Friday, September 04, 2009

The Hopi Sen Conundrum: Bananas, Homicide, Rochdale




Hopi Sen has posted two "hockey stick" graphs and asked readers to speculate on what they plot right here. The scale on the lower one starts at 1692 and that'll make the whole puzzle take a few extra hundredths of a nanosecond to solve. Please no copying my answer:

The lower one is clearly the consumption of bananas and other tropical fruit in the UK. The upper one is the number of murders per year in (a) Baltimore and spookily (b) Midsomer, Cabot Cove and every other fictional rural murder location in popular fiction. The only possible conclusions:
Bananas cause psychotic violence.
(Also for Rochdale only: PR Paul “bananas” Rowen can’t win here).

FOOTNOTE 15:00: Hopi's answers. Top worker wages (real terms), and public spending.

8 comments:

Dick said...

Quite a nice little website for the latter

http://www.ukpublicspending.co.uk/index.php

Chris Paul said...

Cheers Dick

Does it show that Maggie Thatcher had a bigger tax take and a bigger public sector? I think we can guarantee that if GOO - or his high falluting hunting, fishing and shooting Rothschild mates - gets his hands on the levers of power then it'll be high tax and low spend.

Dick the Prick said...

Can't disagree with yer there. Burning our Money has a nice breakdown of hack vs slice. What's the devious tweet by the mad idiot?

Anonymous said...

You and 'Dick the Prick' are in good company together.
A pair of limp impotent pricks.

Chris Paul said...

Devious tweet is one of Nadine's. But I'll say no more. Welcome back to "Anonymous" Dave "I never post anonymously" Hennigan uber-muppet and laughing stock. Been to any good solicitors recently Dave? On a mission to save the world from banana banter? PR Paul should come out fighting, like yourself.

Dick the limp impotent Prick said...

I don't twitter, did it during the Draper thing but, similar to not blogging, seems easier just to bumble about and have only been to Dorries' blog a couple of times but cleaning the vomit of the keyboard gets tiresome.

Shame Dave couldn't think of a better insult considering i've been calling myself a prick for 2 years now but...

Anonymous said...

the hockey stick graph clearly shows the increased incidences of bollock groping in Rochdale. It really began to take of exponentially after the second world war. Some blame it on the increased use of privately owned motorcars. By the 1960s, Norman started driving his important councillor/alderman/businessman brother Cyril around.

Those long late night waits outside young lads hostels such as Cambridge House must have been very tedious for gormless Norm.

Anonymous said...

I've always said Robin Parker was an honourable man:

Former Mayor threatens to quit Labour Party
Date published: 10/09/2009

Former Mayor of Rochdale Borough, Councillor Robin Parker has written to the Regional Director of the Labour Party in the North West threatening to leave the party if seven of his local party colleagues are expelled.

The seven face a Labour party disciplinary panel early next week (13/14 September) for calling for an investigation into Labour Prospective Parliamentary Candidate (PPC) Simon Danczuk following allegations regarding an argument Mr Danczuk had with his young mistress, Karen Burke, whilst on holiday in August 2008.

Mr Danczuk and Ms Burke went public to deny the allegations in an article in the Rochdale Observer in January this year. In the article Mr Danczuk “slammed” the allegations as “vicious mischief making.” Adding that claims that he hit Ms Burke were “totally untrue – an absolute nonsense”.

Ms Burke was said to be distressed by the accusation which she is quoted as describing as “very offensive”.

Mr Danczuk accused people within his own party of being responsible for the attack on his character and said they can be “quite bullying” with a “reputation for being a difficult constituency Labour party”.

This accusation motivated a letter to the newspaper signed by six local party members stating that they believed the claims of bullying had been made because of a request “for a full investigation of allegations made against Mr Danczuk”.

The signatories, Jack Brassington, Michael Cummings, Maureen Nicholl, David Lee, Mark Hollinrake and Michael Coats, along with former Councillor Tom Stott, now face disciplinary action on the ground that they have brought the Party into disrepute, and if found guilty, they could be expelled.

Councillor Parker, in his letter to the Party, says: “To put the investigation in context, most of the accused have been party members for well over twenty years, indicative of the level of work and commitment that these members have given. I have been with most on canvassing teams, stood with some on picket lines and with others on anti fascist rallies. Some have been involved in all three activities.”

He adds: “I now believe that his [Simon Danczuk’s] position as a PPC is no longer tenable, but that is not for this hearing. My concern is that no party member should be expelled because of it. I have been in the party for thirty four years and a councillor for twenty. I always thought, to quote the late Robin Cook, that I would die a member of the Labour Party, but I could not in conscience remain if any of the seven were expelled.”