Oddities?...

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Today, October 1st, is World Vegetarian Day: get your hands and mouth around some healthy fruit and veg: you know it's good for you and you know you really should just do it!

Update, nearly 2 hours later: I've just enjoyed 3 glasses of a very smooth Merlot whilst eating a salad including grated carrots, three types of lettuce and red onion, with a simple vinegarette dressing. Next a delicious plate of 'squashed' potatoes (cooked in their skin and mashed) with a roasted garlic sauce plus a plate of exquisitely roasted vegetables: red, green and yellow peppers, squash, onion and green zucchini...hhhmmmmmm...

...all garnishing a 16oz ribeye steak, cooked to perfection (running bloody inside)...hey, it's still only 9pm on the 30th September where I am!

Optimists...

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"We're the optimists now" said Ed Miliband. I'm sure they are. They know they've a lot to do but they do know also that they have a vital and strong ally: the BBC. I'll be interested to see how the wall-to-wall fawning and insipid coverage of the Labour conference compares to the coming coverage of the Conservative event. Today I noted that they link to how Paxman "grilled" Ed Miliband...he didn't even warm him up; in fact he didn't even get him out of the protective wrapping (please remove before cooking). Reminded me of Andrew Marr's "grilling" of the three party leaders before the election: (credit to Craig) breaking down the interviews into its consistuents topics:
Cameron:
Cuts, deficit - 15m 26s (67%)
Priorities - 3m 20s (14.5%)
Hung parliament, campaign - 3 m 0s (13%)
Living Wage - 1m 18s (5.5%)
Nick Clegg:
Hung parliaments, Clegg personally - 11m 7s (49.7%)
Immigration - 7m 32s (33.7%)
Trident - 3m 42s (16.6%)
Cuts, deficit - 0m os (0%)
Gordon Brown:
Hung parliaments, campaign, the Queen - 12m 18s (48.5%)
Immigration - 5m 21s (21%)
Bankers - 3m 11s (12.5%)
Ash cloud - 2m 40s (10.5%)
Afghanistan - 1m 56s (7.5%)
Cuts, deficit - 0 m 0s (0%)

Note the text in bold, the most pressing topic of the election and how each leader was questioned; just a coincidence of course, as was the non-bias of the BBC's electioneering blog, a tally of which Craig kept for 30 days with the running total for the whole campaign: Labour - 742, Conservatives - 558, Lib Dems - 471. Remember this was before the election so no Coalition parties combined; clearly one party matters to the BBC. It's worth regular visits to Biased BBC blog.

Update: Classic...as if one cue. Looking at some of the blatantly partisan people who have signed doesn't add much gravitas to their 'plea'. Pollocks, "There is a simple fact that you appear to be overlooking: the other political conferences would have been targeted too but fell outside our scope because of the long-winded niceties of calling strikes." Of course they would.

Offspring options...

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Go somewhere quickly but don't use any resources! OK, I bet you knew...today is World Tourism Day 2010 [Link] and is being celebrated this year under the theme 'Tourism and Biodiversity', which chimes well as this year is the UN International YEAR of Biodiversity.

"Sustainable tourism can result in positive impacts for biodiversity conservation. There can be no doubt that tourism and biodiversity are closely interrelated."

I'm not entirely sure about the second half that sentence; I know that much tourism is strongly linked to biological diversity (SSSI, protected areas, some islands or beaches, coral reefs, wildlife viewing etc.) but has anyone done any work studying the negative impacts of all the 'footprints' made whilst doing this tourism. I'm sure they have, yet the one and only common factor IMHO in the loss/damage to ecosystems is us: humans. An agricultural landscape is it's own ecosystem, so are cities and "biodiversity" is the variety of ecosystems interacting with one another but when humans form part of the community bad things start to happen. All the biodiversity, green issues, air, water, soil, mountains, deserts, oceans, lakes, rivers, plains, wetlands, forests, woods...loving the planet etc will all come to nothing if the one problem overriding all others isn't dealt with: human population and feeding it*; the year global human population reached one billion is estimated to have been 1804; since then - natuarlly! - the number of years between billions has shrunk alarmingly: "two billion in 1927 (est), three billion in 1960, four billion in 1974, five billion in 1987, and six billion in 1999"...you see the very clear pattern.

* I have no doubt that we WILL be able feed it; that isn't the issue.

Opposition ordeal over...

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Or is it...slightly grubby but the message is clear. The Emissary from the Planet Fuck (really!) pipped his elder sibling at the post, "thanks in large part to a strong vote from the unions" and despite not getting the most votes from Labour MPs, nor MEPs nor most votes of Labour members. Remember, in the grubby game, all votes are equal but some are more equal than others.

Update: Cranmer puts it beautifully:

"David Miliband lost this election not because he was less popular amongst his political colleagues or ordinary party members, but because of Labour's grossly distorted electoral college and the vicissitudes of AV."

Owning one's opsablepria...

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opsablepria n. - inability to look someone in the eye.

Left Futures, one that Iain Dale may soon have to add to his list 'indicative of the strides made by left-of-centre bloggers',in that it is "committed to socialism, sustainability, internationalism and democracy", agh, gross! - a tainted creed ('A Machine Which Won't Work', published 91 years ago, hehehe). The Left needs to look itself in the eye; do they really believe that the Left's future remains inextricably linked with that of the Labour Party; how long can love of power enjoyed through Blair and Brown override all other belief?

"On Saturday, Labour's new leader must address several urgent problems. Making the party fit for purpose is one he cannot afford to ignore... ...The party machine is rotten and corrupt at its core, and out of control."

Of course it is.

Ombudsman Office objection...

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Get your defence in early: Venezuelan ombudswoman Gabriela Ramírez has asked for moderation from international election watchers saying that "Venezuela has an electoral system we are proud of" (she didn't say why)...but at least one Spanish News channel has already been denied access, branded as "lacking in objectivity, and participating in a coordinated campaign of manipulation and misinformation from the U.S. and Spain against Venezuela." [Ows-translated from El Periodico]...and nothing whatsoever to do with the channel, in the same month as they applied for visas, broadcasting Venezuelan comedian Luis Chataing saying that Hugo wanted to be king of Venezuela whilst agreeing that a president should be able to understand that you can laugh or criticise a president and still respect them!! This weekend should be interesting.

Obligations on owed...

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"Yesterday's public sector borrowing stats gave us a sharp reminder just why we need to get on with those spending cuts...". Burning Our Money: "Debt Interest Takes Off"

And as IM wrote earlier this week telling how 'Britain [is] Borrowing £500 Million a Day' and on how despite the deficit being reduced the debt mountain would keep growing (please ram this down Labour's throat, they seem to want to forget it), "One wonders, in light of these latest figures and what is already known about the mountain of debt, not whether the current cuts are justified. But whether they go far enough."

Apologies for lack of Ows comment.

Ongoing observation of ocracy...

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The Guardian's Data Blog - presumably to coincide with the political conference season in the UK - has reported their 'complete audit' of the programme for government, based on the Coalition agreement, with the aim of highlighting the progress (or not): i.e. 'how much of its programme for government has been achieved so far? Of course a lot of it is clearly subjective and they have added notes with the current position of Government policies; naturally there are many policies with no action or without information [yet]. Scores on the doors:

Almost 400 pledges in the Coalition Agreement:

• 207 pledges are in progress, with 41 having been completed
• In 57 cases we couldn't find any evidence of progress at all
• 79 are in limbo, although some are subject to lengthy reviews
• Six have failed

50% in progress, 10% done...to be honest that is bloody impressive (IMHO); even of those six that have 'failed' I would put two - both under NHS category - as 'N/A' as they deal with changes to Primary Care Trusts (they are down as "failed" because PCTs are being scrapped) and another, in the Taxation category, should be a 'in progress/wait and see' at least until the next budget as it is partly completed. Clearly lots to do and I hope the Data Blog updates with continued progress but for only 4 months including the summer recess, I'd give that progress an A- Good effort, keep up the good work.

P.S. Judging by the media coverage you would be hard pushed to realise the government had done all this. Now, is that the media's fault or Government communication at fault? Maybe the cuts in spin-doctors, assistants, hangers-on and advertising is taking it's toll! As Charles Moore wrote in yesterday's DT: "The Coalition is proud that it has cut down the numbers of special advisers to ministers and got rid of government by press release."

"But, in one respect, Tony Blair was right. If you do not proclaim your message, the space is filled, not by respectful silence, but by your opponents."

P.P.S. More good news: 'Blitz' on compensation culture.

Overstaffed, overpaid, overdue overt observation...

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Cuts will hurt. Cuts are bad. Coalition cuts, cuts, cuts. Nobody else would cut. Just evil Tories and their sidekick Lib Dem traitors. Cuts will stop your education, take your benefits, take your pension, take your vote, make you poor, kill your children. I'm joking, but these fools are not!

Anyway, talking of cuts, nobody is talking more than the BBC: great blog post by Tim Montgomerie at Conservative Home (click on image): "If the BBC employed a few more Conservatives, it might occasionally run stories that examined the wastefulness and inefficiency of the bloated state." The BBC needs to employ "more people who thought as taxpayers, rather than as public sector employees"...His article is publised in the Daily Mail today and they too are taking the state broadcaster to task with their own BBC Whinge Watch.

"Recent whingeing BBC coverage could have been designed by a joint committee of the trade unions and the Labour Party."

"On the BBC's 6 O'Clock News one night this week, four separate stories covered the widespread opposition to the Coalition's planned cuts, and their potentially devastating effect on everything from the Army to the film industry.

Then – with no hint of irony – it moved on to report on how the NHS was paying for teenagers suffering from Attention Deficit Disorder to go surfing in Cornwall."

Daily Mail

They join the sterling work done for eight years by the Biased BBC blog.

Speaking of which, I wonder how long it will be before the BBC mention what nationalities - or even from which continent - the five men arrested as a potential terrorist threat to the Pope's visit are...and which religion (presumably of peace?).

Outing odure III...

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Unbelievably fuckwittery. The Daily Politics after PMQs was a jolly good show as usual, they tend to read out a few listener/viewer comments; one of these comments - read out by the lovely Anita Anand - stood out for me, but went without a comment from those in the studio (the ever-excellent Grant Shapps, the pity-she's-Labour but she's cute Yvette Cooper, Nick Robinson, Anita and of course Andrew Neil); the comment/e-mail read out (about 5:20 minutes in) was from Jeff, don't know his full name nor where he is from...just as well because IMHO this Jeff is a complete FUCKWIT. His comment was slagging PM David Cameron because he is still going on about the appalling legacy of the last government!! This is still less than 130 days into the Coalition government yet Brown et al were still going on about the last Conservative government 13 YEARS later. FFS!

Ole's original...

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"Only the best is good enough". That was the original motto on the wall of Ole Kirk Kristiansen's workshop wall. Ole invented LEGO, probably the best toy ever...and only the best is good enough; especially when several shit copies and competitors celebrate as Lego today lost an ongoing 11-year battle to use the brick as a trademark. Lego has proven that its brick is distinctive and differentiated and claims 'consumers would be misled as a result of the ruling'. Maybe, but all they have to do is look for the logo and the name: only the best is good enough! Leg godt!

Out of options...

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All that is left is one hard choice: radical plans to help revive the country's struggling economy will mean huge numbers of state employees losing their jobs...sound familiar?

"Our state cannot and should not continue maintaining companies, productive entities, services and budgeted sectors with bloated payrolls and losses that hurt the economy"

...the labour federation said in a statement. Wow, now after the union dinosaur post you may think that is some UK Union leader high on drugs and facing being tarred and feathered at the TUC conference but in fact that's from that haven of radical socialist success (ahem) where a million workers will soon lose their jobs - "half of them by March next year" [BBC]. By the way, that's about 20% of the entire workforce there! Hugo no doubt will find a need to import more advisers.

Ominous Ornithischia order overture...

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Ornithischia order [Wiki]. The rumblings could be heard for weeks and months but now they are getting louder. The dinosaurs are shifting from their decade or more long slumber; the leaders are greedy, hypocritical, overpaid, opportunist two-faced fuckwits and they are stirring up desent; they're gathering round to discuss mass strikes and street disturbances. Needless to say it's ALL because of the proposed Coalition government cuts yet they provide no alternative and were happily sucking on the tit of looming disaster for as long as possible. I concur entirely with cityunslicker blog that says, whilst describing this 'Populist rhetoric without substance from the Unions',

"The real nail the Government need to meet though is the nonsense about this being a City caused crisis. of course the banks going bust has made a big hole, but the bigger damage was the creation of a structural deficit by the last Government - that owed nothing to the City and everything to vote buying for a decade by Labour."

Overt opprobrium...

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...and thoroughly deserved for 'the betrayal of our troops'. The Telegraph's interview with ex-Chief of the General Staff Sir Richard Dannatt, who "reserves his strongest criticism for Labour's two prime ministers, accusing them of letting down the troops they sent to Iraq and Afghanistan." The Sunday Telegraph is serialising the General's book "Leading from the Front",and is "the first major public critique of the Blair/Brown administration by a senior outside figure who served under both men." Let's hope it's not the last nor the least.

"History will pass judgment on these foreign adventures in due course, but in my view Gordon Brown’s malign intervention, when chancellor... ...by refusing to fund what his own government had agreed, fatally flawed the entire process from the outset."

"[Blair] lacked the moral courage to impose his will on his own chancellor".

How ironic, as the interview states (I'd say unbelievably ironic), that Gordon Brown had asked Gen Dannatt for advice about his own book 'Wartime Courage' (a follow up to 'Courage'), advice Brown acknowledged in the foreword. Neither Brown nor Blair, IMHO, show or have shown that admirable but elusive quality. I get the impression, seriously, that the only reason Brown writes these books is to try to enlighten/persuade us to what he sees as his own courage...to borrow from Boyd Tonkin's 2008 review:

"Any half-awake pundit will have fun tracing the connections between Brown's own laborious and sometimes stumbling trudge through politics and his fixation on those combatants who persevere under 'intense and sustained pressure' – thanks, in large part, to their 'sheer professionalism'."

I look forward to the day their heads are on spikes at the city gates.

Owed or owing...

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More Brownstuff, more shit; no doubt much more will come dripping out of the rotting, booby-trapped corpse that Brownstuff intentionally left behind; Al Jahom reminds us - regarding another legacy of Gordon Brown - that "We've already had overpayments of tax credits, which have been clawed back from those who can ill afford it", and a Treasury source tells us that "A decade of meddling and intervening made the tax affairs of millions of families and businesses across the UK extremely complicated." [DT]. In this instance many will get money back in rebates but that won't help the 1.4 million or so workers who will now have to pay back an average of £1,400 in tax.

Optimum onomatomanic offers...

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Kent County Council tells us that "Village names and grass verges could be sponsored"; not a bad idea: a scheme to raise cash and an extension of the current initiative to allow companies to advertise on roundabouts...but also a scheme that could have amusing consequences. JI at Conservative Home mentions one or two possible contenders,

"surely an ideal sponsor for the town of Sandwich would be Hovis?...
...and the Shropshire town of Wellington ought to be linked to Boot's?"

Indeed, and there are hundreds of possiblities not least because many towns and villages have such wonderful and varied names - some really odd ones too - that lend themselves to certain sponsors! Naturally, I added my tuppenny worth on that CH comment thread: Re Sandwich, "Clearly a bidding war between Hovis, Kingsmill and Warburtons is on the cards...ALL THREE are in the UK top 10 selling brands." And: the village of Curry Rivel (Pataks), Wetwang (Durex playgel), Scratchy Bottom (Canesten), The Bog (Andrex)...another top 10 brand! Land of Nod (Nightnurse), Hole in the Wall (Polyfilla), Barton in the Beans (Heinz), Affpuddle (Pampers/Huggies), Beer (several!), Leaves Green (Miracle Grow), Bottom Flash (Preperation H), Sandy Balls (Axe), Twatt (Vagisil)...etc.

Obama's Oval Office organisation...

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This office is far too tidy: not a pen, pencil, notebook, document, computer, printer, fax, paper clip, rubber band or calculator in sight...nothing! Clearly the guy has hardly anything to do! :-)