The BNP

If the odious BNP are a far-right party then why have they done well in Labour heartlands?

The ultimate humiliation for Labour ...

"Monster Raving Loony beats Labour"



http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/cn_news_home/DisplayArticle.asp?ID=423173


Hee hee!

Ungoverning Britain

Are we being governed at all? At the moment the Government seems petrified in the lights of the scandal that have overwhelmed Westminster and seems incapable of frankly anything. Jacqui Smith going as Home Secretary (about time - now for the people of Redditch to evict her as their MP) only indicates how bad things have got. Brown must be desperate if he considers that appointing Ed Balls in Darling's place will only make things worse: he is probably loathed by certain parts of Labour as he is by the Tories. he is a truly divisive character - having associated himself with Brown for so long that he is seen as his his henchman - the remaining Blairites really detest him.

The problem now is what to do?

Brown - as his is right (and indeed as John Major did) - will hang on until the last possible moment for an election but the damage that that will impart is massive.

No Labour MP will support a No-Confidence vote (although it would send a massive shot across Brown's bows) and Brown is not the type to just go to the country. The country will not accept a second unelected PM (despite all the constitutional point about electing the party and not the PM) so Labour will know that attempting to usurp Brown will just cause their own downfall.

Juno forgotten

However upset the British are about the lack of invitation of the Queen to the commemorations to the 65th Anniversary of the D-Day landings, this should be nothing as to how the Canadians should feel. They are the forgotten force of D-Day. The Canadian 2nd Infantry Division had been slaughtered at Dieppe just under 2 years before and there was an understandable concern that history would be repeated.

As it happened the attack by the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division upon Juno Beach was in its initial stages as bloody as that on Omaha with casualty rates of almost 50% and altogether there were about 1,000 killed and wounded over the day.

They seem to be well and truly forgotten - unrepresented at the commemorations in a way that makes the British seem as if they are shining in the spotlight.


Update

I see Prince Charles has been invited. As heir to the Canadian throne I hope he visits the Canadian beach

Now he really is stiff ....

"US 'Viagra scientist' dies at 92 "

Bad taste I know but ....

The Nation's Favourite Poet

Been looking through the selection given by the BBC here and there are a couple of outstanding omissions. Firstly Shakespeare - his sonnets are immortal. But the one that is missing above all is William McGonagall, widely considered to be the worst poet to "grace" the English language. You see "favourite" is not the same as "best" and I just love reading the dreadful lines of the man from Dundee and I suspect that he has given far far more enjoyment than large number of considerably (not difficult I suppose) more talented poets....

For more on McGonagall see here

The Tay Bridge Disaster

Beautiful Railway Bridge of the Silv'ry Tay!
Alas! I am very sorry to say
That ninety lives have been taken away
On the last Sabbath day of 1879,
Which will be remember'd for a very long time.

'Twas about seven o'clock at night,
And the wind it blew with all its might,
And the rain came pouring down,
And the dark clouds seem'd to frown,
And the Demon of the air seem'd to say-
"I'll blow down the Bridge of Tay."

When the train left Edinburgh
The passengers' hearts were light and felt no sorrow,
But Boreas blew a terrific gale,
Which made their hearts for to quail,
And many of the passengers with fear did say-
"I hope God will send us safe across the Bridge of Tay."

But when the train came near to Wormit Bay,
Boreas he did loud and angry bray,
And shook the central girders of the Bridge of Tay
On the last Sabbath day of 1879,
Which will be remember'd for a very long time.

So the train sped on with all its might,
And Bonnie Dundee soon hove in sight,
And the passengers' hearts felt light,
Thinking they would enjoy themselves on the New Year,
With their friends at home they lov'd most dear,
And wish them all a happy New Year.

So the train mov'd slowly along the Bridge of Tay,
Until it was about midway,
Then the central girders with a crash gave way,
And down went the train and passengers into the Tay!
The Storm Fiend did loudly bray,
Because ninety lives had been taken away,
On the last Sabbath day of 1879,
Which will be remember'd for a very long time.

As soon as the catastrophe came to be known
The alarm from mouth to mouth was blown,
And the cry rang out all o'er the town,
Good Heavens! the Tay Bridge is blown down,
And a passenger train from Edinburgh,
Which fill'd all the peoples hearts with sorrow,
And made them for to turn pale,
Because none of the passengers were sav'd to tell the tale
How the disaster happen'd on the last Sabbath day of 1879,
Which will be remember'd for a very long time.

It must have been an awful sight,
To witness in the dusky moonlight,
While the Storm Fiend did laugh, and angry did bray,
Along the Railway Bridge of the Silv'ry Tay,
Oh! ill-fated Bridge of the Silv'ry Tay,
I must now conclude my lay
By telling the world fearlessly without the least dismay,
That your central girders would not have given way,
At least many sensible men do say,
Had they been supported on each side with buttresses,
At least many sensible men confesses,
For the stronger we our houses do build,
The less chance we have of being killed.

The Telegraph

I am getting a little tired now of the way that the Telegraph has been dominated for weeks now by the expenses scandal with details being on pages 1 2 3 4 5 ..... I would rather like to get back the paper I like.

I think the time has come to release ALL of the details on the now infamous CD into the public domain.