THEY DON'T HALF HATE EACH OTHER, DO THEY?

It seems that many of Labour’s leadership don’t want to do a deal with the Liberals, possibly because they know what is coming and want to avoid being in charge when it hits.

Jack Straw, the man who has made so much of a mess of every cabinet post he has ever held, is said to be the most senior of the cabinet members opposed to the possible but improbable deal with the Celtic parties tacked on to the English based Labour and Liberal coalition. He is said to be incandescent that Brown resigned to try to get a deal with Nick Clegg. I wonder if he throws Nokias too.

But now Burnham, he of the hospitals where people lie and die in their own excreta so that targets can be achieved elsewhere in the building, has come out against it. Old Blunkett has already described the Liberals as “every kind of whore” as they horse trade with the two main parties in order to get a deal for their nearly 7 million voters. Lord knows he should know about that. Didn’t he twice have to step down from Cabinet positions over... erm... problems? Another has-been who seems to have had, and failed at, every job in the government, John Reid, has said the public will never forgive Labour if they join forces with the Liberals. He seems to be under the illusion that the public will ever forgive Labour full stop.

To add to the list, we have other no-hopers like Bob Aint-worth a halfpenny, the War Minister who couldn’t run a pretend war with toy soldiers, said to be against, and the comical Liam 'Espresso' Byrne, of “Working with...” fame also opposing the deal.

One minister, who is obviously not courageous enough to put his name to the statement, is said by The Times to have described the proposal as "obscene" and that Labour had to "get real" while another equally brave soul said, "It strikes me this is all about giving Gordon another six months in the job". Oh how they love their leader. He is still leader isn’t he?

As the days slip by and time wears on Jon Cruddas, a backbencher pointed out that the Unions and the national Executive would have to agree any deal. So...three to four weeks to organise a secret ballot and ....erm.... postal votes...

More trouble at t’mill appears to be coming from ex-minister Kate Hoey who said that people were looking at the negotiators, Mandleson, Adonis, Campbell, and saying “we were elected, they weren’t, why are they doing the deals?” Actually Kate, you self important little woman, WE, the public have been wondering why these same people were running the country. (Oh, don’t tell me you thought it was Brown.) But it’s OK till they are standing on YOUR toes, is it?

I couldn’t help laughing at old Paddy Pantsdown, who, only a few days ago warned against a ragtag coalition, and has now said that while he still held that view, a minority Lib-Lab coalition could provide stability. Yeah, whatever Paddy.

In the meantime Cameron looks less and less statesman like as he considers for the first time in a couple of years that he may NOT be prime minister of England and a tiny bit in the south of Scotland in a few days.

I also have to say that I cannot for the life of me, think of a good reason why Alex Salmond would want to align himself with London parties in anything but the loosest possible way. In, in fact, the same ways that these English based parties align themselves to him in the Scottish parliament.

I dunno... British politicians put to the test of trying to form a government and ending up doing what they do best.

Failing.

Pic: Jack Straw looking incandescent about something with David Miliband looking on and Spud looking ....well, like Spud. Daft.

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The Man with an Ambiguous Relationship with the Truth

Stephen Byers, the Right Honourable Stephen Byers MP, to give him his full title... (Nope, it’s no good, I’m sorry, I can’t say the man’s name and ‘honourable’ in the same paragraph without busting out in uncontrollable laughter). What a complete and utter idiot this man is.

When you consider his career it’s hard to feel anything but complete revulsion for this self serving character.

In his early junior ministerial posts his blunders were legend, like, when introducing a literacy and numeracy campaign as minister at the English Dept of Education, he insisted the 7 x 8 was 54.

As Trade Secretary in 2000 he was responsible for the fiasco that allowed a few people to make a fortune at the expense of the taxpayer and the employees of the Rover Group. A disgusting display that was either incompetence or something like it.....

Then he put Railtrack into administration (and created Network Rail), all over a weekend. The result of this was that we eventually had to give the shareholders compensation after the largest class legal action ever seen in the English courts... all at horrendous cost to the taxpayer.....

On September 11, 2001, Byers' political adviser Jo Moore sent an email advising people that this was “a very good day to get out anything we want to bury", given that the news media were all engaged with what was unfolding in New York. Both of them survived that folly, but clearly no “lessons had been learned” because a few months later a memo from her immediate boss Martin Sixsmith warned her NOT to try to bury any more bad news on the day of the funeral of the Queen’s sister, implying that she had been intending to do so.... Of course Byers, who was responsible for these staff survived.

Then there was considerable bad feeling over Byers’ decision to allow pornographic-magazine publisher Richard Desmond to buy the Daily Express.......

In 2009 it was revealed that Byers had claimed more than £125,000 in second home allowances for a London flat owned by his partner (and where he lives rent-free), including £27,000 for redecoration, maintenance and appliances for this property...... Unbelievable, but he got away with that too.

And now the man that is for hire as if he were a taxi cab, or maybe he isn’t, if we are to believe Adonois and ... ha ha ha , wait for it.... Mandleson...

You see the problem? Who to believe? Made worse by the fact that Harry Harperson says that it’s alright, or rather says that the PM says that it’s alright, no “wrong doings” and absolutely no need for an inquiry. Phew, the whitewash manufacturers in China must be breathing a sigh of relief.

Anyway, he tells this young female undercover journalist that he can get things done, and has. £500 million here, Peter Mandleson there, red benches... no bother, leave it to him....

But then Mandy and the Adonis fellow say they’ve never heard of him, or at least they know who he is but they never talk to him.... In fact no one seems to know him, or want to know him...

What a stinking mess. What a bunch of sleazy self serving liars they are.

I know it would be better for Britain if we elected a hung parliament and benefited from some of the good common sense that Vince Cable will bring, and the influence of the National parties....but there are times that you just wish that almost every man jack of them would get crushed at the election, never to be heard of again.

http://www.gopetition.co.uk/online/34948.html

Pictured: Yeah, twice for a laugh, Stephen Byers.... lovely little man.

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AIR STRIKE WILL ONLY AFFECT 60% OF CUSTOMERS (EXCEPT IN SCOTLAND)

Well now, there’s a surprise.

As British Airways (BA) or as I prefer to call them Bloody Awful, proudly proclaim that the Unite strike over pay, conditions and job cuts will only affect around 60% of customers in the internal UK market, it has emerged that 90% of BA’s Scots flights will be hit.

According to the Herald: The carrier insisted that from Saturday through to next Monday the majority of its flights remained in its schedule but travellers to and from Scotland looked set to bear the brunt of the inconvenience.

Who would have thought it?

Just 2 of the 46 scheduled flights between the two capitals will go ahead this weekend. Only 1 out of 36 between Glasgow and London, and 7 of 26 between Aberdeen and Heathrow will operate. So to brag, as Mr Walsh does, that the majority of his flights will be running is a little disingenuous, especially when his company is called British Airways. Perhaps he should reconsider its name. English Airways has a ring to it, don’t you think?

Willie Walsh, the charmless chief executive, and all round bad egg, has apologised, being careful to do what all people trained in communications always do (I think they may forget that, by now about ¾ of the population has had this training and so see through it). He stressed that he is “deeply sorry that our customers are the innocent victims of this cynical attack on their travel plans by the leaders of Unite”. So does that mean that he is not sorry for the fact that anyone unfortunate enough to have to, or stupid enough to choose to, fly with BA has been inconvenienced by the management part of the complete failure that is British Airways.

I’m coming down on neither side. I’ve flown British Airways and they are, without a shadow of doubt, at least at tourist class, the worst airline I have ever flown. I have no idea what their service is like at Business Class, or First Class, although, in fairness, I have heard that it is much better, but at Tourist Class it is worse than the local bus service in Dundee, and that’s bloody awful.

Compared with other European companies, including such companies as Tarom (Romania) it is just plain (no pun intended) bad. Compared with Emirates or Singapore Airlines, it is in a whole different world. It’s a, of course, a typical British attitude that the First Class/Business Class people should be very comfortable and the cattle class can be treated like.... well, like cattle.

I’ve used them on Flights between Edinburgh and Paris and I can assure you that the service was awful, the staff rude and unpleasant and the food was inedible (a dry cheese sandwich and lemon cake, no choice! and a plastic beaker of washing up water masquerading as coffee).

Strikes are usually rough on everyone. The staff probably have some points and it’s even possibly that Walsh has some. The only light note in this one is watching Brown and Adonis (was there ever a more inappropriate name?) squirm as they chose between their business friendly personae with Walsh and the fact that Unite is their biggest donor... all a few weeks before an election!

My main gripe here is the fact that, once again Willie (as appropriate a name as Adonis is inappropriate) Walsh seems to have ignored Scotland in his calculations.

As I say, what a surprise!


Pictured: Images of BA (not like I've ever seen them), Emirates, my favoured airline, and Tarom, which is surprisingly good (and has lovely meals)!