Thursday, March 18, 2010

What Was I Thinking?

So last night I opened up a nice bottle of a Chilean Sauvignon Blanc. After a few glasses before, during and after supper there wasn't much left, so I polished off the bottle. Not good really. If that wasn't bad enough, I then opened up nice bottle of Chilean Merlot. Even worse, I polished off that bottle too (some of which came up before I went to bed).

I have not been feeling very well at all today; I still don't. Nevertheless, I did manage to vacuum the pond and service the pump and filter. Will I ever learn?

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

I can't believe I missed this the first time around (in 1986)

I just can't get enough of it. If the Conservatives did music...

Extended version here.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

There is no such thing as society

"I think we've been through a period where too many people have been given to understand that if they have a problem, it's the government's job to cope with it. 'I have a problem, I'll get a grant.' 'I'm homeless, the government must house me.' They're casting their problem on society. And, you know, there is no such thing as society. There are individual men and women, and there are families. And no government can do anything except through people, and people must look to themselves first. It's our duty to look after ourselves and then, also to look after our neighbour. People have got the entitlements too much in mind, without the obligations. There's no such thing as entitlement, unless someone has first met an obligation."

(The Great) Margaret Thatcher, 1987.

The key quote is not "there is no such thing as society", but "There's no such thing as entitlement, unless someone has first met an obligation".

How convenient for the "left" to isolate that one quote without reference the rest of what she said. And how it all rings true again after 13 years of a Labour government.

Leaked email shows how BA strike union is campaigning for Labour

Perhaps we shall no longer hear cries of "Ashcroft!" from the Labour side. Or is that too much to ask for?

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Leaked email shows how BA strike union is campaigning for Labour - Telegraph

I Cannot Sleep

Again. Lying here with iPhone and BlogPress writing this for something to do.

Monday, March 15, 2010

L115A3 Long Range Rifle - British Army Website

I've always fancied getting one of these - anyone know how I can lay my hands on one? Might come in handy if Brown wins the election.

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L115A3 Long Range Rifle - British Army Website

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Britons sentenced to a month in prison for kissing in Dubai restaurant

Ban the Burka in the UK.

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Britons sentenced to a month in prison for kissing in Dubai restaurant - Telegraph

There's just something about girls kissing...

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Girls kissing isn't getting boring yet, honest | New girls | Maxim

Saturday, March 13, 2010

APOD: 2010 March 13 - Centaurus A

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APOD: 2010 March 13 - Centaurus A

Painless Recession is Gordon Brown’s Trump Card

"...for the vast majority of people this has so far been a relatively painless recession. The Government has protected them from the full force of the contraction with unprecedented quantities of public support which in any other circumstances would have been condemned as the most scandalous pre-election giveaway of all time.

Disingenuously, the Prime Minister promises that this happy state of affairs can continue. This is the fantasy economics of Neverland, but for the first time since the crisis began, voters seem to believe it. Contrast this with the [reality of the] Conservative message of severe austerity to come and it is not hard to see why people would question the need for change."

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Painless Recession is Gordon Brown’s Trump Card - Telegraph

Friday, March 12, 2010

I could have bought a Maserati if I wanted...

A beautiful, gorgeous, polluting, gas-guzzling GranTurismo S Automatic to be precise. Jeremy Clarkson would have been proud - but only of the polluting, gas-guzzling part (see here).

Instead, I have just bought a flat (apartment, to be precise).

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Gordon Brown has voters in a trance - it's time for a wake-up call

"...Truth is, the British electorate is being hoodwinked by the Prime Minister. He and his gang of ruthless operatives will stop at nothing to save themselves from defeat. They will use every dirty trick in the book, and are already doing so, to knock Mr Cameron off his stride and sow doubts in the receptive minds of uncertain voters..."

"...Winston Smith understood the Orwellian doublethink trick used by Mr Brown: "To know and not to know, to be conscious of complete truthfulness while telling carefully constructed lies, to hold simultaneously two opinions which cancelled out, knowing them to be contradictory and believing in both of them, to use logic against logic, to repudiate morality while laying claim to it… and above all, to apply the same process to the process itself. That was the ultimate subtlety: consciously to induce unconsciousness, and then, once again, to become unconscious of the act of hypnosis you had just performed. Even to understand the word 'doublethink' involved the use of doublethink."

"Mr Brown's act of hypnosis is to make us ignore the facts about what will become of Britain should he be left in charge for much longer: economically relegated, permanently crippled with debt, addicted to public spending and big state interference, reliant on ever higher taxes and ruled by the trade unions..."

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Gordon Brown has voters in a trance - it's time for a wake-up call - Telegraph

The police should stop harassing the middle class and deal with anti-social thugs

"Once upon a time, Britain’s population of respectable, law-abiding citizens looked on the police as a protective shield, the thin blue line standing between them and the criminal underclass. Not any more. The police have more or less given up when it comes to the daily crimes that make ordinary people’s lives a misery, such as breaking-and-entering, vandalism, auto-theft, and the like. But woe betide the middle class person who’s television license is out of date or who exceeds the speed limit by five mph. The police will come down on him or her like a ton of bricks."

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The police should stop harassing the middle class and deal with anti-social thugs – Telegraph Blogs

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Gordon Brown's 10 worst financial gaffes

Gordon is a Moron. Jilted John, 1978.

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Money Central - Times Online - WBLG: Gordon Brown's 10 worst financial gaffes