Bob Piper

Fanzone

2010-02-08T11:18:44+00:00

dizzy (who actually is a "misogynist areshead of epic proportions") gets all wet in the groin area for dozy Dorries. How very touching to see a young lad infatuated with an older woman. I was really moved.

More...

2010-02-07T13:29:34+00:00

Gil Scott Heron

Lower than a snake's belly

2010-02-07T12:10:38+00:00

And so selfless with it. "I did, I did have money in my bra," she says. "I brought it to get things for the kids. I've got no intention of spending it on me."

Pants on Fire

2010-02-07T10:52:34+00:00

I see Wee Willie was slipping and sliding all over the place on Marr's show this morning on the subject of Ashcroft. Time to show the twerp again, head sweating profusely as Paxman tries to get a straight answer out of him. How do you know when William Hague is lying... his lips move! (A special bonus here - Paxman shows the Tories have form).

Are birds free from the chains of the skyway?

2010-02-06T11:32:53+00:00

Tut, tut, tut.... and those CCHQ mouthpieces try to insist they are oh so independent and free. The Tory Twitter Police.

Willy Boy is coming

2010-02-05T18:52:52+00:00

Thanks to Matt for the tip. Willy Vlautin is in town next week. Not only has he written two of my favourite books in the last couple of years, he is also the singer for US band Richmond Fontaine. And it is in his singing capacity that he will be appearing in Brum on Thursday. Details here. And with a new book out next week, I might just get a signed copy. I'm a fan!

Brilliant

2010-02-05T16:22:33+00:00

Simon Jones anti-racist campaigns

2010-02-05T15:38:57+00:00

I really don't know enough about the politics of Dagenham and Rainham to know whether the Tory Simon Jones is going to defeat Jon Cruddas as Iain Dale suggests he easily may do. But I do know when Dale is talking complete and utter cobblers. He says one of the reasons Cruddas will lose is because he 'fails to combat' the BNP. This is the Jon Cruddas who has reputation for being a keen supporter of Searchlight and active in the Hope not Hate campaign. But don't take my word for it... take a look for yourself. Go to Google and type in 'Jon Cruddas BNP' and look at the references. Well, there's quite a fair bit to go on there. So... let's look for Simon Jones' anti-bnp activity. Mmmmm, a bit sparce on Google. But, let's be fair, he's not an MP, nor even much known outside of the constituency. Instead, let's narrow it down and go to our Si's website, that Dale so kindly refers us to. Nothing about the BNP in 'campaigns' where you might expect to see it. Nothing under 'News' where we might expect to see Simon's anti-racist activities highlighted. But wait, what's this, ... a search box. Type in BNP... and there it is... the full extent of Jonah's commitment to anti-racism... just one step up from diddly-bloody-squat! Well if combating the BNP is the measure of success Jonah old son, you're in the proverbial brown stuff. Finally, and just as laughable, Dale tells us that Cruddas doesn't live in the Constituency... but lives about 20 miles away from it. Which might not be quite so risable if Mr Dopey of Tunbridge Wells wasn't trying to squeeze his ample backside into... East Surrey!

The man is back

2010-02-05T13:29:30+00:00

Fans of Gil Scott Heron have had to exist on pretty thin gruel over the last decade or so. Gil has drifted between rehab and prison a lot in recent years, but in the 1970's through to the 80's he produced some of the best music to come out of America. Winter in America, Whitey's on the Moon, his scathing criticism of Ronnie Raygun in B Movie, We almost lost Detroit and The Revolution Will Not Be Televised were classics. Well... the man is back, and in blistering form. His new album, I'm New Here is out on February 8th, but you can listen to the whole damn thing right here on Gil's own website.

BNP employ Neo Nazi activist at City Hall

2010-02-05T13:22:02+00:00

Details of the latest BNP goosestepper to be employed at City Hall.

Twist the Knife

2010-02-04T18:19:37+00:00

The New Statesman - Great Speeches. My vote was for Geoffrey Howe's resignation speech. Many of the others in the NS list contained much greater oratorical power, but this one did the damage. Oh how we celebrated!

I believe that both the Chancellor and the governor are cricketing enthusiasts, so I hope that there is no monopoly of cricketing metaphors. It is rather like sending your opening batsmen to the crease only for them to find, the moment the first balls are bowled, that their bats have been broken before the game by the team captain.

Brown wrong to 'take the piss'

2010-02-04T13:12:39+00:00

Liberal Democrat MP John Hemming is upset that a point he raised about bus deregulation at PMQs resulted in Gordon Brown "taking the piss" out of him. Now, whilst Hemming sometimes makes it easy to take the piss out of him, and I must confess at this point... I've done a bit of it here too... on this occasion I think he is correct. PMQs is a farce anyway, with staged managed punch-ups between the Party Leaders interspersed with planted questions from backbenchers. But when a Member attempts to highlight an issue from within their constituency which is causing concern, they deserve a bit of respect.

Mouthpiece? Not me Guv.

2010-02-03T14:24:10+00:00

Left Foot Forward has a piece about Eric Pickles gathering together a bunch of Tory bloggers, plying them with drink and setting up a CCHQ rebuttal mechanism through tame Tory bloggers. Pretty small beer really, I suppose. let's face it, the political parties have been doing this with the mainstream media for years and no-one gets all knicker-wet about it. I suppose in a way though we are all a bit sceptical about the newspaper hacks and accept that by and large they churn out what they are told by an editorial line anyway, whereas even the biggest Tory mouthpieces are assumed to have some independence and integrity. Interesting for a piece claiming the establishment of an instant rebuttal service... the Tory blogosphere has rushed to the Left Foot Forward comments columns to.... errrm, rebut the story.

Oh God!

2010-02-02T13:22:07+00:00

Now there's an interesting point picked up in dizzy's comments whilst dizzy is busy getting splinters in his arse from sitting on the fence trying to decide which of his prejudices causes him most concern. If all Nick Griffin has to do to exempt the BNP from discrimination laws is to declare the BNP to be a religious group who have a deep and meaningful (oh, and racist) faith... bingo! Clearly Big Ben thinks it works for him.

iphone my MP

2010-02-01T11:53:33+00:00

Now, this strikes me as having a limited market. The iTunes App store are currently listing something called MyMP. I say limited because I can't really see the iphone generation sitting on the No.9 bus in the morning desperately trying to find out what John Spellar MP has been up to in the House of Commons. Bejewelled, it's not, but all the same, it seems an interesting concept. More details here from Public Zone. It's also limited by the fact that in version 1.0, only Derek Wyatt MP is available, but it can't be long before gimmicky buggers like Cameron and techie sods like Tom Watson are grinning out at us from iphones everywhere... and as a method of enabling those with mobile phones to keep in touch with their MPs it certainly has potential.