I'm reserving judgement until October...
But, I am well aware that the huge budget hole needs filling, and who's fault that one was. Spending more cash than the country makes, during the good times! Well done, well done. Idiots, did they really believe they had cured Boom and Bust? I was busy trying to explain that "Labour only looks good because they are buying lots of shiny things on the 'Nation's Credit Card,' " for my super pro-Labour (coal mining, Barnsley) side of the family way back in 2004.
However, I am also aware of the way the media prefers to spin a drama into a crisis at every opportunity and this one is a hum-dinger that will fill air-time for months...Also, I know that Labour spent millions of pounds of taxpayers money trying to control the media, so that they could pretend everything was Hunky Dory. Perhaps people like that, part of me says that a constant drip-feed of depressing news will just breed more negativity...Thus perhaps media manipulation is a good thing?
This lot, don't seem to be as savvy with journalists (or more prudent, I don't have the full facts regards how much they're forking out for PR), and thus without a Campbell breathing down their necks, the media seem to be lining up to beat the shit out of them come October. I wouldn't be surprised if the BBC stick a doomsday countdown in the bottom right of every TV show they broadcast on October the 1st. Also, a minister being tough and taking a firm line, seems to be reported as the minister being an unsympathetic robot. What do the media want? Labour tried to be sweetness and nice and keep things positive even when they were royally fucking things up. The media spit roasted them. This mob are all "Look, shit is happening! Deal with it!" and the media are spitting on their dicks waiting for Halloween.
Still, my hopes that a coalition would cancel out the worst sides of both parties has just highlighted to me with depressing clarity...Why walk the centre ground? You will merely piss off the left wing and the right wing in equal measure because your left will not be left enough, nor your right right enough.
It's time the parties drifted back to their roots.
So come October, I may be out on my arse...I may have to cease to be a public servant, and sell my soul to the private sector once more. Go and work for a bank...Well if you can't beat them.
That or lead the revolution :D
Saturday, 11 September 2010
Tuesday, 11 May 2010
Election Fallout
I know the numbers and the maths, but it still doesn't smell right.
You did worse than the Tories, as did you...But together you combine as Voltron and instantly have the right to say "Hey, we won!" I just hear the endless numbers game played out across the BBC's coverage and think...FFS...This number of votes has won in the past! But now it is being hailed as a mandate for change, or even as a Clarion call for Labour to still run the country...Smells a bit off.
The other way round doesn't quite smell as bad since it is the party that won the most votes and seats having some kind of return for that. If all we have to look forward to are endless rounds of this and shady deals behind closed doors then...Ugh! It was the shady deal between Brown and Blair that did so much damage to Labour's ability to deliver. Internal power games that created a caustic environment in which the prick we have now acted like a spoilt child because he thought he had the God given right to rule. Much as I disliked Blair, I wonder how much of his end of term wobble was down to Brown being a fucker?
I wouldn't mind AV+ or PR coming into play, and I really don't see it as a way to keep the Tories out of power forever, which is really what the left is aiming for, lets be honest...It's not for any greater good, it's seen as a rod to beat the Tories and hence 'oh what larks.' A leftist pact fucks up enough, then there will be a swing. Nobody likes bitter medicine, but there comes a point when you relent.
You did worse than the Tories, as did you...But together you combine as Voltron and instantly have the right to say "Hey, we won!" I just hear the endless numbers game played out across the BBC's coverage and think...FFS...This number of votes has won in the past! But now it is being hailed as a mandate for change, or even as a Clarion call for Labour to still run the country...Smells a bit off.
The other way round doesn't quite smell as bad since it is the party that won the most votes and seats having some kind of return for that. If all we have to look forward to are endless rounds of this and shady deals behind closed doors then...Ugh! It was the shady deal between Brown and Blair that did so much damage to Labour's ability to deliver. Internal power games that created a caustic environment in which the prick we have now acted like a spoilt child because he thought he had the God given right to rule. Much as I disliked Blair, I wonder how much of his end of term wobble was down to Brown being a fucker?
I wouldn't mind AV+ or PR coming into play, and I really don't see it as a way to keep the Tories out of power forever, which is really what the left is aiming for, lets be honest...It's not for any greater good, it's seen as a rod to beat the Tories and hence 'oh what larks.' A leftist pact fucks up enough, then there will be a swing. Nobody likes bitter medicine, but there comes a point when you relent.
Sunday, 2 May 2010
Scaremongering
Get this latest from the beeb election ticker:-
1048: "There's a substantial risk to the peace process" if the Conservatives win the election, says Northern Ireland Secretary Shaun Woodward. He tells Sky News that Tory cuts to public spending would damage community policing. He says Labour has made great achievements by helping bring political stability to Northern Ireland and David Cameron could jeopardise that.
What a cock. What an utter cock to use the troubles as a 'vote me.' Now, I expect cut and thrust and mistrust etc during this last week, it is an election campaign after all...But this, to use the threat of returning to terrorism, as an reason to vote Labour! Jesus H. Christ they've turned into George W.
1048: "There's a substantial risk to the peace process" if the Conservatives win the election, says Northern Ireland Secretary Shaun Woodward. He tells Sky News that Tory cuts to public spending would damage community policing. He says Labour has made great achievements by helping bring political stability to Northern Ireland and David Cameron could jeopardise that.
What a cock. What an utter cock to use the troubles as a 'vote me.' Now, I expect cut and thrust and mistrust etc during this last week, it is an election campaign after all...But this, to use the threat of returning to terrorism, as an reason to vote Labour! Jesus H. Christ they've turned into George W.
Friday, 30 April 2010
The Final Leadership Debate:
Again, no Budd Dwyer moment.
But you're right, Gordon was in the thick of it, and throwing out some seriously stress induced shapes...Shouldn't call core voters bigots, and then attempt to gloss over it really.
Clegg played the same record as before, *haughty look at camera and pause for effect* and the groove is starting to wear out...Gone was his crystal sharp dynamic range, being replaced with a kind of irritating fuzz (these record comparisons doing anything for you? No)
Cameron, was on fire...The pundits and polls agreed.
In the same manner as Clegg a fortnight ago, he engaged the audience and made Gordon look like a toby jug full of warm piss.
I note, some unkindness about his performance from the usual sources (comments on BBC news tickers from voters etc)...You see no answers in his statements, he is all soundbite...Well, Clegg's been doing that for 2 weeks now and seemingly had the punters in the palm of his hand. This exposes the ultimate goal of the TV debate...To weed out the un-photogenic, to remove real substance and replace it with who can say the most ingratiating statements while keeping a stern Hollywood leadership face.
UK politics has simply become more about who has the most media savvy leader, and that seemed to start with Mr. Blair.
But you're right, Gordon was in the thick of it, and throwing out some seriously stress induced shapes...Shouldn't call core voters bigots, and then attempt to gloss over it really.
Clegg played the same record as before, *haughty look at camera and pause for effect* and the groove is starting to wear out...Gone was his crystal sharp dynamic range, being replaced with a kind of irritating fuzz (these record comparisons doing anything for you? No)
Cameron, was on fire...The pundits and polls agreed.
In the same manner as Clegg a fortnight ago, he engaged the audience and made Gordon look like a toby jug full of warm piss.
I note, some unkindness about his performance from the usual sources (comments on BBC news tickers from voters etc)...You see no answers in his statements, he is all soundbite...Well, Clegg's been doing that for 2 weeks now and seemingly had the punters in the palm of his hand. This exposes the ultimate goal of the TV debate...To weed out the un-photogenic, to remove real substance and replace it with who can say the most ingratiating statements while keeping a stern Hollywood leadership face.
UK politics has simply become more about who has the most media savvy leader, and that seemed to start with Mr. Blair.
Thursday, 29 April 2010
Gordon's Gaffe
We've waited a long time for it, and finally it happened...Gordon took us by the hand, and led us into the hall of monstrous gaffes.
This being written 20 hours later, I have had time to digest and discuss many points that have emerged from the swirl of issues the whole event highlights.
1) Gordon Brown did mean it,
The party line is that he said it in haste, he was letting off steam, he is mortified he said it, he respects everybody blah blah blah. Now, based on my experiences of life...When I vent at a difficult customer, or a pupil (used to teach), I bloody well meant it! The alternative is the slow accumulation of anger and rage, that would eventually lead to wielding a dumbbell against the unholy spawn of piss poor parents. In the complex social world we inhabit, the need to appease others for social advancement is a well understood construct. MPs and especially those in or seeking the highest elected office in the land, they will be playing by this rule since their jobs depend upon it. Gordon, vented about his core voters...He meant it.
2) Gordon misinterpreted what Mrs D. said.
I think he did. Every member of the great unwashed obviously knows less than Gordon because Gordon is the PM...right? Bullshit. Mrs D. knows more about what goes on in her life, her estate, her local environment, than Gordon could ever possibly know, so when she mentions a problem with immigration, it's not based on watching Bernard Manning and the BNP manifesto, it is a response to the pressure of Labour's unchecked immigration policy, you remember it? The one designed to rub the rights face in it. So Gordon heard what she said, and misinterpreted it into her being a stupid member of the great unhosed.
3) Bigot, was not the only insult.
I am a public speaker, it is my bread and butter...There was much more contained within his Jaguar hosted rant. Let us analyse his words:
PM: That was a disaster. Should never have put me with that woman ... whose idea was that?
The stark tone of sneering bitterness in his opening remarks...He was genuinely angry about having concluded a very positive chat with a life long Labour core voter.
PM: It's Sue, I think. It's just ridiculous. (Muffled sounds)
He does spit out the word ridiculous with venom...Ridiculous is quite a strong word. Opening something up for ridicule, beneath contempt, wrong etc.
PM: Ugh, everything - she's just a sort of bigoted woman, said she used to be Labour. It's just ridiculous.
So, everything Mrs D. said was ridiculous...So there you go. The opinions of a core voter do not count to the PM. Again, his speech his full of venom, very bitter and cruel.
4) The media are quite, invasive.
Mrs D. reminded me of my gran, northern, core Labour, working class and proud but also with a very practical intelligence. A spade is a spade, whatever Mandelson says, kind of intelligence. Well, to see her being pursued by the media circus was quite remarkable and a little worrying. I genuinely feared for her since the media have been camping outside her door all day, and she has hired a PR agent etc. It must be quite an awful situation for somebody who isn't the type to parade themselves on the X Factor 24/7. The poor woman has been thrust into the spotlight because of the actions of a bullying and very rude PM. I may change my opinion of her if Mrs D. emerges into the spotlight in a tinsel get-up, milking her 15 minutes for all it is worth.
5) Spin Doctors are laughable.
Did you see the way Labour were trying to play it? Oh, he is human, he makes mistakes, but at least he apologises for them! Oh and look, Cameron got into an altercation with a man who HAD A DISABLED SON. The last point hasn't taken, and rightly so since Cameron didn't (or in the interests of fairness, there was no medium to record his after discussion words) patronise him, has had a disabled son himself, and had a good long old chat. Now, I couldn't give a flying fuck at a rolling donut here, Gordon was rude, he was caught, whatever way you spin it, the guy is a nasty piece of work. The very nature of spin tells me that a lot of the British public do not think how I think, they do not critically analyse something, put it into context, form an opinion and move on...Instead they remain open vessels for spin doctors to fill with carefully constructed facades.
This being written 20 hours later, I have had time to digest and discuss many points that have emerged from the swirl of issues the whole event highlights.
1) Gordon Brown did mean it,
The party line is that he said it in haste, he was letting off steam, he is mortified he said it, he respects everybody blah blah blah. Now, based on my experiences of life...When I vent at a difficult customer, or a pupil (used to teach), I bloody well meant it! The alternative is the slow accumulation of anger and rage, that would eventually lead to wielding a dumbbell against the unholy spawn of piss poor parents. In the complex social world we inhabit, the need to appease others for social advancement is a well understood construct. MPs and especially those in or seeking the highest elected office in the land, they will be playing by this rule since their jobs depend upon it. Gordon, vented about his core voters...He meant it.
2) Gordon misinterpreted what Mrs D. said.
I think he did. Every member of the great unwashed obviously knows less than Gordon because Gordon is the PM...right? Bullshit. Mrs D. knows more about what goes on in her life, her estate, her local environment, than Gordon could ever possibly know, so when she mentions a problem with immigration, it's not based on watching Bernard Manning and the BNP manifesto, it is a response to the pressure of Labour's unchecked immigration policy, you remember it? The one designed to rub the rights face in it. So Gordon heard what she said, and misinterpreted it into her being a stupid member of the great unhosed.
3) Bigot, was not the only insult.
I am a public speaker, it is my bread and butter...There was much more contained within his Jaguar hosted rant. Let us analyse his words:
PM: That was a disaster. Should never have put me with that woman ... whose idea was that?
The stark tone of sneering bitterness in his opening remarks...He was genuinely angry about having concluded a very positive chat with a life long Labour core voter.
PM: It's Sue, I think. It's just ridiculous. (Muffled sounds)
He does spit out the word ridiculous with venom...Ridiculous is quite a strong word. Opening something up for ridicule, beneath contempt, wrong etc.
PM: Ugh, everything - she's just a sort of bigoted woman, said she used to be Labour. It's just ridiculous.
So, everything Mrs D. said was ridiculous...So there you go. The opinions of a core voter do not count to the PM. Again, his speech his full of venom, very bitter and cruel.
4) The media are quite, invasive.
Mrs D. reminded me of my gran, northern, core Labour, working class and proud but also with a very practical intelligence. A spade is a spade, whatever Mandelson says, kind of intelligence. Well, to see her being pursued by the media circus was quite remarkable and a little worrying. I genuinely feared for her since the media have been camping outside her door all day, and she has hired a PR agent etc. It must be quite an awful situation for somebody who isn't the type to parade themselves on the X Factor 24/7. The poor woman has been thrust into the spotlight because of the actions of a bullying and very rude PM. I may change my opinion of her if Mrs D. emerges into the spotlight in a tinsel get-up, milking her 15 minutes for all it is worth.
5) Spin Doctors are laughable.
Did you see the way Labour were trying to play it? Oh, he is human, he makes mistakes, but at least he apologises for them! Oh and look, Cameron got into an altercation with a man who HAD A DISABLED SON. The last point hasn't taken, and rightly so since Cameron didn't (or in the interests of fairness, there was no medium to record his after discussion words) patronise him, has had a disabled son himself, and had a good long old chat. Now, I couldn't give a flying fuck at a rolling donut here, Gordon was rude, he was caught, whatever way you spin it, the guy is a nasty piece of work. The very nature of spin tells me that a lot of the British public do not think how I think, they do not critically analyse something, put it into context, form an opinion and move on...Instead they remain open vessels for spin doctors to fill with carefully constructed facades.
Monday, 19 April 2010
The twin worlds of Geology and ATC combine (I'd never have thought it :D ) and all is quiet on the aviation front...Marvellous. But, the economic fallout of stopping one of the major conduits of globalisation from moving, is vast! If this bloody Volcano keeps on churning out the good stuff, then Europe is going to start feeling the pinch.
But, it's the first time today that I've noticed anything tangible from the ash, other than on Met reports. The sun is due to set in just under an hour, and the sky has turned blood red and orange, oh and there is ash on my car people, ash on my car...Time to call in some journalists to film it whilst I stand off to one side like a bellend.
What's next?
Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies! Rivers and seas boiling!
Forty years of darkness! Earthquakes, volcanoes...
The dead rising from the grave!
Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together... mass hysteria!
But, it's the first time today that I've noticed anything tangible from the ash, other than on Met reports. The sun is due to set in just under an hour, and the sky has turned blood red and orange, oh and there is ash on my car people, ash on my car...Time to call in some journalists to film it whilst I stand off to one side like a bellend.
What's next?
Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies! Rivers and seas boiling!
Forty years of darkness! Earthquakes, volcanoes...
The dead rising from the grave!
Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together... mass hysteria!
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