A quick post, too long for twitter. @danielblaney @tobyperkinsmp @OwenJones84 I supported overthrow of Saddam Hussein. Rather proud of that. Pity ppl who didn't. — Luke Akehurst (@lukeakehurst) January 20, 2013 The problem with telling me that you got it wrong about Iraq because you’re such a nice guy is that all I hear is…
Read More A very short post about IraqThe Daily Mirror mocks Lord Freud’s overhoused condition and quotes Owen Jones: We’re told this is about bringing down the £21billion housing benefit bill. But we’d save much more if we stopped using housing benefit to line the pockets of private landlords charging absurd rents. Building homes would create jobs, and if we brought rents…
Read More house music all night long.OK, I remember that lot; they had a chief economist who ran a rather good blog and published this chart about the sources of the government deficit (see this Stabprin post). Then he got to be Vince Cable’s sinister eminence and stuff. I wonder if the ad might imply we might see more of him…
Read More Enduring stare: recruitment editionSo here’s Lord Freud confronted with the public on BBC Radio 5. (Wouldn’t it be nice if rather than the QR code, the BBC Web site offered an embed?) Jesus, what a pathetic mess. If I were a big political party’s spin doctor, here’s something I would do. Rather than send second-division pols on Today…
Read More Let the air inIf Burchill had used similar venom against Jewish or black people, would there be any backlash against the article being withdrawn? — Owen Jones🌹 (@OwenJones84) January 14, 2013 Well, I’d seen the twitterflap, so I read the bloody thing in the paper. The obvious point that came to mind was that if you tried to…
Read More stop repeating your insultsWell, I wasn’t expecting that. @cjchivers he used to egosurf and come up in my server log, from Syria and Russia, and occasionally leave threats and abuse in comments. — Alex Harrowell (@yorksranter) January 13, 2013 And a response from C.J. Chivers, too. Richard Chichakli has shown up in Australia, after eight years in the…
Read More It’s Richard…Chi-Backli!It looks like the “private navy to protect trade off Somalia” idea has been disinterred and taken for a walk again. As Galrahn points out, this is a little surprising as the pirates haven’t had a score since the 2nd March, 10 months ago. A combination of more use of armed security guards aboard ships,…
Read More mercenary vapourwareUnexpected issues with China’s new aircraft carrier: Therefore, China’s first aircraft carrier will inevitably pose a new challenge to the Navy of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) on how to provide food support for the large surface ship. From the point of view of cooking, western food is relatively easier to make and highly…
Read More LinksI’ve said before that the coalition tends to mistake propaganda methods for policy methods. See this post on Damian McBride’s blog for confirmation. Specifically, Steve Hilton appears to have abolished the No.10 future events grid, taking it to be an infernal machine invented by Alistair Campbell and the civil service, and then been surprised when…
Read More lost in the incomprehensible mazeHere’s the funny bit in this post: Charming. @metpoliceuk go on record to admit they are actually as suspected, a gang. Be afraid kids. #acab pic.twitter.com/HzfHmC1Q — Vicki (@Iamverysmart) January 12, 2013 OK, that done, a senior detective has been found guilty of leaking the phone-hacking investigation to the NoTW. This is the nut of…
Read More Public Affairs, the movie: three gang theory in action