Chiswickite - formerly The Croydonian

Spotted a while back, but only photographed today:

'nuff said?

Labels: Battle of the sexes

Absolutely no apologies for revisiting the Hermit Kingdom again:

Turns out that the North Korean hacks are not going to be undergoing re-education in brass instrument playing, but rather the comment is figurative:

Labels: DPRK-watch, headlines

Spotted this in a recent issue of the FT (17/2, long, boring story as to why I chanced upon it):

"Research by JPMorgan published today says that, if all the changes proposed by politicians and regulators were implemented, big banks would have to increase prices on products such as mortgages and corporate loans by 33 per cent to offset a fall in projected return on equity from 13.3 per cent to 5.4 per cent".

Imagine the howling from those who currently love bashing the banks if that came to pass...

Labels: brief observations, business

Snappy sloganeering at its most DPRK-esque:


"Let the entire nation unite under the banner of north-south joint declarations and achieve national reunification at the earliest date!"

Meanwhile, the Finns will have something with which to curl up during the long winter nights:


"General Secretary Kim Jong Il's work "On Having a Correct Understanding on Nationalism" was brought out in booklet by the Finnish Communists' Association and the Finnish National Committee for the Study of the Juche Idea on Feb. 14....The work deals with the formation and development of nationalism and the essence of genuine nationalism and its progressive nature, and tasks to preserve the national identity and defend and realize independence of the nation".

The ideal Valentine's day gift I'm sure.

Elsewhere, KJI has been receiving birthday greetings:

< Rashed Khan Menon, chairman of the Central Committee of the
Workers' Party of Bangladesh, and Hasanul Huq Inu, chairman of the
Central Executive Committee of the Bangladesh National Socialist
Party, noted that thanks to the original Songun policy of Kim Jong Il
peace and stability are being preserved on the Korean Peninsula and
the DPRK has turned into a military power which no formidable
enemy dares provoke.

My emphasis...

Labels: DPRK-watch

Spotted this while out and about earlier.

As regulars will know, the sentiment expressed is far from one that I hold.  However, it is worth noting the apparently rather feeble convictions of our stencil artist, in that he / she chose to paint the junction box on the pavement side of  a remarkably busy road.  

Then again, perhaps  he / she  reckoned pedestrians were more likely to be won over by the pitch than motorists. 

I need to stock up on fruit, so I will be trawling for Israeli citrus fruit later.

Labels: Chiswick, Israel, photo fun

How about this for bold?:

"Jazz long ago stopped being the sole heritage of the United States, the country which gave birth to the genre, and is now a culture that travels freely across borders. Jazz is owned by nobody today, because it belongs to us all, and so it is hardly surprising that Europe is one of its most fertile and representative breeding grounds".

I am not particularly interested in a variation on the theme of 'can a blue man sing the whites' (sic), but that statement is pushing it somewhat.  

Labels: EU fun and games, The arts

As spotted at London Bridge the other day...



For those who do not know London Bridge station, all of the area undercover is subject to the anti-smoking laws, and this picture was taken within those environs, so anyone who had got as far as the ashtray would be easy pickings for The Law.

Labels: photo fun

(Thought about tweeting this, but closed alpha testing suggested I'd run out of characters).

A standard line from our dear, dear friends on the left is that if only the wickedly selfish people with money and (presumably) blue inclinations were to send their progeny to the nearest sink state school, standards, behaviour, exam results yadda yadda would soar ever upwards.  I do need to name and shame the countless  members of the limo left who forget all about that idea when it comes to educating little Jocasta and little Toby.

Anyway, my modest proposal is that if our left leaners were serious about this business of raising the water level, they could hardly make a better start than leaving the sunny uplands of Notting Hill, Hampstead and so forth and decamping to North Peckham, Harlesden (1) etc en masse.  As surely the neighbourhood effect of having all of those 'human rights' lawyers, Guardian hacks and so forth would be to raise the water level - reducing crime, improving the living environment, cutting anti-social behaviour etc through the sheer weight of their moral courage.  Furthermore, doubtless the corner shops and no-name supermarkets would hasten to ditch economy sausages and baked beans and stock up on polenta, quail eggs and the like.

To those that rebut 'what about gentrification?', one might note that this is usually done by the less well off, and compelled by necessity more than ideology


(1) Apologies for being so London-centric, but doubtless folk can substitute with fashionable - or otherwise - quarters wherever they know best.      

Labels: brief observations

I do not suppose that this 'little' announcement will get much media play, but it deserves it:

"The Council today adopted a directive (1) updating EU rules on the structure and rates of excise duties on cigarettes and other tobacco products. The directive is intended to ensure a higher level of public health protection by raising minimum excise duties on cigarettes, whilst bringing the minimum rates for fine-cut tobacco gradually into line with those for cigarettes.


(1) The decision was taken without discussion.

Isn't that nice?  How about that for proof positive of the democratic deficit in Brussels?


And there's more:

"Transitional period for cigarettes: the new rules allow for transitional arrangements until 1 January 2018 for member states that have not yet achieved, or only recently achieved, the current minimum rates, namely Bulgaria, Greece, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Poland and Romania";


Quantitative restrictions for cigarettes: the directive allows member states not benefiting from the transition to impose a quantitative limit of at least 300 cigarettes on the number of cigarettes that may be brought into their territory from member states applying transitional arrangements. It also allows member states applying those arrangements, once their rates have reached 77 EUR per 1000 cigarettes, to apply quantitative limits with regard to member states whose rates have not yet reached an equal monetary level;

As ever, so much for free trade and allowing differential pricing to actually benefit the consumer.

And the EU has spotted that people smoke roll ups as they are cheaper:


Fine-cut tobacco: the Council decided to increase the minimum excise duty requirements for fine-cut tobacco as follows: member states will comply with either a proportional minimum or a monetary minimum, amounting to 40% of the weighted average sales price and 40 EUR per kg on 1 January 2011, 43% and 47 EUR/kg on 1 January 2013, 46% and 54 EUR/kg on 1 January 2015, 48% and 60 EUR/kg on 1 January 2018 and 50% and 60 EUR/kg on 1 January 2020.

Labels: EU fun and games, Smoke gets in your eyes

Autre temps, autre moeurs:

MR. W. WILLIAMS  in rising to call the attention of the House to flogging in the Army and Navy, said the system was most injurious to those services because it prevented respectable men from joining them. Upon their soldiers and sailors the country depended for fame, for honour and for security, and yet under the existing practice our soldiers and sailors were liable, for trivial offences, to receive worse treatment than that given to convicted criminals and felons. By the present law no culprit could be flogged in the public streets except one who had actually threatened the life of the Queen.

Crikey.

The officers who opposed the abolition of this punishment were influenced just as the Judges and Recorders were influenced when it was proposed to humanize our criminal code. "If," they said, "you do away with the penalty of death for a vast number of offences, the country will be overwhelmed with crime." Yet the result had been a diminution instead of an increase of crime throughout the land.

Intriguing, no?

Colonel North (no relation...) took up the 'it never did me any harm approach':

"The hon. Member had year after year complained of flogging in the army and navy. If the hon. Member, or any other civilian who joined in his complaints, could devise a punishment which, while it was, severe, would keep the soldier only a short time away from his duty, he would be hailed with the greatest gratitude by the whole army and navy. What was wanted was a punishment that would not throw extra duty on the well-behaved soldier. He had known many men who did not care for being three months in confinement; and while they were there, who was doing their work? Why, the good soldier, who ought to be protected by the officers instead of having the duties of his disorderly comrades thrust upon him in addition to his own. The hon. Seconder of the Motion had stated that in the Trench army there was no flogging. Did he inquire how crimes were punished in that army? If he had done so he would have found that where we flog the French shoot. Would the English public like a man to be shot for knocking down a non-commissioned officer? Do not then talk about our treating men as brutes, when the French shot where we flogged"

Captain Vernon would not seem to have an opinion of 'our boys':

He need hardly inform the House that those who went to sea or who followed the drum were not the best part of the community, but were men who hung loosely on society, and those men into whose hands arms were put had to be controlled by necessary discipline. The fear and dread of punishment made soldiers good, just as it did civilians. The soldier was a very different man, when once he became a soldier, from any other person. He (Captain L. Vernon) had seen a man shot in the West Indies for doing that for which any hon. Member of that House who was a magistrate would have fined a civilian only 10s. in this country. But why was the man in question so dealt with? Because, the regiment to which he belonged being in a state approaching to mutiny, he struck the adjutant in the presence of his colonel.

A small gem of an anecdote from Lord Russell:

LORD ROBERT MONTAGU  said, he would beg to ask the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, "Whether Her Majesty's Government have received any communication from the Government of the Two Sicilies, complaining that agents of the Government of Sardinia have been trying to excite a mutiny in the Troops of the King of Naples?

LORD JOHN RUSSELL  Sir, we have received no information of the kind referred to by the noble Lord, nor has the Government of the Two Sicilies made any complaint of the sort. At the same time, I should tell the noble Lord that that Government is not disinclined to make complaints. Not long ago I received a complaint that an English officer of marines, in paying a visit to a lady at Naples on her birthday, called in at a pastry cook's and bought a cake for her, which cake was said to have had on it three flags of different colours. The Government of the Two Sicilies complained of this as an attempt to excite an insurrection.

Recreation and improvemet of the people:

SIR JOHN TRELAWNY said, he had waived that part of his Motion on this subject which involved any allusion to the Lord's-day, and to the Resolution in its altered shape he believed that no opposition would be raised. His object was to obtain for the people the advantages of the expense already incurred in reference to such institutions as the British Museum and the National Gallery. If these places were open at stated hours on week-day evenings, as was the case now at Kensington, working men would be won from other pursuits highly injurious to their morals, and great benefit would result to the community.

I suspect that the 9th Baronet was being a tad optimistic.

Labels: 1860, Parliament

Those lovely people at Monday Books are holding an event for Theodore Dalrymple's new book - Not With A Bang But A Whimper - on 23/2/10 in Kensington.


Regular Spectator readers will know Dalrymple's unmissable column on the delights of inner city medicine and so forth, others may know his work not written under his nom de plume - 'The Wilder Shores of Marx', 'Monrovia Mon Amour' inter alia.  Having read both of those books, I will happily vouch for his prose.


Anyway, Dalrymple will be doing a Q&A session chaired by Dan Hannan, and for the bagatelle of £16.50, one gets to sit at the feet of these two titans, a hardback copy of the book and wine and nibbles.  Any readers interested should e-mail me and I will pass on the more specific details.  Furthermore, any profit from event will be going to Haiti appeal.


To be updated with hyperlinks, formatted etc a bit later on.

(Full disclosure time - I'm on the guest list for this.  However, I do not promote anything I do not support, so I believe my integrity remains uncompromised). 

Labels: books

"Rort (verb or noun) : Cheating, fiddling, defrauding (expenses, the system etc.). Usually used of politicians.  Source  and here.

If the unbelievably tedious '-gate' suffix has to be applied to the shenanigans of the last few months, doesn't 'Rortgate' sound so  much neater than 'Expensesgate'?

Usage spotted here, and subsequently checked.

Labels: Australia, Neologisms

As ever, our French chums are up to all sorts, and I have been keeping an eye.

Firstly, they have a Presidential election on the cards for 2012, and polling suggests a bit of a conundrum for the Parti Socialiste.  The leader of the party, Martine 'daughter of Delors' Aubry, might be expected to be their candidate against the mighty Sarko, but the King over the Water, Dominique Strauss-Kahn (presently head of the IMF - nominated by the ever wily Sarko) is rather more popular.  In fact, if Sarko went head to head with Aubry in the second round, he would win, but DSK would get the keys to the Elysee if he was the candidate.

Here are the figures charted:

   
An Aubry candidature cuts the vote for the Trots and the Greens and boosts it for both Sarko and Bayrou's liberals, with the reverse applying to a DSK candidature.  The vote for Le Pen (Martine, not J-M) and De Villepin proves less mutable.  I for one would be less than surprised if our old friend Segolene Royal opted for an independent bid, always supposing the PS tells her where to go.  The margin for Sarko over either Aubry or DSK is widest among the 75+ age cohort nd Aubry's widest among public sector workers.  Fancy that....

Sticking with French elections, they have regionals coming up, and TNS-Sofres has been kind enough to publish polling for the Languedoc-Roussillon region.    And the likely winner in those parts is neither a Gaullist nor a PS candidate, but rather one Georges Frêche, who was expelled by the PS a while back.  To call him a maverick would be a bit of an understatement.  He is an equal opportunities insulter, having said this of the new Pope - "I hope he does better than the other idiot", this of the French national football team - "On [the French national football team], there are 9 Blacks out of 11. The normal number would be three or four. This would reflect [French] society. But if there are so many, it is because Whites are lame. I'm ashamed for this country. Soon, there will be eleven blacks. When I see certain football teams, it makes me sad", this of the Harkis (Arab loyalists who fought for France in the Algerian war) - "you are sub-humans...you are without honour, you are not able to defend yourselves".


And finally, a bit of polling on drug testing:


"In your opinion, when a new drug is being developed, at which point will it be tested?"

A rather alarming 15% think it is tested after it comes to market.

Labels: Elections, France

And this is my snazzy new blog name.  URL etc remains the same, obviously.

I mooted a name change a while back, and opted against it at the time, but following consultation with someone Really Rather Important have chosen to run with a name change.

As and when I have rather more time, I'll sharpen things up a tad and sort out the font size.

Labels: Blogging about blogging

This, from EUPravda:

The new Commission will stay in office until 31 October 2014.  By way of comparison, the first Barroso Commission was voted into office in November 2004 by 449 votes to 149, with 82 abstentions.

Ahead of the election, the EPP, S&D and ALDE groups announced that they would vote in favour of the college of Commissioners. The Greens, GUE/NGL and EFD groups said they would vote against the new college and the ECR group announced it would abstain". 

The ECR is the Tories plus our Czech and Polish chums and a few other folk from here and there.   Quite amusing seeing UKIP etc (EFD) voting with the extreme left, but I suppose one can't chose one's fellow voters. 

Labels: EU fun and games

Marvel, shake your head or whatever at this one:

Mr. Biggs-Davison asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department the estimated number of tubercular and other hard core refugees to be admitted to the United Kingdom during the World Refugee Year; and the arrangements for their reception and settlement.

Mr. R. A. Butler Two hundred refugees, including eighteen suffering from tuberculosis, as well as others with a past history of this disease, have so far been accepted for admission during World Refugee Year. Details of the arrangements for their reception and settlement were given in my reply to a Question by my hon. Friend the Member of Lewisham. North (Mr. Chataway) on 30th October, 1959.

A bit of local interest pertinent to my new neck of the woods:

Mr. D. Smith asked the Postmaster-General the number of people in Brent-ford and Chiswick on his Department's waiting list for telephones and the number who share telephone lines.
 
Mr. Bevins  One hundred and nine are on the waiting list, and 240 applications are under inquiry or in course of being met. The number of people sharing their telephone lines is 1,736. During the past twelve months, 818 telephones were installed in Brentford and Chiswick.

Shared lines, eh?  Try explaining those to the youth of today....   Shared mobiles might force them to cut down on the texting, yelling and so forth.

Road safety:

Mr. Prentice asked the Minister at Transport whether the ideas incorporated in the Cornell-Liberty safety car in the United States of America have been examined by his Department in the interests of road safety; and to what extent, and by what methods, he will encourage the application of those ideas in this country.
 
Mr. Marples  Details of this imaginative research project were carefully examined by my technical advisers. Some of its special design features are of a practical character and are already incorporated in car models now being produced; some appear to be unsuitable or not readily adaptable for use on normal types of cars.
Extensive studies and research into safe vehicle design have been undertaken in this and other countries, and discussions by international bodies, with a view to reducing the risk of serious injury in the event of accident, are continuing.

And this is what it looked like, courtesy of this site:






Presumably the major feature was its extreme ugliness, which prevented folk from wanting to drive it and other drivers to want to be anywhere near it.  Attempted wit to one side, "The project discovered that an extraordinary percentage of injuries could be prevented by improved door locks, energy-absorbing steering wheels, padded dashboards, and seat belts".  Source.

Labels: 1960, Parliament

From The East African:

"In June 2009, Uganda conservationists had reason to smile: They witnessed the birth of the first ever baby rhino in Uganda, 27 years after the last rhino was seen. The rhino was named Obama, a tribute to its shared birth heritage with the current leader of the Free World. Like US President Obama, the baby rhino has an American mother and a Kenyan father".

Can't say I buy into Obamamania, but my skin is crawling.

Labels: furry creatures and similar, United States

 From Turkish daily Hurriyet:



Ataturk's been dead since 1938, and Gandhi since 1948, and I believe there was rather less airborne activity 62 years ago, let alone 72 years ago, than today  

Labels: Air travel, facetiousness, headlines

What do people think this is supposed to represent?:


Something to do with meteorite enthusiasm, maybe?  An insurance company?

Anyway, the commissioning entity thinks this:  "we now have a logo which everyone will be able to identify with. It's a nice elegant design..."

And "It is a very straightforward sign containing two clear messages: [..] and [..]".

Best suggestion wins a virtual pint, but an answer will be posted later.

Labels: EU fun and games, logos

(1) Europe, for these purposes is this rather odd selection - Us, the Gauls, the Italians, the Spanish, the Belgians, the Romanians and the Bulgarians.  From previous surveys, the Balkan contingent look to be a rather sour lot, so perhaps not over much should be read into the exclusion of the notoriously joyous Nordic types.

Labels: surveys

Saw this earlier, and thought I'd take it to a narrower audience:

The idea is that each electoral college vote would represent more equal population, plus it makes for an interesting map and provides some head-scraching names.  More at the author's site.

Labels: Elections, maps, United States

Yes they did:

Mr. Iremonger asked the Minister of Health what reports he has received from medical officers of health about the problems revealed at orthopaedic clinics caused by teen-age girls' footwear; and what action he proposes to take in the matter. 

The Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Health (Miss Edith Pitt) References to foot defects caused by unsuitable footwear are made from time to time by principal school medical officers in their published annual reports. Local health authorities, with the aid of publicity material provided by the Ministry and from other sources, continue to give publicity to the importance of foot health. 

Nothing new under the sun, eh?

And it gets better:

Miss Pitt  My right hon. and learned Friend is certainly aware of the importance of this problem, but it is not an easy one because so often fashion is opposed to commonsense. My hon. Friend may be glad to know that an independent survey of the feet of children of various ages is to be undertaken as a research project. This is to be privately financed, but the details have not yet been fully worked out.

Well good heavens.  Who would have thought it?

Dr. [Edith] Summerskill Having regard to what the hon. Lady has said, would she not agree that this question should be very much on the consciences of fashion dictators, who are not all concerned about the crippling of young women's feet?
 

Miss Pitt No, I do not agree. It is really a matter for parents and others who have responsibility for children to try to impress upon them the importance of good footwear.

Onward:

Mr. Wiley asked the Minister of Health whether the consumption of welfare foods in Sunderland shows an upward or downward trend; and what action is being taken.


Miss Pitt There was an upward trend in 1959 in the amounts of orange juice, cod liver oil and vitamin tablets distributed in Sunderland. It is our constant endeavour, by persuasion and appropriate publicity, to secure that welfare foods are taken by those who need them.

Mmm, welfare food. Yummy.   I think I might start referring to welfare foods in future, especially in front of food faddists.

Someone doubted the good faith of our friends on the far bank of the Rhine:

Mr. Frank Allaun  asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs why Germany is being allowed to commission a 2,000-ton submarine in contravention of the Paris Treaty of 1954 which limits German submarines to 350 tons.

The Joint Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (Mr. Robert Allan) There has been no contravention of the revised Brussels Treaty. By it, the Federal Republic of Germany undertook not to manufacture submarines of more than 350 tons displacement. The submarine of 1,600 tons to which the hon. Member refers is an old one that has not been salvaged for active service.

Mr. Allaun Is that not a quibble? Is the hon. Gentleman aware that this submarine has been completely re-equipped, carries six torpedo tubes and can be switched instantly to warlike use? Is that not as dangerous and as illegal as making a completely new vessel? Is it not another encouragement to Germany to break the limitations on arms which at present exist?

A submarine.


Still, there's more:

Mr. Shinwell asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs what is the policy of Her Majesty's Government within the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation on the subject of the provision of nuclear weapons by Western Germany.

Mr. Ormsby-Gore Under the terms of the Revised Brussels Treaty, the Federal Republic of Germany undertook not to manufacture nuclear weapons. That undertaking still stands.

.....
Mr. Shinwell That is all very well, but is it not a fact that the West German Federal Government are now to be provided, under the terms of the revised Treaty, with weapons of nuclear capability, and is that not altogether foreign to the policy previously declared by Her Majesty's Government and supported 100 per cent. by this side of the House? Is that not the position? Why this change? Can we trust the Germans with weapons of this character?

 

Labels: 1960, Parliament