I don’t honestly know where Farage thinks he’s going with his recent outburst as an MEP:
“You seem to have a loathing for the very concept of the existence of nation states,” he [Farage] continued, adding: “Perhaps that’s because you come from Belgium, which is pretty much a non-country.”
It’s important that any EU skeptic MEP is perceived as a serious voice, particularly where media coverage is concerned, and Farage does UKIP or us no favors by wasting opportunities on this kind of rubbish. We can shout at and deride politicians pretty much on our own thank you very much. Now get to work informing us on exactly why the EU is a bad idea.
Every book of fiction that I have ever read is either stashed about the house or lost in a long line of borrowings never to be seen again. It’s a failing of mine; the inability to cast off old books and, coincidentally, a failing of Mrs England Project. This makes for extraordinarily difficult terrain in the loft area. Tricky, mountainous, littered with the literary work of countless SF writers.
During a recent attempt on the summit I stumbled … upon a couple of boxes … and a few covers caught my eye. I grabbed three and spent a few evenings catching up with them.
If you’re a SF fan these are most definitely recommended:
SNOW CRASH – Neal Stephenson. The hippest SF book on the block. Contains Pizza. THE FOREVER WAR – Joe Haldeman. You thought the 100 years war was a long time. Pfft. NEUROMANCER – William Gibson. The matrix before the matrix. But not like the matrix. Contains a super cool lady assassin type. We like her.
Need something for Christmas? You could do a great deal worse than these books.
Gareth has poked me with a very long stick. It’s a meme of personal top ten films, which I shall real off unashamedly.
The Matrix.
Almost Famous.
World’s Fastest Indian.
Hi Fidelity.
Silent Running.
Lost in Translation.
Starship Troopers.
Blade Runner.
Lord of the Rings – Two Towers
The Prophecy
The order changes, as does the content.
I should really tag others but this is a hit and run post so I can’t spend too much time here. I’ll take out Lurch (to see if I can awaken him) and Mr. Freemarket.
I saw a scientist guy on the news last night commenting on NASA’s new rocket. He was a youngish guy, early to mid thirties, and he said he believes that in light of the recent economic crisis there will never be a manned moon landing in his lifetime.
I can’t tell you how annoyed this made me and it really bought home the effect that a few frenzied and privileged bankers have had on the rest of us. On humanity. As a school boy I took great delight in thinking about the magnificent things that would happen in my lifetime. The moon, Mars, all manner of great space related achievements.
To think that a few grubby little spendthrift oiks might have shot all that down in flames makes me hopping mad.
The SNP may take legal action if Alex Salmond is not allowed to take part in a UK party leader TV debate ahead of the next General Election.
Still, no skin off my nose. I’m more than happy for the whole of the UK to get more exposure to the mess that is our current devolution settlement.
Mind you, if Alex Salmond is granted a place on the debate then surely some of the people he will be standing against must also appear. Like one big bun fight. Pay per view potential.
Some might recognize this young lady from Zero 7 as she fronted for them for a few great songs. This performance I discovered recently and it makes me wonder how people can be so good. It’s sublime, particularly the machine gun delivery of the lyrics in parts of the song. There’s a brief pause at the beginning of the video; stick with it.
It will only take a few minutes of your time (you only need enter your name, email and postcode), but it could be one of the most effective opportunities for us to promote an English Parliament. If we all remain silent, we really will deserve what we’re given.
POWER2010 has its roots in the Power Inquiry, which was established by the Rowntree Trusts in 2005 and undertook the biggest ever inquiry into the health of Britain’s democracy.
They want to identify five key reforms that will change the way we do politics in this country and the five most popular ideas will become the POWER2010 Pledge.
They will then ensure every candidate standing at the next election is asked to make a public commitment – a pledge – on these policies. Can you help make a ‘referendum on an English Parliament’ one of them?
I’ve often been accused of having an odd taste in music. From Metallica to Abba, Motorhead to Elvis, I like what I like … but only when it’s just right. There are songs which are great when delivered by a wide range of performers in a wide range of circumstances and there are others where only one, hard to find performance cuts the mustard (eg Bobby Darin “If I were a Carpenter”/1973 recorded live, I think, in Las Vegas where the vocal delay in one of the verses rises the performance above all others and makes it the only one to have).
There’s one performance of a Genesis track, Carpet Crawl, which appears on their Seconds Out album (one of their greatest in spite of what Rolling Stone magazine said back in ‘78) which is just about perfect, and it’s a version of the track that I’ve been unable to find on youtube. The closest I get is the following:
One has to assume that the performance was never filmed which, if true, is a real shame. Sure, there are videos out there that “claim” to be of the performance that appears on the album but I’m not convinced … not by a long way.
I know, I know, it’s Collins … BUT it’s Collins singing a Gabriel song better that Gabriel ever did.
The dog just bounded in and breathlessly explained why he thinks the release of the Lockerbie bomber was an outrage. So that pretty much wraps it up … representatives of nearly every animal group have now passed comment on the disgraceful event … those that are yet to speak up are amoebas, sticklebacks and Gordon Brown.
One could be forgiven for thinking, reading this, that students in England are particularly bad at managing money. Not so. It’s just that the people of Scotland are particularly good at managing self determination and political representation:
Students in England have the highest levels of debt – an average of £5,271 for each year of study. In London some students say they will have over £30,000 of debt by the time they finish their course.
…
Students in Scotland who are Scottish or from another EU country outside the UK have their tuition fees paid by the government, and students no longer have to pay back a graduate endowment after finishing their course.
I just love the phrasing in the first sentence of that last paragraph. Read it again if you have the fancy. It talks about who pays and who doesn’t but all I hear is screwed up government, screwed up government, screwed up government.
A great open letter to the BBC by David Rickard appears at English Parliament online. This, I think, is the best one I have read on the subject of BBC political reporting since devolution:
Why the political parties don’t want to admit openly that, of necessity, their proposed legislative programmes in these matters relate mainly to England alone is a matter of debate. One obvious reason is that, by making it explicit that so many of the key election issues affect only England, this would call into question the whole legitimacy of an election process that allows people in the other countries of the UK to vote on them. It would potentially be hugely embarrassing and confusing for the parties to have to admit that they were canvassing the support of people in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland on issues that affect only the people of England.
Gordon Brown is a card isn’t he? When all this recession business hit the fan he was quick to position himself as the man for the job. The man who would lead the rest of the world in growing our economy out of the recession.
I didn’t believe him then and I most certainly do not believe him now.
As France and Germany pull themselves out of the recession we can only wonder where Gordon will turn now. I mean, there must be some way that he can claim at least some measure of responsibility for what is happening over there.
We’re no stranger to the inequalities of food labeling in Britain by many supermarkets. To many, the very idea of labeling English produce as English rather than British is an entirely alien concept. Like looking forward to an opera sung by Gordon Brown or welcoming a car share with John Prescott.
The FairFlags initiative campaigns for fairness in supermarket packaging and I’m all for that.
With political power comes advantages, disadvantages and responsibilities. One advantage is that you can set the agenda and directly affect the quality of life of millions of individuals that you have never met and who have never met you. One disadvantage is that you are answerable to those very same people at the polling station. One responsibility is that your working life has to offer up a certain amount of transparency to those whose lives you affect.
It’s a tough job I suppose. You screw up and eventually you get found out and kicked out.
If your looking for all the advantages without so many disadvantages there is an option open to you. Why not try one of the many English Regional Assemblies? Not only can you directly affect loads of people but you don’t have to bother with those troublesome elections. The icing on the cake is that you’re also exempt from Freedom of Information requests. That’s our political job hunter top tip for the day!
