GELEGENTLICHE GEDANKEN...(What?)

Shock, horror. Hold the front page. I read with growing admiration in today’s “Metro” that Kate Middleton has recycled (that means worn for the second time) an outfit by designer Amanda Wakeley. For all the fashion experts and keen royal watchers that frequent this blog, Kate last wore the navy coloured outfit on a visit to Lancashire. Imagine wearing a designer outfit more than once... wow.

And on the subject of royals, the broke Duchess of York managed to scrape together enough of someone else’s money to afford a flash dress to attend Elton John’s charity bash. She was accompanied by the two York princesses, Tubby and Goofy, fortunately this time sans chapeaux. I suppose that Andy wouldn’t be there; he’ll have important government work to do, being fortunate enough to have had his little spat with probity just as far more important news was breaking, and so still being in a job.

John Mason, MSP for Glasgow Shettleston, had a job vacancy in his office, and advertised it in the local paper. He received 978 applications. What a sad, sad situation we are in that there are nearly 1,000 applicants for one job in Shettleston.

Are you remembering that we’re all in this together...well, except Graham Stuart, MP in the East Riding of Yorkshire. He’s had the private road to his house resurfaced at no expense. The material used was excess to requirements and was supposed to be given to a local farmer, but the work of laying and rolling it is estimated to have cost the local taxpayers around £2,500. Interestingly Mr Stuart is refusing to declare the “gift” because he says the road doesn’t belong to him. I’m thinking of applying for a job like Mr Stuart’s as I’ve already broken 2 springs on my car this year because my road is worse than a third world cattle track.

A US judge has sent Conrad Black back to prison for 42 months for fraud and obstruction. He is likely to serve just 13 months because of time already served. He was convicted in 2007 of defrauding shareholders in media company Hollinger of £3.8m. He had been freed in 2010 after the US Supreme Court found an anti-corruption law unconstitutional. Awwww, wee shame. Greedy fat git.

You’d could be forgiven for imagining that the Ministry of Defence was in outer space, the number of black holes that organisation finds. Amazingly, they have just discovered another massive shortfall, and will have to make yet another £10 billion of savings. You know sometimes I wake up in the morning and I think...there’s soon going to be no one and nothing to do the fighting, and as far as I can see right now there’s no one there doing any thinking and the ones that are doing the talking are doing so out of their backsides. Then I think it would be better to turn over and go back to sleep. Maybe that’s what Cameron should do.

So the second lot of tickets for the London Farce, no sorry I meant Olympics, went on sale yesterday on a first come first serve basis. And not surprisingly given the record of Lord Sir Sebastian, it was a shambles, with the site crashing. No one has ever had this kind of problem before. Why did the English Olympics choose this cack-handed way of selling tickets? Incidentally, I suppose it didn’t occur to Seb, or any of the cast of thousands, that some people without access to a computer or to the internet might have wanted to buy tickets? Nope, as long as the corporate are Ok, and the VIP roads cleared of plebs, Seb’s a happy bunny.

Pics: Graham Stuart, MP and owner of a fine private road, without potholes...lucky him. The Ministry of defence's new logo...and if it's not, it should be.