Tuesday, 18 August 2009
John Lamont MSP MP?
The tory benches need more people like John - best of luck to him.
Every single day...
TB is forced to add another name to the list of people that piss him off. Today it is
"Here, anyway, is what increasingly seems to be the future: slick corporate logos flashing from prisons, hospitals, schools, detention centres, defence facilities, police stations and more, and a cut-price society pitched somewhere between Margaret Thatcher and Philip K Dick. Real-life dystopias, let us not forget, tend to arrive by stealth; whatever the political fashion, we need to start talking about all this again – and fast."
-completely deluded and out of his depth, it's dangerous to have such naive people in positions of influence.
Oh and where John shines, and TB means really shines, is
"The Totnes model, we hear, is grassroots democracy in action – a cover, surely, for the fact that no national politicians have any convincing plans for the revival of local government. In Westminster, strangulated parliamentary discipline will remain, meaning that even if local mavericks do make the grade, they will still be endlessly cattle-prodded through the lobbies."
They will hardly be the odd "local maverick" if they are all eventually elected this way, and are all subject to primaries every election. My lord John, can you imagine! MPs serving the interests of their constituents, the horror, the horror.
Dear reader, be warned, don't make the mistakes that TB has made in the past. If you see the name John Harris in print, or online, just don't bother reading it, go do something else with your time. You will only end up in a fit of rage that is made even worse by just how punchable this chap looks.
Though what do you expect from someone who clearly thinks Jimmy Osmond is still a fashion icon:
Ugh.
Go Clinton.
TB never thought the day would come when he would say that. However, Mrs Clinton has got one over on the Lord of Darkness today, and that has to be commended.
Last year it was dodgy Russians on yachts. This year it has been revealed that the Lord, between sunbathing and posh dinners at chez Rothschilds, did indeed meet with the son of the Libyan leader Colnel Gaddafi, (Saif al-Islam Gaddafi). Just days later meeting, hey presto, reports appear that the Libyan bomber may be released.
A link ? Noooo! Lord Mandelson’s spokesman said that whilst a meeting did take place subsequent reports of Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi’s possible release from jail were “entirely coincidental“.
Just HOW stupid do they thing we are (er well pretty stupid now you ask! he’s shown that time and again).
But wait. Lord Mandelson may have met his match. Following the announcement of Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi’s possible release, I have been told, and indeed it has been reported that, Hilary Clinton waded in. I do not know what precisely was said unfortnunately, but “over” and “our dead body” was almost certainly the sentiment, if not the actual words used.
So whilst Mr Mandelson may indeed be a highly effective dick-swinger, it would appear that Mrs Clinton has an even larger and more influential one - and with considerable longer reach. Who would have thought that anyone would have ever written a post about MRS Clintons dick-swinging?
Too true, seems Mrs Clinton is far more careful where she swings. Liberal Vision fails to pick up on the other Corfu dinner partner who has got what he wanted though. As TB reported the other day, it's not what you know with Mandy, it's who you know.
The stench of corruption is never far from Foy.
Monday, 17 August 2009
#LabourNotUsingNHS
TB can think of worse.
She's no Derek Draper...
...but this could still be amusing.
The most hysterical line that McCarthy has come out with so far was her
"I think this is a real contrast with what the Tories are doing in the area of new media – they seem to be doing everything centrally..."
Is she mental? Here we have a senior Party member - a whip FFS, appointed by the General Election coordinator, announcing her role on a website set up at the behest of Labour HQ, paid for by the Party's biggest donor Unite, and she has the blatant audacity to suggest that the Tories are doing things from the centre?
It took years for bloggers to even get a press release out of CCHQ and yet Labour bloggers are invited for breakfast at Victoria Street and McCarthy bleats on about how she is going to bring the young bloggers on board - make sure they walk the bloody line more like.
Draper was an idiot for very different reasons, but McCarthy's Conservative opponent in Bristol
It's not like Labour have the best track record when it comes to these things now is it.
Alex Salmond on Braveheart...
Since moving from Edinburgh TB still likes to keep an eye on the north, especially its growing blogosphere. This post from the ever wonderful
Come on then ye "cybernats" defend that one.
Sunday, 16 August 2009
Anti-grass roots.
There are a couple of interesting polls on PoliticsHome today. Firstly it seems that the people agree with George Osborne that Labour are
TB is slightly disheartened to see that the old fuddy-duddy authoritarian Mail-esque tories have dragged the budding libertarian wing of the party down. TB finds it hard to believe that there are proportionally more Labour voters who want to relax Britain's extreme drug laws, but then again it shows just how out of touch the Labour leadership is with their members. Frankly TB doesn't give a flying fuck what you smoke, inject, snort or drink, it's your choice and your responsibility to pick up the pieces. He has some hope that the next generation coming up the party ranks are noticeably more libertarian - those currently in charge of Conservative Future certainly are, but then again the age old saying will probably come in to play.
A conservative is a libertarian with daughters.
Sounds like a plan...
TB woke up this morning convinced he had that swiiine... a swim and a couple of bellinis later and it turns out it was just a mild case of wine flu.
TB thinks this is how everyone should spend their Sunday afternoon.It's not what you know...
"Labour doesn't want him as its leader, and it won't happen. But the party is working hard to suppress a smile after the brief reign of King Peter, for a simple reason that may serve them all well in the future if they have the wit to remember. In this dark hour, Mandy has reminded them what it feels like not to be scared."
d'Ancona also reminds us that:
"Mandelson, twice forced to resign from the Cabinet, has a record as long as your arm, and can't see a scandal passing in the street without shouting: "Hey, wait for me!" He may have a safe pair of hands when it comes to minding the shop in Gordon's absence, but he is otherwise (or at least has been) politically radioactive."
Funny he should mention that given it was the Sunday Time's
"Lord Mandelson, the business secretary, ordered officials to draw up draconian regulations on internet piracy just days after he had a private dinner with a Hollywood mogul who is a critic of illegal file-sharing.
Mandelson is understood to have demanded that internet service providers be given new powers to cut off the accounts of British web users who persistently download music and films for nothing.
The business secretary’s intervention comes after a meeting last weekend with David Geffen, the billionaire producer who co-founded the DreamWorks studio with Steven Spielberg.
Mandelson and Geffen dined on August 7 with members of the Rothschild banking dynasty at the family’s holiday villa on the Greek island of Corfu."
Talk your way out of that one oh great master!
The Digital Britain bill due to be debated next year is becoming farcical. They want to have the power to cut off or reduce the broadband connections of people who download films and music. They will also be setting up a big list of repeat offenders. Too many problems of government and states infringing on the rights and freedoms of its people start with big lists. Just stop it. History has taught us that lists drawn up by governments never end well.
Seriously though, this is a textbook bit of cash for access, it might not be crumpled fivers in brown envelopes but... "have you seen my yacht/villa... oh you came here last year too? Of course you did." First there was Lord Taylor of Blackburn, Lord Truscott, Lord Snape and Lord Moonie, should we be adding Lord Mandleson of Foy in the County of Herefordshire and Hartlepool in the County of Durham to that list?
It stinks.
Taxi for John Edwards
Couldn't happen to a nicer guy.
Saturday, 15 August 2009
We Are Watching You
After Alan Duncan's ridiculous indiscretion and the work of
We are all journos now and TB has been saying it since his blog began.
TB in St. Trop...
Tory Bear is taking it rather easy in the shade today after a marathon twelve hour rosé session in St Tropez yesterday. Luckily, especially for
Back to sun instead. Shame.
Friday, 14 August 2009
Hannan4Westminster
Blogs editor Damian Thompson has a must read piece
"So Daniel Hannan attacks socialised medicine on American television, and immediately Dave slaps him down. Is it because of his criticism of the National Health Service, or because of the way he criticised it - that is, with an eloquence and forensic command of detail that makes most members of the shadow cabinet sound like jargon-spouting middle managers?
If Dan was an MP, the Conservatives would be forced to engage in the very thing that frightens them most: ideological debate."
The truth hurts.
Thursday, 13 August 2009
Quote of the Day
In response to Stephen Fry's dribble that: “Even the most right wing British politician wouldn’t think of dismantling our health service.”
I wonder when Stephen Fry last saw the inside of an NHS facility?
Is it *just possible* that the rest of the world has not copied the NHS because it is not the best system in the world?
Sound.
Discuss: Blogging Vs. The Reformation
TB is working through a large collection of books he has wanted to read for months but hasn’t had the time. One he would recommend is
While is a few years old, it nonetheless gives an fascinating account of the history of the American blogosphere, it’s biggest casualties such as Kerry and Dan Rather, as well as advice to anyone wanting to expand their influence. However throughout the book Hewitt continually compares the power of blogging to that of Martin Luther. On first impression this is a slightly pretentious and over ambitious analogy. Hewitt writes;
What is really going on is an information reformation similar in consequence to the Reformation that split Christianity in the sixteenth century. The key to that Reformation was the wide dissemination of Scripture among the increasingly literate laity. Today we do not have a canon, but we do have an appetite for information, the arrival of new technology of distribution, and a million willing content providers. The old guard of old media is in a situation very similar to the Roman Catholic Church’s situation when Luther arose to challenge the pope’s authority. Once Luther’s spark set the fire, the availability of editions of the Bible made the collapse of the Church’s authority inevitable, though the struggle was long and often bloody.
...
You should thus be persuaded that the last couple of years have been important for blogging. But it is much bigger than that. That’s like saying 1517 was a big year for Martin Luther. Both statements are true but do not communicate the scope of the change that was initiated in those years. To get a glimpse of what is coming, try examining what followed Luther’s challenge to the authority of Rome. As Luther was to Leo, so bloggers are to MSM, and Luther’s impact wasn’t limited to the Vatican.
While it is true that the MSM are under threat and are running scared, is it really realistic to compare this online revolution to that of the 16th century? The very suggestion brings the line of bloggers being self-obsessed, arrogant and self indulgent immediately to mind. On the one hand the significance of the Reformation came down to the printing press and the free distribution of text. Surely blogging is just the same idea via an alternative method of distribution? A mere development, but the other hand Hewitt proves the other side of the coin can just as easily be argued. Have we, or are we, witnessing the second Reformation?
Discuss.
TB makes pizza...
On a completely different note. Here is some
The word swampy comes to mind.
Wednesday, 12 August 2009
Lee Jasper - Mixing Business with Pleasure...
Livingstone City Hall aide Lee Jasper
Some people never learn eh!
Keep the Change
Have you seen
It's horrifying. My suggestion is that we send in photos/tweets of sink estates, gangs of NEETS, dirty hospitals, etc etc.
Get the camera phones out kids.
Don't panic they're just Lib Dems.
Seems like it's a Liberal Youth member. This comes as quite a surprise to TB as most members of LY he has come across couldn't organise a piss up in a brewery.
And a Lib Dem with a sense of humour? Surely not!