A long time ago when l was younger and had more brain cells intact, l could recite the whole of Edgar Allan Poe's 'The Raven' poem. Those days have long gone, although l do remember a fair chunk of it.
Altogether now.........'Once upon a night so dreary, while l pondered week and weary' etc
While The Mail on Sunday (joke paper - don't buy it) leads with Michael Gove being jostled and abused during Saturday's protests (he's got form for this), the police put the blame on the real culprits (but don't name Suella Braverman's role in this).
What a time to be alive.
Toodle pip
Andrew Rawnsley nails the current dilemma in the Conservative party, although l think he's a little too confident n his assertion that they won't get enough backing as a 'nasty party'.
From The Observer - full article here
This poses an immediate-term challenge for Mr Sunak and a longer-term one for the moderate Tories who shudder at the thought of a Braverman takeover of their party. Sack her or stick with her? The question for the prime minister is how much longer he can tolerate a recklessly irresponsible and serially disloyal home secretary who can never see division without wanting to fan its flames in the cynical pursuit of her own ambitions.
It is his own fault that Mr Sunak faces this question. Ms Braverman was not home secretary when he became prime minister. She’d been forced to quit during the brief reign of Liz Truss for a serious breach of the ministerial code. Mr Sunak brought her back, not because he thought she had the character and qualities to be a capable home secretary, but because he made a desperate bargain with her in the belief that he needed the support of the party’s hard right to secure the Tory leadership. Since then, and despite the repeated trouble and strife she has caused Number 10, he has retained her in the cabinet on the Lyndon Johnson principle that it was better to have her “inside the tent pissing out than outside the tent pissing in”. Mr Sunak must surely now see that she is inside the tent pissing all over him.
He has had a lot of advice to fire Ms Braverman with immediate effect, including calls to eject her from the cabinet from Labour and the Lib Dems. That doesn’t make it politically easier for the prime minister to sack the home secretary. It may make it a little harder, because some of his people will tell him that doing what opposition parties have told him to do will look weak while her claque will accuse him of sacrificing her to satisfy the Tory party’s enemies. Yet he will look even more feeble if he leaves in place a palpably unfit home secretary who has blatantly defied his authority. “She’s a disgrace and she has to go. Any previous home secretary under any previous prime minister would have been out within a day,” says one former Conservative cabinet minister. “If Rishi doesn’t sack her, he will be permanently weakened.”
The question facing all Tories, especially the party’s more moderate MPs and members, is whether they want their party to become defined by Ms Braverman’s toxic brand of politics. There is no doubt there are some votes in being an unashamedly and explicitly “nasty party”, but history suggests there will never be enough backers for it to win an election in Britain.
Yet there is clearly a significant risk that the Conservative party will fall into the hands of Ms Braverman, or someone like her, in the nearish future, and especially so if an election defeat deranges Tory activists. The challenge for the party’s moderates is whether they can muster the resolve, the arguments and the numbers to prevent that from happening. That this is a question for Conservatives underlines what a dystopian direction their party is travelling in.
As myself and pretty much everyone l know have nicknames, I can state with some conviction that this list of top 40 nicknames is not only crap, it's also unimaginative and dull. There's only three of these used in our circles, but l will leave you guessing which ones. Even simple ones such as 'Arms' or 'Spider' are missing. Very poor - see me after class.
Despite the Armistice Day trouble earlier today being solely caused by right wing fuckwits (plus Suella Braverman and Rishi Sunak), the hate filled Daily Mail tries to stoke up more division and trouble, while conveniently ignoring the facts (or their part in the hatred and division).
Never vote Tory (or buy The Daily Mail)
Toodle pip
As the right wing fuckwits predictably storm the capital and kick off by the cenotaph, so the day ended with trouble, just as Suella Braverman probably wanted(to give her ammunition to ban marches), the client journalists and newspapers predictably come out to support the evil hate filled harridan. What a depressing and sad country we have become, with the right wing Conservatives following the Donald Trump handbook on their hopeful march to fascism.
She is obviously making a play to be the next Tory leader, backed by their right wing faction, but she is also a very nasty piece of work.
Never vote Tory
I'm a subscriber to both the Mojo and Uncut magazines, but l must say they've surpassed themselves in the new issues with the cover photographs. Both magnificent in their own right, and Bob Dylan looks like the messianic figure he was /is. Kudos to whoever was responsible.
Toodle pip
I bet you never knew polar bears were this big. A pretty frightening prospect meeting one of them down a dark alley.
I actually think this look is excellent. Way before he went with the 'tatty' hair.
Don't know how to post this as a video, but it's well worth your while to watch this chase
What a rider
Let's face it. Who doesn't believe the government when they put forward austerity measures as there's simply no money (tree).
This is a hereditary billionaire sitting on a gold throne, who's arrived in a golden carriage from one of his many luxury residences, reading measures that do nothing to aid the poor, while also avoiding paying his fair due of tax.
Not my King.
And the winner of photograph of the day is.....
Toodle pip
I guess this is a way of dealing with the grief.
Our once great and glorious leader (sic), willing to do anything for attention, channels his inner Fast Show. Like the twat he is.
Never vote Tory
Had a splendid afternoon in Dirty (and rainy) Leeds today. Got a lift there and back, joined (Briefly) a Free Palestine / Support Palestine meeting#, hit the comic fair, and saw some of the Manchester United win against Fulham in a pub.
Nice.
# For context, l abhorred the killings and kidnappings of Israelis by Hamas, but also the over the top destruction of Gaza and innocent Palestinians as a reaction. I've lived through IRA bombing campaigns in England and even the Tories never obliterated Northern Island in response.
I also recommend this graphic novel by Joe Sacco.
Just as you start to fool yourself they can't sink any lower..
Never vote Tory
Toodle pip
Another normal day in this great country of ours.
Never vote Tory
Toodle pip
Imagine having the fuckwit that is Matt Hancock deciding if you should live or die - while he is ignoring the rules his own government put in place
Never vote Tory
Toodle pip
As 'the last' Beatles single, 'Now and Then' is finally aired, here's versions of the last three releases as film posters.
From stuffbymark
Toodle pip
Back to the politics to keep my mind off football. If only l could be as optimistic and proud as Therese Coffey.
Beaten 0 -3 by Manchester City on Sunday and then again by Newcastle United tonight, and playing some pretty rubbish football in the process. Manchester United are looking pretty lost at the moment.
