I recant whatever Gordon Brown says I recant
Wed ,22/07/2009Today has been a day stuck behind a desk, thrashing out paperwork in order to be able to legitimately take tomorrow off and catch up on all the news, events and goings on in Norwich North that I missed today. But in the mean time permit me a few moments to pass on a few notes of fail and scandal.
I was so pressed for time that I did not read, see or even listen to the news until heading home late in the afternoon. That was when the news broke to me (some 8 hours after the rest of the country) that Lord Malloch-Brown had declared once and for all the Gordon Brown was not telling the truth on Afghanistan and that:
We definitely don’t have enough helicopters
Well, that seems pretty much unequivocal. The PM and those that have continually spouted the PLP mantra for the past 10 days or so were wrong. Right then I thought whilst driving home then I heard the second part of the news article whereby Lord Malloch-Brown makes the following statement in a later press briefing:
On the issue of helicopters in Afghanistan, I was making the point – as the prime minister and commanders on the ground have also done – that while there are without doubt sufficient resources in place for current operations, we should always do what we can to make more available on the frontline
Lord Malloch-Brown
So, after a day of news avoidance I was met with this disappointing story of a man with a severe lack of honour who had the chance to give something to those men of great honour. But, alas, it was not to be.
Whilst researching for this evening’s blog I happened on an area of the Web that can only truly be described as scary. A place where you would not wish to take your children.
We all know that the Mirror is known for its lack of sympathy towards the right but two articles (and I use the term extremely loosely) caught my eye this evening. The first is from Paul Routledge and is entitled CHRIS IS OUR NORTH STAR (I think their shift button has broken in the down position).
What I found truly remarkable about this article is that it is exactly what politics in this country was about 20 years ago. Negative reporting, concentrating on something you dislike, trying to rubbish it then feeling smug and putting in a one-liner at the foot. Consequently, we have 122 words with the final 12 telling us to vote for Chris Ostrowski with no justification whatsoever. What’s more, there is no evidence or justification for the drivel written within the first 110 words either.
Oh yes, this article also refers to Chloe Smith as a teenager, not the full 27 years she is; I guess they meant that as a compliment Chloe.
The other truly awful piece of toilet journalism that I happened across is from Kevin Maguire and is entitled THE MP voters would crown [...] they must only have one typewriter in the 20 year out of date press office. Now, Kevin should be rewarded as he managed a total of 164 words and I’m guessing that he required at least 2 cups of coffee to push the boundaries of the gutter press to such breaking limits.
The content of this article is somewhat lost on me. There is no substance, there is no point, no reference. This article seems to be a way for the Mirror to ‘fill its void’ of Web space. Much the same scenario happened after the death of Robert Maxwell, such a large character/person that nobody could fill that void.
As I say, that is a scary place that somehow goes under the banner of journalism. That in itself is a very scary place.
One more item caught my eye before signing off this evening and it was from Norfolk Blogger by his very own admission he is a teacher and former LibDem Councillor, so I wasn’t expecting great things but the above post totally thrilled me to pieces.
In another shining example of brevity he complains that a recent BBC audience was riddled with Conservative councillors and supporters and goes on to state:
Hopeless Tory bias from the BBC again!
…and on that note of delusion, it’s good night from me.