Well worth a read but a point of order re that first theory: the Nixon/JFK debates are famous 'political debate' history with definite pros and cons of radio versus TV broadcasting! However Nixon didn't actually met Elvis until late 1970: a year when two of the latter's hits were "I've Lost You" and "I Really Don't Want to Know", both titles very appropriate to Brown's and Labour's election campaign. However, the Nixon/Elvis meeting wasn't made public until 1972 (surely nothing to do with the presidential election that year!)...a year which began for Elvis with "Until It's Time for You to Go" and ended with "Separate Ways". My God...it's uncanny. Also, here's hoping BROWN and TOAST doesn't just refer to a Maillard reaction. os·ci·tan·cy n. The act of yawning. The state of being drowsy or inattentive; dullness. oli·go·dy·nam·ic adjActive in very small quantities"Gordon is living out a Richard Nixon fantasy, he seems himself as a man of substance and policy, like Nixon, facing defeat at the hands of more photogenic and televisual opponents, with Clegg and Cameron playing the role of Kennedy"
If that wasn't cringe-worthy enough the Labour rally joined in singing "The Wonder of You". There are a few - and more relevant - titles to Elvis hits below. Click on the image 'borrowed' from order-order.com to see what Guido's conspiracy theories are to try to explain the inexplicable: "The Brown Nixon Elvis Conspiracy Theory Competition". The first is that: Well worth a read but a point of order re that first theory: the Nixon/JFK debates are famous 'political debate' history with definite pros and cons of radio versus TV broadcasting! However Nixon didn't actually met Elvis until late 1970: a year when two of the latter's hits were "I've Lost You" and "I Really Don't Want to Know", both titles very appropriate to Brown's and Labour's election campaign. However, the Nixon/Elvis meeting wasn't made public until 1972 (surely nothing to do with the presidential election that year!)...a year which began for Elvis with "Until It's Time for You to Go" and ended with "Separate Ways"."Gordon is living out a Richard Nixon fantasy, he seems himself as a man of substance and policy, like Nixon, facing defeat at the hands of more photogenic and televisual opponents, with Clegg and Cameron playing the role of Kennedy"
The ONS info is confirming many other people's previous predictions: that UK national debt could treble; making things worse is that as debt increases the tax receipts are falling*, down 11% in January. Click on image to enlarge (PDF) the excellent graphic in The Guardian.
...now, sorry but that's bollocks: don't get me wrong, all those books, quick-read, vouchers, getting children reading etc, that's fine, that's great! But I think it's New-Labour-Tony-Blair smarm speak. "Now HOLD ON" (I hear you say), I know it's a registered charity (although we know that in many cases registered charities are 'government initiatives'...and by pure coincidence that very question is the 2nd of their FAQs) ...BUT, why do I think it's bollocks you ask? Well, there are 35 possible dates for Easter Sunday: from March 22 to April 25: look at this handy graph (2nd graph down, it makes what I'm getting at a lot clearer). April 25th is the latest possible date so even when schools have 2 weeks Easter holiday - with Easter weekend in the middle - the latest the term time break-up is ever going to be is 17/18th April so very roughly 80% or more of all "normal" International Book Days would be in term time."The initiative is so well established in schools here that we want to make sure that the Day happens in term time to really make the most of this opportunity to celebrate books and reading"
Enjoy St. George's Day, celebrate it even though we do not know much about St. George. We do know that there has been a resurgence and rebirth of our Patron Saint as a cultural entity and identity most probably due to actual and perceived attempts to ignore, sideline or belittle England and the English.George, in the face of temptation (offered excessive wealth to renounce his belief) darkness, persecution, extended and brutal torture, chose death rather than do what was not right (he also gave away all his possessions to the poor when he realised what his final fate would be)."Martyrdom is now an ambiguous and misunderstood phenomenon. If it simply means 'dying for what you believe', what makes that laudable and holy? It is certainly not laudable and holy if such a demise inflicts suffering and death on others, or if it is a deliberate taking of one’s own life removed from the context of threat and persecution in faith."
So why is this Roman soldier - of what today would be Turkish and Palestinian descent - defining my country’s soul, why is George patron of England? Not because he defines who England is, but because he exemplifies what we should be: charitable, tolerant, brave, compassionate, honourable, Christian."As a soldier he would have known battle, faced the possibility of death. This is not the issue. His submissive, passionate action, defying soldier’s orders, maintained compassion in the face of tyranny and justice at the risk of dishonour and treason. This is the example that so many have found in our patron saint, that sudden rush of love that falls on those born again in the Spirit, that at the last, changes one’s life."
The ODA agreed to release the local employment figures under the Freedom of Information Act after a six-month campaign by a shipping industry worker and local East End resident David Isted. [Link]"the Olympic Delivery Authority has been forced to reveal that just 828 workers out of the total 6,277 workers on the Olympic site are Britons who live locally in the most revealing snapshot of employment on the site."
Now with that I agree (I also agree with Guido's conclusion...interesting times!), and the voting together in a literal sense is true, BUT the idea and implication that these parties are voting 'on the same side' because they agree is simply not true (IMHO!); the reason why the voting patterns have moved closer, almost coinciding - it is apparent that all the other parties and independents (the green squares) are also voting with the Conservatives - is that they were all united in opposition to New Labour's gross dereliction of duty with lick spittle lobby-fodder chickens toeing the party line, no matter what line that was; trampling democracy, trouncing debate, ramming through ill thought-out, liberty-cramping and positively dangerous legislation."The parties respective policies are closer now than they have been for over half-a-century. Cameron is telling the truth when he says that he is a liberal-conservative. Nick Clegg is a former Cambridge Conservative who is now a Liberal. They fact is they are both instinctively liberal metropolitan modernisers."
For those really interested there is a chemical composition of the ash and the gas composition and flux report from the Institute of Earth Sciences HERE.
"Brown has for his own short term political reasons blocked any credible medium term plan to be put forward to deal with the UK’s fiscal crisis. This adds daily to the level of pressure on the currency. International investors and the rating agencies understand this dynamic well and require the Pound to fall if they are to continue to provide funds to cover Brown’s borrowing. The situation is unsustainable, dangerous and rapidly deteriorating."
Support for an English parliament is strong. In fact support for an English parliament is stronger than support for the Conservative, Labour or Liberal Democrat parties. And according to the polls conducted by YouGov [PDF] on behalf of The Jury Team support for an English Parliament is stronger than support for proportional representation.
In other news Gordon Brown says that the Labour party would be 'useless and relentless performers' and were 'ready to answer the call of the few, cha.' He also pledged 'fare taxes' and 'to erase the minimum wage'. Well, that's what I heard. ;-)What we will not hear much about though, to judge by the way this campaign has gone so far, is debt, the black hole that deepens with every deficit. Or DEBT! as it rightly should be written every time. It’s as if the parties and leaders have decided to ignore the issue for the duration, for fear of putting off the voters. From Labour this is no surprise. Gordon Brown has no interest in being interested in the issue, and even considers it an economic virtue, a price worth paying to save us from economic collapse. To address DEBT! and what must be done about it would be to draw attention to his record of spending recklessness dating back to the good times of 2002-3.
Highly targeted marketing or a crude, tasteless, despicable, crass political low?People wondering how they managed to target these people, it was done by using anonymous data mashup from Experian to work out roughly where someone with cancer lives. They hold anonymous hospital data with postcodes and medical diagnosis. Think of it like a shotgun being targeted at a door but the pellets spread out and hit many targets in a specific area.
However, saying this, one of the people that received the mailshot did so whilst her 50 neighbours sharing the postcode did not. So perhaps from a data point of view there is slightly more to this than meets the eye.
Roughly translated: Messi is above all Messi FC. He made a nightime snack of Arsenal with a spectacular monologue of football and goals; the team, struck by injuries, suspensions and a congested timetable, needed a figure like Messi. The night called for a saviour in times of resurrection and the Flea appeared.Messi es sobre todo Messi FC. Se merendó al Arsenal con un monólogo espectacular por sus jugadas, por sus goles, por su ascendente sobre un equipo rebajado por las bajas, exigido por el calendario, necesitado de una figura como la de Messi. La noche pedía un redentor en tiempos de resurrección y apareció la pulga*.
Messi es un genio del fútbol. Acabada la jornada, recogió la pelota y no será noticia hasta el próximo partido. Que nadie le pregunte nada ni busque sus declaraciones porque la pulga solo se explica en el patio de recreo
...say Spiked. I suspect it will be more because they spent a record of 30 million quid in January...a million quid every day. That record lasted until February when the spent 35 million! Comically Labour say they will reduce this by 25% over two years...well it went up 35% in 08/09 and another 10% this year so they're not really promising much are they? Pure coincidence the election is due. Arseholes."Despite the recession, the government spent £211million on advertising in 2008/9, a 35 per cent increase on the previous year. That looks set to rise to £232million in 2009/10. The advertising industry has hailed the government as its 'lifeblood' and has rewarded the Central Office of Information (COI) with numerous accolades, including 'advertiser of the year' and 'advertiser of the decade'"
The overture to the main composition: coordinated campaigns and strikes...and more strikes, for whoever forms the next administration of the UK.In scenes reminiscent of union rallies of the 60s and 70s, teachers chanted "the workers, united, will never be defeated" as they gave Mr Serwotka a standing ovation.
Not only is the Guardian headline - "Secret tape reveals Tory backing for ban on gays" [headline]- totally misleading (intentionally so: Toby Helm has a history of this) and now they backed it up with an equally misleading photo. Within two hours there were going on for 500 tweets and 200 comments; now approaching 500 comments and 800 tweets, manna to the loyal labour lickspittles, desperate for some news to bash the Tories with: the irony of their own prejudices, clearly apparent in hundreds of the comments, is lost on them. Of course the usual suspects flock to the scene: Chris Huhne said "Chris Grayling's plan would allow discrimination to thrive"...his "plan" FFS!"What I find terrifying is that the law is now there (with future laws to come under Labour) to criminalise people for making free choices out of their own consciences and motives. Private owners are told what they can and can't do by the State, under the guise of 'equality'. The logic, or lack of it, inherent in this Orwellian legal development makes the blood chill."
Looking at/listening to what Grayling actually said (something beyond most of the Guardian readers): "I think we need to allow people to have their own consciences," he said. "I personally always took the view that, if you look at the case of should a Christian hotel owner have the right to exclude a gay couple from a hotel, I took the view that if it's a question of somebody who's doing a B&B in their own home, that individual should have the right to decide who does and who doesn't come into their own home.""What you are basically saying is someone has no right of refusal.
If someone turns up for business not of the business owner's liking, you are saying they must be forced to do business with them. That is absurd, authoritarian, totalitarian. It makes the individual lose the right of self determination. A business becomes just a cog at the whim of the state, of thought police and the mob.
You are tramping over not just property rights but the freedom of association, the freedom of self determination."
Another post, another 'iconic' picture. A report of which can be found in INTELLIGENT LIFE Magazine (The Economist). Click on image for Ian Jack's brilliant and full article: Five Boys: The Story of a Picture. Indeed, the story of a photo that for 70 years "has been used to tell the same story – of inequality, class division, 'toffs and toughs'". All the questions: what were the circumstances; where was it; when was it; who were they; why were they there; how did they get on in later life? All there, all answered in full. An article that is well worth more than a few minutes of your time.
You've seen it before and you like it. But the photographer of this image,"one of the iconic images of the 1970s" has died aged 63. (click on image for article in The Times) Martin Elliott was a photographic student in Birmingham in 1976 and took this picture of his girlfriend (the then 18-year-old Fiona Butler) on one of the university tennis courts. It sold millions of copies but "the early breakthrough was as much a curse as a blessing... ...clients assumed [that] his services would be too expensive".
