Life Out of Office

With Blair making notably little progress in his chosen post Prime Ministerial career relating to the Middle East, it seems that reporters are starting to turn their mind to what he is actually up to at the moment. It appears that the Guardian has found part of the answer in a piece entitled "Blair lands role in Bush's doggie video". Please note that it is "doggie", not the more familiar Blair adjective of "dodgy", nor does it relate to anything remotely pornographic.

The full version of the edited down video from the Guardian is presented in all its appalling splendour below. Be warned though, you will soon want to fast-forward to around 5 minutes and 10 seconds to see that unlike in America where a B-list actor can become a great president, it seems that here in the UK a reverse process applies to mediocre Prime Ministers.



For those that cannot stomach even a short cameo by Blair, here is his part of the script:

FORMER PRIME MINISTER TONY BLAIR: Congratulations Barney and Miss Beazley on becoming Junior Park Rangers. Well done.

As someone born in Edinburgh, Scotland, it's always good to see the Scots doing well.

Source: whitehouse.gov

For the uninitiated 'Barney' and 'Miss Beazley' are the Bush's two Aberdeen Terriers. It's noticeable that he finds it easier to congratulate dog's of distant Scottish heritage on fictional appointments than certain Scots to real jobs.

Then again, as ever, Blair speaks carefully in saying "it's always good to see the Scots doing well", as until Brown does something well, a somewhat distant prospect, he clearly feels little need to offer the same fulsome congratulations to his former chancellor.

Blissful Ignorance

Dan Hannan is becoming an increasingly prolific poster over at his Telegragh blog. He certainly ranks as my favourite blogger amongst elected representatives at the moment, with a powerful writing style reducing issues that the EU elite would rather remain obscure, or at least opaque, in the minds of the public to their stark essentials. It attracts a fair amount of intelligent comment, including familiar more reasoned pro EU voices in opposition such as Chris Sherwood, even if it does have the usual dose of Brussels fruitcake, in this case from a A-list loon called Johan de Meulemeester.

Most of Mr Hannan's postings are in his typical intellectual style, but in a recent posting he shows that he's still capable of a chuckle at more basic fare.



Well, at least somebody has fallen for line of the hardcore, federalist Eurofanatics, even if is one the Americans they detest so much.

Hero Worship

It would seem that our somewhat beleaguered Prime Minister has at least one fan who believes that Gordon knows what it takes to exercise high office.

It appears that the front-runner to be the Australian premier after the country's next general election, Kevin Rudd, seems to be determined to ape Gordon in every respect:



Of course he didn't quite get it right. Let's remind ourselves of how a all too real Prime Minister (then in-waiting) does it:



I was going to entitle this 'The Wrong Orrifice' but I thought that some might have got the wrong end of the stick.

Counting the Cost

I hadn't intended to post this clip, which appeared on Iain Dale's Diary earlier in the week:



At the end of the day, most of the figures quoted have been floating around for quite a while and, in essense, there is nothing wrong with differential levels of public spending to reflect regional needs. However, having seen it posted in other places now where it always seems to attract the same kind of one-eyed comments I thought it was worth giving it another airing.

The issue, as far as I'm concerned is not that Scotland and, to a lesser extent Wales, may offer higher grade public services, but how they should be paid for.

Had an elected Scottish Parliament chosen to exercise their limited authority to levy additional taxes to fund this differential level of provision of services there would be no issue, but this has not been done. Had other services been cut so that these priority areas could be better funded that again would be a choice for Scotland, but most areas that both SNP and Scottish Labour MSPs would like to cut are reserved to Westminster, and as such there appear to have been no such cuts. If Scotland had discovered ways of finding efficiency gains of the order required to make these enhanced service levels, the world would have beaten its way to their door, but the world hasn't.

In the absence of any other explanation, the only plausible culprit for this discriminatory situation can be the inequities of the Barnett formula. It is an equation that is broken, having clearly gone before it's intent of creating a level playing field. Even when the genuine additional costs of providing services in Scotland are taken into account it is now clear that Scottish administrations have an enormous 'disposable income' that the rest of the county simply doesn't have.

Surly, even considering how important Scottish votes may be to Brown at the next general election, he cannot be blind in both eyes to the dangers of allowing the inevitable anger that such patent unfairness will inevitably engender.

The American Republic will endure, until politicians realize they can bribe the people with their own money.

Alexis de Tocqueville, 1805-1859

Today de Tocqueville's words may have more relevance to the Union than an American Republic already well acustomed to the taste of pork barrel polictics.

Advertising Success

Since the dawn of the professional era, Rugby has always punched above its weight with advertisers. Not only does the the TV audience for any big game overlap with a sought after demographic, but it's a sport brimming over with positive images of strength, speed, teamwork and passion.

2003 produced probably the best series of ads ever with the Nike's 'Keep the Ball Alive' campaign. Sadly they were never screened in the UK, allegedly because some chinless wonder in the Advertising Standards Authority felt they were a bit too rough.

This is what we missed out on:



Don't try this at home.

Many adverts play on Rugby stereotypes, though now and again an attempt is made to break with tradition. This example is a case in point, though the stereotype being broken is about our Gallic cousins, not the sport itself:



With kevball's greater numbers, any attempt to make comparisons between sports is usually avoided, or attempts to put the round ball game on a par with god's own sport, such as the Lewsey v Crouch Powerade commercial:

I prefer Land Rover's approach, again featuring Lewsey:



Anyone unfamiliar with the game may wonder why Land Rover would choose one of the girlie backs as a figure of intimidation. Matt Rogers, of Wallabies fame would be able to explain why Lewsey is a player the Springboks will be glad not to be facing this evening.

Here Lewsey perfectly legally takes his revenge on the none-too-bright Rogers' pathetic bitch-slap on him a few minutes earlier:



Apparently, Rogers, a keen surfer, has had to use a specially adapted board ever since this incident as the mangled state of his ribcage makes it too uncomfortable to lie on to paddle out on a normal one.

A Beginner's Guide

This weekend will doubtlessly see an even larger number of temporary converts to Rugby than the one just gone, and perhaps even more than in 2003 thanks to the kick-off time.

As a public service I felt that I should do my part in explaining the rules of the game. No, for those adept in the art already I do not mean the laws of Rugby Union, but the rules for supporting your team, be it England, or, in the case of the other home nations, the Springboks.

Frankly there has been too much lightweight, socceresque behaviour around the Village. Hopefully the following short film, albeit from a Kiwi perspective, may help teach some amateurs the error of their ways. I would put a 'strong language' warning on it, but hey, I don't do it in the blogroll here, so why start now:



Those that do not drag themselves out of their pit at obscene hours to watch Tri Nations rugby, and indeed many that do so, may be unfamiliar with the voice of the film, Jed Thian. As well as contributing to the Rugby Roundtable blog which, even though All Black focused, is always an entertaining read, he is also the voice of The Alternative Rugby Commentary, which provides a much better audio channel for games involving the ABs than any mainstream broadcaster can muster, especially the rather anodyne NZ output.

How badly we need something like that here. To be able to switch of the ramblings of twat-of-all-trades Jim Rosenthal, and the fairly average Barnes and Harrison that ITV in desperation had to borrow from Sky, would truly be a blessing.

That said, Jed doesn't quite get everything right:



Though it should be said that he is no carping Kiwi, coming out with a much more balanced assessment of the ABs' exit than much of the mainstream New Zealand media could manage.

Roast Chipmunk

Guido has, in my opinion, had a very fine week. I couldn't agree more with his comments regarding the anti-authoritarian common ground between the Conservatives and Lib Dems, and the difficulties in exploiting it.

Most of all though I did enjoy this YouTube gem.



As a way to sum up a week of reheated policies at the Labour party conference it really take the biscuit, if the very weak pun can be excused.

Return of the White Elephant

The Croydonian has found an interesting video from the EU sponsored area of YouTube in which appears to promote the idea that yet another core European value has been decided for us by our elders and betters.

I actually preferred one that popped up in the related clips section:



How apt that a film, doubtlessly produced with a nice chunk of taxpayer's cash, to celebrate the EU's 50th birthday should feature quite prominently the proposed Galileo satellite navigation system.

I should praise EU honesty in admitting the organisation's involvement in the project, now that it has been confirmed that commercial interest has ebbed away and the whole thing is set to become a millstone round European taxpayer's necks. Unfortunately, the indignation of being part of paying for this monument to politician's vanity is too strong for any form of kind words.

Foul Language Alert

No, there are no links to, or quotes from Devil's Kitchen or any other swearblog today. It's just that the Thunder Dragon has been producing so much interesting material lately, including a good post on a similar theme to my previous post that I almost missed this...



...which would have been a shame.

Time to Stand Up

Iain Dale has highlighted the launch of the new website for the cross-party www.iwantareferendum.com campaign to raise the pressure on Brown to call a referendum on the upcoming EU treaty.

You can sign up to show your support quickly and easily on the site, as a few thousand already have.

Back already?

It's certainly a professionally put together offering with a fresh simple look and a direct message. We were promised something and now we want it. Their YouTube campaign video takes a similar approach:



If I was to question one aspect of the case made on the site, it would be the occasional forays in to the actual implications of the treaty itself, focusing on some sensitive issues like immigration and EU control of foreign policy. While I may have some sympathy with the arguments they make, especially in the latter example, I can't help feeling that this may diminish the potential for true cross-party support.

As I have posted previously, one of the most encouraging things about the current situation is the number of public figures who are highly supportive of the EU who have come to the conclusion that a referendum is needed, both from the standpoint that it is a promise that should be honoured, and also that it is a debate that should take place.

I'm not sure that with the tone the campaign has currently set, that some key players will feel that a broad enough church has been pitched for them to enter it. I couldn't imagine, for example, too many more senior Lib Dems, who currently seem to be in two minds on their position on a referendum feeling entirely comfortable with the current message.

It would probably have been better to have a clear position that it was a campaign simply for the promised referendum, not a campaign for a referendum and a subsequent 'no' vote. It should simply be based on the fact that such a vote was promised, is patently necessary if the British people are ever, as a whole, to feel comfortable with our relationship with the EU, and that it is long overdue.

That said, fundamentally it is an initiative I wholeheartedly support, and I hope it may act as a rallying point for the very many initiatives along the same lines that many have been working on.

The pressure must continue to mount on Brown. I can't believe, given his upbringing, that he can be entirely comfortable knowing that with one signature any reputation he may have had for integrity and honesty will be gone at a stroke. Add in the amount of political pressure he is under from several angles, and he might just decide that upsetting the Commission is very much the least of several evils.

The Real Last Goodbye

I came across this a couple of weeks ago, but annoyingly when I came to post it, I couldn't remember the blog I found it on, in my normal disorganised way. Thankfully Daily Referendum has come to my rescue, so with apologies to whoever's blog I first saw it on, the hat-tip will go to him:



As with Daily Referendum I think the highlight has to be the "Tough On Crime, Tough On Manipulating The Statistics Of Crime" line.

An Issue of Trust

Jackart, at A Very British Dude has come across a clip which highlights one of the many things going wrong with the police forceservice today:



I quite liked the exhortation in the original posting to "watch this simian thug and the slack-jawed chavette of a sidekick with her hands in her pockets, and tell me the police are the servants of the people". On further reflection though I'm not sure that monkeyboy and chavette are entirely to blame for their stupid mistake of making up fictitious law as they go along. Sadly there does seem to be a change in the attitudes of the police that goes all the way to the top, and it's not entirely surprising that some less able officers at the coalface take their queues from them.

There have been a succession of demands from the police for sweeping new powers, calls that the current government, with its penchant for control freakery, tend to be sympathetic to. Calls for extended powers of detention without trial have been made in a fairly public way, for example. I feel on these type of issues organisations like the Association of Chief Police officers have crossed the line into politics far too often, but at least the debate has been in the public domain. More insidious have been the subtle changes that were lobbied for, and incorporated at the last minute into Acts such as various Criminal Justice Acts, and legislation such as that for ID cards, once the general Media spotlight had dimmed.

A case in point would be the ability of the police to trawl the National Identity Register for fingerprints. In its original form this power was substantially restricted to only case of the direst need; by the time the act was passed most meaningful control had been removed. It followed a similar path down which the regulation of the collection of DNA samples passed some time ago. You can only take samples from those accused of serious arrestable offences? No problem, just wait a while and make nearly all offences arrestable.

Good policing depends on the trust and faith of those being policed. It's a lesson current senior members of the police service have forgotten, other than in the case of specific minority groups. The increasing crass handling of the concerns of people outside of these groups could come at a very heavy price.

When I was in my late twenties I would generally say that most of my peers generally had a great deal of respect for the police, other than the odd bit of frustration over the occasional motoring offence. A decade later, probably at an age where people in times gone by would have been putting aside any youthful distrust of the police, the same kind of reasonable people seem as a whole to have an ever increasing distrust of the service.

A few weeks ago I met a group of friends who were chatting to an off duty police officer in one of the local pubs. He was of our age, and seemed a decent enough bloke, but the feeling of 'them and us' was palpable, even in a midst of as middle a class, law abiding, middle of the road group as you are likely to find anywhere. After he left, the use of certain epithets for his profession that I've always tried to avoid became the norm.

The police need to start to see themselves as others see them, and it's the people at the top who need to open their eyes first, otherwise they will end up with more generations of the type of officer the video clip showed.

The Problem with Conspiracy Theories

Well, in fact there are many problems with conspiracy theories, most often that they are complete b****ocks, but sadly they can often detract from very real and very interesting debates. I find the era of American politics around the Kennedy era absolutely fascinating, and I'm pretty sure some pretty unsavoury stuff went on, especially surrounding Vietnam and the American arms industry; the problem is that if you talk about it for more than five minutes Lee Harvey Oswald and assassination theories enter the discussion, stage left, and proceeds to dominate matters from thereon in.

Bringing things up to date a little, take a look at this:



Take away the masonic symbolism, the Bilderberg and New World Order stuff and you'd have a damn good Brown bashing video, but as it is, I just can't help cringing a little bit.

The Internet v Real Life

The previous post put me in mind of another clip I saw a few weeks ago. I can't remember who posted it, so a hat tip to who ever it was. I finally tracked it down again on YouTube so here it is. At least I can't lose it again now I've got it on my own blog!



OK, It's slightly cynical, but once again many a true word...

Internet - Myth and Reality

Some of the blogs I read beat my own for quantity, and nearly all do for quality. One that consistently does both is Dizzy Thinks. The video clip he has dug up today made me laugh. I'd encourage anyone who hasn't done so, to go and read the original blog, but I've reproduced the clip below for the terminally lazy.



There is more than an element of truth to it all. One thing that amazes me is the ability of the porn sites to register a domain name for nearly every variant spelling of some of the more heavily used regular sites. I have to admit, I don't quite get it; I mean, just because you misspell the name of your bank when you are trying to get on to your on-line banking system doesn't necessarily mean you're suddenly going to think 'stuff paying that bill, I'll go and have a quick sherman instead'.

Bugsy Blair

On the lookout for amusing 'anti-tributes' to celebrate Blair's departure, I knew someone would be able to better the Blair/Bush love song, and Tim Ireland has done.

The first couple of minutes are the best after which it goes a bit weird, but it's worth it for those couple of minutes alone.



I'm even prepared to forgive the 'puppet' motif which is the thinking man's 'poodle'. I must say though, not quite sure why Jack Straw takes a place in the chorus line over more worthy candidates like Chas Clarke, who only makes a cameo appearance. Straw may be associated with some of the more sordid acts of NuLab but I do often feel that in Straw I am seeing a man who at least has the grace to have a troubled conscience about it, and in the past he has had a good track record on the sensible wing of the rights and liberties lobby.

Perhaps Clarke's chins were too much of a challenge to animate.

Just Another Love Song

Grand master of self deception, but no poodle

I'm no fan of Blair. Or to be more precise I'm not a fan of much Blair has done. Ulster aside, for me, he has been a disaster from start to finish in terms of his domestic policies. Despite this I can't help liking something about the bloke, even if I was too sensible to vote for any of his Muppets in any poll. When you look at the stature he has on the world stage, even after involving us in the Iraq debacle, he certainly has a certain class, even if he wouldn't know a decent policy if it hit him between the eyes.

At the end of the day though, it is his team of assorted misfits who have spent ten years messing up just about everything they can get their hands on, and he carries the can for this. I don't get the feeling he was fully signed up to some of the more interfering, nitpicking legislation that his government introduced, but he let it slide in anyway as he jetted round the world focused on bigger pictures.

There are other things he has done that I think, though wrong, do come from deep personal beliefs, and for these I will accept his plea for forgiveness in his resignation speech. I will even go so far as to attack any sloppy thinking POL who uses lazily uses the term 'poodle' to explain Iraq. Anyone who thinks, useless as he is in many ways, that he is the type of person who would commit a country to war simply to please a US president is the whole sandwich box short of a picnic, and should be treated with complete scorn. Fine, disagree with Iraq, there are many good reasons to do so, but a million repetitions of the words 'poodle' and/or 'illegal' will not make them relevant to an intelligent debate on the matter. Has he lied at times? probably, but I'm not sure he isn't better of convincing himself than the public at large when he does, and he really is a Saint when compared to the honesty of some of his Ministers.

I couldn't help liking this though, it's a bit better than most of the 'lipsync' offerings...


Enjoy!

Better Late than Never

I actually saw this first on 18 Doughty Street a week or so ago, and was glad for the reminder when a link came round to it on YouTube came round in an e-mail as these things tend to do.

You might have to have spent time in the US and seen their typical pharmaceutical commercials to know what an accurate parody it is, but as for understanding the attitude to Hilary Clinton you only have to imagine the Blair Witch trying to follow in Tony's footsteps.

Down With Brown

I don't think the message is as catchy as some from the Conservative Home team but it's typically pretty well put together, and anything that gets on the case of our loathsome
future Prime Minister is just fine by me...

"...going down with Gordon Brown..."

Thank god for the flying toilets to explain exactly what type of "going down" we're talking about.

SNP Goodbye to Tony...

I might be an Anglo-Scot but I have no time at all for the policies of the SNP. That said they have some pretty effective advocates. It's hard to dislike the likes of Salmond, who come over with a passion and sincerity that seems a damn sight more genuine than most of their mainstream Westminster counterparts. Beyond these figureheads I'd probably disagree most political views held by the creator of this YouTube offering, other than a shared loathing of NuLab and Blair. It might be from a left wing, nationalist and republican perspective but it's a wittier and more talented slagging of both than I could ever manage.

It made me laugh anyway (and there's only one direct derogatory reference to 'tory')...

"...out-lefted by the Sunday Post."

"...a generation's waste of space."

Classic.