Politicians Category
Politicans and world leaders making news and in the news, and spouting hot air
Ken Clarke and an interrupting Paul Mason talk steel on BBC Newsnight
Former BBC staffer and Newsnight journalist Paul Mason and Tory MP Ken Clarke are talking about the steel industry on BBC Newsnight. The one thing you can’t escape noticing is how often Mason gurns and interrupts. The other thing is that not so long ago Mason was presented to viewers as a unpartisan expert, Newsnight’s Economics Editor giving it to us straight:
Posted: 1st, April 2016 | In: Money, Politicians, Reviews | Comment
Jeremy Corbyn gets negative ‘boost’ in satisfaction ratings but Farage wins
Big news. The Indy says “Jeremy Corbyn overtakes David Cameron in leadership satisfaction ratings”.
The Ipsos MORI poll showed Mr Corbyn up ten points and David Cameron down ten points after last week’s Budget
Corbyn is popular?
Mr Corbyn is now on net -11 while Mr Cameron is on net -25 with the pollster.
Phew! No, he’s not. Unpack your bag, Jews of Britain. Things will be ok for a while yet.
There has been speculation that Mr Corbyn’s satisfaction rating with the pollster – his highest with any firm – may also be exaggerated by Conservatives saying they are satisfied with what they perceive as his poor performance.
Who was polled?
Other pollsters ask different question formulations – including whether a leader is “doing a good job” – which would likely shed light on whether the shift represents a real move in support.
Ha!
The boost for Mr Corbyn however comes amid a number of pollsters showing Labour drawing nearly level, level, or slightly above the Tories in voting intention.
A -11 rating for an Opposition leader after a divisive budget is a ‘boost’?
The Indy does not mention that George Osborne’s satisfaction ratings equal his worst ever following the budget. And the paper completely fails to mention that Nigel Farage is the real winner:
Posted: 26th, March 2016 | In: Politicians, Reviews | Comment
Emory University students panic after someone writes the word “Trump” on a sidewalk
So toxic is Donald Trump that even seeing his name reduces students to jellies. To Georgia, USA:
Emory University students say they are “in pain” and “afraid” after someone left pro-Donald Trump chalk messages on their Atlanta campus, according to the student newspaper. “I’m supposed to feel comfortable and safe” here,” The Emory Wheel quoted one unnamed student as saying. “But this man is being supported by students on our campus and our administration shows that they, by their silence, support it as well. … I don’t deserve to feel afraid at my school.”
The chalkings appeared overnight, saying “Trump 2016,” according to the newspaper. About 40 students held a protest demanding action from the administration, chanting “You are not listening! Come speak to us, we are in pain!”
That Emory comedy club. What a hoot. It is a parody, right? Wrong:
“I legitimately feared for my life,” Paula Camila Alarcon, a freshman at Emory who identifies as Latino, told The Daily Beast. “I thought we were having a KKK rally on campus. It was deliberate intimidation. Some of us were expecting shootings. We feared walking alone,” freshman Jonathan Peraza added.
Grab the safe space mop and bucket:
College president Jim Wagner met with the students, who expressed anxiety that the writings were threats to their safety rather than political speech, considering Georgia’s Republican primary was held earlier this month.
“The students shared with me their concern that these messages were meant to intimidate rather than merely to advocate for a particular candidate, having appeared outside of the context of a Georgia election or campus campaign activity,” Wagner wrote in a university-wide email Tuesday. “During our conversation, they voiced their genuine concern and pain in the face of this perceived intimidation.”
Jim Wagner might be beyond parody. How the hell did he get a job in education?
Posted: 26th, March 2016 | In: Politicians, Reviews | Comment (1)
Rob Ford: I couldn’t remember taking drugs because I was drunk
Rob Ford, the former mayor of Toronto, has died. He was just 46. In his obituary, CBC includes this:
Ford staunchly denied that he smoked crack and questioned the existence of the footage, which prompted Gawker to begin a crowd-funding campaign to buy the video. The story not only made Ford an international celebrity and the object of mockery on late-night talk shows, but it also triggered a criminal investigation, which eventually led police to acquire a copy of the video. After months of denying he was in the video, Ford confessed in November 2013 to having smoked crack, adding that it had likely occurred during one of his “drunken stupors.”
He wasn’t wrong. It’s just that he couldn’t remember taking drugs because he was drunk.
Posted: 22nd, March 2016 | In: Politicians, Reviews | Comment
Jeremy Corbyn’s aide calls for an army of tea-drinking surrender monkeys
As the Tories row over Brexit and disability payments, the Labour party obliterates casus belli, picks up the one working gun in the British Army and aims at its feet.
Britain would be safer if its defence policy was to have “cups of tea” with Isil terrorists rather than bomb them, one of Jeremy Corbyn’s key allies on Labour’s ruling body has said. Christine Shawcroft, who sits on the party’s National Executive Committee and is a senior figure in Momentum, said that soldiers should “get the teabags out” to solve the Syrian crisis rather than resorting to air strikes.
Mugs away!
She warned that media stories about Mr Corbyn’s non-interventionism were having a negative impact and imagined a voter saying: “That Jeremy Corbyn you know, faced with terrorists he’d sit down and have a cup of tea with them or something.”
Does Hamas break for teatime?
Ms Shawcroft went on: “Now I mean, you know, maybe we should try it! Bombing them and attacking them has got us nowhere, why don’t we get the teabags out?
“You know I did read a while ago about when the EDL were going round picketing outside mosques… One particular mosque in the Midlands somewhere just opened the doors and said would you like to come in for a cup of tea? And they went in for a cup of tea and now they’re friends with the EDL. Straight away the EDL are now like oh, well actually these people are not the monsters you know that we’re being told all this time, they’re actually human beings that you can sit down and have a cup of tea with.”
Proper English tea grown in Yorkshire, we’ll bet. None of that foreign muck.
“So you know I think we should bear in mind that having cups of tea might actually be the best kind of system of defence and national security that you could have, but there we are.”
Chimpanzees and scalding hot water might hold them off for a while. But will they stand a chance against Isil’s Rich Tea biscuit tanks? Those things can absorb a tea bombardment.
Posted: 21st, March 2016 | In: Politicians, Reviews | Comment (1)
London mayor candidate Zac Goldsmith pits Hindu against Muslim in a hideous flyer
Zac Goldsmith, your Tory candidate for London mayor, woos the anglo-Indian vote with his flyer.
If you find that hideous – the idea that people only vote for a candidate from within ‘their own community’ – then we’re in agreement.
In any case, this divisive approach to politics doesn’t work. We, for instance, know a number of white, prep-school-educated Islington-immigrants who think a vote for Jeremy Corbyn (one of their own) less attractive a prospect than being tied to a radiator and forced to drink Terry Waite’s urine.
Posted: 19th, March 2016 | In: Politicians, Reviews | Comment
Hilary Clinton on the death penalty is classic new speak bullshit
Hilary Clinton was asked by Ricky Jackson if she supported the death penalty. Jackson spent 39 years in prison and on death row for a crime he didn’t commit. He reminded her that innocent people have been executed.
As ever Clinton connived to utter many words but say absolutely nothing.
This is the politician running for President as a ‘wife, mom, grandma’. She markets herself on social media as #GrandmothersKnowBest. Why does she use identity to woo voters? Because Hillary Clinton has no values you can hang your hat on. When her public record and pronouncements are so vacuous, mis-spoken and squirming, all she has is her sex and her private life.
A vote for Hillary is a vote or Hillary – you get nothing else.
This is pathetic.
Posted: 14th, March 2016 | In: Key Posts, Politicians | Comment
North Korea’s threat to nuke Manhattan is B-movie mastery
North Korea has issued a statement. Hear ye, Western filth!
“Our hydrogen bomb is much bigger than the one developed by the Soviet Union… If this H-bomb were to be mounted on an intercontinental ballistic missile and fall on Manhattan in New York City, all the people there would be killed immediately and the city would burn down to ashes.”
But what does he really mean?
Posted: 14th, March 2016 | In: Politicians, Reviews | Comment
Boris Johnson caught in hilarious exchange at a Kent factory
“You can’t leave – the doors are bolted”
Boris Johnson today delivered his Brexit speech at a factory in Kent. He approaches the crowd. He shakes a woman’s hand.
Boris Johnson: “Thanks for coming!”
Woman: “We have to come, we work here.”
Spotter: Michael Deacon
Posted: 11th, March 2016 | In: Politicians, Reviews | Comment
The Queen: ‘vote yes to Brexit and bring on the Republic of Great Britain’
The Queen wants the country to leave the European Union. She doesn’t vote, much like Russell Brand, but she knows the right course to plot. Well, so says the Sun, which delivers the news in an “exclusive bombshell”.
Readers might wonder why Her Maj would want to opt out of a union with countries that slaughtered their royals. Go it alone and the country needs a leader, someone who represents the place. Vote out and The Munsters are doomed.
The Sun adds that “Her Majesty let rip” at Nick Clegg. The phrase ‘let rip’ is ripe with odour. Betty spoke with “venom and emotion” in a “bust-up” with then deputy PM Nick Clegg. The source of this story is not named. And since publication the Queen’s PR mob have moved to distance her from it.
Oddly, this news comes just one day after the Sun led with a picture of the Queen’s grandson, Prince William, larking about on a “luxury ski trip”. Wills was “accused of shirking his job”, although it’s hard to pinpoint what that is other than being alive to claim the crown and extending the royal line. He’s accomplishing both tasks with skill. There is talk of his work with helicopters. What is it with helicopters and the Windsors? Prince Andrew flew one; Prince Harry learned to fly one; Sarah Ferguson drew one… Maybe the Anglo-Germans are making ready for a vote to remain in the EU, and the moment when they’ll need to beat a hasty retreat from the roof of Buckingham Palace.
Lower the rope ladder, Fergie. Fergie… FERGIE!!!!
Posted: 9th, March 2016 | In: Politicians, Reviews, Tabloids | Comment
Donald Trump mouth/eye swap for your nightmares
Nicholas Longtin: “I saw the Photoshop of Donald Trump with mouth eyes and I had to see what that would look like in full motions video. It’s horrifying. You have been warned.”
Posted: 6th, March 2016 | In: Politicians | Comment
Winston Churchill goes down a waterslide backwards, and loses his trunks
Winston Churchill goes down a waterslide backwards, and loses his trunks in the process.
Posted: 5th, March 2016 | In: Gifs, Politicians | Comment
Donald Trump’s Latino fans are Twitter robots
Donald Trump’s Latino fans rally on Twitte:
Posted: 28th, February 2016 | In: Politicians, Reviews | Comment
Suits you: Cameron invites shabby chic Corbyn to join the Bullingdon Club
When is a suit an expensive suit? That question to the Daily Mirror, which like most of us watched Prime Minister’s Question Time and heard David Cameron and Jeremy Corbyn sniping at one another.
Mr Corbyn asked if the PM would be “writing another letter to himself, asking on behalf of his constituents asking for the health secretary to intervene and support his local NHS?” The prime minister was heckled by a Labour MPs as he made his reply. One shouted, “Ask your mother.”
“Ask my mother?” said Cameron. “I think I know what my mother would say. I think she would look across the despatch box and she would say ‘Put on a proper suit, do up your tie and sing the national anthem’.”
In the Mirror this becomes, “Millionaire David Cameron has launched a bitter attack against Jeremy Corbyn for not wearing expensive suits.”
In other Daily Mirror news: “Suits you sir! Supermarket suits enjoying record sales… but which are worth the money?”
The Sunday Mirror enlisted Gabriel John of London tailors October House, who has dressed stars such as England footballer Scott Parker and Olympic cyclist Mark Cavendish, to give his verdict on suits under £60 plus a dinner suit for £75. He said: “For the price they are not a bad investment.”
You don’t need to be millionaire to wear a suit. Style is timeless. The Mirror told us that:
Style has no age limit – as the winners of our Glamorous Gran competition clearly demonstrate. We asked our readers to nominate their stylish nans then asked you to pick our worthy winners. And Margaret Docherty was your favourite Glam Gran. She scoops £1,000 to spend at 50-plus fashion brand JD Williams and a 12-month contract with modelling agency Mrs Robinson, which specialises in maturer models.
And Corbyn is a bit of a toff, as the Mirror reported:
…despite many thinking he may snub the event, Mr Corbyn did in fact arrive at the event wearing an outfit that would not look out of place in a Bullingdon Club portrait. As he arrived at the banquet…
Jeremy Corbyn earns £125,000 a year and lives in Islington, where terraced properties sold for an average price of £1,331,997 in 2015. He could wear a suit in the Commons. But he chooses not to. With money comes choice to create your own image.
Posted: 25th, February 2016 | In: Politicians, Reviews | Comment
The Brexit Song: stop what you’re doing and watch what Eurovision won’t be
Posted: 24th, February 2016 | In: Music, Politicians | Comment
Hillary Clinton v Apple and The San Bernardino killers
Hillary Clinton versus Apple and the San Bernardino killers:
Posted: 22nd, February 2016 | In: Politicians, Reviews | Comment
Boris Johnson knifes Cameron as Labour woos patriots
Boris Johnson has “electrified the referendum race” by backing the No vote to take Britain out of the European Union, says the Times. The mayor of London stood on the steps of his London home and told vast ranks of media:
“After a great deal of heartache I don’t think there’s anything else I can do: I will be advocating Vote Leave… because I want a better deal for the people of this country,” he said. “To save them money and to take back control, that’s really, I think, what this is all about.”
Earlier in the day, David Cameron had told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show:
“I think the prospect of linking arms with Nigel Farage and George Galloway and taking a leap into the dark is the wrong step for our country and if Boris and if others really care about being able to get things done in our world then the EU is one of the ways in which we get them done.”
Johnson counters in his Daily Telegraph column:
“We will hear a lot in the coming weeks about the risks of this option; the risk to the economy, the risk to the City of London, and so on; and though those risks cannot be entirely dismissed I think they are likely to be exaggerated. We have heard this kind of thing before, about the decision to opt out of the euro, and the very opposite turned out to be the case… We will be told that a Brexit would embolden Putin, though it seems to me he is more likely to be emboldened, for instance, by the West’s relative passivity in Syria.”
The Mirror says Boris is a “RAT” who has “humiliated his old Eton chum David Cameron”. It is a “cynical bid to become Tory leader” when Cameron stands down. Cynicism in politics? Never!
Over two more pages, the Mirror says Boris has stuck a “dagger in Cam’s heart”, “heaping humiliations” on the PM.
The Mail agrees. “Boris Johnson dealt a dagger blow to David Cameron,” the paper states at the top of on the front page.
Knife-crime remains rife in Broken Britain.
The Mirror invites Labour stalwart Alan Johnson to write in favour of staying in Europe beneath the headline, “A vote to Remains is the real patriotic choice.”
In the Express, Boris for ‘No’ is a “big boost for the Daily Express crusade”. It is your patriotic duty to vote ‘No’. Boris is “the most popular politician in the country”. He is backing the Express‘ bid to leave the “discredited Union”.
The Star says indelible UKIP leader Nigel Farage is having the “last laugh”. He most likely had the first laugh, too. Farage likes laughing in public, belching that big braying easy-geyser guffaw whenever a camera hones into view.
The Sun says Boris is the “Blond Bombshell”, who has delivered a “massive blow” to Cameron’s vision. It is the “PM’s WORST NIGHTMAYOR”. One page on and David Cameron’s deal with Europe sees him mocked up as “PINOCCHIOEU”.
One thing is clear: Johnson has managed to get the Sun on his side. And when it comes to winning a General Election, that’s no bad thing.
Vote now – and vote often!
Posted: 22nd, February 2016 | In: Politicians, Tabloids | Comment (1)
The Pulp Fiction GOP debate mash-up is brilliant
Posted: 8th, February 2016 | In: Gifs, Politicians | Comment
Censor demands ban on singing Delilah at Wales and Stoke FC matches
Media hungry Labour MP Chris Chris Bryant wants people to stop singing Delilah, the song made famous by Welsh crooner Tom Jones. He specifically wants us to stop singing it at Wales rugby union matches and whenever Stoke City FC play – fans of both teams have taken the song to their hearts. It is one of many songs from the golden age of pop still sung by British sports fans.
Chris, MP for Rhondda, says:
“It is a simple fact that when there are big international rugby matches on, and sometimes football matches as well, the number of domestic violence incidents rises dramatically.”
Why, why, why, Chris Bryant?
“I know that some people will say, ‘Oh, here we go, he’s a terrible spoilsport,’ but the truth is that that song is about the murder of a prostitute. It goes right to the heart of the issues we are discussing. There are thousands of other songs we could sing.”
Such as ‘Chris Bry-ant is a f***ing twat. Chris Bry-ant is a f***ing twat etc.’ (Sung to the tune of Go West). Or, ‘There’s only one Chris Bryant, he demands we stay silent. He’s five foot tall and his brain’s too small, Livin’in a Bryant wonderland!’ Or, ‘He’s red, he’s fat he rents out his London flat, Chris Bry-ant, Christ Bry-ant’.
Says Chris the censor:
“I have sung Delilah as well — everybody loves doing the ‘She stood there laughing’ moment but if we are really going to take this issue seriously in Wales, we have to change how we do things.”
Chris is Labour MP. So let’s play out their theme tune. It features lots of Welsh kit red:
The people’s flag is deepest red,
It shrouded oft our martyred dead,
And ere their limbs grew stiff and cold,
Their hearts’ blood dyed its ev’ry fold.
Then raise the scarlet standard high.
Within its shade we’ll live and die,
Though cowards flinch and traitors sneer,
We’ll keep the red flag flying here.
Look ’round, the Frenchman loves its blaze,
The sturdy German chants its praise,
In Moscow’s vaults its hymns are sung
Chicago swells the surging throng.
Then raise the scarlet standard high.
Within its shade we’ll live and die,
Though cowards flinch and traitors sneer,
We’ll keep the red flag flying here.
It waved above our infant might,
When all ahead seemed dark as night;
It witnessed many a deed and vow,
We must not change its colour now.
Then raise the scarlet standard high.
Within its shade we’ll live and die,
Though cowards flinch and traitors sneer,
We’ll keep the red flag flying here.
It well recalls the triumphs past,
It gives the hope of peace at last;
The banner bright, the symbol plain,
Of human right and human gain.
Then raise the scarlet standard high.
Within its shade we’ll live and die,
Though cowards flinch and traitors sneer,
We’ll keep the red flag flying here.
It suits today the weak and base,
Whose minds are fixed on pelf and place
To cringe before the rich man’s frown,
And haul the sacred emblem down.
Then raise the scarlet standard high.
Within its shade we’ll live and die,
Though cowards flinch and traitors sneer,
We’ll keep the red flag flying here.
With heads uncovered swear we all
To bear it onward till we fall;
Come dungeons dark or gallows grim,
This song shall be our parting hymn.
Then raise the scarlet standard high.
Within its shade we’ll live and die,
Though cowards flinch and traitors sneer,
We’ll keep the red flag flying here.
Or not.
Posted: 6th, February 2016 | In: Politicians, Reviews, Sports | Comment
A picture of Donald Trump with his daughter Ivanka perched atop two concrete parrots having sex
Photo of the day: “A picture of Donald Trump, with his daughter Ivanka, perched atop two concrete parrots having sex.”
A picture of Donald Trump, with his daughter Ivanka, perched atop two concrete parrots having sex. pic.twitter.com/TFse8gM1An
— Tim Ireland (@bloggerheads) January 31, 2016
Posted: 1st, February 2016 | In: Politicians | Comment (1)
Peter Serafinowicz turns Donald Trump into a Cockney geyser
Donald Trump becomes a laughable comedy gangster when his words are dubbed by Peter Serafinowicz. It’s hilarious.
Posted: 29th, January 2016 | In: Politicians | Comment
Bernie Sanders is now an ice cream flavour
What does a 74-year-old politician taste of? Given the usual sexual kinks of the great and learned, we’d say hot wax, orange rind and dry-cleaning. But Ben Cohen (co-founder and half the namesake of Ben & Jerry’s) says Bernie Sanders tastes of mint ice cream with a milk chocolate disc on the top.
“The chocolate disc represents the huge majority of economic gains that have gone to the top 1% since the end of the recession,” the carton to Bernie’s Yearning reads. “Beneath it, the rest of us.”
Use by November 8 2016.
Posted: 26th, January 2016 | In: Politicians, The Consumer | Comment
Samantha Cameron and the ‘oink oink noises’ at school
You have undoubtedly head the scurrilous claim that David Cameron once put his member in a dead pig’s mouth (a claim made without a scintilla of evidence to support it). Well, in utterly unrelated news the Daily Mirror reports on piggy noises:
Mummy, why do the teachers make those noises? Well, kids, come closer…
Posted: 25th, January 2016 | In: Politicians, Tabloids | Comment
Lord Janner: 3 missed chances, a self-serving CPS inquiry and allegations now fact
Westminster paedos: a look at reporting on the story of sex crimes in high places.
The Daily Mirror has been at the forefront of the allegations of murderous paedophiles protected by the Establishment. Today over pages 6 and 7 it looks at the late Lord Janner, a former Labour MP and peer who died an innocent man. The story, however, is that he dodged justice. He was accused of 2 counts of sex offences against boys between the 1960s and 80s. He never stood in the dock.
“Lord Janner Child Sex Abuse Probe ‘Shambles – they had 3 chances to charge him. It was just one big cover up.”
Lord Janner is now covered by earth, what with his having been buried, if not exactly laid to rest.
Failures by police and prosecutors allowed Lord Janner to escape child sex charges three times, a damning independent inquiry has revealed.
Janner is damned! How’s that for rough justice.
But a man who told detectives Janner abused him as a boy has denounced the report as another Establishment whitewash. Paul Miller, 52, one of 25 alleged Janner victims, said: “This report is another cover up. Nobody has been named yet again. The people who failed the victims should be named and held accountable.”
The story continues:
The independent inquiry’s report published yesterday said it was ‘wrong’ Janner…had not been charged with child abuse in 1991. It added that police and the Crown Prosecution Service also failed to act in 2002 and again in 2007 despite there being a ‘realistic prospect’ of convicting him.”
The independent inquiry was commissioned by the director of public prosecutions. It was carried out by retired High Court Juge Sir Richard Henriques. He says: “I have concluded that the decision not to charge Janner was wrong and that there was enough evidence against Janner on December 4 1991 to provide a realistic prospect of conviction.”
Page 10: “Voice of the Mirror.”
Voice of the Mirror: Victims of Lord Janner need the truth
Not alleged victims. “Victims”.
For decades the former Labour MP Lord Janner preyed on vulnerable children.
Justice denied is judgement delayed until the accused is dead. Guilty!
He is now dead but he leaves behind a legacy of wrecked lives, trauma and misery. The authorities have serious questions to answer as to why they failed to press charges against Janner. All the evidence points to a cover-up by an establishment either too fearful to prosecute one of their own or which, in the worst instance, deliberately concealed his wrongdoing.
Daily Mail Page 16: “How Janner dodged justice 3 times”
What about the law and all those barriers to justice?
The Sun Page 13: Jane Moore says, “Protect victim of serial liars.”
Last week, nearly a year after 20 officers raided Lord Bramall’s home, the Met police issued a churlish statement in which it said there was “insufficient evidence” to pursue the claim against him. “Zero evidence” might have been a better description.
He has expressed his frustration that the Met described his accuser’s claims as “credible and true” before he even knew he was under investigation… is it possible that the culture of Jimmy Savile and police failure to act has prompted the pendulum to swing too far the other way?
Lord Bramall questions whether detectives had carried out a “partial and objective” investigation and suggested they lacked judgment because they were “terrified” of being accused of covering something up. In other words, it has become a victim-centric culture where all accusers are believed even when the most cursory of initial checks might suggest something doesn’t quite add up.
The dead are always guilty. The living are always clean and keen to emphasis that “lessons have been learnt”.
As Director of Public Prosecutions Alison Saunders says:
“The inquiry’s findings that mistakes were made confirms my view that failings in the past by prosecutors and police meant that proceedings were not brought. It is a matter of sincere regret that on three occasions, opportunities to put the allegations against Lord Janner before a jury were not taken. It is important that we understand the steps which led to these decisions not to prosecute, and ensure that no such mistakes can be made again.”
Daily Express Page 6: “Outrage at ‘three missed chances’ to charge Janner over sex abuse claims”
The Express points to failures by police and Crown lawyers. It says the police failed to listen to the alleged victims. The police never do listen. They talk and expect us to hear. Time to name them and the lawyers. Or are we waiting for them to die before they can be questioned?
Posted: 20th, January 2016 | In: Politicians, Reviews, Tabloids | Comment
