Apologies for being a bit inactive on the blogging front these last two days…. had to nip up to Crewe, do my bit for democracy and hand out a few leaflets for The Labour Party.
Well… obviously I have not been doing that – but I have been surprised by the crass electioneering by the Labour party in getting supporters to play ‘the toff card’ and dress up in top hat and tails – especially as one of the top hatted brigade was privately educated at the well known Manchester Grammar School.
Far more interesting is the question of what will happen to Gordon Brown if Labour lose the by-election – as may well be the case. Guido Fawkes has an interesting piece suggesting that Gordon may have a visit from Jack “The Lad Chancellor” Straw on Friday if Labour loses and suggests that Straw may have to travel to Fife to find Brown.
I nipped over to Iain Dale’s Diary (“Political intelligence in every sense’ – Roland White, Sunday Times) to see what Mr Dale was saying. The entry for today was “Tonight the Carlton Must Do Its Duty” and discovered that “Louise Bagshawe has stirred up a bit of a hornet’s nest on Centre Right by castigating the Carlton Club for its policy of not allowing women to be full members. She is, of course, totally right. The Carlton is, of course, good enough to allow women into the place, for which I am sure the ladies are very grateful indeed…. “
This did not assist me in terms of the Crewe election, so I scrolled down…. to an amusing post with the headline: “Do You Really Want to Make Gordon Cry?”… I quote from Mr Dale’s Diary…. “The first song played by BBC Radio Stoke in the hour long Gordon Brown phone-in (still going on) was ‘Do you really want to hurt to hurt me, do you really want to make me cry…’ by Culture Club. An amusing coincidence or a deliberate invitiation to voters ahead of polling day on Thursday? Or perhaps a message from Brown to Alan Milburn…”
Who said politics was dull?…. and on that note… I’m off for a walk and then, perhaps, a glass of vino…
***
I don’t think I was imagining it – but I am sure I read somewhere this morning that a poll revealed that 75% of people polled thought Tony Blair was a better prime minister than Brown. Ironic. You wait ten years, walk on water during the floods and then all hell breaks loose….
***
NOT OFFICE SAFE
I’m afraid that I just could not resist this link to White Rabbit
Possibly I remain shell-shocked by the vile Blair but I can’t find it in my heart to despise Brown: he just seems inept and unthreatening.
GL: It is like a JAWS movie at the moment…. in the political world.
Even Lib-Dem supremo Nick Clegg was talking about “The Eunuch of Parliaments” today – bizarre….
Is Mr Dale related to that Mrs Dale, who also wrote a diary?
Andrew: I am sure not…. but I do remember that a Mrs Dale did, indeed, write a diary….
I used to keep a diary… when I was a young Charon (12).
January 1: I haven’t got a hangover because I am not old enough. I am only 12 – and teenage binge drinking has not, as yet, become fashionable. I resolve to rectify this when I am older.
January 2: My brother, RD Charon, is being very tedious – asked my uncle, “Crocodile Charon”, if the Australian government was still accepting immigrants because I would be quite happy to save up to have him shipped out there.
January 3: Had a letter from the Bar Council saying that I was too young to read law and to come back when I was 18.
January 4: I can’t be bothered to write a diary… I’ll take diary writing up in later life when I start drinking….
There’s little so depressing as watching our governing party tearing itself apart. Mind you, I seem to recall feeling a little different at the tail-end of our last Tory Government.
I can’t help feeling it’s going to get messier before the Labour Party can even begin to get its house in order (no pun intended).
“We no longer live in the times of the Pharaohs… time has speeded up… government loses momentum…. we get bored and because we are still, at heart, a rabble… we do not see or wish to see the success of the past – we want a new Mayor, a new Caesar… we want a head to roll… we want change…. we want house prices to rise.”
Antoninus Charonus
Reporting for The Telegraphus, Rome
16th March, 44 BC
I’m off to Fife on Friday – maybe I should look for Brown and let Jack Straw know where he is, it shouldn’t be too difficult the lang toun is not that big, he’ll probably be hiding out at the manse.
Herschelian: I’m fairly sure that Alex Salmond will know if Broon is about in Fife ! But…. please do let Jack know if his GPS unit and the tracking device on Brown’s ankle, provided by The Home Office, is not working.