Dominic Lawson has more than a few realistic pokes at new Labour in Beware green jobs, the new sub-prime:

That remarkable prime ministerial pledge predated the recession; its motive was to demonstrate that Britain was “leading the world in the battle against climate change”. We aren’t, as a matter of fact; but under new Labour we have certainly led the world at claiming to do so. Mandelson expressed this almost satirically last week when he declared that “Britain has taken a world lead in setting ambitious targets for carbon reduction”.

As ever, new Labour confuses announcements and newspaper headlines with real action. Whenever it becomes obvious even to ministers that Britain will not meet its current carbon reduction target, they replace it with a yet tougher target, only with an extended deadline.

Listen to Uranus Bruyant:

...an overvitaminated version of a funk brass band, directly connected to James BROWN, Maceo PARKER, Georges CLINTON, an others such as DIRTY DOZEN Brass Band. The eight musicians spread an amazing groovy feeling throughout their original tracks, mixing jazz and funk, with powerful brass instruments and crazy beats.

A banjo, a tuba, a bass drum and a snare : the rhythm section turns you into dancing, you can't help it !

Two saxophones, a trumpet, a trombone : a line of blowers with various backgounds, who can put an audience on fire with their wild soli !

happy march!

Hey, anyone interested in some cathartic reading?

Assuming it is out of the question to hang, draw and quarter Sir Fred Goodwin, pluck out his intestines while they are still warm and wriggling, stuff them into his greedy mouth and then display his severed head on a spike at the Tower of London, could we settle for shooting him instead? Yes, I know, I'm going soft.

The sacrificial goat?

The funny thing is the naivité of anyone believing greed recedes once it is in the blood. These bankers are like junkies, albeit more of a threat to society. They are used to calling the shots, they are used to raking in obscene sums of cash and they are not willing to go off the smack even when faced with the abject failure of their system, their philosophy and their greed.

Step down quietly, gracefully, without pockets so stuffed with cash they can barely walk away? Fuggetaboutit.

On the other hand, the public pillaging of Goodwin could just be a smoke screen to cover up the government's own criminal incompetence

And quickly hidden, too, by the Goodwin pension kerfuffle was the testimony of Lord Turner, chairman of the Financial Services Agency, to the Treasury Select Committee last week. He said of Gordon Brown's watch at the Treasury: "All the pressure on the FSA was not to say: why aren't you looking at these business models, but why are you being so heavy and intrusive? Can't you make regulation a bit more light touch? We were supervising people like HBOS within a particular philosophy of the way you do regulation which I think, in retrospect, was wrong."

His views, which no one in Government has had the brass neck to contest, vindicate Paul Moore, the HBOS whistleblower, and support the thesis that history will probably conclude that the trail of easy credit and light-touch regulation responsible for the present crisis leads to Gordon Brown's front door.

And as the Independent and the Guardian take sides, the Times splits it right down the middle in Is the government being tough enough, or is it using them as a diversion?

It does appear in any event that the Banker Pigs got the opportunities they did through via the government, who either turned a blind eye to the concept of regulation or actively encouraged turning regulation into a running joke in order to continue to take credit for economic growth based on an ever-increasingly fragile house of cards.

And do you think Sir Fred is really quaking in his boots about the government taking his pension from him? In addition to their traditional incompetence, they are virtually powerless, at a legal stand still. And guess who negotiated this pension agreement with Sir Fred to begin with? Hmmm, you bet. Same idiots.

So yeah, Sir Fred should do the decent thing and cough up the pension but now that he's been mainlining cash into his veins all these years, he ent giving up the junk.

Irrespective of whose fault it is ultimately, pity the government isn't listen to Fat John Prescott who says that RBS should unilaterally withhold Goodwin’s pension - “and let him sue us”.

*****

Ok, to hell with economics - cheap travel, that's where it's at.

Here are four rail trips which won't bust you completely.

*****

Consecutive weekends have resulted in consecutive rubbish movies taken in. Don't ask why, maybe because they're free, I dunno.

Last night was Australia which was not only predictable, stupid and boring but crikey! it went on and on and on. After like, 30 minutes I was wondering is this over yet and found out there were another TWO HOURS to go! Anyway, this trailer does no justice to how ridiculous this movie is, believe it or not, merely scratches the surface:



And the weekend before, was Clint Eastwood's latest offering, the incredibly gawdawful Grand Torino. You can't really be sure it isn't a parody all along of a pensioner trying to reclaiming his "tough guy" reputation by spewing forth a bunch of racist prattle whilst simultaneously and gradually revealing his hip, sincere and touching heart. A joke. A joke all the way through, HIGH COMEDY, folks, until the bitter end when he compounds the horrific experiece by SINGING. And let there be no doubt, tortured frogs, if they were to be captured on audio tape, would sound like bloody Ceclia Bartoli by comparison.

Nonetheless, if you're intrigued, you can find the trailer here.

I Dunno Why, This Just Cracks Me Up


thanks, passive aggressive notes

*****

Especially in light of this cowardly decision.

Liberal Democrat MP Sir Menzies Campbell said: "This is a Government which, when introducing measures to limit personal freedom, says that those that have nothing to hide should have nothing to fear.

"If the process of reaching the decision to embark upon an illegal war against Iraq is still supported by the Government, why haven't they the courage to let us see the minutes of the Cabinet?"

Fucking hypocrites. Cowards? Maybe that's why. Oh no, I'm sure there's a much more dignified and moral rationale behind it than meets the idea. Something only the Cabinet would be aware of and simply can't share with the unwashed masses who are clearly to stupid and gullible to deserve the unvarnished truth.

*****

Whilst the news isn't earth-shattering, probably something more appropriately relegated to some gossip rag or hair salon magazine pile, a Swedish Princess is going to marry her personal trainer...

Apparently there is some sort of kink the Scandanavian Royals have with mixing with and marrying the riff raff:

In Norway, Crown Prince Haakon married Mette-Marit Tjessem Høiby, a single mother and waitress, who was the daughter of an unemployed alcoholic. Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark met his wife Mary Donaldson in a bar in Sydney and introduced himself by saying: “Hi, I’m Fred from Denmark.”

I dunno, does it matter? No, it's just an alternative to hyperventilating into a paper bag after reading that other bit about the Iraq War minutes.


via quirkyjessi