Today's is another from OGWT. The Cult 'She sells sanctuary' from 1985. It was around this time I saw them live at the Capitol in Aberdeen. They messed this track up badly.
30 September 2011
It's time to recycle Eric Pickles
I was going to comment on today's announcement from the local government department of a quarter of a billion pound bribe to local authorities to reintroduce weekly bin collections - but Eaten by Missionaries got there first.
But soon the real debate will surely move on to the role and purpose of the local government department itself. If councils are going to have autonomy to decide on the form and level of local services - why do they still have a man in Whitehall telling them that he knows best?
Abolition of the DCLG would free up local government from pointless interference and save a vast amount of cash in these austere times. Enough for a few chicken tikka masalas I'd imagine...
But soon the real debate will surely move on to the role and purpose of the local government department itself. If councils are going to have autonomy to decide on the form and level of local services - why do they still have a man in Whitehall telling them that he knows best?
Abolition of the DCLG would free up local government from pointless interference and save a vast amount of cash in these austere times. Enough for a few chicken tikka masalas I'd imagine...
28 September 2011
Only Labour could say cutting tax for the low paid is regressive
Labour are determined to have a monopoly on progressive politics. That can be the only conclusion to be drawn from a frankly bizarre report by the IPPR (reported on Lib Dem Voice) that implies that raising the threshold when low paid workers start paying income tax is regressive. It appears to be based on the assumption that any further rises in the threshold don't benefit those already benefiting from the zero tax rate who by definition are the poorest of the working poor.
This is ludicrous sophistry of the highest order and the sort of rationale that led to Gordon Brown adding layer upon layer of complexity into the tax and benfits system in the name of being 'progressive'. The result is that now the highest effective rates of tax aren't paid by those at the top, but those at the very bottom, because of the steep tapers in the withdrawal of tax credits/benefits.
The IPPR are Labour's favourite think tank. And it's not hard to see why. This report's author was Kayte Lawton who is a regular contributor to Labour List, secretary of the Barnsbury ward Labour Party and the organiser of Islington South and Finsbury Labour Party’s policy forum.
Frankly, it's time Liberals abandoned the word 'progressive' and leave it to Labour and their friends on the left who can carry on in a futile exercise of trying to prove that only they are keepers of the faith. Meanwhile Lib Dems in government can get on with the job of making life better for people at the bottom of the heap and undo the 13 years of useless policy making - no doubt advised by the IPPR - that saw the gap between the richest and the poorest rise to record levels.
This is ludicrous sophistry of the highest order and the sort of rationale that led to Gordon Brown adding layer upon layer of complexity into the tax and benfits system in the name of being 'progressive'. The result is that now the highest effective rates of tax aren't paid by those at the top, but those at the very bottom, because of the steep tapers in the withdrawal of tax credits/benefits.
The IPPR are Labour's favourite think tank. And it's not hard to see why. This report's author was Kayte Lawton who is a regular contributor to Labour List, secretary of the Barnsbury ward Labour Party and the organiser of Islington South and Finsbury Labour Party’s policy forum.
Frankly, it's time Liberals abandoned the word 'progressive' and leave it to Labour and their friends on the left who can carry on in a futile exercise of trying to prove that only they are keepers of the faith. Meanwhile Lib Dems in government can get on with the job of making life better for people at the bottom of the heap and undo the 13 years of useless policy making - no doubt advised by the IPPR - that saw the gap between the richest and the poorest rise to record levels.
Hibs finally win at home
After a seven month wait Hibs finally win a league game at Easter Road 3-2 v St Johnstone. The match stats provided by the BBC make interesting reading - and it's not the fact that Hibs appear to have been comprehensively outplayed. It's because despite scoring three times, the stats say Hibs had just two shots on target...
27 September 2011
The fundamental flaw in Labour's message
Labour have been keen to repeat across the board at their conference that a complete recasting of British society and economy is needed and that the current government is simply defending this broken status quo.
Now if was leading a party that had overseen this 'broken status quo' for 13 out of the last 14 years and if I had been a been a cabinet member just 506 days ago who had been part of that 'broken status quo' I might just wonder how culpable I was personally for this 'broken status quo'.
It's this almost complete lack of self awareness that is the most striking thing about Labour this week. If Labour are going to widen the terms of the debate about wider societal and economic failings then a narrow apology on their failure to regulate the banks just won't do.
I suspect the message that the public will hear is Mili minor talking about radical change and his party booing Tony Blair and come to the obvious conclusion that he and his party are tacking to the anti market left.
Now if was leading a party that had overseen this 'broken status quo' for 13 out of the last 14 years and if I had been a been a cabinet member just 506 days ago who had been part of that 'broken status quo' I might just wonder how culpable I was personally for this 'broken status quo'.
It's this almost complete lack of self awareness that is the most striking thing about Labour this week. If Labour are going to widen the terms of the debate about wider societal and economic failings then a narrow apology on their failure to regulate the banks just won't do.
I suspect the message that the public will hear is Mili minor talking about radical change and his party booing Tony Blair and come to the obvious conclusion that he and his party are tacking to the anti market left.
26 September 2011
Amazon in infinite monkey Shakespeare stunt
A fantastic report features on the Beeb website tonight that a series of virtual monkeys have almost completed the works of Shakespeare at nine characters a time.
It's clearly a very good piece of publicity for Amazon - whose computers are hosting the event and the programmer concerned. But the best thing about the report is the fact that the Beeb shares with us the fact that 'Practical experiments show monkeys have poor keyboard skills'.
It's clearly a very good piece of publicity for Amazon - whose computers are hosting the event and the programmer concerned. But the best thing about the report is the fact that the Beeb shares with us the fact that 'Practical experiments show monkeys have poor keyboard skills'.
Balls in fantasy land
Shadow Chancellor, Ed Balls, is doing the rounds of Labour conference apologising for getting some things wrong on the economy while they were in power. He has also launched a vacuous and wrong slogan 'Building schools and hospitals did not create the deficit', by way of non-apology over the government's structural deficit.
Except that it did - and saddled the UK tax payer with expensive 'off book' PFI deals that transfer money out of public services and into the bottom lines of private construction companies for years to come. Estimates suggest that the tax payer will end up paying 10 times the value of the capital assets involved.
So when Balls asks people to take him and his party seriously on the economy I hope people remeber just how much of their money he wasted needlessly on PFI - among other failures such as IT.
And thanks to the BBC Politics Show archive you can still view the wonderful attack on Balls as 'a 27 year old researcher' by Michael Heseltine at the Tory conference in 1994.
Danny Alexander take note...
Except that it did - and saddled the UK tax payer with expensive 'off book' PFI deals that transfer money out of public services and into the bottom lines of private construction companies for years to come. Estimates suggest that the tax payer will end up paying 10 times the value of the capital assets involved.
So when Balls asks people to take him and his party seriously on the economy I hope people remeber just how much of their money he wasted needlessly on PFI - among other failures such as IT.
And thanks to the BBC Politics Show archive you can still view the wonderful attack on Balls as 'a 27 year old researcher' by Michael Heseltine at the Tory conference in 1994.
Danny Alexander take note...
23 September 2011
Friday favourite 25
With BBC4 showing re-runs of the seminal Old Grey Whistle Test this evening I'd thought I'd dig out a very young David Byrne and Talking heads from the YouTube archive:
21 September 2011
BMA and NSPCC wrong over cage fight boy
The beeb reports that both the BMA and NSPCC have criticised the organisers of a childrens' cage fight in the Greenlands Labour Club in Preston.
The fight involved no punching or kicking and was licensed by the relevant authorities.
Now far be it from me to say, but if the bout had involved karate, judo or some other middle class pursuit and was held at Preston Grammar School would it even have registered with either of these organisations?
The fight involved no punching or kicking and was licensed by the relevant authorities.
Now far be it from me to say, but if the bout had involved karate, judo or some other middle class pursuit and was held at Preston Grammar School would it even have registered with either of these organisations?
20 September 2011
Lookalikes
Maverick Tory MP Peter Bone who has been doing the rounds of Lib Dem conference.
Former England manager, now managing Leicester City, Sven Goran Erickson
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