POLITICIANS PLAYING STUPID SCHOOLBOY GAMES AS THE UK SINKS
Posted by Caledonian Jim in Daily Posts
UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown yesterday surprised Parliament by demanding an official probe into the Conservative opposition economic spokesman George Osborne (pictured above with his wife) and his relationship with Russian billionaire businessman Oleg Deripaska. ”This is a very serious matter and I hope it is investigated by the authorities,” said a breathless PM, causing uproar in the House of Commons. His call was made during Prime Minister’s Questions after two days of claims but no hard evidence of any wrongdoing on the part of Mr Osborne. The story revolves around whether Mr Osborne tried to solicit a donation for his Conservative Party from the Russian. Mr Osborne and New Labour minister Lord Mandelson both met Mr Deripaska in August on his £80 million yacht moored off Corfu while guests of financier Nathaniel Rothschild. It seems that whilst there all the overgrown upper-class public schoolboys had a bit of a tiff and are now spouting out juvenile accusations against each other which of course the media, particularly the left-wing BBC, are picking up in the misguided belief that the man in the street actually gives a toss. And with dreary inevitability the right-wing media will doubtless wade in shortly with an angle on Lord Mandelson. It’s a story borne out of a fourth-form fight between a trio of effeminate cissies scratching each other’s eyes out – handbags at 10 paces. The fact is that NONE of them, New Labour or Conservative, should be hob-nobbing with dodgy Russian businessmen and accepting their hospitality. That way they wouldn’t risk being impugned, all such immature mud slinging wouldn’t take place and all these politicians could concentrate their limited talents on trying to pull the country out of the current economic mess they’ve got us into instead of accepting freebie holidays and junkets from businessmen on the make.
In the UK Mohamed al Fayed (pictured above) yesterday vehemently denied sexually assaulting a girl under 16 and said he was confident that his name would be cleared. Mr Fayed, the owner of the Harrods department store and Fulham football club, whose wealth was estimated this year as £555 million, issued a statement confirming that he was questioned under caution by police yesterday morning in relation to an allegation of child sexual assault. He has not been arrested in connection with the allegation, which was made in May. “We confirm that Mohamed al Fayed today voluntarily attended an interview with police to categorically refute an allegation widely reported in the media,” said the statement. “He did not attend under compulsion and the meeting lasted for less than half an hour. From the outset details of this allegation have appeared in the media which they attributed to a police source, and indeed despite assurances that today’s interview would be kept confidential, he is concerned that it was reported within one hour of its conclusion. Mr Al Fayed vehemently denies this allegation and is confident that his name will be cleared.” Well of course under UK law we can’t comment directly on the case. On a completely separate hypothetical line of thought, no particular hypothetical individual in mind, you’d think that after hypothetically arranging the death of a hypothetical man’s hypothetical son and his hypothetical fiancee that a hypothetical British establishment might give any such hypothetical man a break.
In the US the Republican party has reportedly spent over $150,000 (£92,000) on clothes and accessories since late August for vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin (pictured above, with Willow and Trig) and her family, according to records of party spending. The sartorial shopping sprees, including a $75,000 jaunt to the upmarket store Neiman Marcus, began showing up on financial disclosure reports in early September, just after Palin was chosen as John McCain’s running mate. Mrs Palin often depicts herself as a homespun product of small-town “real America” on the campaign trail, but she was revealed last month to be working with a secret team of stylists to “sharpen” her dress sense. These reports on the Palin family’s elaborate spending habits – a $295 pram was among the purchases as a treat for baby Trig, according to politco.com – could hurt the Republicans’ credibility. If that credibility could be hurt any more than by her nomination in the first place. Incidentally Sarah, I’m not completely up to date with Sicilian hand signals but I’m sure the one you’re making is very rude !
But it’s not all bad news for the Republicans. Al Qaeda apparently supports John McCain (pictured above). The terror organisation has suggested in a website message this week that they would welcome a pre-election terror attack on the US as a way to usher in a McCain presidency. The message, posted on Monday on the password-protected al-Hesbah website, said if Al Qaeda wants to exhaust the US militarily and economically, “impetuous Republican presidential candidate Senator John McCain is the better choice because he is more likely to continue the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. This requires the presence of an impetuous American leader such as McCain, who has pledged to continue the war till the last American soldier,” the message said. “So Al Qaeda should support McCain in the coming election so that he continues the failing march of his predecessor, George Bush.” I’m not entirely convinced that this endorsement will be seen by the US electorate as matching the one that Barack Obama got from Colin Powell earlier this week !
The Governor of the Bank of England, Mervyn King (pictured above), has for the first time conceded that the UK economy is “likely” to slide into recession this year. Mr King has previously studiously avoided uttering the “R-word”, but he told business leaders in Leeds on Tuesday that “it now seems likely that the UK economy is entering a recession.” With incisive observational skills like that no wonder he got the job – maybe these time-servers in charge of the economy should worry less about sematics and spin and more about the harsh financial realities facing ordinary people. Then Mr King went on : “not since the beginning of the First World War has the banking system come so close to collapse”. Well HE was in charge of it, so instead of going to dinners and providing commentary after the event, why didn’t he do something about it ? And why are UK interest rates, which he controls, currently still way too high at 4.5 % ? And why isn’t he forcing UK banks to reflect reduced interest rates when they lend instead of imposing rip-off charges and criminal arrangement fees ?
British MPs yesterday called for action to halt the decline in the quality and provision of toilets available to the general public (above). A report by the communities and local government committee, published yesterday, says some toilets have been shut down by councils using the Disability Discrimination Act “as an excuse” – when they could easily be adapted to be accessible. No toilet should be closed unless there was “a strong case for it and after extensive consultation”, the report warns. Local authorities are failing to use their powers to force restaurants and takeaways to provide toilets or include them in planning agreements, the report says. It concludes that a full survey of provision is required to assess the full extent of the present shortage, but it is several years since such data stopped being collected centrally. “It appears that the overall number of public toilets has declined in recent years, but the lack of reliable data makes it impossible to know for sure,” the report says. “We appreciate that there are costs associated with this data collection exercise, but it is essential for formulating a public toilet strategy.” A public toilet strategy ? Sounds like a job for the Privy Council !
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Gosh it would be worth running for VP just to get that wardrobe. Sarah looks great I have to say but what hope does a country have when millions and millions are being spent on an election campaign when millions and millions are starving in the world. I dont get it and never will!
I LOVED your hypothetical ending to the al Faed story – that was a classic. Harrods has never been the same since that tribute to Diana and Dodi was put in place – it’s kind of creepy – puts you off your shopping quite frankly!