She’s beautiful, she models lingerie and for a year she has been Miss England. But now, after several months leave of absence, Katrina Hodge is unpacking her fatigues and going back to the job she loves – a Lance Corporal in the British Army.

“I’ve had a year of glitz and glamour but that sort of stuff doesn’t last – the Army is a career for me.”

She was runner up in the 2009 Miss England contest but took over the title when the original winner pulled out.

She entered Miss England as a joke against the lads in  her unit who teased her about turning up with a pink suitcase and false eyelashes when she first joined the army and called her “Combat Barbie” as a result

They all came along to the final this year and cheered me on. You could hear the rabble of army lads when I came on stage”.

She is still very girlie and loves pink – and she does look good modelling lingerie. But she has also won a military commendation in Iraq when she confronted an armed Iraqi.

She had been part of a team of soldiers whose vehicle had crashed off a road, turning over three times. When she came to she realised an Iraqi had taken weapons from the crashed vehicle. She wrestled him to the ground and retrieved the weapons, after “giving him a whack”

Quite a lady, I think….

This Englishman got into country music via rockn’roll. Quite a few of my big 50’s heroes (Haley, Holly, Jerry Lee etc) had either come to rock via country or still dabbled in it and as I started to explore I began to enjoy what I heard. Most of the songs were about personal experiences or feelings and it was easy to find a song that matched a mood – sadness, joy, wistfulness, regret, anger.  Moreover they carried a good tune and easily remembered lyrics.

So here are some of the artists and songs that always hit the spot because, for me they are what country music is all about.

Buck Owens was big in the sixties and early seventies using a stripped down sound that was in direct contrast to the heavily orchestrated numbers that were coming out of Nashville at the time. Jaunty and simple because Owens was going back to basics…

Lyle Lovett is the thinking man’s singer. His music often contains a wry, left field take on familiar situations. But this one is a beautifully crafted hymn to wistfulness and unattainable dreams….

Blackhawk’s sound is a rolling wave where vocals and instruments combine to wash over the listener in an emotional flood. This number paints that magic moment when a man is finally confronted with the price of his own thoughtlessness….

In total contrast – Don Williams….quiet, gentle, a beautiful celebration of true love…..

We call them lorries, Americans call them trucks but, wherever you are these vehicles and their drivers are the lifeblood of any economy. For me whether driving in Britain, America or Europe this is a must play while eating up the miles on the tarmac….in my economy car imagining I was Dale Watson. I loved his Truckin Sessions album but was surprised to discover that, at one time, he was not a big seller in the US because, in the UK  he has always been very popular.  

Dale Watson is the real deal. What Dale does in keeping traditional country music alive can’t be matched. He writes & sings true to the roots and spirit of what made country music great. You can clearly hear influences of Merle Haggard & Johnny Cash in his songs, artists that Dale truly admires & respects.

Maybe the Blackhawk lady was thinking this as she wrote on the mirror with her lipstick…it is a song guaranteed to make most men feel just a little bit uncomfortable…..Deana Carter wishes she could turn back the years…..

In all my years as a teacher I always gave this piece of advice from Kenny Rogers to every class I took…..

….and, before I die, I would still love to go, one day, and stand on a corner in Winslow, Arizona….The Eagles – sheer perfection…

Thanks for your interest and, as Dale Watson would say…..may your bridges all be sixteen five……..

So Ed Milliband is now the anointed leader of the Labour Party. Are the downtrodden pouring out of their tenements onto the streets uttering cries of hope? Are they forming their battalions to advance on the Coalition’s Bastille, ready to tear it down brick by brick with their bare and bleeding hands? Are Cameron and Clegg cowering in the cellars of Downing Street quivering with fear?

Well…actually no to all of that. Hardly anyone outside the Westminster hothouse has a clue about Ed Milliband or his brother – and even to we political junkies there is something extremely plastic about them both. As for Cameron and Clegg they are probably still roaring with laughter and slapping each other on the back in joyous disbelief at the handful of aces dealt to them by the Labour Party.

Ed Milliband (age 41) is the son of a pompous and highly opinionated Marxist academic called Ralph Milliband who scuttled around the corridors of several universities during the 60s and 70s. Many of his colleagues and students appeared to be immensely relieved whenever he left a post apart from a handful of left wing fellow travellers who had an inflated view of their own and his importance – hence the myth of Ralph Milliband as a giant of the left and the scourge of the British establishment. In fact he was an insignificant pipsqueak who had little, if any, contact with the working class he claimed to represent, living as he did in bourgeois comfort in a fashionable Guardian reading enclave of North London.

Ed was apparently a bright boy, won a good degree and, after a brief flirtation with television journalism got a job as a Labour Party researcher in 1993 and, in the following year, gained an attachment to Gordon Brown’s political staff. Finally in 2005 he was shoehorned by Brown into a safe Labour seat and, within a year or so became a government minister, ending up, in 2008, as Secretary of State for Energy and Climate change, becoming a major player at the 2009 Copenhagen Conference.

So Ed Milliband, after just five years in Parliament is now the elected leader of the Labour Party – with almost zero experience of the world outside politics. But that matters not a jot to the comrades who have no wish to understand the workings of wealth creation. The keys to his success came from the support of the trade unions, which form a powerful bloc in the process of electing the leader, and the influence of Gordon Brown and his followers who, despite being responsible for Labour’s loss of power in the recent election, still exist as a significant force in Labour politics.

The Trade Unionists and the Brownites claim that Ed Milliband is the right man for the task of crushing the Cameron/Clegg coalition and restoring Labour to power. In fact their true priority is to airbrush Tony Blair and the concept of New Labour from the rulebook and return the party to the left – totally ignoring the lessons of Blair’s electoral victories of ’97, ‘01 and ’05 which were based on attracting middle class votes by ignoring the unions and embracing the capitalist ethic.

Blair, of course, was a wonderful conman in the Clinton mould, managing to give the impression of doing much but achieving very little yet using his charm and charisma to disarm his critics. Milliband is as charismatic as a roll of felt. He had a reputation amongst government colleagues for being indecisive and preferring to posture rather than implementing policy – no wonder given his boyhood experiences at home, listening to Ralph and his cronies pontificate about the restructuring of society when none of them had any experience of having to manage real organisations that impacted on the real world.

Milliband is the plenipotentiary of the Guardian reading chattering classes whose main interests are climate change, civil liberties and the belief that the main function of government is to provide therapy – just the sort of man the UK does not need in a world that will face up to a decade of zero economic growth and the machinations of evil fanatics who wish to sentence us to a lifetime of helotry under the rule of medieval cultists.

One might well argue, however, that his four rivals for the leadership were equally uninspiring and there would be much truth in that. Strangely enough, however, there was one important political figure from the Brown regime who the Tories always feared – Alan Johnson, the former Home Secretary.

Johnson, a postman who rose to be leader of the postal workers union was a man far removed from the world of the Millibands. Articulate, bright and with a cockney accent highlighting his humble background, he could have proved a perfect foil to David Cameron, the wealthy Old Etonian. But Johnson was too right wing for his former union comrades and, at the age of 60, regarded as a tad too old by the spinmeisters and PR gurus who appear to exert such an influence on political life.

Blair has always been worried that the Labour left was never too interested in finding the needle in the haystack that symbolised holding power – they instead preferred to scramble in the hay, quarrelling over arcane disputes and bearing long held grudges. By electing this nonentity it appears his fears were fully justified…

The Coalition, committed as it is to the reduction of the deficit, will face a bumpy ride as it implements the spending cuts essential to the  revival of a sound economy. But Labour’s leftward drift under Milliband will provoke a reaction from the heirs of Tony Blair – there will be plots and fights and blood on the benches weakening the image of the party as a viable alternative government. It doesn’t mean that the Coalition is definitelyhome and dry at the next election – but the ascension of Ed certainly shortens the odds for that eventuality.

Interesting piece in The UK Telegraph by Nile Gardiner – one of the very few British (and, let’s face it American) journalists who did not fall for the stryrofoam temple in 2008.

I’ve written extensively on how the Obama White House has been the most anti-British presidency since the Suez crisis of 1956, and predicted months before Obama’s election win that his leadership would be damaging for the US-British alliance.

Gardiner has the feeling that the Tea Party could well spearhead a conservative revolution (or, as Governor Palin might say, an American restoration) in 2012, ejecting Obama out of the White House and evicting legions of Democrats from Congress – good news for all my American friends but also, says Gardiner, even better news for we Brits.

At first sight, of course, the Tea Party does not appear to have much interest in Britain. The focus is almost entirely on domestic issues and the symbolism, often expressed in terms of the late 18th century, framed with references to struggles against tyranny in the form of George III and redcoats.

There is no doubting the fact that the Tea Party movement is primarily focused at present upon domestic policy issues. It is largely driven by intense opposition to Obama’s Big Government agenda, and by a belief in low taxation and reduced government spending, greater individual freedom and limited intrusion by the state. But it is also at its heart a movement that cherishes a belief in American exceptionalism and US leadership, worships the concept of national sovereignty, and is suspicious of supranational institutions such as the United Nations or the European Union that seek to impinge upon America’s ability to act independently. In other words, it stands for almost everything the current US administration does not.

When I first started blogging (mainly to an audience of four – my son, his cat and a couple of spiders in my garden shed) I found myself posting the odd piece about Sarah Palin. Out of the blue, I was invited to post on C4P in it’s pioneering days and I felt greatly honoured but also slightly nervous – what would all those so called “foaming at the mouth Palinista wingnuts, clinging bitterly to their guns and religion” think about the meanderings of some old pensioner from the ancient forests of Sussex?

I needn’t have worried. I have been received with tolerance, kindness and warmth (one reason why I shall be in Chicago this November) and I always get the feeling that American conservatives still genuinely wish to stretch their hands across the ocean – unlike Obama and many left/liberal Democrats.

The Obama administration’s sneering view of Britain was perfectly summed up by a senior State Department protocol officer in March last year:
“There’s nothing special about Britain. You’re just the same as the other 190 countries in the world. You shouldn’t expect special treatment.”

I read that while Micheal Yon was embedded with The Rifles in Afghanistan, reporting on the professionalism and courage of our squaddies and watching their blood soak into the dust of Helmand alongside their US comrades, just as their fathers and grandfathers did in WW2 and Korea – and wondered…..

Of course emotion and history should not direct foreign policy. I am a fierce British patriot who always catches his breath whenever I see the Union Flag snapping in the wind. There are times when UK and US interests do not coincide and we must beg to differ – as we did in 1776 and other moments in history. But the very reverence that Tea Partiers feel for the Founding Fathers and the US Constitution must also recognise that the roots of the American Republic spring from the soil of England, the England of the first half of the seventeenth century when King and Parliament clashed over the issue of sovereignty and the sons and daughters and cousins of those rebels who cut off their king’s head and proclaimed an English republic spread across to the north American colonies – argumentative, independent, industrious and determined like their roundhead siblings…..and eventually the spirit of 1642 became the spirit of 1776.

Hence my political kinship with C4P and the Tea Party – also recognised by Gardiner.

The main heroes of the Tea Party are, of course, America’s Founding Fathers. But its members also look to more recent leaders for inspiration – in the United States, Ronald Reagan and Barry Goldwater for example, and across the Atlantic, to Margaret Thatcher and Winston Churchill. In conversations I have had with an array of Tea Party supporters in recent months, almost all have expressed a huge admiration for the Iron Lady and her achievements across the Atlantic. There have also been frequent nods of support for the cost-cutting measures of the new Cameron-led Coalition – and many have asked the question – if they can cut the deficit in London, why can’t we do it in Washington too?

I feel in my bones that if a certain person moved into the White House then Gardiner’s final prediction of a sharp change in the mood music would come to pass

Unlike the Obama administration, the new wave of conservative leaders in the United States recognise Britain as America’s most important ally, are suspicious of EU-style supranationalism, and understand the great sacrifices that the US and UK have made in the defence of liberty and freedom across the world. One thing is certain if President Obama loses the White House in 2012. His successor definitely won’t be throwing a bust of Sir Winston Churchill out of the Oval Office.

God Save America. God Save The Queen.

cross posted at Conservatives4Palin

There was a good heads up for the Tea Party by Toby Harnden of the UK Telegraph. Of course it was slightly patronising in that Victorian gentleman explorer kind of way (“even though the islanders wore face paint and bones through their noses they turned out to be decent chaps…”) and Harnden was late coming to the TP OK club. Like most UK hacks he ignored it for over a year and, don’t forget, be bought into the David Brooks Obama worship shtick throughout the ’08 campaign….never once did he attempt to do wear out any shoe leather by pounding the Chicago streets and sussing out Obama’s seedier connections with the Windy City’s corrupt machine. Nevertheless Toby had his Damascus moment and, for the last few months, has been straying from the Brooks line and checking the cracks in the Styrofoam columns.

Which makes this towards the end of his piece all the more disturbing

The biggest test of the Tea Party’s power will come in 2012. It would be unwise to assume that Palin is the only one who stands to benefit. Some Tea Party groups are very pro-Palin but others are wary of her celebrity and her decision to quit as Alaska governor.
She perhaps didn’t help herself in Iowa on Friday night when she suggested in a speech, ostensibly in honour of Ronald Reagan that she might be “the one” for 2012 – the messianic term used by Oprah Winfrey when she endorsed Obama in 2008.

Whoa, Silver – what was that again? Palin makes a speech in Iowa, saying she’s “The One”….which speech was that, Toby? I didn’t realise she made two speeches in Iowa. I’ve checked through this one and not seen anything about 2012 except a joke about running shoes and the media. Naturally you also watched this speech (you are surely not one of those lazy hacks who rely on reports of a speech to unleash your analytical wisdom, are you?)
I can only assume you are commenting on an Iowa speech of which nobody else in the US or US media is aware – if so, please send us the link.

Or perhaps you were a little confused and mixed it up with this quote from a Fox interview round about the same time

“If the American people were to be ready for someone who is willing to shake it up, and willing to get back to time-tested truths, and help lead our country towards a more prosperous and safe future and if they happen to think I was the one, if it were best for my family and for our country, of course I would give it a shot,” she said.
“But I’m not saying that it’s me. I know I can certainly make a difference without having a title. I’m having a good time doing exactly that right now.”

Sorry, Toby – that’s a far cry from the self anointing image you were attempting to portray in your hit on Palin. It is standard will I/won’t I rentaquote from any political figure teasing the media. Moreover, as far as I am aware, very few, if any, in the US media have adopted your take on that remark – and, as you well know, there are serried ranks of reporters ready and waiting to pounce on any Palin remark and distort it.

I refuse to use the fatal three letter word, preferring to think you were a bit tired, racing for a deadline and rather sloppy in your research. But I do hope you will be man enough to retract – it would be the decent thing to do, old chap….

cross posted at Conservatives4Palin

“Hey Frank – there’s a nut at the top that needs to be tightened….take this spanner….”

h/t Ace of Spades

On last night’s Newsnight Kirsty Wark had obviously been instructed to sex up the “savage cuts will cause the death of millions of women, children and old people” narrative by wheeling in a trio of rent-a-whiners waving shrouds on behalf of defence, the police and, naturally the NHS.

As Kirsty wielded her remote each of these Duracell bunnies leapt into life to squawk about the horrors to come. Former Brown minister Lord West went Cassandra over the possibility of cuts in defence expenditure though oddly enough the Admiral, who has had very close links with the defence industry lobby in the past, clearly forgot to say anything about the financial black hole of procurement.

One tear jerker of note that had been programmed into the Police Federation robot – “Cuts = Christmas for criminals” – obviously caught Kirsty’s fancy because she threw this at the hapless coalition sacrificial goat who was tethered in the studio in front of Wark and her bunnies, Economic Secretary to the Treasury Justine Greening.

Only Justine turned out to be not so hapless after all. She ignored Wark’s Paxman-like attempts to steamroller her into pleading guilty to plunging her knife into the heroes and heroines of the frontline services. Instead she hammered home on one simple fact.

The average taxpayer is paying £1400 not on schools, hospitals or police but debt interest.

Unless we take these immediate steps to reduce the deficit the cost of servicing that debt will increase year on year leaving much smaller slices of the pie for defence, policing and healthcare.

Strangely enough, after Ms Greening made that point in a quiet but assertive manner, the Duracell bunnies sat in their chairs lifeless and silent and Kirsty quickly passed on to the next item.

Watch here from 14.43 onwards..

Game, set and match to Justine Greening…..

Kudos given to RNC Chairman Michael Steele by Governor Palin (and even Allahpundit at Hot Air) for ignoring the GOP establishment’s voices of doom but just think how hard Ben Smith at Politico had to grit his teeth while he was writing this description of her

Michael Steele’s been taking a lot of flack lately, as ever, from the GOP ranks, but got a big vote of confidence from the party’s most powerful voice today.

Sorry, Ben – didn’t quite catch that…could you say it again?

THE PARTY’S MOST POWERFUL VOICE…

Why thank you, Ben – that wasn’t too difficult, was it?

cross posted at Conservatives4Palin

We have had another surfeit of apples so The Lovely Mrs P has made some more SPICED APPLE CHUTNEY……so here is the recipe we published in Sept 2009…

Makes about 2 or 3 250ml/9 fluid oz jars

• 500g/18 oz apples
• 1 medium onion
• 2 birds eye red chillies
• 250g/9oz Demerara sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground allspice (not mixed spice)
• 1 teaspoon ground cloves
• half teaspoon sea salt
• black pepper
• 1 heaped tablespoon chopped or grated fresh ginger
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• 350 ml/12 fluid oz cider vinegar

1. Peel and roughly chop the apples and finely chop the onion.
2. Seed the chillies and chop finely
3. Put all ingredients in a pan and bring to boil
4. Cook over a medium heat for 30/40 minutes until mixture thickens
5. Spoon into jars and, when cool, place in store cupboard

With a cheese sandwich…..Nirvana……

The BBC is certainly maxing out on the evil coalition “cuts” with reverential softballs being thrown to strutting and strident trade union fatcats (all on £100,000+pa) and gut wrenching tales of woe from “randomly selected” families etc.

The mood music is clear, the narrative set in stone with helpful clues to remind of the last bloodthirsty regime which gleefully crushed the poor and the weak into the dust…..”…deepest cuts since the Thatcher years”

Mark Serwotka, leader of the Civil Service penpushers, poured scorn on the need to cut the deficit on BBC1 “Breakfast” this morning. He demanded an increase in government spending and when Simon Jack wondered where the money would come from Serwotka, economic genius, said we should borrow it. Mr Jack, instead of laughing in his face and giving him a pair of clown’s shoes, feebly accepted this cretinous nonsense.

It might seem odd to the average Martian that the Beeb should be helping to feed the egos of these latter day Savonarolas when it is having to face industrial action from it’s own Luddites over downsizing but remember that the BBC, like the Papacy, is always interested in the long term. So soon, just after the first reports of children and old people starving to death because of Osborne’s cuts, expect a full blown crusade, spearheaded by Stephen Fry and assorted Dimblebys and Attenboroughs, showing how the masses are suffering cultural starvation through the freezing of the BBC Poll Tax.