Norfolk Blogger

Sarah Palin does not care about young mothers

2008-09-04T12:32:00.002+01:00

Duncan Borrowman has everything you need to know about Sarah Palin and her attitude to young mothers HERE.

Hardly Vice Presidential material.

Is Charles Clarke only able to attack his own party leaders ?

2008-09-04T07:19:00.004+01:00

Charles Clarke said yesterday when launching his monthly attack on Gordon Brown, reminded people that Tony Blair had been an outstanding Prime Minister. Yet just a few months ago Mr Clarke was actually attacking Blair. Confused ?

It appears to me that Charles Clarke does not like any prime Minister who won't give him a job or any government he is not part of. Sadly too, Mr Clarke does not appear to have coped well with his fall from grace and cannot stop attacking and being a thorn in the side of Labour. the sad thing for his, as was stated on BBC news last night, "he no longer has any following in the Labour party". Ahh, sad !

SNP policy could prove to be a gift for Lib Dems too

2008-09-03T19:28:00.002+01:00

The SNP's wish to introduce a Local Income Tax (LIT) to replace the regressive and very unfair council tax is a great thing for Scotland, but potentially very good for the Lib Dems too.

A LIT has long been Lib Dem policy and if it works, and let's face it, it works in scores of other countries around the world so there is no reason to believe it won't work here, then it would prove the Lib Dems right in their support for the policy. But more than that, it will push the Tories and Labour in to a corner.

The Tories and Labour are going to have to defend the Council Tax, the last popular tax in the UK, to electors and themselves in order to oppose the SNP's plans.

In effect the Tories and Labour will form an alliance to defend the indefensible, and if the Lib Dems are right and campaign on this issue effectively, they can be made to be seen as backing the wrong horse.

The tag line "Remember The Labour Party/The Tory Party (delete as appropriate) voted to defend the unfair council tax this year and refused to support a fairer system based on people's ability to pay", might be a long line, but if repeated over and over again (and were I still writing Focus leaflets for Fakenham where I was a councillor I would be using this and recycling it every month), then it could prove very effective, especially if done in months when people's council tax bills land on their doorsteps.

How do you kill confidence in a growing housing market ?

2008-09-02T18:32:00.002+01:00

Imagine in a few months time that the slump in the housing market has "bottomed out", and that some confidence is starting to come back in to the market. What is the best way to shatter that new confidence ?

The answer is, of course, to re-introduce the stamp duty that has been temporarily suspended today.

The very same thing happened when the Tories tried this after the last housing crash and there is no reason to believe that it will not happen again this time.

The problem is, of course, that to do nothing at all would be negligent, so they are damned if they do, damned if they don't.

A good time for a hurricane

2008-09-01T18:33:00.002+01:00

How many Republicans were pleased to hear about the Hurricane approaching New Orleans because it would mean George W Bush would not be addressing the Republican Convention in Minneapolis ?

McCain's whole campaign is based on him not being like George Bush, and any reminders of how close they are politically would not have helped his campaign.

Funny quote on Cameron

2008-08-31T19:24:00.003+01:00

Watching Mock the Week from last week (yes, I know I am late) on Sky+, I found the quote from comedian Frankie Boyle about Cameron turning up in Georgia to offer support to the Georgians absolutely hilarious.

"Securing the support of David Cameron is on a par with getting the support of both Chuckle Brothers and Andy Townsend"

Made me laugh.

Am I the only person who finds the Oasis Cactus Kid adverts odd and slightly disturbing ?

2008-08-31T19:19:00.003+01:00

A rhetorical question of course given that people on Youtube also seem to find the advert very strange indeed.

The fact that someone at Coca Cola (who own Oasis) thought "Hang on, a girl having sex with a cactus ? That sounds great. Oh, and lets make the cactus hate water !"

I have spoken to other people about this advert and everyone else seems to find the whole Oasis Cactus kid stuff really very, very odd.

I don't care about the wording, I just wish Tesco and other supermarkets would enforce the rules

2008-08-31T15:38:00.003+01:00

Tesco are apparently going to change their fast checkout till wordings so that the signs say "up to ten items" as opposed to "10 items or less" because the term "less" should really be replaced by "fewer" as it is an incorrect use of the word "less".

I personally don't care so long as supermarkets actually start enforcing the rules on this till properly.

I've been in Morrisons when a woman turned up with two baskets each with 10 items in and insisted she would pay for each one separately. whilst it is hardly rare to see someone at a till with much more than 10 items.

What is the point of any of the wording in any language if the stores ignore it anyway ?

Could McCain be heading for a Ray Lewis moment ?

2008-08-30T10:12:00.003+01:00

John McCain's attempt to sidestep Barack Obama and steal the headlines by choosing Sarah Palin as his Vice-President might be bold and audacious, but it could explode badly in his face if allegations about Mrs Palin are found to be true.

As the BBC reports

"Mrs Palin's electoral chances may be harmed by the fact that she was placed under investigation in Alaska by state lawmakers at the end of July.
She sacked a public safety commissioner and the allegation is that she removed him because he had not fired a state trooper who is Mrs Palin's former brother-in-law, and who is in a custody battle with her sister. "

These are very serious allegations and go to the core of why people distrust politicians and undermines the strength of democratic institutions.

Like Boris Johnson choosing Ray Lewis for a senior role in London, this clever bit of PR by McCain may well make him look like a fool in the coming months.

Mr Magoo - Mr McCain

2008-08-29T17:05:00.001+01:00

Iain Dale might like it, but doesn't it make McCain look old ?

2008-08-29T16:12:00.004+01:00

Iain Dale has highlighted John McCain's latest advert on US TV. Having seen it on Youtube and Sky News today I am not so impressed.

You get the impression throughout the advert that McCain is blinking too often to read the cue card which has obviously been placed just to the left of the camera as he looks at it (our right), and due to his age he seems to squint and not look directly in to the lens.

It might have been the right message, but if I were running McCain's ad campaign I'd drop the close up shots and anything which involves McCain speaking for long periods of time when he cannot learn the lines.

You have to ask how he will cope in a debate if he cannot remember 30 words for an advert.

Bronze medal for me

2008-08-28T12:52:00.003+01:00

It's award season. This blog has already done well in one contest, but with the big one being announced in stages, I was interested to see if I could improve on my 12th place last year in the "Top Lib Dem Blogs" category in Iain Dale's/Total Politics political blogging awards.

So I am delighted to be ranked at number 3, up 9 places from last year.

Thank you to all those who voted for me and all those who read my blog regularly and leave comments.

Tories declare war on fat people and expose their confusion

2008-08-27T17:30:00.003+01:00

Is it just me or was the Tories announcement about fat people "taking responsibility" a total contradiction when the Tories said they would oppose a traffic light scheme for food labelling ?

It strikes me that the Tories commission that came up with this report (a group chaired by the head of food company Unilever) have fallen for the supermarket and food manufacturers line that food labelling is bad. So no food traffic light labelling under the Tories, but an expectation that people should eat more sensibly.

How exactly will the Tories get people to eat more sensibly if traffic light labelling is not in place ? How do you get people to take responsibility when the government removes one of the very things that will make them more responsible ?

Confused ? I guess that's what happens when you let the food industry dictate your policies.

Whatever next from the Tories ? The head of BAE to come up with defence policy, the head of Vodafone to come up with a policy on phone masts ?

Same old Tories. Funded by big business, dictated to by big business and in the pocket of big business.

You read it here first

2008-08-26T18:04:00.004+01:00

Last week I warned that the Kremlin's news mouthpiece "Russia Today" started their media campaign to soften up people to the idea of Russian annexation of parts of Georgia.

Today, it has started to happen.

Of course, if Russia is so keen on small republic being allowed to become independent of larger countries, when will they grant independence to North Ossetia and Chechnya ?

What has happened to the sunny days of August I used to remember

2008-08-26T13:12:00.002+01:00

August bank holiday week was always the week each year when we took out family holiday. Unlike David Cameron, we went on rather modest, but always completely enjoyable, holidays in England, with our usual destination being Blackpool. I do remember that we were always guaranteed at least a couple of days of bad weather, but we were also guaranteed a few really good days of sunny warm weather. The question is, where has this weather gone ?

We all know that our memory of past events can be somewhat whitewashed, but looking back through photo albums, and using my photographic memory, I know that the weather was a great deal better in August when I was a child than it is now.

So what has happened to our summers ? Some people will no doubt argue that it proves global warming isn't happening, I even heard one of the global warming deniers on the radio using the argument that this year was the coolest this century as an argument proving that global warming is not happening whilst neglecting to mention that 2008 is still set to be the 10th warmest year since records began. But there is a clear shift in our weather patterns these days. We now seem to get warm a warm sunny June, and dreadful Augusts followed by decent Septembers.

If this continues perhaps we will have to re assess when our summer school holidays should be.

What do you call someone who tries to poison everything that is good about working together ?

2008-08-25T21:14:00.003+01:00

The answer, of course, is Alex Salmond.

Forget that team GB did so well, forget that people from all over the UK with their own separate national identities worked together as a team and proved to be more as a team than merely the sum of their parts, forget that at a time when conflict and argument seems to be splitting nations, people from across the UK showed that unity brings strength and from this strength comes extraordinary achievement, Alex Salmond uses it a a pathetic attempt to waive his nationalist banner and detract from everything that has been achieved over the last 17 days.

I've never really liked London much anyway

2008-08-25T10:16:00.003+01:00

Was it Oscar Wilde who said words to the effect of "When you're tired of London, you're tired of life" ? Well I disagree. I tire of London very quickly whenever I go there. I can manage a weekend but much longer than that and I get fed up with sky high prices, poor service, people walking straight in to you and a general lack of manners found elsewhere in the country. Don't get me wrong. London is a great place with some amazing buildings and places to visit. It's just not a place I like to spend lots of time.

So to win over people like me over and millions of overseas tourists too, Visit London decided to put together a promotional video which features a piece of artwork showing child murderer Myra Hindley.

You really do have to ask, who in their right minds at Visit London thought that images of Myra Hindley would make people want to visit our capital city.

Perhaps coming from the country I am "missing the point" or perhaps I "don't appreciate art".

Update: Apparently it was Dr Johnson who said the quote (no, not Boris).

Cameron is a hypocrite

2008-08-24T17:49:00.002+01:00

This story says it all.

What a publicity seeking arsehole the man is.

National ID card contractor proves ID card data will not be secure

2008-08-24T16:24:00.003+01:00

I am sick and tired of hearing Jacqui Smith saying the latest loss of government data is not the fault of the government and is instead all down to a contractor breaking rules.

Why do these firms break rules ? Is it perhaps because they know the government will do nothing ?

If Jacqui Smith really wants to show the government is taking the issue seriously and that they do want to win the trust back of the electorate then they shoudl sack PA consulting, the firm behind the data loss and rule breaking, and strip them of any other government contracts.

The problem for the government though is that PA consulting are also one of the firm working on the National ID card system the government want to bring in. Remember, the government have assured us that the ID card system will be secure but they employ a company to work on it who break data protection rules. Confused ?

It was interesting to see the reaction of PA consulting to a BBC camera crew turning up to ask for a statement or interview about the data loss on Newsnight the other day. Suddenly lots of "heavies" and security men turned up, the camera crew were shoved rather unceremoniously on to the streets and a degree of security was evident that was certainly not seen in the way they handle confidential government data.

So will Jacqui Smith take action against a company who are part of the National ID card scheme ? What do you think ...

The Olympics video you all want to see - Cuban Taekwondo competitor kicks referee

2008-08-23T16:45:00.002+01:00

I know this is awfully bad, but I'm sure there are plenty of people who have wanted to kick an overly officious referee in the head at least once in our lives.

This excerpt from the BBC website has to be watched for about a minute, but then the Cuban Matos just loses it after the referee disqualifies the Cuban on a technicality.

What an utterly pointless statement

2008-08-23T16:35:00.003+01:00

So Boris Johnson has said that he wants to deliver the 2012 Olympics under budget. Whatever next, an announcement that Boris Johnson is against murders or that Boris Johnson opposes war ?

No politicians in the world ever wants to deliver a project "over budget", so why make the statement ?

Utterly pointless.

My daily Olympics rant

2008-08-22T15:10:00.003+01:00

Is it any wonder that the Chinese are winning so many medals considering the judging in some events seems very heavily biased in their favour.

Watching an Irish boxer earlier in the day showed just how biased these so called "unbiased" officials are. The Irishman was, according to the judges, not able to land a single scoring punch in the whole fight. Despite this, the replays clearly showed the Irishman landing a number of scoring punches. Seemingly the Chinese boxer only had to fart in order to score.

Then later on in the Bronze medal fight in the Taekwondo, the young British athlete was beaten by a Chinese opponent after the judges seemed unable to award the British competitor more than one hit in a contest which consistently showed the Briton making what should have been scoring hits.

The Irish have already complained bitterly about biased judging in previous fights involving the Chinese and there have been other examples in the gymnastics where Chinese errors have been ignored whilst other competitors are marked down for anything.

No doubt having 1.3 billion people to choose from gives you an advantage as does having a home crowd, but some of the judging and umpiring has been abysmally poor and shows a clear and obvious bias towards the Chinese. Jacques Rogge should be doing something about this rather than moaning about Usain Bolt.

Update : And in the Taekwondo today the judges had to be shamed be video and photographic evidence in to reversing the result of a Chinese victory over a British competitor. How the four judges missed the head kick was a mystery.

First Norfolk Blogger readers survey

2008-08-22T12:10:00.003+01:00

As this blog is approaching two years of age, I thought it important to find out a bit more about the many people who take the time to read my rants. So in true Iain Dale style, I have put together a very short survey which you can take part in HERE, and I can genuinely assure you it will take no longer than one minute.

Thanks for your participation.

Glass half full or half empty ? Is there anything Labour will not try and take the credit for ?

2008-08-22T09:24:00.000+01:00

Tom Watson MP has put on his blog the rather odd headline that the average age of people in the UK has risen from 37 to 39. His headline seems to be trying to take credit for this as a Labour achievement.

Perhaps the alternative headline would be that putting aside immigrants who live in the UK (and do not hold British passports), British citizens are having less children because we simply cannot afford to have children due to rising prices, lack of childcare provision and the need to have two incomes in households.

Could it be Tom Watson MP that the average age of a person in Britain has risen to 39 because there are less young people ?

That's the problem with spinning statistics (which Labour have become so good/bad at). You can use them to make any case you want. It's the glass half full or glass half empty concept of politics. The problem is that Labour are so very desperate for anything positive to say that a story about average ages is the very best Labour can do at the moment. Surely this highlights the level of problems they have.

Who do you think you are warming to Boris Johnson ?

2008-08-21T14:00:00.003+01:00

I was somewhat reluctant to sit down and watch Who do you think you are on BBC1 last night when I realised it was Borat Johnson that was the subject of the programme. It's not just Boris/Borat and his fluffed up, dragged through a hedge backwards look that I find annoying, its his politics. However, I put all my bile to one side and watched the show, and I was really jolly glad I did.

Boris has, as it turns out, a fascinating family history, a Turkish great Grandfather murdered by Kemal Attaturk, whilst going back further his family descend from the German Royalty and before that, British Royalty too.

But what surprised me most was that I warmed to Boris Johnson. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't vote for him, but he was the perfect subject for this show, a good linguist and showed a real depth of knowledge that supported the shows research.

Now is their an antidote to warming to Boris ?