The Aged P

Forty something UK “journalist” Samantha Brick should be scored a perfect ten for achieving maximum publicity with minimum talent. Her cri de coeur about the downside of being so beautiful has impacted the world like a tsunami – why it’s even been picked up by the leading American political website at Hot Air…

I’m tall, slim, blonde and, so I’m often told, a good-looking woman. I know how lucky I am. But there are downsides to being pretty — the main one being that other women hate me for no other reason than my lovely looks.

True, most of the reaction has been scornful and positively insulting but Samantha doesn’t care. Playing out the old showbiz adage that there can never be such a thing as bad publicity Ms Brick will reap a golden dividend of TV appearances, radio interviews and magazine articles. A book and probably a film will almost certainly be on the way as well.

Some achievement for a woman who changed career midlife from being a self proclaimed “top TV executive” (large pinch of salt needed here) to a lifestyle scribbler after having decamped across the channel to marry a Frenchman.Within microseconds of marrying Pascal she had become an expert on all things Francais, pumping out, via the UK Daily Mail, articles on stepmothering, household management, cooking and keeping slim a la Francais….oh plus “trying for a baby” and little sideswipes against former colleagues and, naturally, her first husband.

Every article is shallow, derivative and self obsessed – in other words perfect material for the Daily Mail which appears to thrive in its crusade to portray women as emotionally unstable airheads concerned primarily with their clothes, waist size and the workings of their internal pumping systems. It’s a misogynistic approach which irritates not only feminists but also those of us who appreciate the strengths and values of the women in our lives. But it has not harmed the financial viability of the Daily Mail so why should they care?

It’s called Polyfilla journalism partly after the DIY product so handy for filling up gaps and holes in walls and ceilings and the Polly Filler character in Private Eye “a vapid and self-centred female “lifestyle” columnist, whose irrelevant personal escapades and gossip serve solely to fill column inches”. Editors abhor empty spaces in their papers so a whole legion of Samantha Bricks earn a generous living regurgitating and slightly reconfiguring articles on sex, fashion, marriage, divorce, careers and diets. Most pass easily down the memory hole but sometimes, as in Brick’s latest piece of vacuous scribble, they hit a mother lode of controversy which generates publicity and sells extra copies.

She might not have much talent or sense of perspective but she deserves a brief salute for her chutzpah, surely…..

Today is the 30th anniversary of the outbreak of the Falklands War in 1982 when Argentine forces invaded and occupied the isolated South Atlantic islands. There is no doubt that Margaret Thatcher and her government were asleep at the wheel at the time ignoring the ratcheting up of rhetoric from the military junta over previous months.

When we heard about the invasion there was anger mixed with humiliation as we saw the pictures of UK marines lying on the ground in surrender. Nevertheless most of us believed that after decades of following the advice of our diplomatic mandarins and the sermonising of the BBC the Thatcher government would wring it’s hands, write an angry note and then accept the offer of a UN special conference that would eventually come up with some wheeze like “shared sovereignty”

But we had reckoned without Margaret Thatcher. It was her willpower that drove the organisation of the task force that travelled thousands of miles and drove the invaders into total capitulation. With hindsight, of course, it all appears to have been a foregone conclusion. But, like D Day in 1944 it was a tremendous gamble with only one possible throw of the dice. Failure would have been the final nail in the coffin of British power and self respect, a vindication of the BBC/Guardian siren song of eternal appeasement and, naturally, the end of Thatcher’s political career.

Nothing illustrated the sudden transformation of will than the sinking of the Belgrano. The Argentines realised that they had sown the wind and had now reaped the whirlwind. They faced a foe that would go to all lengths to break them.

Today, of course, another government in Argentina is seeking to use the Falklands as a useful drum to beat to distract attention from domestic problems. But no self respecting UK government could dare offer any negotiation for a land streaked with the blood and bones of those British servicemen who died in 1982.

Ask the widow of Colonel H Jones who died leading his paratroopers in an assault upon machine gun emplacements at Goose Green.

Ask Simon Weston, the Welsh Guardsman who was horribly burned in an Argentine air attack.

1982 uncovered a Britain that had been hidden away for many years. It’s back under cover, of course, but, much to the chagrin of the left and their friends at the BBC, it’s still there….

The Coalition government, which in opposition vigorously attacked proposals to allow the security services to monitor e mails and phone calls, has backtracked on it’s pro-freedom/anti-snooping rhetoric with a proposal to give those same security services powers to check on our website visits and e mail and phone contacts on their own initiative without a warrant.

At present it doesn’t involve content, for which they will still need permission, but, rest assured, that will be the next step.
In a statement, the Home Office said action was needed to “maintain the continued availability of communications data as technology changes”. “It is vital that police and security services are able to obtain communications data in certain circumstances to investigate serious crime and terrorism and to protect the public,” a spokesman said.

Maverick Tory MP David Davis sums up why these proposals need to be beaten back.

‘It is not focusing on terrorists or on criminals. It is absolutely everybody. Historically governments have been kept out of our private lives,’ ‘Our freedom and privacy has been protected by using the courts by saying “If you want to intercept, if you want to look at something, fine, if it is a terrorist or a criminal go and ask a magistrate and you’ll get your approval”. You shouldn’t go beyond that in a decent, civilised society but that is what is being proposed.
‘They don’t need this law to protect us. This is an unnecessary extension of the ability of the state to snoop on ordinary innocent people in vast numbers. Frankly, they shouldn’t have that power.

‘
The government hopes that, by playing the terrorist card, it can gain some grudging support. But how long before those who oppose gay marriage or the EU or other fashionable causes are also deemed “dangers to the public” and placed under electronic surveillance on the whim of a government functionary.

If they have good reason let them request a warrant. If not then either do more legwork and make a better case or keep their noses out of our private business…

I really don’t care about the “human rights” of a terrorist or one who advocates terror.

I can think of better ways of improving our transport infrastructure than spending billions on a high speed rail system that won’t be fully operational until 2032

I don’t see why my gas and electricity bill should be higher in order to pay for wind farms that blight the landscape and are so unreliable they have to be backed up with alternative energies when the weather is calm

If I were in government “gay marriage” would not be top of my agenda. In fact it wouldn’t be item 999 on my agenda

I do not expect a “conservative” government to be taking money out of the pockets of poor people in Britain so that it can end up in the Swiss bank accounts of rich people from third world countries

Neither do I want a “conservative” government to waste time and money on “initiatives” to tell me what to eat and drink and how to be a jolly good chap

I am not impressed by plump faced, well heeled privately educated politicians from Oxbridge who have never held down a real job pretending to be “right on” while prancing around in shirt sleeves for silly photo ops

We have too much debt. We pay too-high taxes. We build too few houses. We are losing old jobs and costs prevent us creating new ones. We are having a bad time, and we want the people who rule us to lead us out of that, and think of little else. It is simple, but not easy.

Why oh why can’t we have a set of politicians who throw all their energies into that and NOTHING ELSE!!!!!

What do you see nurse, what do you see?
What are you thinking when you look at me,
A crabby old woman, not very wise,
Uncertain of habit with far away eyes,
Who dribbles her food, and makes no reply,
When you say in a loud voice: “I do wish you’d try.”
Who seems not to notice the things that you do,
And forever is losing a stocking or shoe,
Who, quite unresisting, lets you do as you will
With bathing and feeding, the long day to fill.
Is that what you’re thinking, is that what you see?
Then open your eyes, you’re not looking at me.

I’ll tell you who I am, as I sit here so still,
As I move at your bidding, as I eat at your will,
I’m a small child of ten, with a father and mother,
And brothers and sisters, who love one another,

A girl of sixteen, with wings on her feet,
Dreaming that soon a lover she’ll meet;
A bride soon a twenty my heart gives a leap,
Remembering the vows that I promised to keep;

At twenty-five now I have young of my own,
Who need me to build a secure, happy home;
A woman of thirty, my young now grow fast,
Bound together with ties that should last;

At forty, my young sons have grown up and gone;
But my man stays beside me to see I don’t mourn;
AT fifty once more babies play ’round my knee;
Again we know children, my loved one and me.

Dark days are upon me, my husband is dead,
I look at the future, I shudder with dread.
For my young are all busy, wit young of their own,
And I think of the years and the love I have known.

I’m an old woman now, and nature is cruel,
‘Tis her jest to make old age look like a fool.
The body, it crumbles, grace and vigor depart,
There is a stone where I once had a heart.

But inside this old carcass, a young girl still dwells,
And now and again my battered heart swells.
I remember the joys, I remember the pain,
And I’m loving and living all over again.
I think of the years, all too few and gone too fast,
And accept the stark fact that nothing can last.
So open your eyes, nurses, open and see,
But a crabby old woman, look closer, see me.

h/t Mattie

Witnesses testified that Tyson told them he saw two “crackers” — his phrase for white people — walking through the neighborhood and that he intended to rob them. The tourists said they didn’t have any money and begged Tyson to let them go home. The men also told Tyson that they were lost.
“Since you ain’t got no money, then I have something for your ass,” Tyson recounted to a witness, then added that he shot the men several times.

Yes the two British tourists James Cooper, 25, and James Kouzaris, 24, had been drinking when they came across Shawn Tyson. Yes, they were lost…and yes they should have been savvier about dangerous areas. But would everyone from those projects have acted like Shawn Tyson? I hope not.

Watch this clip of two of their friends making statements outside the court. The awkwardness of their delivery serves only to enhance the extent of their contempt for Shawn Tyson.

The Washington Post says the trial and verdict have been big news here in the UK, probably not so much in the USA. But the father of one of the victims still thought it was worth writing a letter to President Obama.

Joe Hallett, a friend of James Kouzaris and James Cooper has spoken of his “dissatisfaction” at the lack of messages of support or condolence from the US government or President Obama.

He said Mr Kouzaris’ father has written to President Obama on three separate occasions and has yet to receive the courtesy of a reply.

Surprisingly there was no response to any of the three letters, even from some lowly member of the White House staff.

But then it is clearly not within the President’s paygrade to comment upon specific crimes…….

Chained......

I feel I am in chains – I want a government that breaks those chains by implementing policies that might be deemed unfashionable by the media and cultural elite…

The will of Parliament should be sovereign over the the opinions of judges and external officials and/or institutions

People who break the law should suffer considerable inconvenience and if they continue to break the law the consequences should not be pleasant

The so called “conservative” government of David Cameron and his metropolitan elite would sneer at me for being naive while emptying my pockets to fund their feelgood fantasies. Liberals and left wingers would call me a “fascist”.

Is there any political party rooted in the present and future rather than in an idealised past and untainted by racist intolerance that would find my list fit for purpose?

h/t for Prometheus

Last Monday Fiachra Gibbons at the UK Guardian just knew in his bones who had perpertrated those vicious killings of Jewish children and French soldiers.
What could be the link, they ask, between Jewish children and French military personnel? The link is they are both seen – and not just by a far-right fringe – as symbols of all that has sabotaged la France forte, to borrow Sarkozy’s election slogan. Confessional schools, be they Jewish or an informal weekend madrassa, are seen as actively undermining the secular Republic by activists of groups like the Bloc Identitaire and the Front National, as well as some members of Sarkozy’s UMP, and even some on the left.
This was echoed across the UK media with adjectives like “toxic”, “hatred” and “racism” being bandied about alongside references to Dreyfus and Vichy. The whole of France, nay all Europe was invited to rise up and crush the noxious weed of “right wing extremism” and attempts to question the wisdom of unrestricted immigration.

But now it is practically certain that the killings were committed by a French Muslim gunman who appears to be associated with Jihadist groups the tone has suddenly changed. There are now pleas for everyone to calm down and BBC hack Gavin Hewitt has obviously been ordered to tell people that this event will have nil long term impact on the forthcoming French presidential election, essentially telling everyone to “Move along, please, nothing to see here”

I wonder why?

Young American conservative blogger Tina Korbe at Hot Air is shocked

U.K. schools to kids: No best friends for you!

One speculative quote, no evidence but still a neat hook for a slow news day. I actually like Tina’s more personal style but when she edges towards this going to hell in a handcart schtick all it does is bring out the endoftheworld brigade who always lurk around the edges at Hot Air and fantasise about “socialist” policies and/or Britain becoming a province of the new caliphate.

FYI I have five delightful granchildren who are all in different UK schools and a permanent strand of their conversation is about friendships including the making and the breaking of the same.

Almost all parents and teachers get involved in the fall out when best friendships go sour. I would bet that most of us then advise the child to maintain a wider circle of friends to alleviate the extent of the heartache when these relationships drift apart – which is, I suspect, the reasoning behind the original quotation.

There is no official policy in this matter, no UK government diktat and it was a tad misleading to imply such in the headline and in the opening paragraph….”apparently, they’re a thing”

As in the USA we in the UK have enough official fruitloopery to befuddle our brains without having to invent them so, Tina, do use a little shoeleather to tease out the background before waving flags like these.

Unless, of course, one UK school has decided to import an idea from…….the good old US of A……

BTW…this is an expansion of a comment I made on Tina’s article at Hot Air

Well, folks, so now you know. It’s all down to the white middle class again, the cause of almost all the world’s problems.
In fact this time we can narrow it down to a subset – those white middle class women teachers..

It found the majority of those training to enter the classroom were white, monolingual, middle-class women who were taught by people similar to them.
This, it is claimed, had led to “race equality issues to become hidden”, with often little discussion of issues surrounding ethnicity.

Who says so? Why it’s those academic highflyers at Manchester Metropolitan University (recently ranked 104th out of 118 of all UK universities) so it must be true.

Hidden race equality issues…..all those modern buzzwords….race…equality….ISSUES…and they’ve been swept under the carpet, hidden away….oh dear, what are we going to do?

No need to panic, folks because Dr Peter Hick is on the case. He’s not scared of those white middle classes and has given them a very stern warning…

We cannot rest on our laurels as racial equality remains under threat.

…and to make certain we don’t rest on our laurels he has come up with a twofold solution

Employ more teachers from ethnic minorities

Give the remaining white middle class teachers a very large dose of equality training and make it regular and continuous in case they lapse into their old blinkered ways.

Job done.

Let’s get rid of the quaint, old fashioned idea that we need to have teachers who can give children a basic grounding in how to treat other people as well as an understanding of those areas of knowledge that keep our society going. We don’t want teachers who can teach science and maths and history and literature. We want teachers who are racially and ethnically aware. There needs to be TRAINING…..so we’ll need TRAINERS. Moreover those trainers will need to be paid (by the taxpayer, of course) and someone will have to provide them.

Who on earth can step into the breach?

No need to worry – step forward once more Dr Peter Hick…equality expert extraordinaire and his team. No doubt as a result of this “survey” he already has a well thought out bid for the juicy tranche of government cash that will be diverted into equality training after the great and the good get chivvied into a moral racism panic by the BBC and a prial of bishops. More money for his department at Manchester Met and more feathers in his academic hat.

White middle class female teachers of England – Peter Hick is going to sort you out.

What was that? Maybe some of the students in our schools need to be given a bit of training in respecting their teachers, especially their female teachers?

What are you, some sort of neanderthal? The reason you’re being sworn at, punched, kicked or pushed up against a wall is because, as a white middle class woman teacher you are simply not “culturally competent in teaching an increasingly diverse pupil population.”

But slip Dr Hick at Manchester Met a million quid and he’ll show you the error of your ways, no problem….