You couldn’t make this up:
It looks like Labour have come in sixth place in Cornwall behind the Tories, Lib Dems, UKIP, Greens and the Cornish nationalist Mebyon Kernow party.
[...] Labour may have come fifth or sixth in the East of England region.
Thunderbolt and lightning: very, very frightening
The only thing missing is Jerry The Berry.
I’m sure it’s what Freddie would have wanted.
He leadeth me the quiet waters by
It’s shaping up to be another bad day for Gordon Brown…
If I Said You Had A Beautiful Body Would You Hold It Against Me?
Caroline Flint, 5 June 2009:
“Several of the women attending cabinet – myself included – have been treated by you as little more than female window dressing.”
Caroline Flint, The Observer, 10 May 2009:
Caroline Flint wears: red dress, £180, Karen Millen; shoes, £70, Topshop.
Big Yellow Taxi
Jesus wept.
A 23% share of the national vote; the first three BNP County Councillors elected to office…
As Pinhead Byers told the BBC earlier, “Labour MPs will have to decide when they get back to Westminster on Monday whether they think Gordon Brown is a winner or a loser.”
If anybody really thinks that Arrivederci is ‘stronger’ now than he was 18 hours ago, they shouldn’t be employed as a professional political commentator.
We’ve Only Just Begun
In cuddly Hertfordshire, the BNP has come second (behind the Tories) in half of the County Council wards declared so far.
If this is indicative of how people voted in the European elections, the nasty racists may have some MEPs come Monday morning.
It’s shaping up to be a really bad weekend for Gordon Brown.
Dancing With Tears In My Eyes
And that is emphatically that.
I hate to say, ‘I told you so,’ but, er, I told you so on 14 October 2008:
Until our Prime Minister can formulate any kind of coherent ideology or strategy other than reacting to events after they happen, he remains a dead man walking.
What he, Captain Darling and the laughable heads of the Bank of England and Financial Services Authority have done in recent days may indeed steady the economic ship for a while. But eventually the news agenda will move on.
The recession will still be here – we’ll still be losing jobs. We’ll still need to have a plan to deal with global warming. We’ll still have men and women dying in Iraq and Afghanistan. We’ll still be a terror target because of our clueless foreign policy. Public transport will still be a sick joke. The hospitals will still be dirty. The schools will still be crumbling. We’ll still have internecine squabbling about the succession. He still won’t be able to inspire or lead. He’ll still send insomniacs to sleep when he speaks.
Gordon Brown is a decent man. There is much to admire and respect about him. But he is out of his depth and in the wrong job. Nothing that has happened over the past fortnight has changed that one iota. And once the dust settles, his inadequacies as a Prime Minister will be thrown into sharp relief once more.
He might now survive even if Labour lose Glenrothes but, unless they retain the seat resoundingly, the respite will be short-lived. Next spring’s elections are only six months away. And as we’ve seen this October, even a week is a very long time in politics.
I genuinely see no way that Gordon Brown will lead the Labour Party into the next General Election if, as expected, that election takes place in 2010.
For my nineteenth birthday I got a union card and a wedding coat
And so a thousand caption competitions were born…
You’re standing on my neck
You’ll either get this or you won’t. But if you do, you’ll appreciate it as a work of near genius.
Good heavens, Miss Sakamoto: you’re beautiful!
English libel law is fucked up beyond all recognition.
Thanks to its costs and evidential rules (English libel law being one of a tiny number of areas of law in which a defendant must prove his/her innocence rather than the other way around), it is being abused repeatedly by the wealthy, forcing journalists, authors and publishers to work under increasingly restrictive conditions. British democracy isn’t working terribly well these days and a free and unfettered press is vital to robust ideological debate and a healthy democracy.
Recently, the remit of the libel courts has extended to the scientific community. Simon Singh, the science writer, is being sued for libel by the British Chiropractic Association over an article he wrote last year for The Guardian. Alan Rusbridger has removed the article in question from his newspaper’s website, though a copy can be read here.
I’m going to err on the side of caution where the Contempt of Court Act 1981 is concerned but if you can spot the libel in that article, you’re a better man than me.
I believe it not only desirable but fundamental for the health and development of society that matters of public interest can be discussed openly and criticised constructively without fear of being dragged through the libel courts. Scientists must be free to evaluate hypotheses and knock them back if they fail scientific scrutiny.
A plethora of issues surrounding English libel law urgently needs addressing by our politicians – HA! – but in the meantime, if you feel strongly about freedom of thought and freedom of speech, you may wish to consider putting your name to a petition being organised by the charitable trusts Sense About Science stating that it is inappropriate to use the English libel laws to silence critical discussion of medical practice and scientific evidence.
Click the button below if you wish to add your support.
