Politicians Category
Politicans and world leaders making news and in the news, and spouting hot air
Two Shakes John Prescott And Fertility
“HOPE FOR WOMEN WHO FACE INFERTILITY,” says the Mail’s front-page headline… alongside an image of John ‘Two Shakes’ Prescott…
Read: John Prescott: Tracey Temple: I Was Prezza’s KitKat
Posted: 21st, April 2008 | In: Politicians, Tabloids | Comments (3)
Keep Taking The Pennies: Northern Rock And Tax
NORTHERN Rock falls off a cliff taking a minimum £50 billion of public money with it. The 10p Tax Band to cushion poverty trap victims is abolished and 70 plus Labour MPs finally realise their jobs are up the creek unless they get off their well-fed rumps and do something?
The Royal Bank of Scotland is about to proffer the begging bowl to help pay for its unforced errors? Probably the first of many to do so…
So let’s get this right. Five and half million of the poorest and most disadvantaged people in Britain are being shafted by a Labour Chancellor in a reprise of the worst excesses of the robber Barons, meanwhile, failed and desperately seeking money, banks are still paying vast and obscene bonuses to the executives who have got it catastrophically wrong.
It MUST be me. I must be reading it all wrong. I think I’ll have a little lie down and maybe a mug of Ovaltine..with an Oxo cube chaser…maybe mum will put down the gin bottle long enough to read us all a Children’s’ Hour story. One about Muffin the Mule. That would be nice – AGW
Posted: 21st, April 2008 | In: Politicians, Tabloids | Comments (14)
John Prescott: Tracey Temple: I Was Prezza’s KitKat
WHO knew that John Prescott was a thin girl trapped inside the body of a burly man?
News of John Prescott’ bulimia, brought to you by the John Prescott diaries, occupies the Mail, which has extracts from Prezza: My Story: Pulling No Punches.
As the Daily Sport puts it, this is the story of “SPEW JAGS!” the former Deputy Prime Minister.
Yes, we realise bulimia is no joking matter, and that it is not an eating disorder exclusive to females, it affecting one in ten males (Daily Mail fact.).
But when we hear that Prescott is about to speak in “his own words” it’s hard not to snort. We may even be one of the Mail’s cynics who “would say that his impressive girth makes him an unlikely candidate to be the victim of an eating disorder”.
We may ever wonder what overeating is if it’s not an eating disorder? We may even say that though it takes “vast quantities of condensed milk, digestive biscuits, Marks & Spencer trifles and junk food” to make Prescott sick, we only need a mental image of Prezza pulling down Tracey Temple’s leather trousers with his teeth as shards of sprayed biscuit get caught in the zipper.
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Posted: 21st, April 2008 | In: Politicians, Tabloids | Comments (4)
George Bush On Deal Or No Deal
PRESIDENT George Bush is to make an appearance on Deal Or No Deal, that game show where contestants use the wonder of guessing to win money.
The Bush episode features Capt. Joseph Kobes, as he attempts to win enough cash to pay off his parents’ home.
Kobes is an American hero, a Purple Heart and Bronze Star recipient who has served in Iraq three times – all three Gulf Wars wars, right George!.
Deal or No Deal is all about peering into the future, and guessology.
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Posted: 20th, April 2008 | In: Politicians | Comment
Censorship On The Internet
VIA Samizdata a directory showing where the most and least censored internet systems are.
Posted: 18th, April 2008 | In: Politicians | Comment
The Hard Knocks Of Tory Political Canvassing
A KNOCK at the door of former Tory Minister Rod Richards’ Cardiff home.
Four canvassers working for the Conservative Party are stood on the doorstep.
What ensues is a matter to be established, and of conjecture. Mr Richards is arrested and spends the night in the cells.
Says Mr Richards to a “pal” in the Sun: “One pushed me to the ground and hurt one of my fingers. I think I’ve broken it. I then got up and punched the canvasser.”
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Posted: 18th, April 2008 | In: Politicians, Tabloids | Comments (2)
Putin It About: Alina Kabaeva Bends Over Backwards For Russian Leader
VLADIMIR Putin is with Alina Kabaeva, a “flexible” 24-year-old Olympic gymnast.
Vladimir Putin is the ferret-like 56-year-old Russian president. He has yet to official announce any separation from his 50-year-old wife, Ludmilla, says the Telegraph, which means he might not be with the lovely Polonium.
By way of background, readers learn that Ms Kabaeva has represented Russia at the Sydney and Athens Olympic Games. Ms Kabaeva is also a member of the Russian parliament.
And, according to the Moskovski Korrespondent newspaper, the couple are to marry in mid-June, little more than a month after he steps down as Russian president.
Might this be anew era for the secretive Putin, whose furtive eyes and narrow gaze mark him out as “one to watch” in Celebrity Big Brother 2009?
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Posted: 17th, April 2008 | In: Politicians | Comments (5)
Hillary Clinton Sexism Watch
A LOOK at sexist comments made against Hillary Clinton…
Posted: 17th, April 2008 | In: Politicians | Comment
Daily Mirror Politically Neutral Comment Of The Day: Livingstone And Tories
THE contest to be Mayor of London is about so much more than picking a miserabilist or a clown. It’s:
The bitter battle to be London Mayor is not only a matter for the capital.
It could determine the course of politics across Britain for the next two years.
A win for Labour’s Ken Livingstone will be a devastating blow for Tory leader David Cameron.
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Posted: 17th, April 2008 | In: Politicians, Tabloids | Comments (4)
Snot Rap: Kingsley Cardi Comes Clean On David Cameron’s Suit
KINGSLEY Cardi is 15. David Cameron is in Hastings. So too is Cardi. Cameron is in touching distance.
The Mirror (“IT’S NOT BIG AND IT’S SNOT CLEVER”) sees Cardi wiping snot on the Tory leader’s back.
But did he do it?
The Mail says Cardi sneezed into his hand and wiped it deliberately in an up and down motion on Cameron’s suit jacket.
Cardi is issued with a caution for anti-social behaviour. The caution reads: “Anti-social behaviour towards David Cameron, namely sneezing in your hand and wiping snot down the back of his jacket.”
Says Cardi: “I sneezed in my hand and wiped it on him. It was just a joke.”
But was it a real sneeze?
At such times of uncertainty we turn to the BBC, which says: “A boy was cautioned by police after pretending to sneeze and then wiping his hand on David Cameron’s jacket as the Conservative leader visited Sussex”.
The sneeze was not real. Of course Cameron has been here before, chiefly when 17-year-old Ryan Florence fired a gun at him. On closer inspection, the firearm turned out to be imaginary, a thing made up only of Ryan’s fingers and a cocked thumb.
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Posted: 17th, April 2008 | In: Politicians, Tabloids | Comment
Bitter Voters For Barack Obama: Bittergate Round Up
BARACK Obama says:
“You got into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing’s replaced them. And they fell through the Clinton Administration, and the Bush Administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not. And it’s not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.”
For Clinton, the odds are the incident is too late to save her candidacy. But more Bittergates would increase her chances…
Will the Democrats nominate yet another out-of-touch elitist?
The Democrats are doing a fine job of helping McCain get to the White House.
It was said behind closed doors to the chablis-and-brie set of San Francisco, in response to a question as to why he was not doing better in that benighted and barbarous land they call Pennsylvania.
Barack Obama’s going to be the bitter one at the end of this.
By calling small-town Americans “bitter,” Obama has deepened a long-standing rift in the Democratic base. The party’s success in November depends on healing it.
Is Barack Obama’s small-town America really a land of bitter gun-toting, Bible-thumping racists? Or are they just God-fearing American patriots? Maybe we should ask his “typical white” grandmother.
Obama’s Projections of Bitterness
Democrats—all but committed to this fresh, charismatic figure—are forced to deny or downplay the almost daily revelations about Obama that would have derailed less promising candidates already.
What’s a lot more interesting is the question of how Obama’s “bitter” comments made it into the public domain in the first place. As you may know, the Huffington Post blogger who broke the story was a paying guest at the $1,000-a-head fundraiser. Most conventional journalists would have treated the remarks as off-the-record and thus off-limitsBig Snob or Little Snob?
There are so many problems with Barack Obama’s comments about small-town America, it’s hard to know where to begin.
Barack Obama should be advised to meet as often as possible with skeptical, and even hostile, working people in Pennsylvania and elsewhere.
The secret story of how Obama’s gaffe made its way to the Huffington Post, of all places, and how it might affect campaign coverage from now on.
Via
Posted: 16th, April 2008 | In: Politicians | Comment (1)
Barack Obama’s Bitter Polysyndeton
BARACK Obama says: “It’s not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.”
Barack Obama, speaking in San Francisco of small-town voters.
Figure of Speech: polysyndeton (polly-SIN-deh-ton), the conjunction repeater. From the Greek, meaning “multiple connectors.”
While Figaro hates the sin, he loves the polysyndeton. Obama’s use of it, figuratively speaking, is especially deft. By linking a whole set of examples with the conjunction “or,” he conjures an image of lost souls casting about for meaning.
Of course, he must be taking his lines right out of the Republicans’ Democrat Stereotyping Book. Arrogant? Patronizing? Dismissive of deeply held values? Check and check and check.
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Posted: 16th, April 2008 | In: Politicians | Comment
Fingers Up For Obama, Clinton and McCain
McCAIN, Obama or Clinton. Lick a finger and stick it up…
A U.S. Candidate For your finger.
Don’t be a dummy – get a free £10 bet on the Race for the White House with Anorak
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Posted: 16th, April 2008 | In: Politicians | Comment
Gordon Brown Visits US On Same Days As Tony Blair’s Special Envoy
GORDON Brown is in the US. So too is the Pope, Tony Blair’s special envoy.
A coincidence? The Guardian says the Pope’s visit is “threatening to overshadow Brown’s trip.
There is a risk that Americans who didn’t know who Brown was before his visit will be none the wiser by the time he heads home.
In any case, Tony Blair’s the President of England, right? Roll the tape:
Posted: 16th, April 2008 | In: Broadsheets, Politicians | Comments (4)
US President Approval Ratings
Posted: 15th, April 2008 | In: Photojournalism, Politicians | Comments (3)
Oh Boy, Does Geoff Davis Not Like Barack Obama
GEOFF Davis sits in the United States House of Representatives as a Republican from Kentucky, He is 49 years old. Barack Obama is 46 years old.
Says Mr Davis of the youthful Mr Obama: “That boy’s finger does not need to be on the button.”
As the LA Times notes, this is “racially-charged, unacceptable and reminiscent of a time in America that fortunately is slipping from the memory of most”. It is not a cheery East End “‘Right, boy”, nor is it a call to hang out with the boys.
Mark Ambinder wonders: “When was the last time you called someone three years younger than you a boy?”
Oliver Willis describes it as a “bigot eruption”.Anyway, Davis has apologised. He writes:
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Posted: 15th, April 2008 | In: Politicians | Comments (2)
Keep Off The Grass Or Go To Jail
GLOBAL warming and environment news from the European ‘Parliament‘:
“Seriously damaging the environment should be made a criminal offence in all EU Member States, so as to ensure that EU legislation is properly enforced, says the Legal Affairs Committee in a co-decision report, approved on Tuesday, on a proposed EU directive on the protection of the environment through criminal law.
MEPs in committee agreed that in principle governments should apply criminal measures to punish any illegal behaviour likely to seriously injure people or damage air, soil, waters, plants and animals, when committed intentionally or with serious negligence.
…
“The report, by Hartmut Nassauer (EPP-ED, DE) was approved by a small majority, with 15 votes in favour, 11 against and 2 abstentions”.
Can Cristiano Ronaldo be jailed?
Posted: 11th, April 2008 | In: Politicians | Comment
Ken Livingstone’s Non-Carbon-Neutral Kids
KEN Livingstone has five living breathing, polluting children:
And nobody mentioned the green issue. Now isn’t that strange? Ken Livingstone, the London Mayor, who is resolutely committed to his blueprint for a sustainable city with zero-carbon emissions on new developments and £25 taxes on fuel-inefficient cars, turns out to have five children by three different partners, and not a peep from Left or Right about overpopulation. Funny that.
A guy buys the wrong sort of vehicle, runs it for a few hours each week, most of the time it sits in his garage doing nothing, using nothing, consuming absolutely nothing, and he’s a monster. Ken introduces five people into the world, people being the single biggest factor in the consumption of resources, people that need water, energy, food and shelter, that overcrowd the cities and invade the countryside, that cause CO2 emissions and generally stuff the place up and will continue doing so for roughly the next 75 years, and not a murmur.
And they probably don’t even flush the toilet…
Posted: 11th, April 2008 | In: Politicians | Comment (1)
Conservative MEP Accuses Kate And Gerry McCann Of ‘Gross Negligence’
THE McCanns are campaiging for improved child safety. Their daughter Madeleine McCann is missing.
They have not been charged with committing any crime. Yet an Anorak reader sends us this missive from Struan Stevenson, MEP:
Here is my reply to a letter of complaint to Struan STEVENSON MEP
———————————————‘Thanks for your email. I have agreed to join a number of prominent Euro politicians in launching a written declaration which seeks to create an amber-alert system in the EU, similar to that which exists in the US. While such a system will not stop child abduction it may help with the speedy recovery of dozens of children before they are spirited across borders. This has been the experience in the US.
As far as the McCanns are concerned, they are simply a focus for the launch of our initiative. No one, least of all they themselves, denies their gross negligence in leaving their babies unattended, however briefly, while on holiday. However, they have paid a heavy price for their mistake and I can only hope that people will have sympathy with their on-going plight.
Best wishes,
Struan
Struan STEVENSON MEP
Vice President of the EPP-ED Group
Conservative Member for Scotland
European Parliament
Was it gross negligence? A legal definition of it here and here.
Posted: 11th, April 2008 | In: Madeleine McCann, Politicians | Comments (77)
E-Government In Your Car
DIZZY nots that DirectGov have launched a aservice that allows you to watch Government campaigns videos on your mobile:
Text ‘VIDEO’ to 64746 to download and share Directgov videos on your mobile. Standard network rates apply
Apparently you will be able to get videos such as “DVLA – Car Tax Evasion Campaign”. Honestly, I’m deadly serious.
Now tell me this. What sort of person is going to pay to text the Government and then pay network rates on top to watch a video telling them that is naughty to evade paying road tax?
Posted: 10th, April 2008 | In: Money, Politicians | Comment
Gordon Brown Is Not Ben 10
GORDON Brown is talking on the local radio in Oxford.
The Sun tunes in. It hears and that the PM can’t get the theme song for children’s TV show Ben 10 out of his head.
No, not Ben No.10. Gordon Brown would not stoop to dog whistle politics, tapping into listeners’ subconscious.
This is Ben 10, the character created by a company called Man of Action. This is Ben 10 who finds a device that gives him the ability to transform into a variety of life forms, each with their own unique powers. He can be all things to all people.
This is Ben 10, who encounters Kevin, a sociopath with flicky hair who eventually morphs into a hideous amalgam of Ben’s original ten forms. Kevin teams up with the yellowy Vilgax, and together they try to do down Ben 10.
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Posted: 10th, April 2008 | In: Politicians, Tabloids, TV & Radio | Comment (1)
Oliver Stone’s George Bush Biopic: Scene 1, A Frat House In Washington
HOLLYWOOD Reporter has posted the first scene of Oliver Stone’s George W. Bush biopic, W. It’s a comedy, right?
Read on to read it…
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Posted: 9th, April 2008 | In: Politicians | Comment
Nick Clegg’s Moral Nightmare In GQ
THIS is an extract form Liberal DEmoctrat leader nick Clegg’s interview in GQ amgazine. It is beyond parody:
Piers Morgan: Was the invasion of Iraq illegal?
Nick Clegg: There’s a strong case to suggest it was in breach of UN resolutions, yes.PM: So, assuming it was illegal, would it be justified for Iraqis to exact revenge on Britain?
NC: I don’t think you remedy an act of violence like that.
PM: If Iraq had invaded Britain illegally, you would have said it was morally justified for us to attack them back, wouldn’t you?
NC: Yes, I probably would.PM: So why is it not morally justified for them to attack us back?
NC: I wish it was that simple.Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 9th, April 2008 | In: Politicians | Comment
Barack Obama Does Colour And Hillary Clinton In Black-And-White
HILLARY Clinton says she spent her summers in Scranton Pennsylvania, twinned with Belfast, Rwanda and Bosnia.
Transcript:
Scranton, a town torn by in-fighting and the threat of genocide. Young Hillary arrives…
This is me in Scranton, where my father was raised, and my grandfather worked in the lace mill. Every August, we’d pile into the car and head to our cottage on Lake Winola. There was no heat, or indoor shower-just the joy of family.
We did have a film camera though, a car, a holiday home by a lake and a message of peace for the local warlords…
I was raised on pinochle and the American dream. I still have faith in that dream. It’s just been neglected a little. We all need to dream it again. And I promise we will.
It’s 3am, and you’re dreaming of Hillary Clinton…
I’m Hillary Clinton and I approved this message.
I’m Hillary Clinton standing atop Mount Everest, dodging sniper fire and singing a Rwandan show tune I learnt from a mysterious robed figure who came to me in a vision…
Barack Obama also has a video out. It too features his family. Unlike Clinton’s black-and-white affair, Obama’s family are in full colour…
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Posted: 9th, April 2008 | In: Politicians | Comment
