Saturday 25 June 2011

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 tw
o 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 t
hink 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.

21 comments:

  1. I think garages must be raking it in fixing suspension springs Tris. Had one go last year and another in March. Likely as not another will go next year because I see resurfacing going on locally. They stripped the top surface about four weeks ago and nothing's been done since. I was told by someone who's affected by it that the council say they've run short of money.

    If they stopped building cycle paths for council employees to get to work then they just may be able to finish it.

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  2. tris


    'Tubby and Goofy'??

    Back in the day(better one)a politician once said we go for each other and thats fair game but attacking someone through there family is a low game. (mind that was pre Mark Thatcher era ) we are better people and do not go there eh!


    John Mason (spits to the side onto floor) ah! well now everybody wants to get there heads in the trough snp turn for now anyway...

    Conrad Black my surprise is only that the people haven't been forced to bail him out of his financial black hole

    My friends son got tickets for the semi final tennis..........wow....dont like tennis nor do they but at least they are going to the Olympics.

    farce is about right well for the ticketing thats for sure

    Latest opinion poll for Inverclyde shows massive lead for Labour candidate


    Here

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  3. It's not funny when it happens, SR. One of mine went quietly, the other sounded like I'd be shot at. I waited a few seconds then thought... nah, it can't be; Heaven wouldn't look like Stobswell, and drove to the garage!

    At least Dundee hasn't got specially designated cycle tracks for council employees, although they have got these stupid bits at the side of the road designated for cyclists, which disappear after a few hundred meters.

    I think you'll need to get a bike and a job in the council SR... maybe on the roads?

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  4. Ha ha ha Niko. Mark Thatcher is the "marker" that changed all the rules is he?

    Actually we poked fun at young Thatcher because he was, and is, a complete buffoon who has failed at everything he has ever done (including a coup d'état). If it hadn't been for his parents' money and the title his mother reinstated just so that he could have it when old Dennis moved up to the nineteenth hole in the sky, Murky Marky would be on the dole!

    So anyway, I merely point out that one of these sisters is fat, and the other one looks like Bugs Bunny. It's nothing to do with their family, except that I know about them because they are always in the papers disporting their ugly faces, inappropriate attire, and on a few occasions the ravaged face of someone who appears to have followed Great Aunt Margaret down the Bacchanalian road.

    That was a bit unfair about John, though. Many MSPs give the well paid jobs to their wives, sisters, uncles, aunties, or dogs. At least John advertised it locally to give someone else a chance.

    As for you supposed lead (ha ha ha, very clever sucka), I’d be really surprised if you didn’t have a big lead given that it’s a solid Labour area with a massive majority; David Cairns was an excellent constituency MP who stood up to London Labour and he was a relatively young man to have died so tragically.

    It was always going to be the uphill struggle of uphill struggles. I suspect that if we reduce the majority that will be enough. After all it’s only for the London parliament. None of us makes any difference there. The Tories just do what they want.

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  5. I can't fault the Princesses description. In the interests of fairness, I do not wear my years well but I still look better than those two very privileged ladies!

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  6. ...and I bet you don't wear really silly hats, OR!!

    How's the day going?

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  7. Olympics, defence spending ... a thought is rapidly concluding in my mind ... Scotland isn't getting as much as she is pumping in ...

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  8. #highlight the word 'pump', riddle me this: what does Scotland pump which the rest of the UK devours eagerly?

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  9. Erm...Whisky?

    Nah... I know what you mean, Dean. We should ahve had a consequential for the development work carried out in East London.

    I can't post on here, even with Chrome!!!

    Tris.

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  10. subrosa

    Where do you love that there are cycle paths?

    Southside of Glasgow where I live, nearest thing you get to a cycle path is a dual purposed bus lane, and they, likely as not, are just as pot-holed as the road and have cars parked in them

    In fact the bus lanes heading from the City Centre have been closed for the M74 extension work for most of the way

    I'd love to see a decent, safe, cycle route, and I don't even work for a council

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  11. Phewwww...

    Got it back.

    Anon: I don't know where SR lives, but I don't think that she revisits posts, so you may not get an answer.

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  12. tris

    I think Deano is going 'Native' he has been visiting too many Nationalist blogs and has an infection of Indpendenceitis (can be very infectious at certain times in the political cycle) I myself am immune having the skin of rhinoceros and the brain of a Gorilla (um not sure about the last bit )

    He is all for Fiscal Autonomy which is de-facto Independence to us normal folks how ever you dress it up.

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  13. Funny that Niko. I think going native, in Scotland, when you're a native OF Scotland isn't too bad a thing. It might be different if he were to do it in Papua New Guinea though. But I expect he won't.

    What normal folk was that you were alluding to, Niko?

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  14. CH: Bless his nobilityness the honourable Red Baron ffoulkes. It took him some time, but he's beginning to see the light at long last.

    Erioc Joyce is starting to get an inkling too, and Willie Rennie bless him, has just realised that independence rather than dependence may be the way forward.

    Better late than never...

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  15. YOU CAN PLEASE SOME OF THE PEOPLE SOME OF THE TIME.

    A long street in Derby (Abbey Street) was notorious for its potholes. The council repaired it and gave it a lovely smooth surface which lasted for a short time before the utility companies started to dig it up.

    During that time, one aggrieved correspondent complained to the local paper. He had found the potholes very useful when testing second hand cars. If he could drive one the length of the street with nothing breaking or falling off, it was pretty sound. Now the potholes were no longer available, where should he go?

    It seems that politicians' expense claims are getting a bit - well - common. I don't think people would grudge a chap a duck house or getting his moat cleaned - what with the state of the country and all that.

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  16. As you say Mr S. It is difficult to please everyone. How glad I am that I don't have any second hand car salespeople anywhere near me crying out for "more pot holes, if you please sir".

    No, of course I don't begrudge a fellow his duck house, and of course far more importantly, I do not grudge it to the ducks.

    As the one in question was rather grand, however, I wondered if there could not be a utility model produced for MPs and Lords on expenses. Rather like second class rail fares, they could upgrade with their own cash if they wanted to.

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  17. Oh, and as far as moat cleaning is concerned, I'd suggest piranhas. They work a treat for my moat and are far cheaper than getting the local moat cleaner in!!

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  18. Gubby and Toofy...priceless!
    Personally I just wish the one with the constantly startled expression would pull the anal trainer out and start looking semi-normal...its enough to frighten children!

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  19. Hello nominedeus,

    Long time no see....

    Yeah "normal" would be nice, but it's a bit much to expect from that family. I'd settle either for semi-normal, or for not seeing either of their ugly faces again... ever.

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