I've always had a lot of respect for former Birmingham MP Roy Hattersley, being as he is an unashamed proponent of left wing values and perennial thorn in the side of New Labour. However, this morning on the Heaven and Earth show he made a bit of a fool of himself. Firstly he tried to gain the moral high ground by asking someone who dared to disagree with his position on the new anti-discrimination gay rights laws if she was gay. His face was a picture when she said yes. During this argument, he quoted a statistic from a report in the 1940's which claimed that 12% of the population was gay. Another member of the panel pointed out the this report had been discredited several times since, and the figure was closer to 3% which he then claimed proved his point! Finally, he rubbished the idea that if everyone followed the Catholic churches teachings to the letter, there would be no AIDS but failed to give any indication of why that was such a stupid comment.
It must show my age when I am starting to agree with Tony Blair (yes you read that correctly) that we need to take on conservatives on both sides. Roy is an Old Labour dinosaur who would be eaten alive in the House of Commons today. I do not disagree with everything he says, but perhaps he is a ladder it is time to kick away.
Sunday, November 26, 2006
Thursday, November 23, 2006
Ashes Burnt
I do not really have the enthusiasm for the Ashes this time unlike in 2005. There are several reasons for this:
1) It is in Australia during the middle of the night
2) It is on Sky anyway and the highlights are late
3) The Aussies are on home ground and really fired-up
4) Injuries to Vaughan and Simon Jones means England have a weakened team
5) Our run-in to this series has not been exactly inspiring
It was no surprise to me therefore that the convicts dominated the first day. We need to be more attacking, bringing in Monty Panesar and Chris Read for Ashley Giles and Geraint Jones. We may not win the series, but we'd certainly put it up them.
1) It is in Australia during the middle of the night
2) It is on Sky anyway and the highlights are late
3) The Aussies are on home ground and really fired-up
4) Injuries to Vaughan and Simon Jones means England have a weakened team
5) Our run-in to this series has not been exactly inspiring
It was no surprise to me therefore that the convicts dominated the first day. We need to be more attacking, bringing in Monty Panesar and Chris Read for Ashley Giles and Geraint Jones. We may not win the series, but we'd certainly put it up them.
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Saddamed Republicans
On Radio 4 on Sunday I woke up to the following words:
"Today is te 5th November 2006, the day that will go down in history as the day Saddam Hussein was sentenced to death."
Was it a coincidence it happened three days before the US Mid-term elections? Was it a coincidence that the Afghan Elections results were due to come out at a similar time two years ago when Bush was seeking re-election before the UN monitors delayed the announcement? We are told US troops are in these countries for democracy, but whose - theirs or America's?
Anyway, as I write, the Democrats have won the House of Representatives, they are likely to effectively control the Senate and Donald Rumsfeld has left his post as Defence secretary.
Mission Accomplished.
"Today is te 5th November 2006, the day that will go down in history as the day Saddam Hussein was sentenced to death."
Was it a coincidence it happened three days before the US Mid-term elections? Was it a coincidence that the Afghan Elections results were due to come out at a similar time two years ago when Bush was seeking re-election before the UN monitors delayed the announcement? We are told US troops are in these countries for democracy, but whose - theirs or America's?
Anyway, as I write, the Democrats have won the House of Representatives, they are likely to effectively control the Senate and Donald Rumsfeld has left his post as Defence secretary.
Mission Accomplished.
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