Proceedings of the Castle Aching Parish Council, 1905

[Regularity]

17 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

I recall Dave Allen did a programme  about English eccentrics.

 

And  Ivor Cutler, the forgotten Scottish Shakespeare.

Wonder how he felt about appearing in a programme on the topic of English eccentrics?

[monkeysarefun]

8 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

 

What was the (implied) exception?

One only has to watch "You've Been Trumped" a BBC documentary about the methods that Trump used  against protesters, local landowners and the authorities to get his golf course built in Scotland to realise that he has absolutely zero good points.

 

Should have been compulsory watching for all  US voters prior to the 2016 election..

 

 

 

[Caley Jim]

He was not at all popular over that and then he got extremely annoyed when an offshore wind farm was authorised within sight of it.  Alex Salmon had his name taken off the gang hut when he didn't get the wind farm stopped.

 

Jim

[Schooner]

And now for something completely different.

 

Whilst walking by the CA water pump, I was pleasantly surprised to hear Shirley Collins:

 

Won't be everyone's cup of tea, but I found it a tonic and so share here. 

 

Have a peaceful evening all,

 

Schooner

[Edwardian]

Has anyone noticed the likeness between the hideous and emaciated malign influence in Tolkien's Lord of the Rings and the Prime Minister's departing 'special adviser'?

 

Could they be related?

 

 

Anyway, as Samwise Gamgee once sagely observed, "good riddance to bad rubbish!"

[teaky]

8 minutes ago, Edwardian said:

Has anyone noticed the likeness between the hideous and emaciated malign influence in Tolkien's Lord of the Rings and the Prime Minister's departing 'special adviser'?

 

Could they be related?

 

 

Anyway, as Samwise Gamgee once sagely observed, "good riddance to bad rubbish!"

 

Well, I've never seen them in the same place at the same time.

 

[Compound2632]

Both have been destroyed by possession of the Ring of Power.

[rocor]

4 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

Both have been destroyed by possession of the Ring of Power.

Unfortunately, it may be more a case of......

 

 

[Edwardian]

Securing BREXIT and getting That Buffoon into No.10 are one thing.  Making either one of them a success is quite another. In my view, he's leaving before it becomes so obvious that even a a Daily Mail reader could not fail to spot the impossibility of those outcomes.  

[Ian Simpson]

I think the best political obituary for him (I can't remember who said it, but they were probably a Conservative MP) is that you need different skills for campaigning and for governing.

Which seems to link Dom and Don quite nicely, IMO.

[Nearholmer]

If you read back nine million pages, I did forecast that the PM would pick poor advisers, and get into a right mess, then have to shed these initial advisers, who would be replaced by some competent "czars" acting on his behalf (probably foisted upon him by the elders of his party), so that he could then become a sort of titular king, confined to doing his "act", which is to personify, rather than rule-in-practice.

 

What he should really do is appoint some decent ministers and hold them accountable, rather than having ministers and a large/powerful clan of personal advisers.

 

(Notice how I said that over my shoulder, without taking my hands off the steering wheel, while getting through the traffic at Hyde Park Corner and part-way down Park Lane?)

 

That'll be £27-50 guv.

 

Oh, thank you; and you 'ave a good evening!

 

 

Edited November 13, 2020 by Nearholmer

[Northroader]

Do you go sarf of the river?

[Nearholmer]

Not after midnight, guv.

[wagonman]

Having lived for some years south of the river but always having worked north of it, I can attest to the truth of the adage about London cabbies. On the one occasion I did persuade one of them to take me I had to give detailed directions there and back; I had taken pity on him and had him drop me on the South Circular. The Knowledge ain't what it used to be...

[Regularity]

In the USA, with its separation of powers, it is normal for political advisors etc to be involved in the actual campaigning, but their primary skill is one of operating the political machine. The fact that appointments to the Executive branch of Government are at the behest of the President is acceptable under this: cabinet appointments are verified/approved by Congress, with a degree of oversight.

We have a popular vote electing the lower house of our legislature as a body, which then acts as an electoral college to determine who is the Prime Minister, and who will form the Government. So of the key people (the cabinet) will be selected from elected representatives (MPs) and some will be appointments (conventionally, for the appointed upper chamber, but actually this is not necessary). Political advisors were employed as party, not government, agents and advised. Civil servants were responsible for implementing policy.

Unfortunately, we seem to have drifted into a strange hybrid, with these political appointees becoming more and more powerful, but with very little oversight or control.

Even worse, the appointees have generally been campaigners trying out their hands at being political operators, rather than the reverse.

 

As ever, the British genius comes to the fore: we take something strange and aliens to us from the USA, and remove from it its single redeeming quality: that political operators are campaigners, not vice versa.

 

[Malcolm 0-6-0]

I noticed a recent comment somewhere in the wake of the US elections that the incumbent was elected on a slogan of draining the swamp but the only swamp dwellers he seems to have fired were his own selections ........

[Edwardian]

The first chink in the delusional self-confidence of Loser Don was reported today?

 

The Egregious Orange Man-Baby, speaking of a potential future Covid US lock-down, mused "who knows which administration it will be" 

 

I think, though, we all know the answer to his implied question ......

 

 

 

 

[Compound2632]

1 hour ago, Edwardian said:

 

 

 

Go. Now. Before the BTP catch up with you.

[ian]

I don't think this gentleman has been drawn to the council's attention before.

 

A spoof TV news reporter shown between segments on camera. The language is post-watershed but they are all masterworks, done in one take:

 

 

 

Edited November 14, 2020 by ian

[sem34090]

I watched an interview with the chap who plays that character, in which the interviewer accuses him of being popular with the far right; Turns out he's a traditional socialist who seems to have similar gripes with aspects of modern politics as several around here.

[Edwardian]

19 minutes ago, sem34090 said:

I watched an interview with the chap who plays that character, in which the interviewer accuses him of being popular with the far right; Turns out he's a traditional socialist who seems to have similar gripes with aspects of modern politics as several around here.

 

That he could be popular with the far right illustrates just how stupid the populist 'base' can be.

 

That was brilliant. 

 

A great summation of the demise of this presidency; "not an ounce of dignity in sight, and all the better for it".

[Nearholmer]

It’s yer bleedin’ Alf Garnett problem, innit?

 

 

Edited November 14, 2020 by Nearholmer

[Edwardian]

2 minutes ago, Nearholmer said:

It’s yer bleedin’ Alf Garnett problem, innit?

 

 

 

Well judging from that clip, the only one I've seen, he isn't sending up the right by pretending to be one of them, just having an insightful comic rant at Loser Don.

 

For an example of the send-up, see Canadian Deven Green's creation Betty Bowers, America's Best Christian 

[Nearholmer]

Ah, I see. I was thinking of the unthinking right’s inability spot itself being parodied.

[KeithMacdonald]

1 hour ago, Edwardian said:

That he could be popular with the far right illustrates just how stupid the populist 'base' can be.

 

Just an observation : by definition, for anyone standing on the "far-left" end of the spectrum (loudly signalling their own self-rightiousness), almost everybody else is perceived as "stupid" and "right-wing", even those of us in the centre. It's only a matter of degree.