Pilger, as so often, hits all the right notes in this tribute to Paul Foot.

Anybody but Bush

I'm not very convinced by Kerry, particularly all that drumbeating about his military record (the US role in Vietnam was even more disgusting than it is in Iraq, at least they could hide behind the 'wicked Saddam' excuse this time round) but on the basis that the first step is to get the crook out of the White House, I'll go with kerry. I was finally won over when I found out The Boss is on board too.

Spin

In an effort to ape the New Labour spin machine the Tories obviously feel the necessity to come up with a new initiative every day in an attempt to appeal to a new section of the electorate. So, following their appeal to the green wellie and rifle brigade, they have now decided the 'boy racer' vote is up for grabs. Sad... very, very sad.... and funny!

A pint, a pint, my kingdom for...

I love going on holiday to warmer climes. Yes, I know, all the warnings about skin cancer etc are very worrying, but when you live in a country where grey is the natural colour, a few weeks abroad soaking up the warmth does wonders for me. Except... I cannot get used to very fizzy keg or bottled ale, and an 'old' Labour person like me needs a good pint with a smooth head, not a glass of cold fizzy pop. So, I've been drooling over The Guardian's online 'virtual' beer festival.

Also in The Guardian, George Monbiot highlights the trend towards increased authoritarianism in response to T.W.A.T.. Isn't this the very sort of thing Orwell predicted in 1984? A mystery enemy that you cannot see and cannot defeat allows Big Brother to keep the proles quiet and fearful.

Lessons to be learned

On this blog yesterday I commented on how far the Tories have declined from being the "natural party of government" in the 1980s to a rump of a party becoming increasingly irrelevant to the electorate. Well, what lessons have New Labour learned from that decline? The Conservatives, with an arrogant leadership became increasingly alienated from their grass roots supporters, and an ageing membership found itself unable to motivate themselves for the fight. Tory attacks on local government, where the numbers of Tory controlled councils slumped drammatically also further reduced their party activists. A number of sleaze scandals meant the road to power was opened to N.ew Labour, who could probably have won the 1997 election with a chimp as leader, the Tories were so demoralised.

But have the Blairites learnt anything? An arrogant leadership, alienated from the mainstream party? Definitely. An ageing and declining membership? Certainly. Council control being wrested away in whole swathes of the country? Yes. As Peter Kilfoyle, once the hammer of militant on the party right, points out in today's Guardian, the Blairites have either being listening and not understanding, or much more likely, not even bothering to listen.

Howard rallies his troops for General Election

As Andrew Rawnsley points out in today´s Observer, there can be no clearer sign that the Tories have finally abandoned their claim to be a serious opposition at the next General Election than this. With all the opportunities to attack Blair over recent months and with Prezza left in charge of the country... Michael Howard declares a major initiative calling for a fair deal for country sports. Those who want to freely engage in shooting and hunting defenceless animals and want to engage in wildfowling and deerstalking, can rest safely in their beds tonight knowing that Michael Howard is going to get the bureaucrats of their back and reduce red tape. The rest of us will carry on in the real world...

What's the difference?

Q. What's the difference between an MFI flatpack wardrobe, without the adhesive... and Charles Kennedy?

A. One's a glueless kit....

Sleepin' in the woods by a fire in the night, drinkin' white rum in a Portugal bar....

Yes, tomorrow, the family Piper will be heading of to Lagos in Potugal for the annual bookfest and steady intake of alcohol that is otherwise known as a holiday. This could be the last time... (as Mick and Keef once wrote), because eldest one is off to Liverpool University in September, and you never know what happens after that.  The brother-in-law has packed his cases and is coming up to stay in our house in sunny Sandwell... I'll think of him (but not often, I suspect...) oh, and if you're reading this mate, mow that spare patch of grass outside we call 'the lawn'.

I think I'm going to be sick. There can be few more disgusting stories in the news than this.  At least (I assume) they will not be pursuing Paddy Malloy's family with an invoice for his porridge whilst he was being tortured and abused at Her Majesty's pleasure. These people were held hostage in degrading and inhuman conditions for 18 years by the British Government. Those responsible should be begging for forgiveness on bended knees instead of behaving in this way. Whatever next... perhaps Bush could charge Cuban holiday rates to those imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay, and the people who kept Terry Waite chained to a radiator in Beirut for nearly five years should pursue the Archbishop of Canterbury for the outstanding board and lodging fees. Have we all gone bloody mad?

Rise like lions after slumber

Paul Foot's funeral today, this report via The Guardian.

Snigger

I know you've all probably read this at bloggerheads, but for those who haven't, this from b3ta made me laugh.

The BBC website points out that there is absolutely no connection between John Prescott officially running the country while Tone slums it at Cliff's gaff, and the Government decision to issue a leaflet advising people how to cope with disaster.

On a more serious note, Prezza could spend sometime on the day job. George Monbiot makes a compelling argument for a sensible transport policy. The figure of 3,500 people killed on the road is about the number who perished in the World Trade Centre on September 11th, although they attract less media attention, and re-occur year-on-year, ... but there's not much likelihood of a government in this country doing anything about it.

Driven mad

There was a time, before bus deregulation, that Sheffield had a public transport system that other cities used to look up to. Now, we've got this shambles!  I don't suppose in all the lovey-dovey exchanges between Ministers and Trade Union leaders at Warwick University they gave any serious thought to achieving an integrated transport system by bringing the busses back into public ownership... and I strongly suspect there was no bucket collection organised for the Sheffield bus drivers either.

As easy it was to tell black from white, it was all that easy to tell wrong from right.

A couple of interesting articles I picked up on this week over at ZNet. Apparently John Kerry has discovered the strength of the black vote in the US, having got the message that in the crucial Florida election in 2000, "95,000 African-American votes were dumped in the Florida swamps, marked as spoiled."

Writing in The Guardian, Michael Meacher (the latest of the ex-Blair Cabinet to rediscover his radicalism only after he stopped struggling up the greasy pole) asks some pertinent questions about Dubya's favourite Military leader, Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan, and the links to TWAT (The War on Terrorism).

If there was a socialist honours system, instead of the current elitist nonsense, the ever brilliant Steve Bell would be high on my list of nominees.

90% of white people have no black friends apparently. I make no apologies for referring you again to this hysterical site dedicated to a couple that have lots.

BykerSink is on the move

Those of you who regularly follow the comments in this blog, and many others, will be familiar with the socialist PR man from the North East (no, I don't mean Peter Mandelson) BykerSink, whose blogsite Its Wrong to Wish on Space Hardware is consistently provocative, occasionally very personal, and always excellent reading. Well, after months of prolonged agony, Byker has finally got his VSO appointment and he's off to Vietnam. He will carry on posting on Space Hardware, but because of the political content of many of the posts, and the sensitive political nature of his VSO position and the Vietnamese government, Byker is starting up a new blog detailing his Vietnam experiences at Our Man in Hanoi. If you haven't already done so, link to the new site and keep a dialogue going when Byker moves on September 3rd... we don't want the lad getting lonely now, do we.

The stars are beginning to hide

The WMD argument rapidly descended into farce as it became obvious to everyone that the reason Scott Ritter and Hans Blix had such doubts was because Hussein did not actually possess any WMD. Determined to justify the war on humanitarian grounds, Blair shifted the emphasis to the 'hundreds of thousands" of Iraqis slaughtered and buried in mass graves, as witnessed by his special envoy, Ann Clywd who told of "over 60 mass graves" and her distress at visiting one site where "up to 15,000 bodies" were believed to be buried. Blair himself told the Labour Party website that the remains of "400,000 bodies" had been discovered in mass graves. All very good emotional responses to those who opposed "regime change" on legalistic grounds. Unfortunately, it would appear there has been a more than a bit of "sexing upwards" of the body count too.

Should I change my blog title?

I've always wanted to go into academia, and now, thanks to this reference from Tim, I've found out that from this day forward I will also be known as:
Professor Dances with Chipmunks.  However, as he also directs us to this, I feel I must issue a government health warning: Watch out, Blunkett's about!

Feather Brain

A loving tribute from Hornsey Girl to her Lib Dem MP, Lynne Featherstone over at Meusli Hill. Well worth popping along to.

God's teeth! (via Bloggerheads & ultimate insult)

Paul Foot, tributes

I once resigned my Labour Party membership, and briefly thought about the International Socialists, the chief reason being Paul Foot. Intelligent, articulate, a magnificent and tireless campaigning journalist, particularly on behalf of those who had suffered a miscarriage of justice (Hanratty, the Bridgewater 4 for example) and rare for a Swerp, a cracking sense of humour. Tributes and letters in The Guardian highlight this sad loss at only 66, and the BBC website has some nice personal tributes. No doubt the likes of British Spin will sneer and blame him for all of today's problems, whilst making lame excuses for the New Labour consensus. Tonight I'm very sad.

Bell... Blunkett, Blair

You cover up the truth with lies

It wasn't just the tabloids that told blatant lies in the run up to the war in Iraq. As the lie machine went into overdrive the Guardian, Observer and Sunday Telegraph all repeated ghastly lies as they jumped into line behind the Murdoch gutter press and the Mail. As George Monbiot points out, The Observer has a lot to apologise for.

Welcome back... its been too long

The blog world took a massive turn for the better today... because he's back and spitting bile as good as ever!

Not very PC

Yesterday morning on the Today programme, presenter Jim Naughtie said to David Blunkett that ..."people say, Mr Blunkett, that you have turned a blind eye to drug taking." With no hesitation at all, Blunkett proceeded to answer the question. Should he have done? Is it just a figure of speech? Or should Blunkett have taken the time to correct a very un-PC phrase?

Tomorrow is the 10th anniversary of Blair's succession to the Leadership of the Labour Party and no doubt we will see the balance sheet of the Blair years all over the media. When he made his acceptance speech, Blair said: "I will make the central priority of party organisation the creation of a genuine mass membership party, with roots in our local communities speaking up for those communities because it represents them and their aspirations." Over the New Labour years party membership has fallen drammatically, and the impact of the war in Iraq is still shaking out. So, that was the first failure eh?

Dubya Blogs

Nice to read that Dubya has started a blogsite. The image of Laura massaging his chaffed nipples, caused by an extremely tight-fitting bullet proof vest, will be always in my mind when I see him now.

Let us not talk falsely now, the hour is getting late

The whispering would appear to be turning into a growing rumble of discontent in the ranks, and you have to wonder if Prescott's plates are beginning to shift. The Cabinet members who urged Blair not to resign are probably those most vulnerable under a Brown leadership. Nothing wrong with a bit of enlightened self-interest I suppose. Everyone assumes Brown, but I suspect the anti-Brown lobby, including the most rabid Blairites, will be looking for the Straw man as an alternative.
 

The War on Learning

Robert Fisk on Bagdhad's War on Learning
 
Meanwhile it is alleged that the new Iraqi Puppet Prime Minister has been taking the 'war on terrorism' to heart.

There's only Juan Pablo Angel

 
The Angel of the Midlands has signed for another four years. 

Whodunnit

From left to right; Right Honourable Sir John Scarlett GCB, Right Honourable Scarlett Johns MP, Lord John of Scarlett KG GCB CVO (Chair), Right Honourable John O'Scarlett MP, Field Marshal Lord Scarlett KG GCB DL

Courtesy of The Butler Review as is the excellent Spot the WMD game

Half-wracked prejudice leaped forth

Apparently in a documentary to be broadcast this evening on BBC, BNP Leader Nick Griffin confesses that he could get seven years in prison for making the sort of speech he was making to his followers. Given the behaviour admitted by BNP members in the film, perhaps the police would like to test Mr Griffin's theory for him.

I know he didn't get seven years cold porridge, but look who else has decided to publicly confront the race issue on TV

News Management

When a couple of dozen drunken yobs have a punch up in Portugal it is blazed all over the front pages of our newspapers. When over 800 troops suppress a major riot involving thousands of people in Belfast as the bowler hatted bigots assert their democratic right to intimidate Irish catholics... its mostly tucked away on the inside of the broadsheets and ignored by the tabloids. Obviously the attraction of the bars of the Algarve proved more popular than a pint of the black stuff.

Steve Bell

We did it!

Yes... Yes.. Yes. We did it. we managed to get a result to prevent them converting a local pub in our Ward into this bloody monstrosity...

The Planning Inspectorate have rejected Blue Chip Casinos appeal against the Council decision to refuse them permission to convert The Barleycorn pub into an all-night gambling house. A fantastic victory for people power. We succeeded in making the case that this Planning Application was offensive and disruptive to people in the locality. I'm so pleased I think I'll go and have a pint to celebrate!

And the words that are used for to get the ship confused will not be understood as they're spoken

A few weeks ago I highlighted a problem my mate Dave Hallam was having on his website because Us search engines were wrongly interpreting his use of the word faggots to describe a traditional (and vile) Black Country dish. Now it would appear the barmy Ofcom have become equally dotty.

Talking of barmy... is the Michael Howard who demanded the Muslim cleric Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi should not have been allowed into Britain for making statements justifying the actions of Palestinian suicide bombers, in any way related to the Michael Howard who criticised the Government for detaining Thatcher's mate, the mass murderer Augusto Pinochet?

You're an idiot babe, its a wonder that you still know how to breathe

Thanks to Left I on the News for this reference to the United States Government's latest piece of lunacy and spite in respect of Cuba. Granma International reports that a programme whereby 80 US medical students from deprived backgrounds learn to become doctors is to be shut down by the Bush administration because it breaks US laws about trading with Cuba. According to Granma "The scholarship program for young U.S. citizens arose in 1999, when Democrat representative Benny Thompson asked President Fidel Castro for help in finding a solution to the lack of doctors in his Mississippi Delta district. One year later, the Cuban president offered a plan of study for individuals unable to pay to study for a medical degree in the United States."

Whilst on the subject of Cuba, if you go to your local branch of Sainsburys and they don't sell Havana Club rum, you can fill in a customer feedback form and ask them to stock it. I persuaded my local store and now they have a supply on display. Most shops sell the imitation Bacardi brand, which claims to be genuine cuban rum but is distilled in the Bahamas. The Bacardi company are very close to US government departments and are heavy backers of the boycott Cuba lobby. So, get your own back, boycott Bacardi and have a Mojito or Cuba Libre made with genuine Havana Club Cuban rum.

Nobody has to think to much on Desolation Row

La Ramblas in Barcelona is endlessly fascinating. Nearly a mile long and for about 16 hours a day full of pavement cafes, street musicians, acrobats, jugglers, and thousands of people wandering up and down. There are dozens of young people who dress up in a wide variety of costumes and stand as still as statues until someone drops a few cents into their cap, and then they switch rapidly to a new pose. I was enjoying one such act whilst quenching my thirst nearby. A chap about 18 years old and a woman slightly younger, coated from head to toe in silver paint and holding various romantic poses, almost totally still. Everything was real pleasant until a small group of youths approached down La Rambla, obviously a few drinks for the worse. They started taunting the kids. Initially just pulling stupid faces and trying to get them to laugh or move. Then, slowly turning nastier as they started to push each other into the two ´statues´. With the sickening realisation that as their voices got louder... they were bloody english, I really feared for trouble. Fortunately, an impressively muscled young American black guy intervened and advised the yobs it was in their best interests to move on quietly...and they did. Britain in Europe? There´s a long way to go.

How very appropriate

It must be being away from home I suppose, but I tend to check out the sports news (OK, I mean the footie) more often than I would back home. I spotted this headline at the BBC site... but it turned out to be a bit of a let down.

Homage to Catalonia

What a fantastic City Barcelona is. Me and Mrs P. have walked our legs off, and there are wonderful things to see round every corner. Took a tour of the Camp Nou stadium and the sense of importance of the football club to the Catalans seems to breath out of the walls. The Museum and Art Gallery in the main stand has got Dali originals for christ sake! It´s baking hot and I´m going to soak me plates of meat in the bath and get ready for a visit to the Museum of Catalan History before a night on the Sangria.

Is this news?

Apparently, according to a columnist for the Springfield News-Leader, who just so happens to be a woman, men get more pleasure than women from snake whacking. Can you believe it?

Also, for those who thought the US did not enter (and win) the war until after Pearl Harbour, according to On This Day (click next to the date above) today is the 63rd anniversary of the US invasion of Iceland... a full five months before Pearl Harbour. However it doesn´t give any details of the Iceland resistance movement´s response, nor whether an Interim Icelandic Government was established.

At least Tom knows where it is!

Thanks to Tom Watson for pointing out that one of Sandwell´s two leading Liberals (the other one´s his missus) doesn´t actually realise the election is in Hodge Hill. The poor sod has been desperately searching the map for Hidge Hill. The only other reference I could find for Hidge Hill in Google was on the Liberal Democrats for Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender Action website, so perhaps there is a Hidge Hill by-election the rest of us haven´t been told about, or the Lib-Dems are preparing for defeat by claiming they won in Hidge Hill!

Be afraid... be very afraid

If you want to look at the sweet side of what is laughingly described as 'President Bush's Compassionate Agenda' just take a look at these comments about Independent journalist Robert Fisk.
Will the last one off the planet please switch the lights out.

And there are no sins inside the Gates of Eden

How much is a limb worth do you reckon. How about £13,000?

Though you might hear laughin', spinnin', swingin' madly across the sun

OK... after working my tabs off all weekend, and presenting a case in a hearing for hour upon hour, in an ungodly hot box of a room all day to-day... it's time to relax. Mrs P. won two airplane tickets in a raffle, and, leaving the sprogs behind, we're heading off to Barcelona for four days rest and relaxation. So, I'll try to track down an Internet Cafe and keep an eye on my blog mates... but for now it's Hasta La Vista, Baby.

'Nokia' Davies put on silent mode

Lib Dem Watch reports on the latest embarrassing episode in the Nokia Davies mobile 'phone saga. Local residents in Winchester have issued the following:

Press release from Byron Avenue phone mast protesters. 2 July 2004

LIB DEM RED FACES IN BIRMINGHAM BY-ELECTION

The row that has erupted over the Lib Dem choice of candidate in the forthcoming Birmingham Hodge Hill by-election comes as no surprise to Winchester phone mast protesters. Given the large number of ongoing Midland phone mast campaigns, they were amazed to learn of the selection of Nicola Davies, Council Liaison Officer for the Mobile Operators Association, whom they got to know well in her previous job with telecom giant Orange.

The long running battle to prevent the company erecting a thirty-nine foot mast in Byron Avenue, a leafy Winchester cul-de-sac, close to a primary school, will be approaching its fourth anniversary when campaigners head back to the High Court in November. They will be hoping to overturn last year's appeal decision in favour of Orange. Ms. Davies appeared as one of the chief witnesses for Orange at the public hearing, which lasted for nine days in total and spanned eight months.

Winchester MP, and Lib Dem frontbencher, Mark Oaten has supported campaigners from the start and spoke on their behalf at the hearing. He has not had a happy relationship with Orange, who had rebuffed his numerous attempts to get the company to find a less contentious site. Byron Avenue campaigners are not expecting him to be rushing up to Birmingham to endorse Ms. Davies' campaign. They believe that Ms. Davies' continuing involvement in promoting telecom companies is at odds with Lib Dem statements about tougher controls on the industry.

People talk of situations, read books, repeat quotations, draw conclusions on the wall

John Pilger offers some summer reading which balances the scales weighed down by those who have been eulogising about Clinton and Reagan in recent weeks, finishing with a plug for "Heller's satirical masterpiece Catch 22 which tells us something about the madness of America in Iraq."

On the subject of Pilger, from next Sunday, 11th July, ITV are starting a series of documentaries by Pilger, kicking off with "Paying the Price: Killing the Children of Iraq" first shown in 2000, and moving on to films about Vietnam, Burma, South Africa, Palestine and others.

The Godfather is dead. In my opinion one of the greatest acting performances in one of the best movies of all time.

O.I.L. (Operation Iraqi Liberation)

There's gold in them there sand dunes. The Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA - not to be confused with the CIA) certainly knew how to find it.

Pondlife

Is there a lower form of pondlife on the planet than Richard Perle. I've just listned to the Zionist, right-wing reactionary on the BBC (why is he still allowed airspace?) putting up a robust defence of Ahmed Chalabi, the hawks' own choice to replace Saddam until his fingers were found to be very sticky, and very near the till. Not that this would present a problem to Perle, whose own dealings make Jeffrey Archer look like Snow White.

The executioner's face is always well hidden

The first US Ambassador to Iraq after Operation Iraqi Liberation (OIL) is the delightful John D. Negroponte, a man who was as widely feared in Central America as Saddam was in Iraq. Negraponte has pledged to wage war on the insurgents in Iraq... presumably under the auspices of the 'sovereign' Iraqi Government, of course. If his past performance of promoting death squads in Central America is any measure of what can be expected, it is more than just the 'insurgents' who have got something to worry about.

Don't think twice.. It's alright

Byker is back from Glastonbury, muddied, knackered and happy. And why not? Personally I think I'd rather have my private parts fried in chip fat than spend all weekend up to my neck in muck in order to listen to McCartney sing his back catalogue (if ever there was a lucky bloke on this planet it was him the day he met John Lennon) and Morrisey, Oasis or most of the others on show. But I find it totally depressing and nauseating to read all those posers and yoghurt-weaving hippies who are upset because the masses have discovered "their" festival and are ruining it for them. If they don't like it, shove off and find another festival of your own to go to, where no-one will bother you... and we don't have to put up with your whining. Me... I'd go to WOMAD or Cambridge anyday, and if you want a real festival... this is THE one.

On this day...

Thanks to New Links for this dead cool feature. If you now click on 'Click it' next to the date above each post it tells you all sorts of things that happened on this day in the past. For instance today would be Queen Victoria's 174th anniversary as queen if she had only lived to see it, Innocent IV became Pope in 1243, it's Jean Jacques Rousseau's birthday, only 226 to-day, and Franz Ferdinand got himself shot in 1914... the consequences of which led to millions of other people getting shot over the next thirty odd years.... and much, much, more besides.

Oooh dear...

Just back from Stechford Ward in Hodge Hill. Lib Dem supporters in the local elections seem pretty upset that their vote has resulted in a Tory Council, and they give every indication of voting Labour in the by-election.

Sometimes even the President of the United States has got to stand naked

Well, not quite, but Dubya in Ireland took the opportunity of doing his Ralph C Nesbitt impersonation in his vest... but the Irish Government banned publication. Well, this site goes one better and has a clip of George strutting his stuff in his boxers.

Should Denmark find themselves involved in a penalty shoot-out tonight, I suspect Aston Villa players Martin Laursen and Tommy Sorensen will be tossing a coin to see who takes the 10th and 11th penalties.

A real warm brummie greeting

Liberal Democrat candidate in the Hodge Hill, Birmingham by-election, Nicola (Nokia) Davies is a lobbyist for the mobile phone industry. Nicola defends the mobile industry against residents who are opposing the siting of masts near hospitals and schools. Thanks to Lib Dem Watch for the pictures of the generous reception given to Nokia's boss when he visited Lib Dem HQ in Hodge Hill.

Charlie looks uncomfortable as he meets Hodge Hill residents.

A troubled mind

So, for all of those of you who suggested unkindly that the lad couldn't score in a brothel... he proves you wrong.

We all liberals now!

Thanks to Underblog for the reference to this very funny site.

Deja vu

England were knocked out of Euro '96 when Aston Villa player Gareth Southgate missed a penalty. Last night, Villa striker Darius Vassell found out what it feels like. But at least he stood up... which is more than you can say for the Ugly brothers, both of whom have over 50 international caps. I missed the whole thing myself. I went to a concert by one of the greatest living Irishmen... and he was magnificent!

Bloody good question... bloody lousy answer

Mr. David Amess (Southend, West) (Con): When the Prime Minister next discusses working-class issues with his Health Secretary, will he consider the widespread concern around the country about the siting of telecommunications masts? Will the Government consider altering the planning laws, so that applicants will have a duty to prove that there is a need for a mast, and that there are no associated health risks?

The Prime Minister: What we should do is make sure that we proceed carefully, according to the scientific evidence. Experts in the field prepare reports and reviews for the Government, and we must take account of them, but it would be foolish for us to make a decision that was not based on the scientific evidence. Therefore, I will proceed very carefully—as the Government are doing—but the decision that we reach will be in the interests of all the community, and it will be based on proper scientific knowledge and expertise.

The Governor

"The Continental Op first hear Personville called Poisonville by Hickey Dewey. But since Dewey also called a shirt a shoit, he didn't think anything of it. Until he went there and his client, the only honest man in Poisonville, was murdered." The opening lines of Dashiell Hammet's first book, Red Harvest, written in 1929. The summer holidays are coming... and I'm stocking up on pulp crime fiction. But I bet no-one will drag me into a story better than Hammett with those fantastic opening words.

Southampton(H), Albion(A), Charlton (A), Newcastle(H). It looks like the lads will be top going in to September. (Somehow I feel these words may be taken down and used in evidence against me at a later date).

Whoops!

My old mate Dave Hallam has got in to a spot of bother over a website he has designed. Dave is a methodist lay preacher and he has set up a site related to Francis Asbury, who emigrated from the UK to to America in 1771 and was influential in the development of the Methodist Church over there. Unfortunately, David mentioned the Black Country delicacy of faggots on his site and various search engines in the US picked it up and interpreted it slightly differently.

Voters of Hodge Hill beware - Vote Lib-Dem = Vote Tory

If the electorate of Hodge Hill needed any further warnings after John 'give-us-a-seat' Hemming's decision to join a Tory Cabinet, Lib Dem Watch reveals:

May 2004: Lib Dem councillor and London Assembly candidate in Barnet and Camden Jonathan Simpson says: "It is a campaign we are fighting to win. The electorate want to get rid of what they see as a right-wing liability. Brian Coleman’s various comments prove he is not fit for public office."

June 2004: The Lib Dems agree a deal to run the GLA with the Tories and help to get the very same Brian Coleman - deemed "not fit for public office" - elected Chair of the Assembly.

Something fishy

Maggie Thatcher's underpants do not appear to have been changed for nearly a fortnight. What's up there then?

The Last Goodbye

Tim signs off from Bloggerheads with this magnificent Parting Shot

Steve Bell shows Labour united around the leadership over Europe.

Hodge Hill, Birmingham and Leicester South are now both set for parliamentary byelections. Labour are defending relatively large majorities in both seats and they are likely to provide a greater indication of where the party is heading than the June 10th elections where multi-seat voting and the Euro elections led to everyone claiming virtually everyone but UKIP had lost. The Abbey Ward leafletting team will be soaking their feet in warm milk (and drinking warm beer)in preparation for the task ahead.

Rest assured... Our day will come.

Over at Bloggerheads, Tim is laying down his mighty sword for a while. Easily the most entertaining and informative Blog on the block, he will be sorely missed during his sabbatical. The sheer volume of material he has directed people towards to inform them about the Bush-Blair axis has been phenomenal, and there are many bloggers out their who have been inspired by Bloggerheads.

Principles... who needs 'em

Remember this...

Well those radical Liberals are at it again.
Just look who they are getting into bed with now.

Come writers and critics who prophesize with your pen...

According to this column in the Guardian, "Politicians lie for a simple reason: they want to keep their jobs." And journalists do it for what... money?

"If the great Phil Ochs were to come back from the dead tonight he'd probably be hailed as the new David Rovics."

Next weekend is Glastonbury. Having done my share of muddy fields and foul toilets, I don't particularly envy those who are going. Apart from the fact that David Rovics is appearing (according to his website, although he's not listed in the Glastonbury one). Rovics is my favourite American on the planet (except my sister-in-law Lisa who doesn't count). He is currently on tour in the UK with Attila the Stockbroker - go see them if they're in a town near you. David Rovics also has a pretty nifty blogsite too (access via his website) and he is currently blogging around Britain on his tour. If you are going to Glastonbury, go see David in the Leftfield.

I am the man, the very fat man, who waters the workers beer

I am indebted to Nick for this. Apparently our glorious leader is strutting his stuff on the European stage, this time protecting UK employment laws from interference by Johnny Foreigner. Before anyone feels too grateful, they should be aware that Blair is actually trying to STOP the EU from giving workers more rights under the EU constitution.

"We are not prepared to have anything that takes away our ability to make sure our industrial laws in this country remain as flexible as they are now.", Blair told his Downing Street press briefing.

Thanks... for nothing. Over to you.

Momentum is building

It looks like The Big Intervention bandwagon is starting to roll as Balders and Tim are joined by the mainstream media.

Money doesn't talk.. it swears

"The uptick in the bio defence spending has really allowed us to expand our technology into a market we hadn't been into before, so it is a nice upside for us" says the Chief Executive of Biolog, one of the numerous US 'defence' contractors watching their profit graphs rise in the country which owns and controls the world's largest supply of Chemical WMD.

I heard the sound of a thunder, it roared out a warnin'

Fidel Castro explains the impact of globalisation on the Third World.

Meanwhile, the refugees of Darfur experience the situation at the sharp end.

Oh... and in Britain legal firms make millions out of human misery.

Perhaps they should have an early morning visit from the Specialist Crime Directorate who seem keen to crack down on organised gangsters operating immigration rackets.

I know everyone is probably fed up with Ronnie Reagan stuff, but Greg Palast's article is well worth a read.

If two people make the same choice... who chooses who gets what?

One of the philosophical problems about 'giving people choice' is that it is not really as simple as it sounds. The freedom for parents to 'choose' to send their children to the school of their choice was a nonsense, because the places at the 'best' schools would be oversubscribed and you didn't get that choice. If one hospital can carry out so many hip operations quicker than the others, can everyone choose to go there. No... because they would not have the capacity. So, when this man talks about choice, he really means leaving these things to the law of the jungle.

It's a record

Tomorrow I am taking part in a world record attempt. Sarah Marshall (the woman with the red sweater at the back of the walking bus photo on my masthead), is organising a world record attempt for the number of children participating in a walking bus, and afterwards we all get a certificate to validate our attempt. Go for it kids!

Agenda for change

Although the Labour vote in the West Midlands Council elections seem to have held up reasonably well, the situation nationally is looking grim. Something must be done. If The Big Intervention only gives us Jack Straw as Leader, it will not be worth the effort. It has got to be about Labour members re-claiming the Party from the social democrat careerists who have stolen its heart. Blair has maintained an iron grip on Labour by winning elections. That grip will loosen pretty quickly as we start to see the trend reverse. To paraphrase The Godfather, "Nothing personal Tone, it's just business." There's an interesting database at Dumpblair.

So... it's all OUR fault again..

I know we didn't support the illegal invasion of Iraq, nor the broken manifesto pledge on tuition fees, nor the massive increase in the PFI'ing of the NHS, nor the wholesale privatisation of local authority housing... but as usual, when it all goes tits-up, if the Oily Howard wins the next General Election, its all our bloody fault again!

Da Do Ron Ron

Thanks to Tim at Bloggerheads for this brilliant 'tribute' to the late Ronnie, who's bloody funeral took up hours of live friggin' television in this country. Would the US TV stations do the same thing for Thatcher? We wait in eager anticipation of an answer to that question.

And it's still 'Councillor' Bob Piper

Yes, about an hour ago the Abbey Ward result in Sandwell was announced, and it finished:

Dr. Ann Jaron (Labour) 2007
Steve Eling (Labour) 1941
Bob Piper (Labour) 1850
Roger Prior (Lib-Dem) 840
Ewart Johnson (Tory) 801
Roger Hickman (Tory) 793
William Shipman (Tory) 706

A fantastic result for us... and for Sandwell overall (although the fascist BNP still have one seat) but although Labour lost three seats we still have a 53 Labour seats and a good overall majority on the Council.

The candidates take the plaudits, but I would like to thank Liz, Pam, Cait, Andy, Lesley, Sian, Richard, Sita, Jim, James, Clare, David, Patrick, Alan, Hazel, Adrian, Carolyn, Damien, Annie, Phil, Carol, John, Letty, Joyce, Ceri...and the 1,849 people who voted for me.

Hasta La Vista

Tomorrow I'm attending the Public Inquiry into this dreadful bloody casino in my Ward. After that... it's 100% attention to getting out the Labour vote on Thursday, so I don't expect to blog again much before the result is announced on Friday afternoon. I'll be back in full flow then, whatever the result, although the blog name might have to change to Citizen Bob!

Selective memory

The media are gushing in their tributes to Ronnie. Surprisingly little reference, however, to this, and this, and this.

since John Wayne was no longer available, so they settled for Ronald Reagan

Like BykerSink, I can find no sense of loss for the passing of Ronnie Reagan. Byker's tribute via Gil Scott Heron seems entirely appropriate.

Who or what is Al Qaeda

Thanks to the consistently brilliant Pete for this superb piece.

Don't abstain, but don't let in the Tories either

I've had another half an hour 'phone call from a friend this morning who says she is still voting Green in Birmingham, even though that sort of voting will probably hand the City Council over to the Tories. It reminds me that in 1979 various Trot groups urged people not to vote Labour because, "Thatcher would attack the unions and it would lead to a mass uprising by the working class." Bloody good strategy that turned out to be!

You'll find God in the church of your choice

The Guardian reports that His Holiness gave Dubya a 'tongue-lashing'. Is that sort of thing allowed these days in the Catholic Church?

Ingrid has been screaming literally blue murder about the tragedy unfolding in Sudan for weeks on Me and Ophelia, and at last some of the lazy-arsed editors in the media have started to move the story up the agenda. If you haven't done so already, go to Ingrid's site and read her Sudan posts (we differ quite a lot on most other things) and you'll find the best coverage and links on there. Help spread the word... put a link on your site to Me and Ophelia. Let's face it, it beats Belle De bloody Jour!

Are they by any chance related?

I know the Tory candidate in the London Mayoral elections has a dodgy background with transport companies, but do the Renault, Saab and Seat dealers in Co. Meath, Ireland, in this list have any connection with their man?

Every cloud has a silver lining.

Now how much confidence would this US Treasury Secretary fill you with?

Plonker!

I've just watched the biggest 2004 registered 4x4 super jeep roar past me on the M6 with a giant poster in the rear window screaming out 'Fuel Protest NOW' - Say no to fuel duty. What a complete tosser!

Its dirty work... but someone's got to do it.

I don't know how Austin Mitchell or Tom Watson feel about it, but I find it somewhat disconcerting to find out that Margaret Thatcher's underwear has got my name on it.

Disillusioned words like bullets bark

So, why Labour? In view of the number of people, on this site and on the doorstep, who have challenged me to say why they should vote Labour next week, I thought I would use this post to justify why I am in the Labour Party and why I think people should vote Labour rather than Lib-Dem, Green or Respect.
For people of my age, and those a damn site older, the disillusionment people are currently feeling with the Blair Government is nothing new. Ralph Milliband, father of the New Labour Project’s Edward and David, wrote the classic book called Parliamentary Socialism in 1961 which explained why Labour would never deliver socialism (and the joke goes that his sons are proving his father’s words).
Inspired by Milliband I resigned my Labour Party membership in 1968 over Harold Wilson’s tacit support for LBJ in Vietnam and Callaghan’s Commonwealth Immigration Act introduced to stop East African Asian’s fleeing persecution from seeking asylum in Britain.
In spite of my pithy letter to Wilson, he never resigned, the bombing didn’t stop, and Callaghan was so wounded he went on to become Prime Minister. A few years later, after I had decided they had suffered enough, I rejoined the Party. However, substitute Blair and Blunkett for Wilson’s craven support for a US President and Callaghan’s hard line on asylum, and you will probably appreciate why I do not share the same degree of disillusionment as those who thought Blair was going to introduce a bright new dawn.
After I left Labour I toyed with some of the other leftist groups, but I usually found that whilst they were strong on rhetoric, they were weak in practice. They wanted democracy in South Africa, but imposed a Leninist control freakery over their own members. They argued for women’s sections in the trade unions, but didn’t have a women’s section themselves “because we are socialists and don’t need those.” Not being one to kow-tow, I didn’t hang around.
So, why Labour? Whatever the merits of the Greens, and I think there are many, they haven’t got any links with the trade union movement, and in any event they won’t get power, and I suspect if they did most of them would be terrified and leave. So, in reality, not voting Labour means you either throw people to the Tories, or the Liberals. Given that you probably still wouldn’t be here if it was the Tories, I’ll discount that option.
The Liberals want to be all things to all people. More extreme than the Tories in the Shires, and more radical than Labour in inner city Birmingham, where currently they are running a ‘Save our Post Offices’ campaign… without ever telling the electorate that their official party policy is not to save them but privatise them. Its anything for votes. But where they are in power, they privatise with the best of them. Kinnock in his famous anti-militant speech said you can have all of the principles in the world, but without power they count for nothing. For the Liberals, its reversed, you can give them all the power in the world, but they have no principles.
So, why Labour? As Tony Benn says there are socialists in the Labour Party, just as there are some Christians in the Church. We are the only political party with a mass link to the working class through the trade union movement, and like the unions, we have our share of careerists, arselickers, and reactionaries. But we also have some bloody good members…socialists, councillors and even MPs (believe it or not), who do not subscribe to the ‘what’s in it for me’ philosophy that the media try to brand all politicians with… and far too many people out there believe.

End of whinge

Welcome to UKIP.... you're welcome to UKIP

In a move which will have rocked the foundations of our society, Charles Henry John Benedict Crofton Chetwynd Chetwynd-Talbot (that's one person, not our Euro 2004 squad) has announced he will be throwing his weight behind UKIP in the European elections. Charlie was elected to Parliament on a 100% turnout by Henry VI in 1442 at a time the name Talbot sent fear into the hearts of Frenchmen everywhere. Now over 550 years later, he's at it again. Charlie has announced he will be ditching the Tories for UKIP (never trust a man with the same name twice I say, just look at Eric Djemba Djemba, Jay Jay Ockocha). Within hours Charlie has been flushed down the Tories 'memory hole'.

"I can think of no more unprincipled stand than to say the war is unjust but we support it anyway"

Charlie Kennedy, in his more sober (sorry, somber) moods, likes to take the plaudits for being the only major party against the War in Iraq. but as this article in the Independent points out, this was just the usual Lib-Dem fudge. Less backbone than a jellyfish!

New links

I've added two new links to the sidebar. Maggie Thatcher's Underpants deserves inclusion for such a fantastic name, but it's also a good read. Also Paul, at Is this A Good Idea? has been added. He lives in Sandwell and despite his Glory hunting tendencies and his revolutionary abstentionism, its a good site!

And you thought we had problems with Kilroy-Silk

Czech porn star Dolly Buster - née Katerina Bochnickova - has been campaigning in a low-cut blouse as a milkmaid who does not want her country to be "milked" by Brussels.

So, who's the big threat?

Thanks to the good Doctor for referring me to Daniel Brett who poses the question What is a greater threat: Jihadism or Islamaphobia, and then answers it pretty damn good!

It's all about oil

Thanks to Tom Watson MP for the reference to his namesake which dishes the dirt on the Haliburton/Dirty Dick smoking gun.

Cheesy Cheney