CoffeeHousers' Wall, 6 July - 12 July

Pete Hoskin

EC: I'm anticipating this picture of your garden shed that you mentioned on last week's Wall! Just fire it to: phoskin @ spectator.co.uk

Keith Torode

Re DC's comment regarding quangos can anyone explain how they fit into a democratic society, and demonstrate what benefits have accrued other than line the pockets of those shosen to serve?

Rhoda Klapp

And again climate change. I've posted several times on the Blair/Climate change thread, but here I go again: why no questioning of the climate change religion, coffee-housers are close to unanimous on it, judging by every time it gets posted, but the entire political class and mainstream media do not want to debate it.

I don't require anybody to espouse a particular view, I just know that there are legitimate doubts and they are suppressed by illegitimate tactics by the AGW crowd. (Do I give away which side I'm on?). If they want billions of money and unprecedented control of the economy, they ought to prove their case. If they can.

Climate change is becoming the third great issue where the political class is out of step with public opinion. Immigration and the EU are the others. Your democratically-elected servants at work against you.

I don't know why the Spectator can't at least consider the other side of the climate change argument.

Billericay Dave

Brown news conference in france he said spending increasing in real terms again !! what is he on ?

John Levett

Henry Porter at the Guardian has suggested that the coming e-borders scheme may be contested by EU law. Good.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/henryporter/2009/jul/02/eborders-breaks-eu-law

Is there any hope that the Spectator will bring pressure to bear on the Tory party to renounce e-borders, together with the National Identity Register and the cosy consensus on climate change?

Or is the Tory party no longer committed to small government and individual freedom?

Steve.W

Bugger climate change let's have the battle of the pictures!

Pete-s

I think the subject of the BBC, needs to be aired in depth. The subject should include, funding, political bias, staff bias, staff numbers, efficiency, programing.

THX1138

I see Dave wants to Google to store all our health records.

Mrs Mekon's employers will be happy campers.

mac

Rhoda:

"I don't know why the Spectator can't at least consider the other side of the climate change argument."

It'll need Richards of the Independent to do so, Rhoda. Then it'll be up in lights on the Coffee House blog hailed as a 'superb', 'game-changing' blah, blah, blah piece. Just wait . . .

Startled Cod

Please sign the No 10 petition at http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/Cones-Hotline/ Please get your friends,colleagues and acquaintances to sign it as well. It is important, may encourage action if enough people support it and would make this country a better place.

C Powell

John L: this was on the Times last week. I wrote a letter to Dave about it asking his views on this, the Database register and others and will let you know when / if I get a reply.

Colin McCluskey

We all know there are going to be cuts next year; one we know about already, Defence: down £2Bn from £38Bn to £36Bn – which curiously no one seems to mention. Ex and serving Generals are lining up to defend their Service and demand more for Afghanistan; the RAF suffering the sell-off of many of their new Typhoon fighters seem now bent on doing away with the Fleet Air Arm; and the Navy, with a decimated surface fleet, is hunkering down, determined to hang onto the Carriers and a promise of planes to go on them. And all this, even before the inevitable cuts post Election.
There is now a very real danger that because of Afghanistan and scarce funding, the capabilities of the Armed Services as a whole will be significantly skewed and permanently damaged for many years to come.
After the election we need a new hard-headed Foreign Policy. We must decide what place Afghanistan has in it and what the level of commitment should be; following on from that we need a Defence Review to lay out the role of each service.
Afghanistan is essentially a lost cause, always has been (as the British well know) and for the foreseeable future always will be. Essentially, Afghanistan has to find its own way and attempts by the West to accelerate that process will be frustrated. Ultimately, America at home will grow tired of the combat, a formula for withdrawal will be devised and the West will leave like the Russians before them. And why are we there anyway? Our terrorists are British and some of the ones we know about lived not far from where I live. The happenings in Iraq and Afghanistan seem to egg them on
If the wrong decisions are made now, it will leave not only an emasculated Navy and Air Force but also a bloated Army fit only for Counter-Insurgency. The ability to intervene with balanced forces in “War Amongst the People” using a short sharp expeditionary shock to nudge a political process will be gone forever, mired in the poppy fields of Afghanistan.

TrevorsDen

You are correct Ms Klapp.

For those interested in these things you can go to Watts up with that -
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2009/07/03/uah-global-temperature-anomaly-for-june-09-zero/
and see that the temperature trend since 1979 shows a "zero percent rise".

No matter what the beliefs - no matter what the computer models may say - its hard to justify a mutli billion pound expenditure on the back of that, never mind all the draconian laws which would also accrue.

The great glabal warmig scam is the biggest issue facing our health wealth wellbeing and freedom today.

It also highlights the way ignorance and censorship (not least by the media which in many cases is actively driving the scam) is allowing self interest groups and their associated political backers, to manipulate us.

Moira I.

Europeans appear to be united in their wish to stop T.Blair becoming EU President. They have an impressive petition where a fair number of petitioners seemingly, would prefer to see him in the Hague rather than Brussels. I wish this petition every success, this country has lost so much at the hands of Tony Blair.
See www.stopblair.eu

Hysteria

Wrong THX - what he said was that there should be no single monolithic holder of our records, and that various private sector organisations could do this - he mentioned Google and Micrsoft specifically.

If we need to have comprehensive digital medical records (and I suspect we do), then giving the consumer a choice as to which agency holds them seems eminently sensible to me.

Verity

Once again, well-spoken, Rhoda K!

John Levett, in answer to your question, I fear it's a 'no'.

Jez

Hysteria:

Would you trust anyone in our government to pull that off efficiently, properly and get it to the right people?

NuLab; give them some sensitive data and watch them lose it.

TrevorsDen

What THX has got his facts completely wrong !!!

Surely not!

Paul

Russia allows over-flights for US forces into Afghanistan. Does anyone know what Obama has given Russia? A free stab at Georgia? I dread to think.

(Actually, I'd like to know, if anyone does)

Jon G

The world has moved on since South African apartheid was vilified as the most evil of regimes. But I had always understood that South Africa was simply another pawn in the Great Game between Russia and the West. I wonder whether it will be put in play again - this time between China and the West.

Great Britain in the old days clearly understood the vital strategic importance of South Africa. Block both the Suez and the Panama Canals and whoever controls the Cape of Good Hope controls world shipping between East and West. South Africa is also a treasure house of rare and vital minerals found nowhere else but Russia.

Russia could bring the West to its knees. But it knew it was never likely to succeed in any direct attack. So how best to bring down white rule in South Africa? By the indocrination of Western young and 'useful idiots' to believe that South African apartheid was the most wicked regime in the entire world. This could undermine white rule sufficiently to bring about the collapse of the white government. A black government would last approximately 24 hours before discovering the Soviets had moved in to take control and blockade Middle East oil and all trade with Europe.

And it nearly worked. Except Soviet Russia suddenly also collapsed of its own contradictions and the Berlin Wall. But South Africa, though slipping gently into anarchy, remains a choke point of world trade.

Jean Baker

Jez - Nuliebor's 'leaks' and 'data loss' is spun in the media to suit their own purpose - invariably reprisal.

Lee Jakeman

Ther are supposed to be anti-discrimination laws in Britain. So why is anti-English discrimination tolerated? How much longer do you think that English people are going to put up with a devolution "settlement" that bestows additional benefits to the Scots, Welsh and Northern Irish at England's expense?

Jean Baker

Anybody concerned about the impact of cyber technology on mother nature ? Mobile phone masts (alone) affect and confuse bees' tracker systems - no bees no food.

david kerr

Colin McLuskey is quite right in his views on the war in Afghanistan.Is it not time for a debate on the justification for our being there? What national interest is at stake? The loss of life (of our troops) is inreasing at an alarming rate, not to mention the billions of pounds of taxpayers money which is being spent to support the conflict - money this Government is borrowing to be repaid by our children and grandchildren.
The justification we are offered by our betters is
1. 'To establish a truly democratic state'
2.'To prevent Afghanistan becoming a training ground for terrorists'.
Who seriously believes that the Afghans will ever accept a western style liberal democracy?
and terrorists do not apparently require their own 'state'in which to train, most Middle Eastern states seem to suite them very well, and what about the U.K? sometimes known as 'Londonistan', are we not training enough of our own? We are told that the conflict could last for a decade or more. What a prospect in terms of loss of life and treasure!

Lady Amelia

Jez and Hysteria,

just because NuLab and our politicised civil service ballsed it up doesn't mean it can't be done properly; cf Finland, Holland (home of hyper efficient and C-diff free hospitals, anti-biotic free surgery etc etc and astonishingly, joined up record keeping). if they can do it, we can. we just need to keep civil servants out of it.

the pro from dover

Here's one -
Pensions. You could do nothing about the pensions crisis, and let it all unfold in a gawd-awful mess.
Or you could do something.

What about setting a pension limit of max. 15 years (for everyone who has been in a pension scheme. Retire at 65, pension ends at 80. Maybe some flexibility if you are decrepit at 60 you can retire early, if life expectancy is low, maybe not.

Jack the ridiculous annuity system. The pension -maybe not index-linked comes from the pot. The pot needs to be -of course- nowhere near as large (currently needs to be something like 30 times annual drawings). All residuals go back into the fund.

Perhaps you pool all public sector (that includes BBC senior management ha-ha) together, catching civil service mandarins, nationalised banks etc. and saving a fortune -whilst still being scrupulously fair to the rest of us.

Reith Symonds

Jean Baker; Where exactly did you get that wonderful piece of unsupported information from? Next you'll be telling us we need to make little foil hats for them. Please don't believe unsubstantiated and unscientific rubbish.

Jeremy

Moira:

"Europeans appear to be united in their wish to stop T.Blair becoming EU President. They have an impressive petition where a fair number of petitioners seemingly, would prefer to see him in the Hague rather than Brussels. I wish this petition every success, this country has lost so much at the hands of Tony Blair.
See www.stopblair.eu "

I've signed it. And I was glad to do so. It was only a small act, but at least it was something. A person like that should never be given responsibility for (or power over) the lives of others again.

David Ossitt

Can anyone enlighten me as to why David Dimbleby is such a prize prat; he is the supposedly even handed chairman of Question Time but does little to hide a socialist and republican bias?

Whilst his brother Jonathan Dimbleby; is the model of impartiality on his radio program Any Questions.

Hysteria

Agreed Lady Amelia -

Hysteria

Reith - I think it is well established that bees are in decline though......

(I know not the cause)

Stephen

I don't understand what our armed forces are supposed to achieve in Afghanistan. If political leaders had any awareness of history (which Blair made unfashionable) they would know that every outside intervention in Afghanistan has come to grief. Troops out!

Pete Hoskin

A couple of classic photos above, from EC and Dogsnob, to kick of the week on the Wall. Many thanks to them.

If any other CoffeeHousers want to submit a pic, just send it to phoskin @ spectator.co.uk

Alf Tupper C.R.O.F.

The current war in Afghanistan bears little resemblance to the ill-fated actions in history. Nor must history always repeat itself.

If you think that our present action is an agent for recruitment to the terrorist ranks, just see what effect it would have were we to pull out as some here advocate.

Thinking again though, the 'pull out' lobby might have a point: at least we would have the hot war right here right now, rather than in another ten years when we will have bred and fed another few battalions of the enemy.

Jez

Lady Amelia;

You're right.

You'll have to excuse my (often vocal) cynism when attempting to rationally deal with anything NuLab try to sell us.

Steve.W

Hurrah! Pictures, two pictures! In one of her dreadful YouTube vids Hazel Blears said “you've gotta go red to go green”. And so goes the shed as if by magick.

TrevorsDen

The labour party is trying to belittle the Tories anti quango campaign.

Well, you need to take claims from a Labour press office with a pinch of salt (they are after all the Great Satan). Looking a little more deeply into their list shows that not quite all is as it might seem. Here goes ....

Office of Tax Simplification - comes from a suggestion by Lord Howe, not official policy. God knows we need it.

Office of Budget Responsibility -- a damned good idea. But then it does come from George Osborne.

Free national financial advice service - this comes from the 'Thoresen Review of Generic Financial Advice', -- it was, wait for it Commissioned by the government.

‘Sports Commission’ (Australian model) -- this comes from a Conservative discussion document which suggests --- "Conservatives would create a cross-departmental Cabinet Office Committee on sport, based on the Australian Sports Commission, to streamline the delivery of sport and act as a champion for sport in government"

Office for Civil Society - the BBC report, "David Cameron plans to create the office by replacing the current Office of the Third Sector, although he argues the new office will be put "at the heart of government" to fight for the interests of charities ... "

Social Investment Bank - not sure where this comes from to be honest. Darling championed one in his last budget. Reports say its part of Tory policy to replace the Office of the Third Sector (again). (Oh, thats charities to the rest of us). An attempt to help charities seems good idea to me.

Mititary Quangos - In the current military climate I think it would be harsh to criticise the motives behind the 3 military organisations.

International Aid Watchdog -- The Guardian reports, "The government is to create an independent watchdog to monitor the effectiveness of the fast-rising overseas aid budget, the development secretary Hilary Benn said yesterday. .After pressure from the Conservatives, he said he was establishing a seven-strong body of experts to help him ensure the £7bn a year spent by the Department for International Development was being properly spent." Ho hum - a definite forked tongue from the Labour Press office there...

Innovative Projects Agency -- The Times Higher Education Supplement point out it is an idea from a Tory Study Review which, "would take on the work of the existing Technology Strategy Board, the Department of Trade and Industry's knowledge-transfer programmes, the innovation budget, the UK high-technology fund, a slice of the Government's £1.6 billion research and development budgets and parts of the science and technology budgets of the regional development agencies." Ho hum again.

National Foundation for STEM -- assume this is releated to the Tories, 'Science, Engineering, Technology & Mathematics (STEM) Task Force' . The report says, "Overall we conclude that there needs to be a single voice in the public sector championing STEM - one which brings some co-ordination, discipline and focus to the many overlapping yet diffuse initiatives in this field. Hence we have proposed a new Agency to be a champion for STEM in the public sector and across society as a whole."
'a single voice' implies getting rid of other multiple voices. Indeed the report says "We anticipate that the agency would incorporate the work and most of the staff of the
existing Council of Science & Technology, the Science and Society section of the Office of Science & Innovation in the DTI and the public engagement part of Research Councils UK." .... Well what the hell we are in the 21st century!

"HealthWatch" - yep its a Tory idea, and it looks like a quango to me. "And we will ensure that the voice of patients is listened to through the creation of a national consumer voice: HealthWatch" BUT "In this plan, scrapping targets and bureaucracy will free up resources to frontline care."

Export Services organisation - "We will streamline the procurement process to ensure the speedy delivery of equipment to the front line. And we will immediately reinstate the Defence Export Services Organisation (DESO) to ensure a healthy UK defence sector." I cannot fault this. what do the French do i wonder?

All Age Careers Service - Well just how do you want to end the curse of NEETs? The Tories point out - "The Skills Commission says: "there has been a decline in the quality of careers guidance since Connexions replaced the Careers Service [in 2001]." " .... "That is why we will introduce a £180 million independent careers advice service for all secondary schools. .... And it will be an all-age careers service, to help those who are already NEET and missed out on good advice at school."
Sounds like it will replace this 'Connexions' - good idea since its spelt wrongly.

Voluntary Action Lottery Fund - Tory policy is to "Replace the Big Lottery Fund with a Voluntary Action Fund dedicated to the voluntary and community sector" -- err that's 'replace'.

A development agancy for libraries --- ?? You got me there.
But ... former bookseller and now good library advocate Tim Coates (his elder son, Sam, is political correspondent for the Times) did give a speech to the 'Conservative Party Forum on Libraries' (its good to know I support a literate party) --- he said, "It is timely for the Conservative Party to articulate a Vision for public libraries" "The Conservative party has a tremendous opportunity to take the lead in this matter immediately. " For as long as I can remember the officers of the MLA and the London Libraries Development Agency have been on the point of trying to resolve the political and technical questions that would make such progress possible."
So we ALREADY have a development agency in London ! Does Ken Livingdtone know?

In summary? Well I see nothing here that shouts hypocrisy or dispels the basic purgood sense of the Conservative Party's (quite frankly cautious) policy aims.

But hey -- that will not stop the blind gullible media from taking a few easy shots. All at the expense of good honest debate of course.

Derek

david kerr and Stephen take a view on Afghanistan which is apparently without benefit of any consideration of geopolitical factors. The efforts there have surely been as much about keeping other people out as about establisng a prosperous society for the inhabitants, happy as such collateral construction might be. If neither Russia nor the USA and its allies are there, who might show up? China has a common border with the country and is not without reasons for looking across it. Others ditto. A link to the Indian Ocean was another reason why some might think it worth having a go at control. Would that be A Good Thing?

Frank P

Rhoda K

" I don't know why the Spectator can't at least consider the other side of the climate change argument."

Melanie Phillips has covered the other side of the argument comprehensively over on her blog several times and incurs a tanking from the trolls (including some who claim scientific expertise) each time she posts on the subject. I was hoping she would post on Blair's puerile pontification, but she is in the throes of literary labour at the moment, I am given to understand; bigger fish to fry, no doubt.

EC

A brilliantly witty allegory.
Bravo! Only one thing left to say, "Pull it down!"

And the shed.

Alan K

There is no climate change - but where is the proof? Vine St on the Monopoly board is the proof, yes they grew grapes in London, yes they used to grow grapes in York, in medievel times and yes that was all before the invention of the automobile. Climate change is just another stick to beat us with (tax) and oh yes - the men in white coats badly need us to listen to them because they are very, very, wise men.

Vulture

@David Ossitt - I think you have got your Dimblebys mixed up, politically speaking. MY impression is that David ( QT) goes out of his way to give Liebour ministers a hard time, and I should be very surprised if he did not vote Tory. Brother Jonathan, (AQ) in contrast, is a fully paid-up member of the leftie-liebour metropolitan media tribe. He stops right-of-centre views being expressed by interrupting them and is fawning to the point of oily obsequiousness to Liebour ministers - his habit of creepily addressing them all as 'Minister' rather than by their names is particularly irritating.

Pete Hoskin

More great photos above: this time from Hysteria. Many thanks to him.

Keep 'em coming!

Paul B

EC, love your garden shed. I had one very similar in my old garden, same cedar red (I think) Cuprinol or B&Q wood stain. Most pleasing.

Compliments to the other fine photos as well.

Rhoda Klapp

Turns out it's National Shed Week. Nice one EC.

Frank P, I didn't mean the climate stuff should be here, but in the print magazine, where ir would have more impact. (I didn't make it clear though). I fear Mel P., admirable though she is, would be a polariser of opinion at a stage before thought for a considerable section of the readership, if we are to move people from blind acceptance of AGW to considering the arguments.

Rhoda Klapp

Afghanistan: My question about deciding to pull out or not is 'what do we expect to win that can be worth the price in blood and treasure of winning?' Right now we are not doing enough to win. If we could commit to winning, what is the prize? If it's being forced to do the same again in the next 'stan over, it does not appeal to me.

Jez

Derek July 7th, 2009 12:56am;

david kerr and Stephen take a view on Afghanistan which is apparently without benefit of any consideration of geopolitical factors. The efforts there have surely been as much about keeping other people out as about establisng a prosperous society for the inhabitants, happy as such collateral construction might be. If neither Russia nor the USA and its allies are there, who might show up? China has a common border with the country and is not without reasons for looking across it. Others ditto. A link to the Indian Ocean was another reason why some might think it worth having a go at control. Would that be A Good Thing?

Quite a poignant Brookes drawing today in the Times;

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/cartoon/

As an opinion the problem with all this, is that Blair, Brown, Milliband are just a few of the personalities that have wanted the British lads to go into Afghanistan.... and from the outset *yet* again without any real long term continual 'New' state sustaining strategy. The personalities mentioned also seem to be terminally opportunistic, completely out of their depth, vile… or all three combined.

The level of respect the British Army deserves due to them fire-fighting an ever changing and massively fluid situation on the ground has to be immeasurable.

We are honestly being led by a government of sawdust Caesars- on all levels and (as we tap away on this) British lads and lasses are (as we speak) fighting for each other and our country.

Paul B

No Steve Harmison for the big day. Most frustrating bowler there is. On his day unplayable and a wicket taker. On his many off days , he`s powder puff. The very first ball of the first test down under last time delivered by Steve, set the tone for England for the series. Misfiring. However, following the working over he gave the Aussies last week, imo, it was a mistake not to pick/take a chance on him him. Anyway, I have a ticket for the second day at Lords next week. Barmy Army!!

oldtimer

Re climate change

The early campaigns for international action (Houghton etc) were strongly challenged by other meteorologists at the time. I suspect that the combination of some observed differences and the promise of vast research funds to study the phenomena were enough to win the day. For the politicians it was an excuse to spread some FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) and therefore put up new taxes.

I have always thought the case for the causes of climate change were overblown. My view is that our climate is always changing, caused by forces of nature beyond our ability to control. It seems to me it is as entirely possible for sea levels to rise 30 metres, as they have in the past, as it is for there to be another ice age (is it five in the past 150,000 years?).

I suspect that the politicians have moved on and justify, to themselves, the case for taxes and draconian measures on the need to cut pollution and/or to encourage alternative energy sources for both environmental and geopolitical reasons.

Frank P

Bees: those with no bees in their bonnets are terrifyingly correct. My prolific lavender bushes are devoid of them this year. The rest of the flowers and plants seem to manage without them, though, so pollination must have it's locums? I have seen many doom-mongering prognostications on the scarcity of the bees just lately. Do any Coffee housers (who seem to collectively represent the Oracle) have a rational explanation and solution to this aspect of the birds and the bees? If so, I think we should be told. What would Arthur Askey have done without them? As for Rimsky-feckin'-Korsakov ....?

Augustus

@ Paul - "Does anyone know what Obama has given Russia?"

He has assured them that every crisis from now on can, and will be, managed by a philosophical speech.

Maximilian

Warmest thanks to Pete Hoskin for e-mailing me his Speccie Film Supplement, which I would have missed otherwise. A remarkable production, not least for its bold choice as No. 1 (which I won’t name just in case some other reader is getting around to it even later than I did).

Everyone, of course, will have favourites of their own which got left out. Here are some of mine:

The Sting, with the poker game on the train which is one of the great moments in film comedy.

Cabaret, where Tomorrow Belongs To Me is another unforgettable moment. Nothing else quite like it.

The Blues Brothers, one of my top musicals, though apparently a lot of people wouldn’t classify it as a musical at all. Someone mentioned it on last week’s Wall, mac I think.

Some Like It Hot, also mentioned last week.

If we’re having a token Marx Bothers (Duck Soup) and a token Ingmar Bergman (The Seventh Seal), I think we also ought to have a token Carol Reed and a token Tony Richardson. I would nominate The Third Man and Tom Jones.

Tom Jones, by the way, was released almost simultaneously, I believe, with 8½. That’s a film that would never have made it onto my list. Interesting to see once, but over and over again? Not for me.

And if we’re having a token Stanley Kubrick, then mine would certainly be Dr Strangelove rather than Barry Lyndon.

And still in the tokenism department: Snow White rather than Pinocchio.

Finally, Oh What A Lovely War. It conveys its anti-war message without showing so much as a drop of blood. Curiously enough, it’s still shown from time to time on Brazilian television, though you’d think it would be almost meaningless to anyone unfamiliar with the songs of the period.

Pete Hoskin

Many thanks to oldtimer and THX1138 for the photos and captions above.

Steve.W

We are now awash with pictures, two sheds are better than one. And so far all is well!

Alf Tupper C.R.O.F.

So the situation whereby people can't get a council house, is nothing to do with the fact that immigrants have arrived and are arriving in such huge number?

Much be another one of our 'false perceptions'. We only t h i n k there's a problem.

Beerchipsbingo

Newcastle University scientists have managed to fabricate human sperm in the laboratory.

Seems a long way round to me. All those white coats and teat pipettes. They only had to ask.

Paul B

Speechless Mandy- with thanks to Guido

http://tinyurl.com/mkmtem

Rhoda Klapp

A question for you all. Which of the following alternatives is correct:

A) There are certain subjects the discussion of which is taboo to the political class. Among these subjects are Global Warming, whether we should be in the EU and whether we should be fighting in Afghanistan. The class all agree, so we the public need not bother our pretty little heads about it, except to pay, money for most of us, blood for the few. We can blog about them, but blogs don't matter.

B) This is just Rhoda being paranoid.

Steve.W

Afghanistan and 'winning'. We pull out of Afghanistan and concentrate on winning the battle for Luton High Street.

MikeF

Re the announcement today about human sperm being made artificially am I the only person to find a headline which contains both the words 'sperm' and 'breakthrough' just a little disconcerting?

David Ossitt

Rhoda Klapp.

The answer is alternative A.

B. Would be rude; Rhoda isn't paranoid.

David Ossitt

Vulture.

You have a valid point; but it is David (QT) that gets on my nerves you are correct that he gives some labour ministers a hard time but whenever a conservative starts to answer a question he will throw in one or two ancillary questions of his own in an attempt to break their flow and train of thought.

He also never misses an opportunity to belittle the Royal Family.

Jez

This guys on the ball.

Just read the article;

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article6662355.ece

Compare that to Darling and Osborne terminal fannying about.

Moira

Regarding the recent press reports that Tony Blair has been dropped as the British Candidate for the EU Presidency, the Austrians evidently do not believe this ( any more than I do) see latest at www.stopblair.eu

donald fraser

After posting a poem in response to “A poetic evening” by Matthew d'Ancona, as often is with this medium, a few revisions occurred. I post the revised version below. I confess to those of you, who dislike poetry, I do too. But it makes my heart merry occasionally to write it after many years abstinence! This prelude to the re-posting of today’s poem has further purpose. I announce I will now use a pseudonym “Crystal Bullet” for further posts to the Spectator website.

The direct relation between human thought and consciousness to drug use is something I care and know about. We are after-all, without wishing to be asinine, a “bag of chemicals”. So compared to Cameron’s dalliance with drugs in his youth, I consumed the whole bag. But I outlived many of my less fortunate contemporaries at Rugby School, plagued by drugs in the mid 1980s. I have reached 40 this year and feel relieved an epitaph of “he died young” will never disgrace my siblings, whatever the future for me.

I feel naturally now compelled to attack the shibboleth of the blue-green politics on the right. During the environmental anarchy of Major’s government, I was in the thick of it from Twyford Down until the Newbury Bypass. In respect of my past and in defence of my volte-face I say “It was the tablets that did it, m’Lud!” My biggest hope is that my uncle, Baron Fraser of Carmyllie, might one day also judge my past redeemed. There was a place in Scottish Conservatives I threw up and I now seek to reclaim something from the mess I created.

Cameron has never taken to my knowledge, unlike myself, a prescribed psychiatric pharmaceutical to rebuild his mind’s filter (as Huxley saw it). In my view consciousness is a membrane that once broken does not heal by nature. I am rightly suspicious of him. Cameron has no reason to be aware of my calling. However unlike him, my drug past weighs heavily against my successful entry into politics. Yet a calling is a calling.

My choice of pseudonym is taken from comical nuance of my poem’s second last line. If ever a crisis arose where environmentalists were put against the wall (or “al Paredon” to be portillo-esque) replacing the lead with finely-shaped crystal would show a touch of humanity.

Poem: British Wheelbarrows

Do UK politicians retain any clout?
Our coffeehouse is full of real doubt.
What will make Britain live again?
Who is Ich bin to this divided Berlin?

Pummel green stones back into sand,
Gore the sustainable lore across our land.
Leave America with egg on face!
Yes Britain can win the business race.

Give me enterprise employment map,
Give me JCBs powered by old chip fat,
Give me factories working nine-to-five,
Give us anything gutsy and we’ll revive.

Nuclear power stations – launch a go-go,
Plus plenty of straight road, row after row.
As for protestors, no need to fire a shot.
Delusions of the Diminutive, inject the lot.

By Crystal Bullet

Vulture

@David Ossitt - Dinnertimes if and when the Dumblebum bros meet ( has anyone ever seen them in the same room?) must be interesting then. If DD belittles the Royals, as you say, the grovelling JD loses no chance to crawl to them, especially to that idiotic Prince Charles, whose biography - or rather hagiography - he has written. Like many lefties, he is an Establishment toady at heart, and no doubt in the fulness of time his pal Chazza will be saying 'Arise, Sir Jonathan!'.

THX1138

Quote of the day:

"Having seen how politicians live I really couldn't
bear it. Their lives are so dreary"- Joanna Lumley

Steve.W

“Having seen how politicians live I really couldn't ....”

What a pity Ester Rantzen doesn't feel the same way about UK politics and politicians as Joanna Lumley does!

James Strong

No serious comment on Nick Griffin's suggestion to sink boats carrying illegal immigrants.
Why not?
Stop the boats, remove the passengers, put them in life rafts, sink the original boats, tow the life rafts to the edge of Libyan territorial waters,leave them, turn round, go home.
Sooner or later they'll run out of boats.

As an addition, film the whole process and post it on the internet so that illegal immigrants, i.e. criminals, and bogus asylum seekers can see what awaits them.

And why the fuss over the Italian government's idea of treating illegal immigrants as criminals.
What else are they?

mac

Old Timer:
'Another Political Shed'

And was the 1980 replacement superseded in turn by another new one in 1997 to capture the zeitgeist? And was it made with straw, painted whiter-than-white, a venue for some cool Britannia parties with the likes of Liam and Noel and was it externally covered - until speedily removed as an error of judgment - in cigarette adverts (sponsor B Ecclestone)?

We should be told!

oldtimer

mac
My replacement shed is still standing, as sturdy as ever, despite 12 years of NuLabour predations.

Alf Tupper C.R.O.F.

James Strong.

Can I buy you a pint Sir?

Vulture

A priceless story to lighten up your day: the Lib Dem candidate in the Norwich by-election not only rejoices in the name April Pond, she also has a moat around her substantial country pile - while claiming that she lives in the constituency ( its some 15 miles away). If you want a good larf it's all on Ian Dale's Diary - with Google Earth pix of the moat in question. I nearly wet myself.

bulldog breed

Oh well said James Strong July 9th, 7pm. I'm buying when you finish Alf Tupper's pint. Which brings me to my solution to the issue of illegal immigrants to UK. We know there are many of them trying to enter Britain from Calais, again using boats but not paying the fares. We cannot permit this. My suggestion is that we allow every one of them to come to Britain provided they can walk across the Channel unaided on any Sunday morning after attending mass or matins. Difficult, I know, but it has been done once before and a repeat would prove a chap's willingness to undergo hardships to achieve the promised land.

Jeremy

Elvis at The End.

I've been watching video clips on YouTube of Elvis Presley's last televised concert (June 1977 - about six weeks before he died).

I must admit that I find Elvis at The End - both of his tether and his career - fascinating. What do you call something that both glitters and is dark? That is both tawdry and great? That is both very good and very bad? Something that is both dreadful and sublime? Something that is both ruined and perfect? Something which is both falling apart and yet is somehow complete, and consummate? Do such descriptive terms terms even exist?

One of the things I jotted down as I was watching and listening to The King was this:

"Two of Elvis' principal addictions were to Christianity and prescription drugs. To say there was a contradiction in his nature is an understatement. In time, the point at which his contradictions met (i.e. Elvis himself) began to crack and fall apart under the strain. That, in part, is what you can see happening here..."

If any of you have some thoughts or observations about what I have written, then do please share them with me. I would be particularly interested to hear from those who have a better and more thorough understanding of the subject than I currently do.

Moira

On 2nd October the Irish people will hold their referendum on the Lisbon Constitution. On the 1st November, after the expected roll over by the Irish, the Treaty will be ratified. Haven't we in the UK been guilty of just such a roll over, an unelected PM says we cannot have a referendum and we just let him get away with it. It is truly shocking that Soldiers are fighting for this country's freedoms and we allow an unelected PM to give those same freedoms away. To keep a Labour Government in power at the behest of Brussels is a betrayal of all our armed Forces.

Verity

Jeremy - Elvis's principle addiction was busty blondes of the cheerleader/southern beauty queen variety. He was a God-fearing boy, but he was not "addicted" to Christianity. Not with his lifestyle.

Anyway, Elvis was The King.

James Strong, I've said for the last five years, load illegal immigrants into boats and tip them out at the nearest Islamic country, which would probably be Morocco. Shame for Morocco as they are quite a decent sort, but they could ship them on.

Any Islamic country is obliged to take them as they believe they all live in Dar-es-Islam, so Libya, Somalia - spots like that - would be good.

Verity

Moira, you are correct, and I believe most people in these parts would agree with you. What do you propose?

Jeremy

Moira:

"Haven't we in the UK been guilty of just such a roll over..."

We weren't even given the opportunity to "roll over". In a sense, voting "Yes" to the treaty is worse than not being given the chance to vote on it at all. At least the latter is a tacit admission on the part of our government that they know the people of this country would have rejected the treaty. They know that we would have voted "No". And that is why they chose to make the cynical betrayal of denying us the vote on it which they, themselves, promised us. And all just to get themselves re-elected. And that is why all of Blair and Labour's talk about "trusting the people" was, and remains, a lie.

It is they who are not to be trusted.

egh

Ah well, Jeremy, Elvis was unique. I speak only for myself, of course; but I don't think I was alone in the following reactions:

First of all, he could sing - real tunes, with a wonderful voice. And nobody, then, sounded even remotely like him; or conveyed anything like the compassion.

Second of all, he was an attractive lad. And nobody spoke, acted, or looked like him.

Now he was a tad risque, in his time; but I doubt if he would have made it quite so far, in those days, had all his failings been evident from the outset.

As things fell into place, though, it was easy to believe that the strain and the lifestyle contributed to his disintegration; that he was essentially too simple-hearted and uneducated to cope. But I think many of us didn't understand how great the decline was, until later. Personally, I really don't want to know the full details. I know it was tragic, and I'd rather just value the songs, the sound, and the image.

Btw - I recently heard a tape of him in a supermarket. I stopped in my tracks, and said to the world at large: "Elvis did not sound like that. He would never have been "King" if he had."
I guess some modern sound engineers thought they'd improved on him!

bulldog breed

Verity and Moira, regarding the 2nd Irish referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, the impression I get from the Irish media is that people are afraid that in this economic blight a 2nd No vote will leave Ireland as a poor outpost of Europe. Nobody seems to point out that a No vote sinks the treaty dead in the water (like illegal immigrant boats?). So Ireland has nothing to fear by voting No as it's then back to business pre-treaty. Further, the German constitutional court has an issue with the treaty which will delay German ratification possibly until after the next UK election. Will Cameron then give the British the promised referendum? Judging from his evasive answers to the question, I doubt it. Get writing to your MPs on this one. Is it any wonder people voted BNP? No other party is listening?

Jeremy

Lost In Elvis.

"Do you love Elvis?"

Is it possible to love somebody who allowed themselves to be managed by Tom Parker for as long as Elvis did? And then suddenly the thought occurred to me. Was Parker jealous of Elvis? Is that why he ruined Elvis' career? Was it Tom Parker who hung the hangers-on around Elvis' neck? Was it Parker who saw that they fed him the drugs? Was it Parker who made sure Elvis got addicted...and stayed addicted? Was it Parker who finally and fatally ensured that "his boy" wasn't going....anywhere? Was Parker jealous of Elvis? Of his looks? Of his slender youth? Of his simple heart? His simple love? Was it, ultimately, Parker who slowly but surely brought Elvis down to his death? And was it done because Parker hated Elvis for what he also most loved him? Was Parker jealous of Elvis?

"Elvis's principle addiction was busty blondes of the cheerleader/southern beauty queen variety."

Okay...*makes notes*...okay I'll, uh...*lights cigarette*...I'll add that to the list of addictions. Y'got any more? Foodstuffs, for example. Were there any foodstuffs involved?

JX

Why is the Sky so Blue, beautiful isnt it, I know why it is, dont you, the sun is bright and a moonlit night makes you feel alright, remember
...

egh

Jeremy: "Do you love Elvis?" ... well that always did depend on who means what by love!

As to understanding my own memory of Elvis - I think it's like reading and re-reading literature over a lifetime: one's perspective changes - for reasons that include different empirical and intellectual knowledge.

I've just checked some internet postings on Elvis and wish I hadn't! Many of the so-called recordings sound wrong. The videos are execrable, not least because of the screaming hordes (I think we always thought they were led by paid 'cheerleaders'). In addition, written critiques follow the present-day trend of excavating what other people claim about an individual's most personal life - and this necessarily sullies one's reaction to the artist and his work. In short - the innocence with which someone like me viewed the Elvis phenomenon is no longer possible.

I suspect that Parker could well be answering for much - right now! In any case, the sleaze of the publicity machine, past and present, plasters itself over the fun and pleasure of the original singing and songs. Some innate quality still glimmers through, though, in songs like "Heartbreak Hotel" or "Love Me Tender," "Crying in the Chapel" or "Wooden Heart."

egh

P.S. Jeremy - sorry to post again... But re your first remarks on Elvis: doesn't "The Sublime" manifest itself in a juxtaposition of opposites, very often within one image? Thus: The Cross.

Or:
"Praise to the Holiest in the heights;
And in the depths be Praise;
In all this world most wonderful ..."

Jeremy

Elvis - We Loved You Tender (and that's why we repeatedly hit you with a mallet).

"Who'm ah talkin' to?"

I'm talking to a dead man. A man who's been dead for over thirty years...

"Shall I come back again?"

No. Please don't. We couldn't put up with all of that for a second time.

"Where am I?"

I don't know. Onstage in Vegas, maybe. Or the Pershing Municipal Auditorium...

"Where's that?"

Pershing...probably. It doesn't matter.

"You read your lines so cleverly...."

Elvis, just stop it. Please.

"...and then came Act Two...*laughs*...You seemed to change, you fool - you acted strange. And why, I'll never know..."

Elvis smiles.

--------------------

egh: I get the impression that your taste in Elvis is quite particular. So I cannot guarantee that you will enjoy this, but I hope you do. It's The King singing "CC Rider" live onstage in 1972. Plug your headphones into the computer and turn the sound up loud - it needs to be loud^^

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9Dk9Q2huGI

Verity

The Daily Mail has an article on whether Cameron is a spiv in the sleek spiv tradition established by Tony Blair, and overwhelmingly the readers, Tory voters almost all, have voted that Cameron is a spiv.

No one seems to like David Cameron, except his group. By running this spiv, the Tories are guaranteeing that they will lose the next election.

Blair and Cameron are interchangeable. I can imagine either of them on the floor of the Jaguar showroom in Beverly Hills.

This is why I want Alan Johnson to run. He has an approachable personality and women like him. That's all I care about: Cameron has to lose this election so he can be replaced with a Tory. Who can then call a vote of No Confidence a year into the next Labour administration, and win. Then we can all breathe a huge sigh of relief and get on with our lives. Read Peter Hitchens' piece in The Mail and especially, read the comments. David Cameron is universally loathed by Tories.

Verity

Sorry, it's Peter Oborne's column in The Mail. Not Peter Hitchens.

Verity

Pete - How about posting the post I referred to above? The above makes no sense without it.

Anyway, The Daily Mail, Peter Oborne's column asks whether Cameron is a spiv. The almost universal opinion expressed by Tory readers was, "Yes. A spiv and a phony." It's in today's, Saturday's, Mail and makes interesting reading. The readers loathe Cameron. How can he continue as Leader of the Conservatives when he doesn't seem to have any support outside his own clique?

egh

Thanks, Jeremy. It's interesting; and the voice is still there, though not the lyrics. But I expect I don't appreciate that sort of music in as you do.

I never attended a concert. Looking again at the showmanship in the later stuff, though, I'm seeing that may have represented his commitment to the side of his world that I never began to understand: never could or would. I think the later Beatles evolved similarly - in the 'big star machine.'

Jeremy

egh:

Your feeling for Elvis is very pure...any fool can see that. And what you love (or like) is "pure Elvis". Unfortunately, I have nothing from that end (the beginning!) of his career to show you. I picked up on Elvis in the seventies...

In terms of "What Happened" I think it is work pointing out to you a remark that George Harrison made in The Beatles' "Anthology". Harrison - and was being quite serious - said that the Colonel (and probably through the Colonel, Elvis) was big "with the CIA". What the evidential basis for that remark might be, I don't know. But if it's true, then you can work out what happened from looking at the course, or trajectory, of Elvis'career.

Having said all of that, I'm going to try one more video on you. This is a live version of "Kentucky Rain" from 1970, accompanied by a montage of documentary clips. I'm not certain that all of the documentary footage is "kosher", but most of it is. And it's worth sitting through:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBrfy8SIYT0&NR=1

Frank P

Verity

You'll like this:

http://americandigest.org/mt-archives/american_studies/how_sarah_palin_will_beco.php

egh

Jeremy:

I suspect 'purity' of being an issue unto itself! But yes, I found Elvis's earlier work more interesting than the later.

The change in music was part of that, as this clip reminded me. It seems relevant to the cusp of what grew into the sounds of the '70s, which I dislike(d). I remember the day I realized I couldn't listen to the radio for one more minute!

As to the CIA - I'm unclear about what Harrison meant. Organized crime being what it is in the US, though, I can imagine that its tentacles extended to anyone who spent that much time in Vegas!

Alf Tupper C.R.O.F.

Would be better if we could comment directly, but in the absence of such facility on Clive Davis's blog: Fair play to Obama for taking a sneeky deek at a nice womanly shape; if only we had politicians who could muster up a fraction of such natural vim and guile.

True, such interest stems from possession of a fully functioning pair of testicles, so we are put at something of a disadvantage.

As for Sarkosy: who needs guile? Get in there my son.

Verity

Frank P - Thank you so much! What an incisive piece. The minute I first set eyes on Sarah Palin and heard her speak, I (like many others) could see she is going to be influential and a star performer. I sincerely hope she wins the nomination in 2012. If she does, she will walk it.

People (a kindly and courteous way of referring to Democrats) laughed at her because she had to be trained out of saying "nuculer" for nuclear, but they never could train Lyndon Johnson out of it and he still made it to the Presidency. But Governor Palin's a quick study and she now says 'nuclear'.

This lady is going to be President of the United States.

Verity

I urge all America-watchers to go to the thread Frank P posted above.

Kevyn Bodman

Test cricket,which can be every bit as exciting as any of the limited over form of the game even when it ends in a draw.
Particular praise to Paul Collingwood.