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A public apology to the German people

Thursday, April 17, 2008
Our German friends have had quite a lot to put up with quite a lot from us over the last few years - the tabloid press, soccer hooligans, lack of enthusiasm for German re-unification etc etc, but a line has been crossed:

J***ie O***ver has taken it upon himself to lecture die Deutschen völk on their eating habits. More here, in English.

I am really, really sorry. You have done nothing to deserve this. I had to apologise to Australia a while back too.

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When someone else does one's dirty work

Thursday, January 03, 2008
Serial deposit loser, attention whore, anti-semite and all round poster boy for every fashionable piece of leftist idiocyActivist José Bové has tired of being out of the news and has gone on hunger strike.

Although the aim of the protest is secondary to his desire to be in the papers - and the French and Francophone Belgian dailies have duly front-paged him - I suppose I should mention that it is because he does not understand genetically modified plants.

With a bit of luck, a great slew of other ne'er do wells from this side of La Manche will feel compelled to join him.

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Great lawsuits of our time

Friday, November 02, 2007
This one from the City of the Angels:

"Paris Hilton is being sued by a woman who claims the blonde socialite "stole" her look....in a...personal injury complaint filed in Los Angeles Superior Court earlier this month, O'Neill alleges that she suffers psychologically because of Hilton and accuses the 26-year-old of ripping off her style, including fashion-related "patens" (sic) and "stiling" (sic) tips".

If she wins, I hope she will spend some of the money on spelling lessons.

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If this lot are shaping our future, I'd rather be living in the past.

Thursday, August 16, 2007
The World Economic Forum runs a dull if essentially worthy website, and it has just made this breathless announcement:

"More than 250 young leaders from 61 countries will participate in the third Annual Young Global Leaders summit in Dalian on 4-8 September. They will be looking to define the future of leadership during their three-day meeting, held prior to the Inaugural Annual Meeting of the New Champions. The Young Global Leaders will participate in an intense workshop where they will discuss what will be required to be a truly effective global leader in the face of emerging trends and new challenges and will then be tasked with creating a new leadership model for the future".

Who could these young leaders be? Well, Ed Balls and Yvette Cooper, who might be prepared to share a room and save us all some money. And Justin Forsyth, who "advises Prime Minister Tony Blair". Time to update the site chaps? Elsewhere, a slew of bankers, bean counters, asset managers - none of whom are household names bar Stelios 'easy' Haji-Ioannou - a Dutch Princess (not that her biog at the WEF 'fesses up that) and one Hilary Cottam. Her blog is a corker: "Welcome to my blog. Watch this space for more…" That was dated 4/10/6. And no list of 'the Great and the Good' could possibly be complete without Ellen 'whine, whine, whine' / "[there] are a lot of people in the professional sailing contingent who wouldn't sail across the Solent with her" MacArthur.

I have skimmed the rogues' gallery for France, Oz, Canada and the US, inter alia, and their young turks are equally depressing. And the three from Israel are an MK from a marginal left wing party, a singer / song writer and a professor.

"I've seen the future, and it smirks". (With apologies to Simon Hoggart fort stealing his line)

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Petition o' the Day

Monday, July 30, 2007
Or the Order of the Broon Nose, with swords, oak leaves and diamonds:

"We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to keep doing his best well done". I'm not making this up.

And Linda Congdon, the petitioner, glosses thus:

"we thank the primister minister for the long hours he works and his dedication to Great Britain making us simply the best and better than all the rest.making England one of the greatest and farist countries in the world" (multiple 'sics').

Just the petitioner has signed so far.

The only Linda Congdon that a Google UK search throws out is involved with colostomy bags. I'm not saying a mumbling word...

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Group of old politicians make desperate plea for attention

Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Let me introduce the soi-disante 'Elders', "a group of leaders [convened] to contribute their wisdom, independent leadership and integrity to tackle some of the world's toughest problems". Source, registration required.

And now for the fun bit, a little light fisking of the track records of some of these elders:

Nelson Mandela - who is now 89.

Graça Machel - Happens to be married to Nelson Mandela, and one time minister in the one party state that was Mozambique on her then husband's watch.

Desmond Tutu - Given to less than nuanced comment on Israel.

Kofi Annan - A conspicuous success as UN secretary general....

Ela Bhatt - Indian woman involved in micro finance.

Gro Harlem Brundtland - Former Nowegian PM, who apparently 'suffers' from "electrosensitivity or electromagnetic hypersensitivity (EHS) - ...a condition in which a person experiences physical and/or psychological symptoms that they report, against established scientific and medical opinion[citation needed], to be aggravated by electric or magnetic fields (EMF) or other electromagnetic waves at exposure levels tolerated by the general public".


Jimmy Carter - Words fail me.

Li Zhaoxing - A Chinese Communist.

Mary Robinson - Former Irish President

Muhammed Yunus - also involved in micro finance.

(Spot the Elder who could conceivably be described as *not* being on the Left)


I would not expect much even by way of pious bromides from this group, as "In 2001 [Peter] Gabriel and [Richard] Branson [took] their idea to Mandela and Graça Michel. Mandela is immediately enthusiastic...sets about bringing together the people you see today". So, it took six years to round up the other elders, and put out a press release. Very dynamic.

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