Politicans and world leaders making news and in the news, and spouting hot air
FLASHBACK to 19/06/57.
Tony Benn decorating the Labour Party offices at St. George, Bristol.
You can flick through our pictorial tribute to Tony Benn here.
Posted: 14th, March 2014 | In: Flashback, Politicians | Comment
LEADER of Camden Council @Sarah_Hayward’s excellent one word response to a question about twitter use.
Councillor Paul Braithwaite (LD):
Given the gravity of the role of Leader of Camden Council, will the Leader consider creating a separate Twitter account for matters relating to Camden as separate from reporting on her personal interests in Arsenal, the X Factor, restaurants and dishes she’s enjoyed and B-movies she watches on TV, which represents circa 80% of her 21,800 tweets?
Sarah Hayward (Lab):
No.
Posted: 13th, March 2014 | In: Politicians | Comment
THIS is excellent news really, that the CIA has been spying on the people in the Senate over in the US. OK, in one sense it’s a bit naughty as the CIA isn’t supposed to ever do anything domestically. And the Yanks also tend to frown a bit on one part of the Executive part of government trying to interfere with a part of the Legislative side of government. They’re supposed to be quite different. But this can still be seen as cheering news:
A bitter dispute between the CIA and the U.S. Senate committee that oversees it burst into the open on Tuesday when the committee chairwoman accused the agency of spying on Congress and possibly breaking the law.
Veteran Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein said the CIA had searched computers used by committee staffers examining CIA documents when researching the agency’s counter-terrorism operations and its use of harsh interrogation methods such as simulated drowning or “waterboarding.”
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 12th, March 2014 | In: Money, Politicians, Reviews | Comment
Failed political photo-ops
DAVID Cameron is facing ridicule once again. His latest gaffe was to tweet a picture of himself looking serious and statesmanlike while having a serious statesmanlike phone call with Barak Obama. The problem, aside from the typically patronising pomposity of the gesture, was that he looked singularly un-statesmanlike. In fact, he resembled nothing do much as a perplexed pudding.
Of course, he has plenty of competition in the failed phot-op stakes.
Here’s George Osborne, Chancellor and Chelsea fan, in ‘man of the people’ pose, manfully working late while snacking on a burger and fries. His tweet backfired when said burger was identified as coming from posh nosh joint Byron.
Oh, hello! Talking of burgers…
Hey presto – instant ridicule. What a Gummer.
But frankfurters are even more risky. Republican Presidential nominee Michele Bachmann has been dubbed Palin 2.0 thanks to her numerous factual and logical gaffes. On this occasion, however, she was guilty of nothing more than innocent naivety, and chomped on a corn dog in full view of the press without considering the consequences.
Best to stick with a beer. In Nigel Farrage’s case almost literally so, as he clings to his pint prop as tenaciously as Tony Blair clung to his ubiquitous ‘ordinary guy’ coffee mug. Asked about it, he replied: ‘I’ll tell you something. I work an 18 hour day most days and I think I’m entitled at lunchtime to a pint.’
William Hague famously claimed to have regularly drunk 14 pints a day as a schoolboy, and he wasn’t averse to being pictured pint-pot in hand. But his most risible moment was this fashion faux pas which was intended to make him look cool, but didn’t.
Even without the banana, David Miliband achieves the extraordinary feat of making his brother look normal.
But what the hell – normal’s overrated, right? Just ask Francois Hollande. Actually don’t ask him, as he appears to be a bit sensitive about it. In fact, two French press agencies even took the unusual step of withdrawing this unflattering portrait of the French president.
Ask former US Congressman Chris Lee instead. Or better still, just admire this picture of himself that he utilised in the services of his reply to a sex ad on Craigslist.
Of course anyone can have an off-day. But for one man, it happened to be Groundhog Day.
In the end, you just have to laugh along and rise above it.
Posted: 10th, March 2014 | In: Flashback, Key Posts, Photojournalism, Politicians | Comment
IN 1978, there was an infestation of mice in Jimmy Carter’s White House:
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 7th, March 2014 | In: Flashback, Politicians | Comment
ON February 28 1986: Swedish prime minister Olof Palme was assassinated on a Stockholm street.
A bouquet of flowers is laid down at the pool of blood on a Stockholm City pavement where Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme was assassinated shortly before midnight on Friday, Mar. 1, 1986 in Stockholm.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 28th, February 2014 | In: Flashback, Politicians | Comment
THIS is what George Washington drank at his leaving do:
…we still have available the list of beverages served at a 1787 farewell party in Philadelphia for George Washington just days before the framers signed off on the Constitution. According to the bill preserved from the evening, the 55 attendees drank 54 bottles of Madeira, 60 bottles of claret, eight of whiskey, 22 of porter, eight of hard cider, 12 of beer, and seven bowls of alcoholic punch.
That’s more than two bottles of fruit of the vine, plus a number of shots and a lot of punch and beer, for every delegate. That seems humanly impossible to modern Americans. But, you see, across the country during the Colonial era, the average American consumed many times as much beverage alcohol as contemporary Americans do. Getting drunk—but not losing control—was simply socially accepted.
Chin-chin. Never trust a tea-totaller…
Posted: 25th, February 2014 | In: Flashback, Politicians | Comments (4)
QUOTES of the week: Rebekah Brooks email about advice from Tony Blair re-hacking scandal:
1. Form an independent unit that has a outside junior council, ken macdonald, a great and good type, a serious forensic criminal barrister, internal counsel, proper fact checkers etc in it. Get them to investigate me and others and publish a hutton style report.
2. Publish part one of the report at same time as the police closes its inquiry and clear you and accept short comings and new solutions and process and part two when any trials are over.
3. Keep strong and definitely sleeping pills. Need to have clear heads and remember no rash short term solutions as they only give you long term headaches.
4. It will pass. Tough up.
Posted: 23rd, February 2014 | In: Politicians, Reviews | Comment
CAN you own a headline? In response to Barack Obama meeting the Dalai Lama yesterday in White House, and China frowning on that chat, the Sun chimes:
Good to see that in the age of the internet pun-killing headline, some wit can get through the Google news sieve.
But how original is the headline?
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 23rd, February 2014 | In: Politicians | Comment
QUESTIONS everyone born in the 1990s is asking:
Why does Miley Cyrus, in her current show, “stuff a thong in her mouth and simulate oral sex on a Bill Clinton impersonator”?
Is it because:
a) Bill Clinton was unable to be there in person.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 21st, February 2014 | In: Celebrities, Politicians | Comment
Peter and Hazelmary Bull (centre) with Christian demonstrators outside Bristol County Court. Mr and Mrs Bull are appearing at the court, where they are being sued by a homosexual couple for refusing to allow them to share a double bed in their Cornish hotel.
IT is now legal to refuse to serve gays in Arizona shops and hotels – but only if it offends your religious beliefs.
State senators voted Wednesday to let businesses refuse to serve gays based on owners’ “sincerely held” religious beliefs. The 17-13 vote along party lines, with Republicans in the majority, came after supporters defeated an attempt to extend existing employment laws that bar discrimination based on religion and race to also include sexual orientation.
Wow, indeed. Bigotry is ok so long as it complies with rules you believe in. We’re all religious now.
This is intolerance dressed up as equality.
Arizona’s Sen. Steve Yarbrough, R-Chandler explains:
“This bill is not about discrimination. It’s about preventing discrimination against people who are clearly living out their faith.”
Yarborough is the Executive Director of the Arizona Christian School Tuition Organization. He was a co-founder and served on the school board for Valley Christian High School from 1981-2005.
Sen. Yarbrough leads a bipartisan group of legislators and citizen group leaders known as the Arizona Values Action Team which supports public policy that is pro-life, pro-traditional marriage, pro-school choice and pro-religious liberty.
He is not alone:
“We are trying to protect people’s religious liberties,” said Rep. Steve Montenegro, R-Litchfield Park. “We don’t want the government coming in and forcing somebody to act against their religious sacred faith beliefs or having to sell out if you are a small-business owner.”
As he notes, “it could soon be legal for Satanists to discriminate against Christians in Arizona.”
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 21st, February 2014 | In: Politicians, Reviews | Comment
Thalidomide was marketed as the sedative that would alleviate morning sickness. It had been sold to unsuspecting pregnant women between 1958 and late 1961, when it was removed from the market following evidence it disrupted foetal development.
Posted: 19th, February 2014 | In: Flashback, Politicians, Reviews | Comment
WHO is Barack Obama’s ‘Sub Par ‘artist decorating Santa Monica, Calif., with posters declaring President Obama to be “subpar” around a picture of the President using a gold club?
Obama has played 150 rounds of golf since winning the White House. Is that lot?
Anorak had long thought ‘I’m off to play golf’ a euphemism for much for fun times. But it turns out that Obama really does play actual golf. Odd. Where does he find time for the extra-marital shags, a drugs habit and other things we love in our elected leaders? Some reports tell us that Obama can take anything up to six hours to play a single round. This is reassuring. If golf is about escaping the home – which it entirely is – Obama is playing at the ideal speed.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 19th, February 2014 | In: Politicians | Comment
Writer Beau Willimon, from left, Netflix’s Ted Sarandos, actress Robin Wright, actor Kevin Spacey and Netflix’s Cindy Holland, arrive at a special screening for season 2 of “House of Cards”, on Thursday, Feb. 13, 2014 in Los Angeles.
HERE’S a video of real members of the US Congress saying Frank Underwood’s lines from House of Cards. Kevin Spacey’s character – a delicious US rendering of Ian Richardson’s Bafta Winning performance as Tory politician Francis Ewan Urquhart – epitomises the venal, self-serving, charismatic, survivalist politico.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 15th, February 2014 | In: Politicians, TV & Radio | Comment
HAS Ed Miliband, the Labour Party’s unbelievable leader (as in – how the hell is he their leader?), given up pretending to be inanimate objects to work as a chef in India?
Has he got a proper job?
We should be told…
Spotter: PopBitch
Posted: 6th, February 2014 | In: Politicians | Comment (1)
GERARD Batten, a Ukip MEP who sits on the party’s London executive, wants all Muslims to sign a “charter of Muslim understanding”. Batten created the charter in 2006, and now thinks it ripe and ready for signing. Muslims will sign a five-point affirmation, in which they would promise to accept equality, reject violence in the name of religion, and accept a need to “re-examine and address the meaning and application of certain Islamic texts and doctrines”.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 4th, February 2014 | In: Politicians | Comment (1)
In accordance with ancient custom after the Good Friday service at St. Bartholomew The Great Smithfield, 21 poor widows of the Parish were invited to pick up sixpences from an old flat tombstone. They also afterwards received a hot cross bun each from an alms dish. Some of the 21 poor widows picking up the sixpences from the flat tombstone outside St. Bartholomew The Great in London, on April 7, 1939. (AP Photo)
Date: 07/04/1939
WE’RE being told, endlessly, that we must raise the minimum wage in order to increase the incomes of the working poor. It’s an outrage that people cannot support themselves in the style we think they all ought to be simply by the sweat of their brow. Thus the minimum wage must be raised to a truly living wage to make the world a better place.
However, here’s why that’s not actually all that great an idea:
Across the bulk of the income distribution, a 10% rise in the NMW leads to an increase in net family income amongst NMW families of around 3%; this is around 4% for families where the NMW is the main source of earnings, and around 2% for families where the NMW is the secondary source of earnings.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 29th, January 2014 | In: Money, Politicians, Reviews | Comment (1)
Youngsters Karen Davies and bradley Luxon, dressed as Little Bo Peep and Elton John, turn out for the Queen’s Silver Jubilee street party in St. Stephen’s Street, Bow, London Date: 07/06/1977
AS well you know, Russia has been saying some spectacularly dumb things about the LGBT community. In return, the gays and right-minded people have been telling Russia to stick it up their collective hole and piss off while they’re doing it.
And now, with Elton John speaking against the country’s anti-gay law, Vladimir Putin has decided to proclaim his love for Sir Elton, saying that he’s “an outstanding musician”.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 20th, January 2014 | In: Celebrities, Politicians, Reviews | Comment
A rainbow over flood water which covers part of the Somerset Levels in Somerset, as around 100 flood warnings in England, along with four in Scotland and one in Wales remain in place with forecasters predicting freezing temperatures and possibly snow in the north.
UKIP Councillor For Henley-on-Thames David Silvester was right: gays do plan to drown us all in rainwater:
Phil Lucas and UKIP weather service report:
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 20th, January 2014 | In: Politicians | Comment
