Anderson's on fire. Not only did he manage to hit something, but he scored too. As long as 'a farm wall' and 'an young Brazilian woman' count - his record for the Red Devils is none too impressive.
Silly boy - spends the night in a club, crams two passengers into his 2-seat car and manages to plough it into a wall in a serious crash.
You don't get this kind of behaviour at Stoke City. Mostly because if you left your car outside a club all night, it wouldn't have any wheels by the time you drunkenly tried to get it home.
Monday, 2 August 2010
Living on the shelf
I'm a bit of a collector - books and music mostly, particularly Left Book Club editions from the 1930s and 1940s, and vinyl indie stuff, but also literary theory, SF, kids' books, classical music and much else besides. I also like vintage leftwing memorabilia, such as posters and badges (if you have any, let me know). I've spent the morning transferring a pile of books like this (below) from my office desk to the shelves I've commandeered, after my new office mate gaily looked from her completely bare desk to mine and muttered that she 'couldn't work like that'. I'm trying here, I'm trying…
I thought I had a lot of stuff, until I met Mark, my colleague, who has a house literally full of 15000 books, organised on the Dewey Decimal system - there's a Maureen Lipman room, the critical theory wing, the 19th-century Women's Writing annex, and several thousand DVDs, unwrapped, to go along with the same films stored on VHS. Plus, of course, the collection of pulp books bought solely because the covers are interesting, or because the author once wrote something interesting under a different name, in a different genre.
How I admire him. Despite the lack of ceilings, safe wiring, hot water and sanitation, it's a house of fun.
But you don't have to be a squatter in your own home: ask Stewart Lee, who wrote an excellent piece on the subject of shelving in this weekend's Observer.
I thought I had a lot of stuff, until I met Mark, my colleague, who has a house literally full of 15000 books, organised on the Dewey Decimal system - there's a Maureen Lipman room, the critical theory wing, the 19th-century Women's Writing annex, and several thousand DVDs, unwrapped, to go along with the same films stored on VHS. Plus, of course, the collection of pulp books bought solely because the covers are interesting, or because the author once wrote something interesting under a different name, in a different genre.
How I admire him. Despite the lack of ceilings, safe wiring, hot water and sanitation, it's a house of fun.
But you don't have to be a squatter in your own home: ask Stewart Lee, who wrote an excellent piece on the subject of shelving in this weekend's Observer.
How does this Graber you?
Anthony Graber is a high-speed geek: the kind of man who straps a video camera to his head and goes for a ride on his motorbike.
The other gentleman in this video is a Maryland State Trooper, though he doesn't introduce himself as such until after he's waved the gun around, according to our hero. He gave Mr. Graber a citation for speeding, which seems fair enough, though the gun seems a bit excessive, though it may be normal for the US.
Then silly Mr. Graber, believing that a conversation between a policeman and a citizen isn't 'private' (because anything you say to a policeman can be presented in court, and because Maryland police officers record encounters themselves), put his tape on Youtube.
Oops. Suddenly the speeding ticket became a police raid, confiscation of his computers and 16 charges, including extra motoring offences and several wiretap violations! Hilariously, one charge refers to 'surreptitious' recording - despite the camera being stuck on Graber's head! He now faces up to 16 years in jail if the cops get their way.
I know Ewar will find some way to justify the policeman's action, but it's beyond me: encounters with public servants are just that - public - and if the police don't have anything to be ashamed of, they shouldn't object to their actions being recorded for posterity. After all, we in Britain are recorded everywhere we go. In case you're unsure, or a policeman tells you differently, the government has clarified the law: you can photograph/record the police in virtually all situations.
Thankfully, the ACLU are on the case.
The other gentleman in this video is a Maryland State Trooper, though he doesn't introduce himself as such until after he's waved the gun around, according to our hero. He gave Mr. Graber a citation for speeding, which seems fair enough, though the gun seems a bit excessive, though it may be normal for the US.
Then silly Mr. Graber, believing that a conversation between a policeman and a citizen isn't 'private' (because anything you say to a policeman can be presented in court, and because Maryland police officers record encounters themselves), put his tape on Youtube.
Oops. Suddenly the speeding ticket became a police raid, confiscation of his computers and 16 charges, including extra motoring offences and several wiretap violations! Hilariously, one charge refers to 'surreptitious' recording - despite the camera being stuck on Graber's head! He now faces up to 16 years in jail if the cops get their way.
I know Ewar will find some way to justify the policeman's action, but it's beyond me: encounters with public servants are just that - public - and if the police don't have anything to be ashamed of, they shouldn't object to their actions being recorded for posterity. After all, we in Britain are recorded everywhere we go. In case you're unsure, or a policeman tells you differently, the government has clarified the law: you can photograph/record the police in virtually all situations.
Thankfully, the ACLU are on the case.
The floggings will continue until moral improves
What conclusions would you draw about an institution which had one of these?
Staff Morale and Wellbeing Task & Finish GroupMr. Orwell would be proud.
Friday, 30 July 2010
Attention, university authorities
The Hegemon has just fiddled with the website. XKCD could have been viewing it as he drew this. Larger version here.
David Blunkett, Eat Your Heart Out
Santa's been. The new Arcade Fire LP The Suburbs, Jonathan Lethem's physics'n'literary theory novel As She Climbed Across The Table (currently being filmed by Cronenburg), and a t-shirt, designed by Ben as a birthday present from him and Jo and delivered beautifully packaged.
What does it say?
It invites the Conservative Party to vigorously procreate. In Braille.
What does it say?
It invites the Conservative Party to vigorously procreate. In Braille.
What do women want?
Apparently, skills, according to Rocky and Balls.
This is pure unrelenting filth, with ukulele. It's so damn catchy.
This is pure unrelenting filth, with ukulele. It's so damn catchy.
It's just not cricket
The 'England'-Pakistan Test match is a thriller, swinging all over the place.
Yesterday Welshman Alastair Cook made 8, South African former England captain Kevin Pietersen made a magnificent 9, while South African Andrew Strauss made 45 for Blighty. They were followed by South African Jonathan Trott, who managed 38. Englishman Paul Collingwood scored an excellent 82, while Irish turncoat Eoin Morgan made the majority of 'England's' runs with a brilliant 130. The tail (South African Matt Prior, drink-driving Englishman Graeme Swann, Englishmen Stuart Broad, Anderson and Finn) made an astonishing 11 runs between them.
So game on for the Pakistanis then - all of whom are from Pakistan - you'd think. Except that Jimmy Anderson's bowled the first two very cheaply (Butt 1 - 1 more run than Anderson managed, Farhat 19) and the other 'England' bowlers are playing magnificently. Anything could happen now.
Over-by-over coverage here.
Correction/update: Pakistan's leading batsmen are playing like 'England's' tail: they're on 41-4 and in terrible trouble (though the last wicket was a terrible mistake by the umpire)
Yesterday Welshman Alastair Cook made 8, South African former England captain Kevin Pietersen made a magnificent 9, while South African Andrew Strauss made 45 for Blighty. They were followed by South African Jonathan Trott, who managed 38. Englishman Paul Collingwood scored an excellent 82, while Irish turncoat Eoin Morgan made the majority of 'England's' runs with a brilliant 130. The tail (South African Matt Prior, drink-driving Englishman Graeme Swann, Englishmen Stuart Broad, Anderson and Finn) made an astonishing 11 runs between them.
So game on for the Pakistanis then - all of whom are from Pakistan - you'd think. Except that Jimmy Anderson's bowled the first two very cheaply (Butt 1 - 1 more run than Anderson managed, Farhat 19) and the other 'England' bowlers are playing magnificently. Anything could happen now.
Over-by-over coverage here.
Correction/update: Pakistan's leading batsmen are playing like 'England's' tail: they're on 41-4 and in terrible trouble (though the last wicket was a terrible mistake by the umpire)
You spin me right round
Politicians think they're very clever.
They also think we're not very clever and can't do joined-up thinking.
A case in point. The new government doesn't like taxes or public services, so they've come up with a cunning plan: if your local government wants to put local taxes up, they'll have to hold a referendum (not if they want to cut taxes, you'll notice).
They wheeled out Sontaran Eric Pickles to talk about this stunningly boring but important subject on the Today programme on Radio 4.
Unfortunately, little Eric decided to wax lyrical about democracy and referenda, as you can hear on this MP3 recording. He even evoked Winston Churchill on the joys of democracy.
Here are the key quotes:
'it's up to you, you decide'.
'we think it's important as part of the Big Society that decisions are made locally'
'I'm quite in favour of local people making local decisions…I don't see a problem in referendums… we can have a decision on all kind of things… It's part of a package of measures of passing things locally'.
But. But, but but but but but but.
It's only a couple of days since I wrote about the Academies Bill, Clause 3, Amendment 8. It asked the government to hold a referendum of parents whenever a school applies to become an Academy. My Scarlet Pimpernel MP Paul Uppal, and all his Tory colleagues, voted against this simple and relevant democratic proposal. He also voted against a simpler clause to compel schools to consult parents.
(On a wonderful related note, the Tory Scum announced a couple of weeks ago that 1000+ schools had applied to become Academies. Today's news reveals that in reality, only, er 153 actually did so: either they're Lying Tory Scum or the Secretary of State for Education is in fact hugely innumerate).
I feel another letter coming on.
They also think we're not very clever and can't do joined-up thinking.
A case in point. The new government doesn't like taxes or public services, so they've come up with a cunning plan: if your local government wants to put local taxes up, they'll have to hold a referendum (not if they want to cut taxes, you'll notice).
They wheeled out Sontaran Eric Pickles to talk about this stunningly boring but important subject on the Today programme on Radio 4.
Eric Pickles
Sontaran
Unfortunately, little Eric decided to wax lyrical about democracy and referenda, as you can hear on this MP3 recording. He even evoked Winston Churchill on the joys of democracy.
Here are the key quotes:
'it's up to you, you decide'.
'we think it's important as part of the Big Society that decisions are made locally'
'I'm quite in favour of local people making local decisions…I don't see a problem in referendums… we can have a decision on all kind of things… It's part of a package of measures of passing things locally'.
But. But, but but but but but but.
It's only a couple of days since I wrote about the Academies Bill, Clause 3, Amendment 8. It asked the government to hold a referendum of parents whenever a school applies to become an Academy. My Scarlet Pimpernel MP Paul Uppal, and all his Tory colleagues, voted against this simple and relevant democratic proposal. He also voted against a simpler clause to compel schools to consult parents.
(On a wonderful related note, the Tory Scum announced a couple of weeks ago that 1000+ schools had applied to become Academies. Today's news reveals that in reality, only, er 153 actually did so: either they're Lying Tory Scum or the Secretary of State for Education is in fact hugely innumerate).
I feel another letter coming on.
Dear Mr Pickles and Mr. Gove,
I listened with fascination to Mr. Pickles on Radio 4's Today programme (30th July 2010), extolling the joys of local democracy and referenda, with specific reference to 'The Big Society' and Council Tax.
Mr Pickles also stated on a video (http://www.communities.gov.uk/newsstories/newsroom/1658293) that
"This is a radical extension of direct democracy, as part of a wider programme of decentralising power to local communities. Power should not just be given to councils, but be devolved further down to neighbourhoods and citizens."Given the new government's enthusiasm for local democracy, could you please explain to me why your government and its parliamentary supporters (including my MP, Mr Paul Uppal) voted against the amendments in the Academies Bill calling for (respectively) referenda or 'consultation' with parents and other interested parties prior to an application?
Mr Pickles was very persuasive on the reasons why ministers in London should surrender authority: why is it therefore the government's policy that a headteacher can decide alone whether to apply for Academy status, and the Secretary of State for Education's decision alone on whether to accept the application?
Is this a case of democracy when it's convenient and autocracy when it isn't? I notice, too, that there's no provision for Council Tax referenda when reductions are proposed.
Yours,
[Plashing Vole]
Revenge of the Son of the Friday Conundrum
It's a commonplace of structuralism that naming something gives it meaning. Cat = not dog, not rat, not mat and not sat, amongst other things. Names exist in networks which give them meaning.
Later theory says that words, and names, don't 'mean' anything: look up 'cat' and it gives you a whole load of other words which you have to look up, ad infinitum.
Psychoanalytic theory says that without a name, you don't exist. More exactly, without language, you can't say 'I'. Therefore you aren't an autonomous individual with expressible desires. Where do you get your name from? From your parents. They impose identity upon you and you become part of the social system as an individual. Before that, you're just a lump of flesh undifferentiated from the rest of the world.
Which is all a long-winded way of saying that names are important. How can you talk about something if you can't name it? It becomes unspeakable, and therefore incomprehensible.
Or does it? I have a little task for you, my children. Last night, in the pub (of course), Emma made this.
We all recognised it. None of us could name it. We couldn't remember it having a name - yet we all played with them in school, in Britain and in Ireland - we think it's global.
So - tell me what it's called. Ask your friends, or point them here. Tell us what messages you wrote on the inside, what songs you chanted as you played, but most of all - name it.
My theory is that the lack of a name is intimately linked to the game. It's a rudimentary introduction to both chance and fate. Before the final flap is listed, the players and the audience exist in a state of epistemological liminality: you don't know what's going to happen. It's like quantum physics: all the messages are possible until you choose one. In a state of knowing nothing, the lack of a name is entirely appropriate.
So fly, my pretties. Close down the radical instability by bringing me a name.
Later theory says that words, and names, don't 'mean' anything: look up 'cat' and it gives you a whole load of other words which you have to look up, ad infinitum.
Psychoanalytic theory says that without a name, you don't exist. More exactly, without language, you can't say 'I'. Therefore you aren't an autonomous individual with expressible desires. Where do you get your name from? From your parents. They impose identity upon you and you become part of the social system as an individual. Before that, you're just a lump of flesh undifferentiated from the rest of the world.
Which is all a long-winded way of saying that names are important. How can you talk about something if you can't name it? It becomes unspeakable, and therefore incomprehensible.
Or does it? I have a little task for you, my children. Last night, in the pub (of course), Emma made this.
We all recognised it. None of us could name it. We couldn't remember it having a name - yet we all played with them in school, in Britain and in Ireland - we think it's global.
So - tell me what it's called. Ask your friends, or point them here. Tell us what messages you wrote on the inside, what songs you chanted as you played, but most of all - name it.
My theory is that the lack of a name is intimately linked to the game. It's a rudimentary introduction to both chance and fate. Before the final flap is listed, the players and the audience exist in a state of epistemological liminality: you don't know what's going to happen. It's like quantum physics: all the messages are possible until you choose one. In a state of knowing nothing, the lack of a name is entirely appropriate.
So fly, my pretties. Close down the radical instability by bringing me a name.
Thursday, 29 July 2010
Another triumph for the Soaraway Sun and the Daily Hate Mail
Pretty much the worst thing you can do to a committed political protestor is accuse them of hypocrisy or fraud. Their credibility's out of the window. They lose supporters and all hope of convincing people of the justice of their cause.
Parameswaran Subramanyam is a young Tamil who went on hunger strike in London, accusing the British authorities of ignoring the Sri Lankan government's heavily-documented human rights abuses.
Obviously, the Mail and the Sun hate brown people, refugees and troublemakers, and Subramanyam is all three of these. So they concocted articles claiming that he was actually filmed by the police scoffing burgers when people weren't looking. He lost all credibility and was treated as a traitor by the Tamil people (though why they trusted these papers is beyond me). He even received death threats
Where did the story come from? It's hard to imagine that a journalist - even on these newspapers - would just make it up, so I assume they simply took dictation from a Sri Lankan government spin doctor.
Both newspapers have just had to admit that the stories were entirely untrue and pay up in court. He wasn't guzzling burgers and the police didn't film him doing anything - there wasn't any surveillance.
I'm just stunned that they would commit such nakedly ideological breaches of journalistic integrity, even now. Sure, lazy mistakes and biased articles are their specialities, but to make up something this serious, something pandering to the racist fantasies of their readers is a disgrace.
Parameswaran Subramanyam is a young Tamil who went on hunger strike in London, accusing the British authorities of ignoring the Sri Lankan government's heavily-documented human rights abuses.
Obviously, the Mail and the Sun hate brown people, refugees and troublemakers, and Subramanyam is all three of these. So they concocted articles claiming that he was actually filmed by the police scoffing burgers when people weren't looking. He lost all credibility and was treated as a traitor by the Tamil people (though why they trusted these papers is beyond me). He even received death threats
Where did the story come from? It's hard to imagine that a journalist - even on these newspapers - would just make it up, so I assume they simply took dictation from a Sri Lankan government spin doctor.
Both newspapers have just had to admit that the stories were entirely untrue and pay up in court. He wasn't guzzling burgers and the police didn't film him doing anything - there wasn't any surveillance.
I'm just stunned that they would commit such nakedly ideological breaches of journalistic integrity, even now. Sure, lazy mistakes and biased articles are their specialities, but to make up something this serious, something pandering to the racist fantasies of their readers is a disgrace.
I'm Louis Theroux. I'm Louis Theroux and his wry smile at the orgy.
I should just erase myself from the scene. Bloody Mitchell looks like me, sounds like me, dresses like me and expresses my frustrations far, far better than me. This is really worth watching.
Whose city?
No sooner do I buy a book about the privatisation of our urban space than this story pops up: Londoners will lose access to 60 miles of road during the Olympics, to provide exclusive lanes for Olympic athletes, officials… and 'marketing partners'.
I'm all for getting athletes and officials to their competitions on time - I'm hoping to be involved with the fencing in some way - but allowing salesmen and advertising shills to lord it over the citizens makes me think of 'democratic' Russia's special lanes for the Soviet ruling classes, a habit that hasn't yet died. I'm also horrified that organisations such as McDonald's are permitted to become 'partners'.
I hope London's drivers, pedestrians and cyclists ignore this disgraceful insult to citizens and taxpayers. Rebel!
The 'marketers' can travel in blimps. They already look down on us.
I'm all for getting athletes and officials to their competitions on time - I'm hoping to be involved with the fencing in some way - but allowing salesmen and advertising shills to lord it over the citizens makes me think of 'democratic' Russia's special lanes for the Soviet ruling classes, a habit that hasn't yet died. I'm also horrified that organisations such as McDonald's are permitted to become 'partners'.
I hope London's drivers, pedestrians and cyclists ignore this disgraceful insult to citizens and taxpayers. Rebel!
The 'marketers' can travel in blimps. They already look down on us.
Damn you, Cynical Ben
I've fallen off the book diet in a big way, thanks to Cynical Ben's recommendations. I've just received several parcels. They're second-hand, but that's not the point.
Oh well - I'll not buy any next week. Ahem.
Anna Minton's Ground Control - about the fight for public space between citizens, local authorities and corporation;
Maggie Gee's The Burning Bush (ex-Hegemon, kids);
Paul Murray's Skippy Dies - a comic-dark tale of Irish adolescence;
A. S. Byatt's A Whistling Woman;
Henry Sutton's scabrous take on Blair's Britain, Thong Nation.
Plus Gruff Rhys's latest CD, The Terror of Cosmic Loneliness; Treeless Plain, In The Pines, Calenture and Born Sandy Devotional by The Triffids, and Kristin Hersh's Hips and Makers. Mmmmmelancholic. Last night I listened to Emma Pollock's latest, which grows stronger and stronger (and is clearly a break-up album), the new Paradise Motel, which turns out to be a meditation about Australia through the lens of the Dingo Baby story, and The Other Two's The Other Two and You, which is brilliant: a bit like St. Etienne in that they use shiny happy pop-dance to express the sadness and emptiness of our lives.
Oh well - I'll not buy any next week. Ahem.
Anna Minton's Ground Control - about the fight for public space between citizens, local authorities and corporation;
Maggie Gee's The Burning Bush (ex-Hegemon, kids);
Paul Murray's Skippy Dies - a comic-dark tale of Irish adolescence;
A. S. Byatt's A Whistling Woman;
Henry Sutton's scabrous take on Blair's Britain, Thong Nation.
Plus Gruff Rhys's latest CD, The Terror of Cosmic Loneliness; Treeless Plain, In The Pines, Calenture and Born Sandy Devotional by The Triffids, and Kristin Hersh's Hips and Makers. Mmmmmelancholic. Last night I listened to Emma Pollock's latest, which grows stronger and stronger (and is clearly a break-up album), the new Paradise Motel, which turns out to be a meditation about Australia through the lens of the Dingo Baby story, and The Other Two's The Other Two and You, which is brilliant: a bit like St. Etienne in that they use shiny happy pop-dance to express the sadness and emptiness of our lives.
Blogfriends
Firstly, a massive happy birthday to Cynical Ben. He's a git, but he's my git. It's also Zoot Horn's birthday - the coolest man in the Black Country.
Secondly, huge thanks to Ewar and Dan. They ran a sweepstake on the World Cup, and I won - despite not supporting Spain. They just called in with my prize, and I must say that they've done themselves proud. Everything a gentleman-about-town might want is in the box - a shoe box decorated with Panini World Cup stickers - (or, everything Ewar and Dan didn't want). Plus an England flag.
(They apparently have a great new 'project' in the pipeline, so look out for it).
So:
The Loon, by Tapes n Tapes
The Dead 60s by The Dead 60s
The Killers' Sam's Town
About What You Know by Little Man Tate
The Best of the Secret Policeman's Ball Part 2 (from The Guardian)
A Stereophonics sampler from The Sun, packaged in a West Midlands Police recruitment box.
A Daily Mail cover-mounted DVD of Relative Values, a notoriously bad film.
DVDs of John Motson's Greatest Ever Matches of Football and Mark and Lard's Football Nightmares
Graham Betts' Greatest Moments of Football book ('22 of the Classic Moments of FOOTBALL')
A. M. Homes's This Book Will Save Your Life
Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth
H. G. Wells's The War of the Worlds
Naked Camera 3 DVD
Paddy McGuinness Live DVD ('Free Ringtone worth £3 - SEE INSIDE FOR DETAILS')
Gary Lineker's Favourite Football Stories (perhaps my favourite)
and a packet of table tennis balls. Of course.
Ben is going to be sooooo jealous. I'm a fortunate man.
Secondly, huge thanks to Ewar and Dan. They ran a sweepstake on the World Cup, and I won - despite not supporting Spain. They just called in with my prize, and I must say that they've done themselves proud. Everything a gentleman-about-town might want is in the box - a shoe box decorated with Panini World Cup stickers - (or, everything Ewar and Dan didn't want). Plus an England flag.
(They apparently have a great new 'project' in the pipeline, so look out for it).
So:
The Loon, by Tapes n Tapes
The Dead 60s by The Dead 60s
The Killers' Sam's Town
About What You Know by Little Man Tate
The Best of the Secret Policeman's Ball Part 2 (from The Guardian)
A Stereophonics sampler from The Sun, packaged in a West Midlands Police recruitment box.
A Daily Mail cover-mounted DVD of Relative Values, a notoriously bad film.
DVDs of John Motson's Greatest Ever Matches of Football and Mark and Lard's Football Nightmares
Graham Betts' Greatest Moments of Football book ('22 of the Classic Moments of FOOTBALL')
A. M. Homes's This Book Will Save Your Life
Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth
H. G. Wells's The War of the Worlds
Naked Camera 3 DVD
Paddy McGuinness Live DVD ('Free Ringtone worth £3 - SEE INSIDE FOR DETAILS')
Gary Lineker's Favourite Football Stories (perhaps my favourite)
and a packet of table tennis balls. Of course.
Ben is going to be sooooo jealous. I'm a fortunate man.
Academic millionaires
This is what some American shock-jock thinks:
You go to UC Berkeley, you go to Stanford, you go to these various campuses and these students are out there protesting, "We need more money for our schools!" And standing next to them are the professors. "We need more money for our schools!" Hey, have you ever asked that professor how much money they're making every year? These professors are all millionaires. They're millionaires with big, big salaries and big, big retirement packages. And yet they dress like little schmoes, you know, with their crummy jackets [Officer Vic: Patches on the elbow.] that are twenty years old, yeah, and patches on the elbow. And their ties are askew and their hair's kinda crappy and they drive crummy little cars and they're millionaires. They're all millionaires! And they actually have the gall to stand next to the kids who are protesting because their fees are too high. "We need more money for our schools!" So you can pay these millionaires!I've never met one. I have a good, middle-class wage - not enough to raise a mortgage yet, a temporary contract, and years of no savings thanks to the extra degrees we have to do.
Nuts to you!
Budgens, a small supermarket chain, is selling squirrel meat as delicious, nutritious, sustainable and a good way to deal with vermin.
He's absolutely right. The Map Twats dined on free range squirrel a couple of years ago, acquired from Neal's garden. It was fat-free and tasty, though it could have hung for longer. We roasted it with a little salt and pepper. If we did it again, I'd serve one squirrel per person - there's less meat than on a rabbit.
Of course, I'd really love to try red squirrel, but there are only 5 of them left, so that would be a little unkind. Oh well. Koala next. Juicy, tender, easy to catch.
He's absolutely right. The Map Twats dined on free range squirrel a couple of years ago, acquired from Neal's garden. It was fat-free and tasty, though it could have hung for longer. We roasted it with a little salt and pepper. If we did it again, I'd serve one squirrel per person - there's less meat than on a rabbit.
Of course, I'd really love to try red squirrel, but there are only 5 of them left, so that would be a little unkind. Oh well. Koala next. Juicy, tender, easy to catch.
Howzat?
Distracting me from work today will be England v. Pakistan cricket, live here. There's an extra edge to it, thanks to Tory Scum David Cameron's decision to stand up in hated neighbouring India and shout 'Pakistanis are all terrorists ner ner ner' (I paraphrase, but that's roughly the gist of it).
Wednesday, 28 July 2010
Joined-up government, no 985.
David Cameron: we're going to make this the 'greenest government ever'.
Caroline Spelman: we're going to be the 'greenest government ever'.
They've already axed the Sustainable Development Commission.
What's next?
Oh yes: cut the grants for electric vehicles from £230m to £43m. That's an 80% cut. That'll really encourage people to buy electric.
Greenest. Government. Ever.
Caroline Spelman: we're going to be the 'greenest government ever'.
They've already axed the Sustainable Development Commission.
What's next?
Energy and climate change secretary, Chris Huhne, said: "Electric and low-carbon cars are fun to drive and essential to meet our climate targets. That's why we'll need a massive increase in the number of electric and clean green cars on our roads. Because this is new technology the government needs to step in to kick-start the market, which is why today's initiative is vital."
Oh yes: cut the grants for electric vehicles from £230m to £43m. That's an 80% cut. That'll really encourage people to buy electric.
Greenest. Government. Ever.
And another MP seeks enlightenment
Either that, David Cameron looking for ideas, or Paul Uppal's getting twitchy. Paul: stop reading and get writing!
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