Mini Motorbikes: Riders Now Dead In Gutter?

This morning unusually we have been treated to a couple of early doors hoodied mini motorbikers buzzing around like proverbial gnats.

Just as your weary blogger was thinking "you have delighted us long enough", and after an hour of ASB they suddenly stopped, stone dead.


Presumably these helmetless and clueless riders have now met their maker? Or a Police Community Support Officer and a crushing defeat?

Between the BBC web story linked first above and the BBC media player clip here from the same page the death toll had increased from four to six.




Manchester, naturally, is top of the police league for detecting and crushing the things (right).
Dear Neighbour, you have been given fair warning.

Nicaragua 25: Contra La Contra! No Passaran!

Bob Piper found this culture clash via Our Man ... in Granada.

Gerald Kaufman Plays His Joker: But First Those "Spunk Loving Sluts"

Above we have Hamer Shawcross' minds eye as he imagines George Galloway and Harriet Harman consumating their long-held respect and admiration. After gallant George apologised in advance for name checking the Desmond title reproduced coyly above. His point? That HMG possibly had a bit of a cheek criticizing his fundraising methods when monies had been accepted from the pornographer.

Hamer tipped his hat to Devil's Kitchen who had first doffed his to the puritanical Flying Rodent. As one of them said GG's absence is not really going to bother the scorers given his batting and bowling averages.

But - you're asking - where does Curly (below, as a chuckle brother, to me to you) come in? Well, Gerald was George's warm up man with 15 seconds of wit and repartee preceeding 76 minutes (count 'em) of George going "me-me-me-me-me". Here it is:

Sir Gerald Kaufman (Manchester, Gorton) (Lab): Mr. Speaker, could you advise me of what procedure there is, when a Member of this House has been responsible for activities which have cost the public £1 million, for bringing him here on a charge of wasting police time?
Mr. Speaker: That is certainly not a matter for me.

Hamer ended his post with something about it reading back as a little mad. But that was before he read this one.

USA Politicians: Still Telling Fibs and Being Rude

Hat tips: Tyger (cartoon) and Rising Hegemons (animated gif).

Daily Telegraph: Nine Point Lead for Brown

Trailed on BBC Newsnight. In tomorrow's Daily Telegraph. 41-32.

Idiots For Labour: Predict Harman's Downfall

'Twas Idiots 4Labour said it on receiving communication from Harrie.

Lib Dems: MCR Parliamentary Selections

In a strange new twist the Lib Dems' list of PPCs by Constituency DOES NOT include any Manchester seats. Further it includes no Leech, no Ramsbottom and no Afzal. Unless this is yet another sloppy wishy-washy Lib Dem mistake it means that Leech has been TAKEN OFF the list!

Perhaps it has finally hit home that Cllr John "Hospital Hoax" Leech MP is a no hoper? That following his resignation ahead of a financial irregularity enquiry Cllr Marc Ramsbottom is also a liability. And that if ex-Cllr and media tart Qassim Afzal cannot even hold his Cheetham Hill council seat against an untried candidate he surely cannot be a PPC again.

BBC Non-Linear Edit Gate: Working Classes

Bob Piper has tagged an excellent Guardian letter pointing out that there was scarcely a murmur, still less an apology or an enquiry when the BBC chopped out a line of police getting bricked by miners ahead of miners and wives getting charged and battered by mounted constables, or per chance cavalry officers, at Orgreave. The events there happened in the reverse of the BBC ordering of the world. And unlike the case of our dear Queen people did get hurt in the incident. First, an innocent man threatened with internment for an admittedly shocking socks and sandals offence. And now this.

Boris de Piffle: Londoners Can Scupper Him

It seems that Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson is hoping to be nominated as Tory loser in upcoming London Mayoral elections. Anyone who is on an electoral roll in the GLA area can decide whether he gets a run out or not. The following details of the Tory Telephone Exploitation Scandal are courtesy of Piffle's own T'Inter-web presence (excellent work from Bloggerhead Tim Ireland):

The Telephone Number for people wishing to register to vote in the primary went live at 3.00 pm. It will be automated today and will have live operators from tomorrow when it will be mannedstaffed:

Mon-Fri 8am to 9 pm
Sat 9am to 5pm
Sun 10am to 4pm

The number is 0906 555 5050

[smallprint]Calls cost £1.00p per minute from a BT Landline, other operators & networks may vary. iTouch (UK) Ltd. EC2A 4PF[/smallprint]

Please note that all members of the Conservative Party are automatically registered to vote in the ballot

The ballot is open to anyone registered as an elector in Greater London as at 1 July 2007

That's right! JUST ONE POUND PER MINUTE TO SIGN UP!

Pickled Politics: Are We Recalling Internment?

Pickled Politics has some good riffs this morning on proposals for 56 days without charge.

Although this may be seen as the not so thin end of a wedge I find the comparisons with internment in Ireland a bit of a stretch and comment:

Being opposed to 56 days (and those pesky iD cards), but also possibly more aware of internment and the erstwhile struggle in the six counties, I must say I find the hyperbole of comparing this unwelcome proposal with the internment introduced 36 years ago is baffling.

It is surely a sign of our progress over the last 40 years that we have not got anything like that internment?

(Mother’s cousin gunned down by soldiers, uncle and cousin hospitalised with baton rounds, little brother barred from NI)

I'm not sure where David Davis would be up to on this stuff by now if he were Home Secretary and unfettered by the "new consensus" but whatever he and his kind may say about this, internment it ain't.

What does the recanted Islamist Ed Husain say? It's not exactly in this link but Mohamm(Ed) is for enforced re-education AND/OR imprisonment.

My view is that the government is now proposing a number of measures all at once - belt, braces and adjustable waistband - when perming one or two in three ought to be the next step in a balanced liberal democracy. Stick with 28 days, allow intercept, continue making cases after charges.

Dave-id Cameron: Good News in Guardian Poll!

Phew! Dave-id Cameron will be thanking Guido for spotting the error in the above graphic. In fact a barnstorming 25% like both Cameron and the Tories. That's alright then!

Meme Processing: Mookie on Dollar Imperialism

Thinking blogger (remember those?) Mookie is wondering out loud whatever anyone can have against secondary imperialism and cash cropping. This is light reading compared to their Socratic dialogue with a right wing libertarian on socialism and capitalism.

Labour Party Nostalgia: It's Yesterday Once More

NEC Member and Amicus-Unite good egg Peter Wheeler has found some throw back Labour print. This is from back in the day, even before Andy Burnham was growing up - knowing exactly where he stood - in East Lancashire (reported at Fabian fringe, June coronation). Quite a reminder of the obvious and I think lasting appeal of a true workers' party.

Child Execution: Answer is Blowing in the Wind

Stephen Newton had a story of extortion and execution. The teenager was given a further 10 days stay of execution to raise a rather inflated sum of blood money. He was not whistling in the wind and his prayers have been answered.

On the question of just how long Cllr John Leech MP spent actually "sleeping rough" in Manchester in another Amnesty activity recently I've so far placed him on site at 11:30pm (it started at 10pm) and learned that unlike many he got some sleep.

Perhaps then he did not skip all but half an hour - as he did the anti-war demo he's been bragging about. Unless you know different?

Going Down on the Tube: Gay Times vs Sandals

Islingtonista Tim McLoughlin reports that London Transport have refused some Gay Times artwork. Though not the full campaign. Which is what befell Sandals in September 2003. Live by the sword etc? Or just plain outrageous censorship? The artwork (right) attached to coverage doesn't really seem to fall into the ban-able category. Sandals were banning same sex couples. Til Ken stepped in.

Networking: Where There's a Hit There's a Writ

The brotherly clots behind the very inferior connectU are apparently claiming 100% of the very superior facebook because, they claim, it ripped off their "unique" idea back in 2004. BBC Clip (launches player).

Said clots asked facebook genius to write them some code for their already derivative idea of a networking site. Don't know if any money and/or equity was involved if he delivered. But anyway he didn't. Or at least not the full shilling. But later he did do his own site. In fact he registered a domain at around the time he was trying to do the work for the brothers grim.

His site has 31 million adherents and continues to spread like wildfire. The brotherly clots claim a respectable 70,000 users - like a larger facebook group or a few hours' new recruits. Not much more than Iain Dale.

My feeling is that if they'd had the detailed ideas and hired a coder and had a decent marketing plan they'd be in a better place. The suggestion that this was "their" idea of an online community and sub communities is far fetched. Because when it comes to generic, public domain and unprotectable ideas, well this is one of them.

Incidentally their site was both unsearchable and unjoinable this morning at 10 am, say 5 am west coast time. In any case it appeared to be for students only. In named colleges in the USA only. Very inferior.

Political Betting: Betting on Labour Overall Majority

Although No Overall Control still has a very narrow lead (coming above, soon) it is expected that a Labour Majority will become favourites within days, hours, minutes.

If you strongly believe that you can supplement your 6-4 "on the nose" with a little wager on the size of the majority (Coral's prices):

Labour To Have A Majority 1-25 Seats 7/1
Labour To Have A Majority 26-50 Seats 11/1
Labour To Have A Majority 51-75 Seats 14/1
Labour To Have A Majority 76-100 Seats 20/1
Labour To Have A Majority 101-125 Seats 25/1
Labour To Have A Majority 126-150 Seats 33/1
Labour To Have A Majority 151 Seats Or More 33/ 1

You can bet on all the first five options (which are of course exclusive) and get 7-5 on the worst case and 5-1 on the best. This is not quite "free money", as anything could happen in the 96 weeks still to go until the early June 2009 election, but it is a lot better odds than on any super slots at Manchester Eastlands.

UPDATE: William Hill's have started a book on Cameron's successor. About 20 runners with Hague and Davis making the pace. I tend to agree with Mike Smithson that DC could resign, restand and see them all off.

Tory Party: Lights Go Out on Dave-id Cameron While He's in Darkest Africa?

Yep, it must be true. It's on Watson's blog.

Luke Akehurst: Still Smearing and Still Jeering

While you'd think that Luke Akehurst would be making much of the fact that Hackney's Labour Council had the good sense to recently move the Borough out of the London floodplain he's not. Other fish to fry at Hakefirst's. Sadly the boy is obsessed with carve ups and sectarianism.

In Luke's view the Centre Left Grassroots Alliance (CLGA) slate for the National Policy Forum (NPF), which does not endorse a full complement of candidates, is something to be jeered at. That there is a such a slate at all even is for him a great regret.

But the young man does not link to his own faction's slate. Although this is known as "Labour First" its underlying purpose is more "Noddy and Big Ears". Nodding through all policies coming down from above. Flapping ears and grassing up any debate as dissent.
In comments someone characterises CLGA backed delegates to NEC as engaged in "point blank oppositionalism". This really isn't reasonable.

It certainly doesn't show much respect for the CLP grass roots who put them there on purpose. To give some small chance that the NEC is not over-run by delegates of one particular persuasion.

So it should be with the NPF. Shame is though that this talking shop is elected by Conference delegates. Not by one member one vote. The grassroots naturally tend to do better when appealling to the grass roots than to the increasingly standard CLP delegate. Also tending to fall into the Noddy and Big Ears category. Or shamefully even sent up as malleable naifs. Or bar flies who won't even take much part. Mentioning no names.

The trouble with the NPF of course has been that it does not act, is not allowed to act as, a proper scrutiny and indeed policy inspiring, testing and tweaking body. Latterly, being packed with an excessive quotient of Luke's crew, it doesn't even want to comment. By admission of respected NEC members, on the record at hustings, submissions from CLPs stay piled in cardboard boxes and are rarely even read.

This Baa Baa Baa, how high shall we jump? is for the sheeple! At the end of the day NPF CLP delegates have a purpose. Giving ordinary party members a voice. If all are inveterate stirrers we have a problem. If all are inveterate rubber stampers too. Luke wants rubber stampers. He sets himself against participation and likes to twist party democracy so there is none.

Far Right Politics: Silver Bling Intercourse with BNP

Saturday's Daily Mirror has caught up with Unity's exposes e.g. here and here about the Silver Bling Thing (SBT) case of a schoolgirl in court, the commercial links and ramifications, and ah yes the links to the far right.


Denise Pfeiffer aka Piper (sprawled chastely above) is the "27-year-old" (sic) who has she says reached 37 as virgo intacto while sharing the bed of BNP parliamentary candidate Clive Potter (inset left).

Denise's CV includes being a marketeer and PR for the intending SBT profiteers and for BNP anti-gay campaigns, being a sometime lingerie model, being an Emmerdale etc etc walk on, being a journalist, being a US jailbird as a stalker of the family of Jordy Chandler the child involved in a court action against Michael Jackson, her bail of £10,000 paid by ultra lefty Lynn Redgrave followed by a suspended sentence, and of course a long time Michael Jackson fan. Most of the last decade spent as a 25-year-old. Very talented. Very complex.

Boyfriend is apparently some combination of very patient, very asexual, very gay, very erectorally challenged, very heavy duty Christian fundamentalist ... or perhaps a lying conniving money grubbing shag nasty BNP parliamentary candidate Clive Potter.

Hat tip: Lancaster UAF.