Posts by 81stcolumn
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Well, Don, I'm going to call Coddingstonswallop on most of your post. Sorry, but I think it's rather dishonest to lump all critics of Blair in with the Militant Tendency or the Colonel Blimps on the right.
Second that.
The mandate given to Blair was for a third way. There is a genuine debate to be had about whether Blair ever really delivered that third way. By dichotomising the issue and caricaturing anything left of Blair you let yourself down.
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For all the wittering about "hopes and dreams", furthermore, nobody to my knowledge has deliberately addressed the question of what sort of sad, romantic twerp attaches that sort of emotional and intellectual capital to a mere political party.
Or indeed to an individual........
And yet the cult of fresh faced Tony with his bait and switch policies that pandered to the the urban 4wd drive to another school class was nothing short of despicable.The emotions may be ill placed but the the causes are not. How about this; he squandered a mandate through lies, bullying and sheer lack of intellectual capacity.
Lies - Lets talk about ethical foreign policy, in particular arms sales.
Bullying - To win the vote on Iraq he deployed the party whip, in so doing a number of politicians voted against the clear wishes of their constituencies. At a stroke Blair disenfranchises whole communities across the country.
Lack of intellectual capacity - This was a man who really couldn't figure out that the levers didn't just go backwards and forwards. With education for example, he is almost at the point of defending the indefensible with the mantra "test and report.....". The man cannot tell the difference between testing and education.
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So 81stcolumn, did you manage to take advantage of the Love bomb before things got ugly? I mean, how 'far' do they go with the 'love'? I've always wondered.
<chuckle> NI- I'm afraid you are just going to have to keep wondering. I didn't sign so all I got was my hand held. I saw a German guy get lead up stairs, he was almost dribbling with anticipation - but they could have chopped him into pieces for all I knew. Thanks for the ref though.
I'm not sure if the "Love Bomb" would have worked if they had sat me with brunettes rather than blondes, I was picky even then.
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I might add that it was during this trip that I made the acquaintance of the US security services. By 1988 the first intifada was under way and I joined a protest outside the Whitehouse. I was clearly protesting in a vigorous/menacing way sufficient to get me a stiff talking to in a van a few blocks away. I think I got to stay in the country because I had a special US consular VISA in my passport (rare and important), which must have confused them. That afternoon I went from blissful ignorance to sympathiser for a cause no one really seemed to have heard of back home. I guess that experience shaped me somewhat too. That and the Slickee Boys gig the following night.
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In ’88, having lost my job with the revenue I did up the car, sold it and got a one way ticket to New York. Within an hour of landing I had been abused by an ex-lover and spent the next fortnight blagging my way round the better NY nightclubs pretending to be a new English rock star (anyone go to club Iguana ?). An act facilitated by some old friends from the music industry in the UK, who had moved over the previous year (no-one asked me to sing thank god). In the following weeks I made my way across America, survived one brawl and a serious groping from another bus passenger.
I found myself in San Francisco selling t-shirts to the ferry trippers across to Alcatraz, it wasn’t enough to live on but it did extend the fun. In my best plummy Ahhglesh accent I would invite folk to buy my finest wares. It was all fun in the bright spring sun until the Moonies arrived. I’d heard of them but never really prepared myself for the recruitment drive. Remember this was twenty years ago and I was quite young. Two cute girls ask some survey questions then invite me over for a meal and a seminar (mmm nice). They fed me, we sang songs (Annies song !). I was a bit suspicious but I was enjoying the ride. Then came the hard sell, two more cute girls and a nice guy (all three were plants) $200 for a week long seminar course in the Napa Valley all costs covered; “stay here tonight they said”, “we’ll collect your luggage” (alarms now ringing). So I asked for some more information about these “international community” seminars. By 2am we had got down to their god vs. my atheism - they didn’t win. I left at 3am to get back to my stayover. When I finally stood on the street I shook uncontrollably for quite a while. The proposal and the circumstances frightened me more than anything else I had encountered in the states. It would have been sooo easy to go. The next day I packed my bags paid my rent to date which left me $10 dollars spending money for a three day bus ride back to NY and more money (I eat corn puffs and drank Dr Pepper all the way back). I got back home and ended up with three part time jobs which built my future. I know it sounds cheesy but I can point to that day and say my life changed then. Isn’t that what OE is supposed to be about ?
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RB - there may be some bots that you have trouble stopping
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In the spirit of sharing -
I suffer from Dyscalculia as a result of a stroke that I endured in my teens: The outcome of which was disabled navigation and the inability to make complete use of an alpha-numeric coding system. The only time it really hurt me was when I worked for the Inland Revenue and I had to use this filing system daily. I did not mis-file stuff on purpose, but my superiors thought I did. They had me followed in the mornings (when I did the filing) and to “make me learn” made me check every file in the building. There was the inevitable confrontation and accusations that followed; I just plain didn’t understand and could not believe what they were talking about. They couldn’t make me understand - the frustration, anger and confusion was frightening. I remember the confusion and frustration acutely - Eventually I was sacked. No regrets though, I did some OE, got into Uni, studied psychology and was finally diagnosed. The year I was diagnosed I scored 97% in a statistics paper. During my postgrad I worked as a counsellor for students with learning disabilities. In that time I learned a new concept; not better, not worse, just different. Go Steven.
The lol stuff makes me laugh until I get asthma……
A nice photo of John Key with...at the top...
"oh hai!"
...at the bottom...
"i'z now az GRN az teh drvn snowah!" -
Do not call your child Ysgrifennydd it means scribe in Welsh (or secretary if you live in the South).
In one of my modestly professional roles I met and had to record the name of a bricklayer called Paul Brain.
Leif anyone ?
[**REPLY:** I was going to give the spelling as 'Geiriadur-Prifysgol-Cymru' which would have been slightly funnier, but I thought it would just confuse anyone who hadn't been in contact with Welsh. I should have known that I could rely on there being at least one Welsh-speaking PA reader somewhere out there -- DH]
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The silent majority....
I feel a misquote coming on to do with sleeping giants etc etc.
Thanks Graham
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Neat