West London Man (6): At home…

George and Caroline are at home … about to settle down after dinner to look at the architect’s plans to develop their West London home.

Caroline: So you decided not to go to The Chelsea Flower Show?

George: Well… I had a fairly good tip that this year they were going to recycle the show gardens and I thought I might be able to pick up a garden fairly cheaply. But then I read in The Evening Standard that Hilary Blume – a rather appropriate name in the circumstances – Director of the Charities Advisory Trust, organisers of the giveaway, said that only allotment groups, schools and charities can claim the goods. She was very direct about it. The Standard reported her as saying … “We wanted everything to go to a worthy cause – not someone from The Bishops Avenue looking for something for their garden’. [Evening Standard, Monday 19th May]

Caroline: Well… I quite like that burnt out patch at the bottom of the garden…. wild flowers will grow…. it could be our natural garden area…. hedgehogs will come… ladybirds… we may even get woodpeckers…

Read Full Post »

Doing my bit for democracy….

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

Read Full Post »

20th May: Daily news podcast and news…

Are we walking into a surveillance society?

Daily news podcast and news up on Insitelaw newswire.

The Insitelaw newswire is beginning to take shape.  If any bloggers would like to profile posts on Insitelaw – please let me know by email.  I am updating the blog section on Insitelaw today – and the law reports etc.

Read Full Post »