The Case Against AV

No, no, no this is not a football post about Aston Villa, it’s about the Alternative Vote.

The LSE, that’s the London School of Economics, has done a study on what the make up of the House Commons would have looked like had we had AV at the last election.

Summary:

Tories - 620
Green - 1
SNP – 6
PC – 3

NO CHANGE THEN

Mirror, Mirror, On The Wall

So, the Queen of Political Correctness, Harriet Harperson, thinks it is acceptable to refer to another Member of Parliament as a “ginger rodent”? Personally I would take it as a compliment, but all the fuss over those two words has obscured the rest of her speech.

[Click on graphic to see the video]

You see she is a conservationist who drives around London in a 4X4 while using a hand held mobile phone and not stopping when she is involved in an accident. She sends her children to private school and has private medical health care. She is what used to be known as a champagne socialist but these days there is nothing socialist about the Labour Party. And she, who took her twenty pieces of silver [she was cheap] a long time ago, is now a Tory in all but name.

And she has the bloody cheek to accuse the Liberal Democrats of doing what she has already done. Selling her soul to the devil.

Mirror, mirror, on the wall,
who is the fairest of them all?

Well it ain’t you dear!

You are an ugly bitch with a fat arse,
a lank hairdo and no dress sense.

Lifebuoy

Those of a certain age may recall a 1960s ITV advert for Lifebuoy soap that went along the lines of “Your best friend wouldn’t tell you - you’ve got B.O. [That’s body odour or the armpit whiff].

Maybe, maybe not. What I have found though is that people are much more likely to listen to constructive criticism from their friends as opposed to strangers or even perceived enemies. In fact people often ask their friends for such advice. It’s what friends are for. So, I’m having a surf around the interweb and I find:

Conservative Friends of Israel

Labour Friends of Israel

Liberal Democrat Friends of Israel

Scottish Friends of Israel

Christian Friends of Israel

The Gospel Ministry Friends of Israel

Anglican Friends of Israel

Academic Friends of Israel

Friends of Israel Initiative

Methodist Friends of Israel [new]

Northern Ireland Friends of Israel

And that’s just on the first two pages of a google search. There may be a Green, BNP or UKIP Friends of Israel further on, but I couldn’t be bothered to look.

So, with all these friends you’d think at least one of them would be whispering in Israel’s ear that they need to clean up their act. I really do hope so. It’s what friends are for isn’t it?

Otherwise we will be getting more stunts like this…..

Today's the Day ....

... the Teddy Bears have their picnic!

I knew there was something really, really important happening today because when I got up there was a big blue star on my calendar. But I had forgotten what it was.
So, I went outside to do some clearing up in the garden to loosen my brain diodes, such a lovely sunny day but bloody cold.

Anyway I've now remembered what it is, it's:

INTER MILAN v. SPURS
on ITV1 this evening.

FIT-Up

David Cameron in U-turn over solar panels: Conservative leader had promised to increase payments to early adopters but the move has now been ruled out - Guardian

Image credit: Solar Cities

FIT: Feed in Tariff.
FIT-Up: Brit slang a frame-up.

[Hattip:atween]

The Meaning Of ……..

Some words can, and often do, have more than one meaning. Sometimes this is a function of time. For example, Gay was bright or happy, but was then hijacked by Peter Tatchell and his mates to mean homosexual. It is now used by the younger generation to mean bad or rubbish. Sometimes it is a function of place. For example, Fag (UK) = cigarette and Fag (USA) = homosexual.

Now you might think that this would cause problems in this day of hyper-mobility, mass migration and instant communications over the World Wide Web. But it is precisely through those very factors that we learn about the idiosyncrasies of unlike others and are able to adjust our perception and understanding appropriately, if we want to.

Good social skills are not the province of binary logic. [IT consultants please note!] Social understanding requires Iterative logic, sometimes called Fuzzy logic. That’s why the girls have the edge on us boys, their brains [95% of females and 5% of males] are wired for Fuzzy logic. That doesn’t mean that we blokes can’t do Fuzzy logic if we try, it’s just a wee bit more difficult.

Even within the borders of the UK there are regional differences and dialects, as Jim Jepps point out here. From Glaswegians to Geordies, Scousers to Brummies, Cockneys to Worzels. Not forgetting of course the wonderful Irish word - ejit.

I have been taken to task over my use of the word “twat”. Now, TWAT in capitals could mean “The War Against Terrorism” but that would be easy to spot given the context it is likely to be used in. Much more difficult, but not impossible for anyone tuned into the space age, is the difference between it’s other two meanings:-

1. Twat: a vagina synonymous with the word cunt.
2. Twat: a fool synonymous with the word twit.

It would appear that some are so divorced from reality, protected as they are within their middle class condoms of genteel dinner parties and intellectual academia that they are not aware of the word’s secondary and much more common usage out here in the streets and on the interwebby thingy. However, I have also discovered, during my brief research on the Internet, that the word is particularly offensive to British Asian females. So, I apologise to British Asian females for using that word and have changed it in the original post to “prick”.

This of course will not appease those complaining about the post, in particular the mad spam queen – they want it taken down – they don’t like the message, it has nothing to do with my choice of words.

For the message is quite clear and simple and is directed straight at their self worth. I am criticising the very thing by which these people identify themselves. I am saying that what these people are doing is a TWOT [that’s Total Waste of Time, not the Australian version of “twat”]. These people are supposed to be radical and progressive, but in reality they are stuck in their own completely ineffective “business as usual” modus operandi. The very label they pin on others.

Until they can open up their mindset and look at other possibilities that actually work, then the Palestinian’s pain will continue. That’s their choice. I prefer to support FoE ME. These people are not “pro-Palestinian” in my book - they are up their own……..

What The F......

Pissing into the Wind

Thought I’d flag this one up as the Jews for Justice for Palestinians [JFJFP] and Jews for Boycotting Israeli Goods [JBIG] just aren’t getting into the mainstream media right now, not that this blog has a wide readership, but hey we’ve all got to do our bit ain’t we.

So, a bunch of Jews who don’t like what Israel is doing to the Palestinians [who does?] decide to run the Israeli blockade of Gaza to take aid to the Palestinians. They get a boat, it’s the Jewish boat to Gaza.

Now, if you or I want to run a blockade the first thing we DON’T do is tell them we’re going to do it. If we actually want to get through and deliver that aid to the Palestinians we’re gonna want to sneak through when the bastards aren’t looking, or failing that take some mates who’ve got a fuck off tooled up battle cruiser with us. Well that’s what I’d do. But that’s not what they did, is it? They issued a fucking Press Release in advance. They told the Israelis they were coming.

So, WTF were they playing at?

Well, what they were doing is playing at gesture politics and propaganda. The aid was "symbolic". They were trying to provoke the Israelis into over reacting [again], and when they don’t they don’t get any publicity. Oh dear!

You see, it doesn’t matter whether the blockade is illegal or not, It is a fact of life. It’s there and the blockaders will do what blockaders do, blockade. You know that, I know that, they know that. What on earth did they expect?

So, the Israeli press report that the boat was boarded peacefully. The pricks report they were treated violently. So what do we, who weren’t there, and that includes most of you JFJFP and JBIG types, make of it. Well if you’re a JFJFP or JBIG type you’ll believe the pricks and attempt to perpetuate the propaganda war.

But Jo Soap doesn’t give a damn and the Media understand their audience. We all know that in those situations FORCE is always misinterpreted as violence by those on the receiving end.

Meanwhile, those with some brains, and who know a thing or two about conflict resolution, are making steady but slow progress. The ONLY way to deal with this is to encourage co-operation from the bottom up and build trust. It takes time, patience and resolve. It is not an easy road, but nothing worth doing is ever easy. You can posture and preen all you like, play indignant or the martyr. That's easy and it doesn’t work.

Without the basics no amount of posturing will get results. TINA

–THERE IS NO ALTERNATIVE.

Note: The word "twat" in the above text has been replaced with the word "prick". For an explanation as to why see here.