Owner: A View from Middle England by Arden Forester URL:http://ardenforester.blogspot.com Join Date: Mon, 25 Feb 2008 07:00:34 -0600 Rating:0 Site Description: Conservative with a slight libertarian touch. Staunch opponent of political spin & deception. For Free Enterprise NOT Covert Corporatism. Site statistics:Click here
The Willie Walsh job interview! 2008-03-30 06:22:39 "Good morning, Willie
. We'd just like to ask you a few questions. OK?""Yes!""What makes you think you'll make a good job of running Terminal 5?""Well, I've kissed the Blarney Stone. Will that help?""Could do. Have you had any experience handling bags?""Not actually carrying bags, if that's what you mean, but I once carried the bishop's mitre when I was an altar boy!""Very commendable. How are you at car parking? Have you much experience?""Not with parking other people's cars. I did come top in my driving test with my three-point turns, though.""Excellent! Very good. Well, that's about it then, Willie. Have you any questions before you start?""Yes. Where do I pick up the key to start that conveyor belt thing?" Read more:interview
, Walsh
Opening up democracy! 2008-04-02 09:33:01 I think this site is an excellent addition to our democracy
and local government politics. Can't think why more are not using it? Afraid of publicity or maybe they haven't heard of it? Pass the word around!Votewise.co.uk
Bertie Ahern quits as Irish PM 2008-04-02 08:07:25 Bertie Ahern, the second longest-serving Prime Minister of Ireland, has quit. Some people are after him for allegedly pocketing money that he shouldn't have. He said he would be "comprehensively dealing with these matters at the tribunal" and denied any wrongdoing. "Never in all the time that I served in politics have I ever put my personal interest ahead of the public good," he added. "I have never received a corrupt payment...I have done no wrong and wronged no one".These are fighting words ready for fighting talk. Irish
Prime Ministers are often accused of trousering the treasury. It seems part of Irish politics. Ahern says he never put his personal interest ahead of the public good. Can it be infered he put it two steps behind? He has never received a corrupt payment, he says. Has he r
Zimbabwe run-off poll a possibility 2008-04-02 05:50:56 Archbishop Desmond Tutu has a nice way of speaking directly. Unlike Robert Mugabe, who appears to have developed a truth filter in his larynx! The Archbishop says of the Zimbabwe
an poll, "Even the dumbest of us would say that results would not have been held back... had it not been the fact that Mr Mugabe has not won. Had the Zanu-PF won these elections we would have heard them crowing a long time ago." Exactly, Mugabe, even with the previous fixings he managed, would have been out before the cameras like some parrot desperate to spill the beans on his owner's antics! Instead, he's holed up somewhere, eyeballing those around him to see if their body language is predicting a coup, or worse.I'd suggest he reverts to his cricketing metaphors and declares the game is over. He keeps telling the Read more:possibility
EU to probe Northern Rock lifeline! 2008-04-02 05:29:10 Those snout-nosed number-crunchers from Brussels have been drawn into sniffing around the emergency government funding given to Northern
Rock last year, after it was hard hit by the credit crunch. Some Danish bankers have complained to these bureaucrats that the British government is not playing fair.All I'd say is that before these guys pick up their pens they start to look at the appalling accounting system within the confines of the Brussels Bureaucracy. Otherwise they'll look a bit like Robert Mugabe probing the London Mayoral election results, should there be a complaint.The EU is in a mess financially, no accounts signed off for 13 years, and a simpering President, Jose Manuel Barroso, who no doubt knows how the brown envelope culture works, in complete denial.Whatever the Northern R
Times man prepares for shock BNP victory! 2008-04-01 17:14:25 Tim Hames writing in The Times
today is contemplating the thought of the BNP gaining seats on the London Assembly. His reasons for this possibility are valid, that the BNP is better organised despite fratricidal outbursts, and that there are no Euro Elections to encourage support for UKIP. I'd be a bit bolder, though.The nine months or so that Gordon Brown has been at the helm have seen issue after issue that the BNP can exploit. Because Brown and his gang have signally failed to deliver, and the two main opposition parties continue to speak mainly in soundbites, the BNP is able to benefit, albeit in certain areas.They know how to raise fears over immigration, they can mention dodgy bankers, no jobs for whites, housing hard to get, people losing their homes, etc. All posed in simple but st
Deal 'close' for Mugabe to leave 2008-04-01 13:02:11 He's probably seeing sense at last. According to the BBC he's trying to wrap up a deal. After all, even someone as wily and cunning as Mugabe
can't make one third of the votes turn into two-thirds overnight. Too much ballot box shifting for an old man!He's far better off this way. Morgan Tsvangirai probably won't be too hard on him. Just send him Christmas cards featuring his battered face! Mugabe called Tsvangirai an ignoramus, partly because he was a mineworker. On that basis the whole country must have been ignoramuses, but they kept their collective intelligence quiet. Mugabe now knows his petty insults have finally run out of steam.Good riddance, I say. This beautiful country and her people deserve a far brighter future.
Bob Barr weighing up Libertarian presidential run 2008-04-01 12:53:20 Bob Barr, the former Georgia Congressman and Libertarian
Party luminary is deciding on whether to enter the presidential race. Apparently he should know in the next few days whether he is going to go for it.Speaking about the disagreements over the Iraq War and the fiscal policies of the current administration, Barr said, "Ron Paul tapped into a great deal of that dissatisfaction and that awareness. Unfortunately, working through the Republican party structure, it became impossible for him to really move forward with his movement. But we have to have ….a rallying point out there to harness that energy, that freedom in this election cycle."I doubt if Ron Paul will publicly commit to such a candidacy as Barr's, but he may not be too upset if his legions of supporters transfer their allegia Read more:weighing
David Cameron backs 'brilliant' Boris! 2008-04-01 10:03:53 "I don't always agree with him but I respect the fact that he's absolutely his own man", says DavidCameron
. I suspect that the admiration temperature only shot up the scale when the polling results came! Boris
is in the lead, over Ken Livingstone, that is.This election will be very interesting. I hope Boris wins, partly because Ken Livingstone has had his day (too much cronyism!) and partly because London requires a mayor who will be larger than life. I bet that it won't be just Londoners talking about the Mayor of London. Boris may appear on Jay Leno's Tonight Show. He may well visit other cities around the world and be remembered and not forgotten.The one thing Boris has shown is that you can put a bit of fun into politics but also be serious as well. Jeremy Thorpe, the past Liberal lea Read more:David Cameron
Children find woman's head on Arbroath beach 2008-04-01 09:40:48 I used to fear finding a corpse whilst out walking. When I had a dog, it was something I sometimes thought of. This was because in one of the places I regularly walked, a body was found. Children
playing on a beach in Arbroath today found the head of a woman
inside a plastic bag. They calmly went home and told their mother. Tayside Police have taken up the case.It's the very callous attitude of some murderers that defies understanding. Going to such lengths is bad enough, but letting just anyone find the result of the deed is too much.
No misperceptions! Bush backs Ukraine's Nato bid 2008-04-01 09:28:53 President Bush, on a visit to Ukraine
(and under the eagle eye of a satellite-hatted Ukrainian soldier!), today declared his unequivocal support for the entry of Ukraine and Georgia into NATO, a position that is almost bound to anger Russia. The President said, “Your nation has made a bold decision, and the United States strongly supports your request,” he told Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko. But both former Soviet states are expected to be blocked by French and German opposition. So stalemate looms.It's a good thing President Yushchenko is married to an American. She can explain away the Bushisms. G.W. said it was a “misperception” that he might trade his Ukraine support in exchange for Russian acceptance of a missile defense system in Eastern Europe. “There's no tradeoff
The London mayoral line-up! 2008-04-01 07:01:02 Further to my previous postings on the candidates, the list is now a comfortable TEN! The drop-outs are John Flunder of the Senior Citizens Party, Dennis Delderfield of the New Britain Party, and Chris Prior from the Stop Congestion Charging Party. Plus, of course, Damien Hockney, leader of One London.A new entrant is Winson McKenzie, standing as an Independent, having been a serial party member (he's been in half the parties in the list!). He'll float like a butterfly and sting like bee, because he has the policies the others can't see!Hope there won't be too many punch-ups!
Chelsea Clinton says it again! 2008-04-01 06:31:53 Chelsea Clinton
has again berated a questioner for asking about "that woman". Have good manners left the political arena too? It's nobody's business because it has nothing to do with this campaign.She told her questioner at a student center at North Carolina State University yesterday, “It’s none of your business….That is something that is personal to my family. I'm sure there are things that are personal to your family that you don't think are anyone else's business either.’’ She did add this, however, "I don't think you should be voting for or against my mother because of my father.'' Good answer!There was a time when politicians didn't want their relatives popping up. Jimmy Carter had his brother, Ronald Reagan had his son, and Bill Clinton had his mother! Hillary Clinton, tho Read more:Chelsea
Diana's butler 'obviously' lying! 2008-04-01 05:57:29 When this so-called inquest into the death of Diana
, Princess of Wales is over it will all be totted in up in time and cost. It is a complete waste of time. It is costing a fortune. The only people to gain from this are the snout-nosed journalists who see rich pickings in the stories emanating from it and the likes of Mr. Fayed of Harrods fame and that Paul Burrell, both of whom have agendas, books, and egos to promote.How come Mr.Fayed can peddle such accusations? Is it only because he is using the court system? Burrell is a liar of the first order. He's been filmed admitting that himself!I'm all for free speech, but this is ridiculous. The three party leaders at Westminster keep their members on a tight leash so that they don't go off message, but these pantomime walk-ons can spout the m Read more:obviously
Gordon Brown takes Alice's place in Wonderland! 2008-04-01 05:29:21 Gordon Brown
has come out saying that Labour is "on the side" of the voters. He thinks he has the right policies for the future of the country. At least, this is what he told a meeting of Labour MPs at Westminster yesterday. Jim Sheridan (another part-time member job-sharing with an MSP) muttered at the meeting that former Labour ministers who "gobbed off" to the newspapers should be "injected with rabies". Nice guy you sound Jim! Seen anybody with rabies lately? Not a pretty sight, I'm told.These people had the affrontery to tell the country that the Tory Party was the nasty party. What hypocrites! This New Labour freak show has brought us to a sorry pass. Far from being on our side, they are all on THEIR SIDE!The grumpy Brown refused to listen to the public's demand for a referendum on t Read more:Gordon
, Gordon Brown
, Wonderland
Robert Mugabe's lessons in arithmetic! 2008-03-31 10:38:08 Robert Mugabe
is a cunning crook. Seems he's left all semblance of being a good Catholic boy well behind him. As the votes in this latest Zimbabwean election are counted, Mugabe is sipping soda and telling his cohorts how one wins an election by getting 30% of the vote. According to the Movement for Democratic Change (the opposition party), it has won 60% of the vote, against 30% for Robert Mugabe
. But the electoral commission was planning to announce that Mr Mugabe had won 52% of the vote! They should think very carefully before they twist things much further.I don't know of anybody who wants to live under a despot's rule. Mugabe has three options on offer. 1) Resign with what shred of dignity he has left and keep quiet. 2) Wait to be strung up like Saddam Hussein or gunned down like Cauc Read more:Robert
New parking rules come into force 2008-03-31 05:53:03 Ever since double yellow lines came into existence, there's been a problem with parking in the UK. Nobody seems capable of addressing the issue without an element of short-termism entering in. Yellow lines just push the illegal parkers elsewhere.The difficulty the government has is that the vast majority of the public, both drivers and pedestrians, are convinced that local councils see parking fines as revenue raising bonuses. The councils deny it, but is it a case of "they would say that"? The drivers have a gripe because the feel they are being got at for driving (not going by public transport), so resent the parking conditions imposed on them.These new rules are OK if fairly implemented. The trouble is it seems that many local council officials have indulged in what is tantamount to cri
Jimmy Carter almost says "Yes!" for Obama 2008-04-04 17:35:00 Jimmy Carter
is just about to come out in favour of Barack Obama
. That will help seal the nomination. I venture to say that Hillary Clinton will have packed her bags by the end of the month. Done and dusted. It'll all be over.Carter was very effusive on a visit to Africa. "My children and their spouses are pro-Obama. My grandchildren are also pro-Obama," Carter told a Nigerian newspaper. "As a superdelegate, I would not disclose who I am rooting for, but I leave you to make that guess." Umm! Now who would that be, Jimmy? Read more:Jimmy Carter
MPs get it all on the cheap! 2008-04-04 17:27:30 You'd have thought that MPs would have stopped wanting to see their dirty laundry washed in public. Perhaps not. The sorry story goes on. Figures have been released to show what the leading lights got up to with their expenses. TV licences paid for, as in Blair's case! Gordon Brown got £2,380 for cleaning his house. As a part-time MP job-sharing with an MSP couldn't he find the time for a once-over with Henry?David Cameron apparently 'used the system' to claim £21,000 in a year to pay his mortgage. Now I wish I could tap into such a system. Perhaps my bank could assist? The big question is, will he stop this practice now, or will it continue. I'm beginning to feel I may want the Conservatives back in power, but, please Mr. Cameron, let it all be on a proper, decent basis. No more sleaze,
Mugabe muddling along! 2008-04-04 16:51:12 Well, well! Now it appears that the old codger is preparing for a run-off election. The only man in history to participate in such an election when the challenger secured over 50% of the vote first time round. Of course, Mugabe
knows it's all bogus, but then bogus elections are what dictators are all about.CNN says that Mugabe's party is in disarray, split between those who think Mugabe should gracefully step down and those who say he should fight to stay in office. This was confirmed by a party member on Thursday.I reckon he's cooked his goose. He's just upped the probability of him being strung up from the nearest tree, or possibly gold encrusted chandelier. The two sides must be down to the quicks of their fingers! If they have any sense, they'll get him to step down. History is not on Read more:along
Duke of Edinburgh is in hospital 2008-04-04 13:57:08 The BBC reports that the Duke of Edinburgh
has been admitted to hospital
for treatment for a chest infection. Buckingham Palace has said he was taken to the King Edward VII's Hospital in London for "assessment and treatment for a chest infection". A palace spokeswoman said, "His Royal Highness's programme of engagements for the weekend has been cancelled".Earlier this week Buckingham Palace had said he had a "heavy cold" and had asked for some engagements to be cancelled.
Mugabe to quit so long as there's no prosecution! 2008-04-04 07:18:35 Cheeky bugger! So he admits it. He's done wrong. Well, if that's the price to pay so be it. Far better to be rid of a tyrant than continuing the mayhem. Maybe he will have a Road to Damascus dream in the night. Somehow I think not. But for those of us believing in the Final Judgement, Mugabe
's got a long list for the angels to sit through.The Guardian reports that Robert Mugabe's aides have told Zimbabwe's opposition leaders that he is prepared to give up power in return for guarantees, including immunity from prosecution for past crimes. Crimes, eh? Fancy bargaining like that!Now Zimbabwe can start its road to recovery. Mugabe can be forgotten about. Easy for me to say, but it's best no recriminations. Morgan Tsvangirai will want to create a stable government, so I would hope he doesn't p
Brown bushwhacked in Bucharest! 2008-04-03 19:21:18 These two look fit for replacement! Bush is obviously pining for Yo Blair! but gets a grumpy guy in return. No doubt about it. They're bored. They're not really listening. Nothing to lighten the tedium of being there. It's all so foreign.Can they be our leaders? Bush supposedly got NATO allies to agree to endorse a United States missile defense system based in Europe. Maybe this was before they told him they would agree. Whatever, it looks a bit bad that they appear so lost in time and space.Looks like we do need a new set of leaders. Americans are getting the chance to choose in November. Maybe the British could have the same chance? Read more:Brown
, Bucharest
Boris to win by a whisker! 2008-04-03 10:35:32 According to the Guardian, Boris
Johnson is likely to win by the slimmest of margins. Today's Guardian/ICM poll gives Johnson a two-point lead overall - 51% to 49% - once second preferences have been allocated under London's alternative voting system. That is the narrowest possible margin of victory. But a win is a win!The New York Times journos have taken him to their hearts, bless 'em! They quote the self-confessed "buffoon" as saying ""My friends, as I have discovered myself, there are no disasters, only opportunities. And indeed, opportunities for fresh disasters." Sounds like George Bush could have said that! Well, maybe not.Mingling with potential voters in Borough Market, he sampled an oyster at a stall. “Oysters for everyone!” he boomed expansively. “I promise to oysterize al
Rogue trader to sue Société Générale over sacking! 2008-04-03 10:11:50 I thought as much. It wasn't as if he was going to go down for something he thought he hadn't done. After all, French jails are not much better than they were in Napoleon's days.The truth is these banks, Société Générale in particular, were not as clean as they try to make out. It always amuses me to see Angela Knight for the British Bankers Association popping up on our screens telling as all about mortgages, etc, as if her members had just left a monastery! She should know better! After all, she was Economic Secretary to the Treasury from 1995 to 1997, in John Major's government. I bet she would have said something if the Northern Rock fiasco had been in her time.These bankers and their rich customers! All using our money. Wow! After watching Robert Peston's excellent expose (Super R Read more:Rogue
Alitalia is alinamess! 2008-04-03 09:07:35 It was once seen as the must have thing for countries - a state airline! Fly the flag and all that. British Airways tries hard to do that for us Brits, except there are moments. And they are not the sort Perry Como used to sing about. More like Tragic Moments!Alitalia is all over the place. Not with it's flying, but with it's business model. It's not "robust" enough. In fact, it's in "a very dire situation" according to the unions. The company boss, Maurizio Prato, has tendered his resignation as chairman, saying, "This company is cursed: only an exorcist can save it!"Now there's an idea! The Excorcist! How about a new version of the film - The Excorcist Flies In!, all about airline bosses being "treated" for the horrors they've inflicted on their passengers! Starring Willie Walsh as himse
Mugabe 'ready to face fresh vote' 2008-04-03 08:07:31 I think Robert Mugabe
and those around him have a severe medical problem that needs urgent attention. Their brains apparently aren't responding properly to what their eyes are seeing. It must be a terrible affliction. Mugabe sees votes piling up with Morgan Tsvangirai's name showing the "X" but his brain is telling him that they are his votes! Very disturbing. He'll be walking up and down his palatial abode, not knowing who is who. Best call it a day, I'd say.But then his henchmen continue to prattle on about "not giving in", etc. Deputy Information Minister Bright Matonga said if results from Saturday's election showed a second round was necessary, Mr Mugabe would stand. Now come on, Bright, is that really so bright? Maybe Silly Matonga might be a better name, or Devious Matonga, but brig Read more:fresh
, ready
Hero husband wrestles wife free from croc's jaws! 2008-04-03 07:01:19 Australians are hunks and heroes! Wendy Petherick is a lucky woman. She was standing on a riverbank when a 2.5-metre crocodile grabbed her leg and pulled her into the water. She pulled on its jaw to try to free herself as she shouted for her husband, Norm Moreen (a good Australian name!). He hesitated not. He lept onto the reptile's back, and then attempted to guage the beast's eyes out. It worked. The croc gave up and Wendy was released. Good thinking. What sentient creature would or could retain agression when its eyes were being attacked?She said, "Next thing Norm is in the water, jumped in and jumped on the croc's head and (was) feeling for his eyes. He poked his eyes and the croc freed me, and Norm just pushed me toward the side of the bank and both of us just got out of the water." W
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