Caption Competition

Lorry driver fail to spot car stuck to his lorry?

Have just spoken to Arclid Transport about this video that's appeared on YouTube. The guy refused to pass any further comment other than as far he knew it's genuine and isn't some sort of crazy viral.

Incredible huh? Apparently filmed on the A1.

Hat Tip: Arbroath Blog

Labour party worker talks about the #changewesee

What a brilliant admission of failure!

Ironically I found this just after reading this from Martin Salter MP. How right he is/was.

Bloody media coverage... by the way, have you read my book?

Alsitair Campebll, who's blog is really annoying in that it doesn't do permanent links to posts, has written a post this morning complaining that the BBC didn't cover Michael Foot's funeral and instead reported the David Beckham Achilles story and Kate Winslet's separation. Campbell poses the question, "Is Kate Winslet's split more important than Michael Foot's funeral?".

Now personally speaking, I'd say the answer is yes, it is more important because the vast majority of the great British public is not particularly interested in the funeral of a politician who never actually made it. The same will be true for the funerals of many other UK political leaders who didn't make it. The death will be reported, but the funeral will remain a private affair.

Sorry, you might not like it..... but it's the truth.

Of course, one might have a little more sympathy for Campbell's complaints if he hadn't found the space to promote his latest fictional novel when making his argument. It was I must say, delicious to see a post that started terribly serious and sombre to then suddenly see the whole thing turn into an "in my novel" bit of self-promotion.

Classy!

Labour Twitter Engagement Tsar says 'leave me alone proles'

Bless!

Where is the next Ronald Reagan?

Nothing like a good strike to remind people what life is like when elites try to cripple industry for producer interests huh? Sometimes I really wish I worked in a unionised business just so I could tell the local shop steward to bugger off and cross a picket line. It would, for me, be the ultimate expression of individuality to ignore the collective 'lemmingnisation' of my colleagues.

The next most annoying thing about striking is the utter nonsense arguments of secondary action. When one lots of sheep strike and another lot of sheep at a completely different business who have no grievances with their bosses decide to strike too to show their solidarity with their comrades in the struggle - thank God such lunacy is illegal in the UK.

However, it doesn't stop the possibility or threat of secondary action abroad, and that appears to be what people are concerned about now given the news that Unite have started talking to their "brothers and sisters" (yes, they do actually use those terms without a hint of sarcasm or mouth-breathing retardedness) in the US trade union the "International Brotherhood of Teamsters".

Thankfully, the US is a little more sane with it's labour laws, the Railway Labor Act is quite prohibitive on strike action by airline workers in the US, to the point that the business that faces strikes is within its rights to replace any striking workers and then fire them for misconduct or simple eliminate their jobs.

As I've always believed , yes you can have the right to strike, but the employer should retain the right to fire you too. If you don't like it, don't take the piss - this got me into lots of arguments with card-carrying SWP lecturers at University.

The wider concern of course with the meeting between Unite and the Teamsters is that another super-merger may occur, and there is talk of Unite wooing European trade unions too. What a joyful prospect global strike action by a mega-global Union would be!

Let's hope, should it ever happen, that we'd have leaders in charge who were like Ronald Reagan, who infamously, and quite rightly told striking air traffic controllers that if they "do not report for work within 48 hours, they have forfeited their jobs and will be terminated", and then promptly fired 11,345 of them a few days later.

Let me be particularly blunt. If you're going to go on strike collectively, the risk to your employment should be clear. If you don't like the way an employer is treating you then go and get another job. Simples!

SHOCK NEWS: EU says Pope is 'definitely Catholic'

So, the European Commission has said that Gordon Brown is living in fantasy land with his growth prediction and deficit reduction plans. Nothing particularly surprising in that really, the only people who seem to think Brown's plans are credible are the non-critical servile cheerleaders (I'm thinking hacks like Kevin Macguire and Labour bloggers like Ellie Gellard (who is so far up Gordon's arse she gives a new meaning to term "Brownite")).

Labour have, of course, come out fighting saying that their plans are sound, and that they'll halve the deficit in four years. They point to the Fiscal Responsibility Bill as proof that they have no choice anyway.. it's the law don't you know! Indeed, it's a law that says "The Treasury must..." quite a lot and then in Section 4.3 it says,

Accordingly, the fact that—
(a) any duty in section 1, or

(b) any duty imposed by an order under section 2,

has not been, or will or may not be, complied with does not affect the lawfulness of anything done, or omitted to be done, by any person.

Some have already complained that the Act has no sanction in it if the obligations are not met, but the truth is its worse than that, it actually explicits says that failing to do what the law says is not anyone fault and is not illegal - talk about pointless legislation huh?

Anyhow, I digress, that the European Commission has called Labour on its bullshit should not really be a surprise. From 2003 onwards Gordon Brown consistently predicted that borrowing would fall, and every year he retruned to the Dispatch Box for a budget his figures had changed (see here and here).

Only a complete idiot would believe that things are going to go the way Brown says they will.. look at his track record in Budget speeches

* Dotted lines are predictions for debt from Brown each year. Solid line is what Brown confirmed debt to be for each year.

Always wrong, or always lying. You decide.

Diana Johnson MP and the Mysterious Invoice

Back when the expenses scandal kicked off last May, one of the MPs that found herself under the spotlight was Government whip and now Parliamentary Under-Secretary at the Department for Children, Schools and Families, Diana Johnson (Hull North).

When Thomas Legg reported, he said that Diana Johnson "has no issues" in relation to her Additional Cost Allowances, but what Legg didn't look at, and the Telegraph didn't spot, were the details listed in her Communications Allowance - the allowance given for distributing and promoting the work of an MP at a constituency level.

At the end of the detailed, albeit censored claims, provided on the Parliamentary website, is an invoice (below) to the tune of £1,654 for "delivery of a leaflet in Hull North Constituency during September and October 2007".

Looks legit doesn't it? However there's is an oddity about it. You see, there appears to be no such company as J W Shipley Distribution, either solvent or dissolved, listed on Companies House. An advanced search for all companies with "Shipley" also throws up nothing. Curious!

There is, however, an "independent" member of Humberside Police Authority called John Shipley who happens to be a local Labour Party activist in Hull, who also stood for the Labour Party in Hull during the 2002 elections.

I tried to contact Mr Shipley yesterday for confirmation that the invoice was from him but as yet have had no response.

Could it be that an allowance meant for non-party political activity is being used to pay Labour Party activists to deliver leaflets? Who knows, it's a bit of mystery!

Is John Mann a wanker?

He doesn't think so! The Labour MP for Bassetlaw has contacted a blogger called Mannism and threatened libel action noting that somebody called him a "wanker".

Bless is tetchy little cotton socks!

Hat Tip: Guido

Random anti-Gordon YouTube videos

For the Comrades,

And a little music too,