Quote Of The Day

US stocks plummet as Greece revolts:

"The stock market doesn't like rioting--it never does and it never will," said Jeffrey Friedman, senior market strategist at Lind-Waldock.

More 'Red Lines'

According to the Telegraph:

The government is fighting off new powers for the EU to summon George Osborne, the Chancellor, in front of the European Parliament to justify and defend Britain's economic policy.

The Treasury Minster says:

"The government would not accept any proposal for the European Parliament to be able to summon ministers to appear before it," said a spokesman.

"We are clear that democratic accountability is very important, however this is why we have national parliamentary scrutiny procedures, which the European Parliament must not eclipse.

It might be a red line for Britain but it is also one for MEPs and a deal must be done quickly before a summit on 24 June. Something will have to give and negotiations are very delicate," said a Brussels diplomat.

Leaving aside that 'red lines' leak like a sieve, what's notable about this article is the 'pride' that we are all supposed to feel because Osborne is allegedly 'standing up' to Europe - apparently we are all supposed to be grateful.

How low we've fallen as a nation.

Left In The Dark

I have no wish to downplay the tragic plight of Madelaine McCann, and there's no doubt of the personal trauma of Madeline's parents, but this comment by Kate McCann irked:

"If your house is burgled you are automatically offered victim support with emotional, practical and legal assistance. If your child goes missing you may get nothing."

Automatically offered emotional, practical and legal assistance? No no no, not true. What happens when you get burgled (as someone who has experienced it many times) is the following response from an uninterested robot on the end of a phone:

"Here's your URN (Unique Reference Number) for insurance purposes, we're not interested, now sod off".

Victim support? Never heard of it. And don't get me started on the victims of disability abuse - the response from the 'robots' is exactly the same.

This is no personal reflection on Mrs McCann but to assume that burglary victims receive victim support help otherwise denied to mothers of missing children - who dominated the news for a not inconsiderable time - is misleading.

It's Jolly Expensive

Apologies for the slow blogging at the moment, my other life is getting in the way, but I'll be back soon. In meantime here's BBC Bargain Hunt's Tim Wonnacott view on the EU from the 27th May episode:

"most of us have no idea how the European Union works, all we know is that it is jolly expensive".

Try The Off Button

It's a truth universally acknowledged that when there is a Tory government two things will happen; there will be more EU integration and the Tories will try to ban stuff. The latter is a drearily familiar pattern that has long been established but it becomes most prominent when a new culture or technology emerges such as films, home videos, computer games, Facebook and now the internet itself:

Prime Minister David Cameron has warned ISPs to be more robust with their plans to provide better tools to help parents censor sexualised content online, or else the government could step in with its own regulation measures.

Here we go again, and the Tory attitude is always if in doubt it requires more government regulation to the rescue! So unsurprisingly on the back of a report about the 'sexualisation of children' Cameron has backed measures such as:

• make public space more family-friendly by “reducing the amount of on-street advertising containing sexualised imagery in locations where children are likely to see it.”
  
  
• ensure children are protected when they watch television, are on the internet or use their mobile phones by “making it easier for parents to block adult and age-restricted material” across all media.
  
  
• stop the process where companies pay children to publicise and promote products in schools or on social networking sites by banning “the employment of children as brand ambassadors and in peer-to-peer marketing.”
  

Using the classic Trojan horse of; "think of the children", Cameron wants to restrict advertising in public spaces including surely near and in pubs - my 'family friendly' local is now full of children; shock horror they might even see advertising that is inappropriate in the gent's toilets - and to regulate mobile phones, the internet and the television watershed even further. (Odd the last one because I've lost count of the number of programmes broadcast late at night recently, well past the watershed, still 'bleeping out' swear words or even being criticised for using them).

And of course government regulation means not only an assumption that the government knows best and that parents shouldn't take responsibility, but the establishment of yet another unaccountable quango. And inevitably what is initially devised to 'protect children' becomes an instrument for other things.

Take, for example, the film censorship body, the BBFC, which was given more powers under Tory legislation due to a moral panic about video nasties (although hilariously this was later found to be unenforceable due to an oversight regarding the EU).

Apparently independent, from the start it was under intense political pressure regarding censorship - one of the longest running restrictions in the UK for a film was for Battleship Potemkin, banned for political reasons until 1954 and Sergei Eisentein's classic was even given an X-rated certificate until as late as 1987.

The unaccountable BBFC became even more ludicrous as its unaccountable long-serving Director, James Fernman had carte blanche to censor films at will.

One notorious example is, after seeing the legendary nunchaku (chainsticks) scene from Bruce Lee's magnum opus Enter the Dragon, Mr Fernman attempted to replicate the scene, whilst watching the film, and knocked himself out in the process. On the basis of not being as talented as Mr Lee, he removed the scene completely (which was not reinstated for years). Mr Fernman's obsession with the nunchaku reached such ridiculous heights that he removed a scene in the 1990 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film because a string of sausages swung by Michelangelo looked like a nunchaku.

Such considerations about accountability are 'minor' - as ever the cry to protect children means the attitude is always the same - it should be banned for all of us. This is typical Tory stuff, only now it's policy based on panic by mumsnet. So much for Cameron's 'Big Society' (my emphasis):

The big society is about changing the way our country is run. No more of a government treating everyone like children who are incapable of taking their own decisions. Instead, let's treat adults like adults and give them more responsibility over their lives. That's why, in reality, this is quite different from what politicians have offered in the past.

So what happened Cameron to treating parents like adults and make them take responsibility? They have huge amounts of control over what their kids read, wear and watch. Did a pre-teen ever go into a shop and buy a ‘future porn star’ T shirt without some kind of parental approval?

And as for mobile phones, the internet, and films; these can easily be regulated in the home - it's called the 'off' button.

Eddie Kidd

Congratulations to Eddie Kidd, paralysed former stuntman, for completing the London Marathon last night. What a fantastic achievement and somewhat of an antidote to so-called 'stories' of super-injunctions and follically-challenged footballers.

A great quote by his wife, who says:

“It’s put him through so much. He’s been exhausted and frustrated and made up his own swear words because he’s run out of the normal ones to use.”

I had the privilege of watching an Eddie Kidd show when I was younger, the stunt show I attended overran so much that my Dad got a bollocking by my Mum for bringing me home late on a school night.

If You Don't Like It, Move!

The following piece is not really important in the grand scheme of things, but the issue it relates to really does drive me nuts.

Every year there are many things which are predictable; Easter, Christmas, "A-Levels are easier" in August, and calls for "Greenwich Mean Time to be abolished" every October. I have another one to add to the list - on a local issue. After every Bank Holiday weekend without fail, my local free magazine, which is delivered once a month, is full of letters from whinging residents. Their complaint? That steam trains at the local railway museum has ruined their 'right' to sit in their garden because of the smoke and noise. And yesterday's free copy was no exception, here's one example:

Dear Ed,

Far be it for me to bring up old news, but again I've had a problem with the Didcot Railway Society. The...weekend we've just had was again marred by the smoke and fumes of one of the steam trains.... Several of my neighbours were stood outside their homes complaining about the fumes... the fumes were so awful that I felt the need to contact the Environmental Health Department, if only to seek reassurance that these fumes are not in anyway a risk to my health...some of my neighbours are elderly and some have young children.

Arrrghhh! I should point out that every letter of complaint so far has come from a resident of a house situated next to the railway lines and which was built less than 15 years ago - far far younger than the presence of the railway in Didcot. So a quick potted history.

Didcot was an inconsequential place until Mr Brunel's "Super Iron Snake" arrived in 1839 and transformed it into one of major significance - it became a junction on the Great Western Line to Bristol, London, Oxford and Southampton (the latter line closed due to Beeching) So much so it became an important part of military logistics - Vauxhall Barracks is still there. It's why it is known as a 'railway town' and why the local football team are nicknamed 'the railwaymen'. The railway links and the easy commuter route to London are the reason that the town is still popular (well it's not for any other reason I can assure you), indeed the demand for housing has been so great that it has lead to the current and controversial extensive house building programme. All of which easily demonstrates that the railway has been a proud and integral part of Didcot's history for 172 years.

And because of Didcot's history it has naturally been the location, for over 40 years, for the Didcot Railway centre, not only a celebration of the railway but in particular the Great Western Railway. Now, being Didcot's only tourist attraction unsurprisingly it doesn't keep this quiet. Directions signs are all over the nearest motorways and dual carriageways, the centre is heavily promoted in the local press and tourist offices and it even appeared in an episode of Inspector Morse. Not only that, the museum also advertises itself by means of a very prominent and very tall coal stage which has the words; "Didcot Railway Centre" emblazoned on one of the sides in large black letters. Surely that a relatively well-known railway museum has steam trains and that they make lots of smoke and noise cannot come as a surprise, can it?

So one would think that it is the responsibility of those buying a house (by far the most expensive purchase most of us make) to be aware of the heritage and the surroundings and take notice of the obligatory environmental survey at the very least. Apparently not to some residents.

I don't expect anyone to be the deduction genius that is Sherlock Holmes when buying a home, but seriously, how much more of a clue do some people want?

More importantly...

Coleen Rooney (her of I'm famous 'cos I'm married to a footballer variety) is one of the most read items on the Telegraph site - apparently the groundbreaking news is that she called someone else a 'dog' on twitter:

The comments say it all.

Greek Drachma Reappears

Interesting, the Greek drachma appeared on a list of currency exchange rates of the news agency Reuters at the beginning of May. The exchange rate details are however left blank

hattip: Muffled Vociferation

Blatter Wins!

The result was astonishingly close.