Liberal Burblings

Archive for November, 2006

Our canteen has this machine to make the tea (full video here). It is quite extraordinary. It turns the mundane exercise of getting a cup of tea into a major entertainment extravaganza. The machine is called the “Lipton T-Bird” and is part of their “Tea Revolution”. It even has a big yellow light that flashes periodically when the machine is not in use, to remind you that it is still there and is very important.

The key question is: What is the difference between a normal cup of tea and a cup of tea made in this machine?

Answer: 30 pence.

It is a very sad day for radio! One of the most influential broadcasters, in terms of DJ style, Alan Freeman has passed away, aged 79.

“Fluff” will be remembered for a couple of specific things. First of all, he more or less invented the “countdown” which he did so brilliantly and excitingly on “Pick of the Pops”. He used his backing music “At the sign of the swinging cymbal” to fantastic effect as he ran down the Top 20. What he did with the music and the countdown was sheer genius. There have been many imitators of the Sunday evening Top Forty. But all of them owe a little bit to Alan Freeman, who created the genre of the Top Forty run-down in Britain.

His Saturday afternoon Rock Music show on BBC Radio One (on VHF/FM – a rarity for Radio One in those days) showed his enormous flexibility and yet again, he showed his genius in creating a genre all of his own. The introduction was wonderfully exciting and the inserts of classical music etc were a brilliant touch. He was a real rock music buff.

He later went on to do classical music on Radio Two. So he managed to straddle pop, rock and classical music in his career. Quite a feat.

I met Alan Freeman in 1975 when I was sixteen. I was fortunate enough to be chosen for the South-West heat of “Quiz Kid ’75″ on Radio One. It was fascinating to see him work.

A few years ago I wrote to him when I saw his entry in the Radio Hall of Fame. I told him how brilliantly exciting his Top 20 run-down and his Saturday afternoon intros were, and that many of us still remembered him fondly from the radio. I received a reply from his manager, Tim Blackmore.

Thanks to Duncan Borrowman for linking to an extraordinary video of the Michael Stone invasion of Stormont yesterday. The two security guards, who apprehended Stone, deserve medals.

The security guards, a male and a female, were unarmed. Stone had a “gun”, a garotte and nail bombs. And he was obviously Michael Stone, well-known friendly neighbourhood mass-murderer. So that would have put the fear of hell into anyone tackling him.

Goodness knows how Stone made it to the front door of Stormont, paused for several minutes to daub graffitti on the outside wall by the main door, and then entered the main revolving door.

Don’t they have CCTV covering the front? The odd armed policeman? The building has a huge front concourse. It is not as if the man just hopped off a passing bus and sneaked in. His approach up to the front door would have had something of a State procession about it.

It appears that Stone has arthritis, which may have made his apprehension eaiser. The gun was apparently an imitation device, but even then, that’s not something you can bring into the equation when he’s there in front of you waving it.

The story is still unfolding. Stone “faces a total of five charges of attempted murder…He was also charged with possession of articles for terrorist purposes and possession of explosives.”

It all certainly comes under the heading: You couldn’t make it up!

It is always good to look back at stories which initially cause a media furore.

One such case happened in Black Jack, Missouri, USA in May this year. My blog summarised the situation:

The town (which calls itself a “city” for some reason) of Black Jack, Missouri, USA has a law, recently confirmed by the local council, which bans unmarried couples with more than one child from occupying homes there. One such couple is facing fines of £270 a day for continuing to live in such a situation.

The City’s web site and the American Civil Liberties Union reported more recently:

On August 15, 2006 The Black Jack City Council voted UNANIMIOUSLY (sic) to change the policy and amend the definition of “family”. This vote differed dramatically from the vote on May 5, to where five of the eight members of the City Council REJECTED a proposal to change the policy.

So all it ends happily after the City council, apparently, caved in. Good for them. However, there is still a lawsuit outstanding:

On August 10, 2006 the ACLU of Eastern Missouri and the ACLU Women’s Rights Project filed a lawsuit on behalf of Olivia Shelltrack, Fondray Loving and their family who were denied a permit to live in the City of Black Jack because of a law that prohibited more than three people from living together unless they are related by “blood, marriage or adoption.”

So the second shoe hasn’t yet dropped….

I just walked down to the entrance to Newbury Racecourse (a few yards from house).

It is raining heavily, to put it politely. There is thunder and lightning which seems about a mile away.

Having had 14mm of rain yesterday, which changed the going to soft, I hope the rain today doesn’t risk the meeting.

“Cornish Rebel” seemed a natch for me to put some money on each way. I also covered myself with a small wager on Mongtermont, which is likely to be the favourite. John Francombe on Channel 4′s “The Morning Line” reckoned Ardaghey is worth an each way, so I put a soupcon on him as well. Total bet: £11, so the bank isn’t broken if they all fail.

Norfolk Blogger reports several adverse Tory reactions to the “Tosser Test”. It also appears that Mr Dale is getting somewhat catty about the matter (I don’t know, I gave up looking at Iain’s site several months ago as it had become too easy to predict).

UK Daily Pundit reports a beaut of a comment from Mark Hudson on Conservative Home :

“The only tosser of which I am aware is the one currently leading the Conservative Party.”

Here are some more – there are a good number of positive comments, but, hey, let’s just enjoy the negative ones shall we?:

Hands up all who just saw Dave on Breakfast TV. A clip from the “Tosser” video was shown with the offending word bleeped out.
Talking Head: “Why is your party using a word we can’t broadcast before 9pm?”
Cameron: “Er…Er…Er…We didn’t do it. It’s down to the publicity firm.”
That’s right. Pass the buck Mister C

Have Cameron and co lost the plot – They come across as upper class twits trying to glean votes by pretending that they are just as common as the hoi polloi.
What next – Jacob Rees-hyphen-Mogg in a turquiose suit and driving a Reliant Robin.
At least Del-boy is funny rather than simply tasteless.

What’s the personal debt of the Tory Party?
Own goal alert!

Using a term which means ‘excessive masturbator’ seems a bit ridiculous to me. I think the Conservative Party have buggered this up.

I think political parties need to concentrate on policy rather than giving advice. That should be left to the CAB.

An asinine, superficial and patronising initiative.

Are student loan debtors all TOSSERS?

I have never seen so much RUBBISH! It is fascile, inane, patronising and timewasting! However much money was spent on it was ill-spent! Why does anyone wish to be treated like some sort of halfwit? It’s embarrassing.Outraged!!

How remarkable that Reading has provided more than its fair share of fodder for chortling and Diary columns, via Martin Salter MP for Reading West and Jane Griffiths, former MP for Reading East!

Both have been regulars of the Guardian Diary.

Yesterday we were treated to another Salter Classic (my asterisks):

Overheard, waiting to board the 8.34 from Reading to Paddington on Tuesday morning, the perennially potty-mouther Labour member for Reading West, Martin Salter, responding with characteristic politesse to a constituent who rashly tried to introduce himself: “Don’t shout at me like I’m in a f**king supermarket. Show some f**king manners!” Good man.

In the other corner, even though Ms Griffiths has long departed the Westminster corridors, I was delighted to alight, en passant, on her blog. It seems that the multi-lingual rat-fancying former MP still has an obvious ardent passion for Mr Salter.

She reports a resident saying of Mr Salter: “We’d have liked to see our MP, we don’t see very much of him.” In another posting, she accuses Martin Salter of “political ineptitude of the first order” in “voting” for the LibDems at the recent Tilehurst by-election (I thought he lived in Theale?)

All good clean fun!

Strangely enough, as a Christian I don’t feel discriminated in this country, as the Daily Express tendency seems to have suggested. In fact, with Christianity as the established faith, the very idea that Christianity is discriminated against is laughable.

It has already been mentioned that wearing a cross is not a religious requirement of Christianity. What hasn’t been mentioned is that, according to Matthew, Jesus actually spoke out against Christians advertising their faith at all (“So what are you doing writing a blog saying “as a Christian”?”, I hear you ask – “It’s a fair cop, gov”, say I). These three quotes from Matthew 6 make this pretty obvious:

“So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full.

…And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full

…When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full.”

I really think that the Christian thing to do is to quietly wear a cross under your shirt, if you want to wear a cross with a uniform when you are representing a major corporation dealing with clients from all faiths and none. Having said that, I have enormous sympathy for Nadia Eweida who wants to wear a very tiny cross outside her uniform. But I don’t think BA have done anything wrong and their policy is shared by other airlines. She can wear a cross – under her clothing if she continues the uniformed job or outside her clothing if she takes the non-uniformed job that has been offered.

I am afraid that any sort of Daily Express story like this (last week it was the poor headteacher who made a minor menu booboo with halal chicken) immediately puts me into laid-back, couldn’t-give-a-proverbial mode. There is a fraternity in this country who seem to be sitting around waiting to be outraged about something which they think is an attack on “traditional British values”. I say: “Get a life”.

It’s a big day in Northern Ireland today. Either the “Big Man”, Ian Paisley, says “yes” to reigniting the Assembly, or it’s Plan B – direct rule continues indefinitely. Paisley’s party has to nominate him as First Minister today, in order to keep the devolution plan on track.

I have visited Belfast three times in the last year. After years of hatred, it really is remarkable that the people there are putting the past behind them and getting on with peaceful life. Belfast is blooming into a wonderful city once more. The people there really do richly deserve a continuation of the peace process, and that surely must mean devolution on the St Andrews’ timetable.

It will be utterly staggering to see the DUP and Sinn Fein in government together. But after all the years of violence and hatred, it will, for once, give hope for mankind. If DUP and Sinn Fein can sit down together after all that has gone on, then there is hope for peace and reconciliation in all spheres of conflict.

Let’s hope and pray that the “Big Man”, who has made a long and richly rewarding career out of saying “no”, says “yes” for once today!

I see that Brakspears of Henley has been bought by the JT Davies group. More correctly, it is being “taken private” by its largest shareholder. There is a lot of history in both these firms, as the Times reports:

Alfred Davies, the son of the founder and grandfather of the current chairman, Michael, was personal private secretary to Lloyd George during the First World War, became MP for Lincoln and was knighted in 1933.

The Brakspear family history goes back even farther. One distinguished forebear, Nicholas Breakspear (sic), was the last Pope to hail from Britain, being anointed as Pope Adrian IV in 1154. A descendant, Robert Brakspear, founded WH Brakspear & Sons Brewery in 1779.

The Liberal Democrat History group records: Sir Alfred T. Davies (1861-1949). Permanent Secretary to the Welsh Department of the Board of Education, 1907-25.

When I arrived in Berkshire nigh on 30 years ago, one of its huge attractions was the plethora of Brakspears pubs all over the wonderful central Berkshire and South Oxfordshire countryside. They still exist. Sadly the old brewery in Henley was turned into swanky flats a few years ago. The wonderful Brakspears beer is now brewed by Wychwood in Witney. While Wychwood, home of the gorgeous Hobgoblin beers, is a marvellous brewery, beers are never the same when they are moved from their home brewery. The local water is the basis of a beer. Move the beer and the water changes and the basis is gone. But at least Brakspears didn’t end up at some huge mass-brewery.

The pub chain is what is left of the original Brakspears. It looks like it has gone to a good home. It would be a very great shame if a significant number of the Brakspears pubs were tampered with. They are a very rich part of our country’s heritage.