Chiswickite - formerly The Croydonian

An IFOP poll:

'Would you hope that certain [French] regions will be run by the Greens after the next elections'?

And came the answer from Green supporters, 96% yes, 4 % no.....

Mind you, there is plenty more weird where that came from, as 46% of Gaullists agree.  Perhaps this on the basis that once the Khmer Vert have reduced Picardy or Savoy to penury that will ensure that it never gets it mung bean-stained hands on the Elysee.    73% of the generally tolerably sensible voters for the MoDem also agree, as do a majority of Socialists and the alphabet soup far left.

Labels: Greenery, idiots

Labels: France, idiots, Unions

This, at 24dash.com outlines them:

"Health officials in a city are considering plans to impose 18 certificates on cinema films which show people smoking, it was announced today.

Liverpool City Council said the measure would mean films which include images of tobacco smoking would only be regarded as suitable for adult viewing.

The 18 rating would not apply to films which portray historical figures who actually smoked or those which provide a "clear and unambiguous portrayal of the dangers of smoking, other tobacco use, or second-hand smoke", the council said".

The consultation site can be found here.

The BBFC's guidelines for what can appear on screen in a 15 certificate film include the following:

Drugs
Drug taking may be shown but the film as a whole must not promote or encourage drug misuse. The misuse of easily accessible and highly dangerous substances (for example,aerosols or solvents) is unlikely to be acceptable.

Violence
Violence may be strong but should not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury. The strongest gory images are unlikely to be acceptable. Strong sadistic or sexualised violence is also unlikely to be acceptable. There may be detailed verbal references to sexual violence but any portrayal of sexual violence must be discreet and have a strong contextual justification.

As the father of two boys under ten, I would rather they saw someone making progress with a meerschaum or a cohiba than either of the things just outlined. Furthermore, any child who walks a city's streets is rather more likely to see someone smoking than either of those activities

Should Liverpool City Council have its way - and doubtless other councils are itching to do the same - smoking will only fall short of the following:

where the material is in breach of the criminal law, or has been created through the commission of a criminal offence

any detailed portrayal of violent or dangerous acts, or of illegal drug use, which may cause harm to public health or morals.

There's also the pr0n rules, but less of that later.

Labels: idiots, Smoke gets in your eyes, The arts

Contains a rude French word, so not strictly SFW if you work with or near particulalrly prissy Francophones etc.



If they excavator operator was not in on this, I am rather alarmed by his / her lack of a basic knowledge of physics.

Labels: idiots, Light relief

Labels: France, idiots, modest proposals, travel

French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner seems to be mixing up 'uighur' with 'yoghurt':



Found at Le Parisien.

Labels: France, idiots

Labels: idiots, Unions

What do you want your wallet / purse advertsising, allegiance-wise? I'm a big fan of plain leather myself, but other folks possibly feel differently:

Mr. Maude: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office pursuant to the answer of 13 January 2009, Official Report, columns 581-82W, on 10 Downing Street, how many Downing Street-branded wallets have been sold by the gift shop in the last 18 months or nearest equivalent period for which figures are available.

Angela E. Smith: I have nothing further to add to the earlier answer.

I have rooted around in the Hansard for the 13th and turned up nothing, not that that is of any great import. However, suppose you were a shopkeeper, hotelier or whatever, and the customer you are dealing with whips out a Downing St wallet, wouldn't you check the details carefully and compare them against those of known dodgy cards?

A noble, if perhaps fruitless endeavour:

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent steps his Department has taken to combat homophobia in developing countries.

Chris Bryant: I have been asked to reply. The UK believes that every state has an obligation to protect the rights of all its citizens, including lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual (LGBT) people, without discrimination of any kind. We regularly raise this with governments of countries where the rights of LGBT people are violated. In countries where same sex relationships are illegal, we continue to press for decriminalisation.

Somehow I dount that 'our friends the Saudis pay much heed', although having spoken to a gay Saudi a while back, he found the UK scene a bit disappointing, as he reckoned there was far more going on in Riyadh etc. Hey ho... As an aside to an aside, it was only in 1981 that the French legalised these things. True story.

Erm, a bit late, this one:

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether the Government has made any representations to the Portuguese authorities on pursuing its investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann in the last six months.

Chris Bryant: Our embassy in Lisbon has continued to raise the case with the Portuguese authorities. The head of the Portuguese Criminal Investigation Police has made clear to the embassy that he is ready to consider any credible new leads mat come to light.

Am I missing something here?:

Mr. Joyce: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps her Department is taking to assist older people during the recession.

Angela Eagle: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave the hon. Member for Coventry, South (Mr. Cunningham) on 22 June 2009, Official R eport , column 683W.

If older is a euphemism for pensioners, don't said folk have rather less to worry about than the rest of us?

Quite an eclectic reading list at the DWP, compared to other dpartments. Bar the usual selection of dailies, news weeklies and Private Eye, they also get The Voice, Eastern Eye, Asian Woman and Gay Times. Maybe they are checking their adverts, although the DWPs ad agency ought to be doing that for them.

Unnerving statistic 0f the day:

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what proportion of schools staff have been admitted to hospital as a result of violent behaviour by pupils in the last 12 months.

Primary and nursery education teaching professionals - Non-fatal major injuries - 4, Over-three-day injuries - 13.

We all know that secondaries can be a warzone, but the figures for those teachers were 5 and 49 respectively.

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many incidents of... (c) hoax calls to emergency services...were recorded by each police force in 2007-08

I would have guessed London led, followed by the other conurbations, but no. The Met/CoL had 969, but Notts and Sussex got to five figures - 10,412 and 12,478. Alas the otherwise good people of the West Midlands led with 17,903. Why the shires, for Heaven's sake? Do they just like seeing fire engines, or are there a lot of very foolish people there / a smaller number of hyperactive idiots? There may well be issues of definition, rigour in reporting etc at work too, but even so.

Further unexpected stats: London (7,995) leads for begging / vagrancy (fancy...), followed by Gtr Manchester (1,387) and then Dorset (1,351). I suppose the pickings might be quite rich there. Only 51 requests of 'ten pee for a cup of tea guv' in Warwickshire though.

Labels: idiots, Parliament, small people

From the Croatian Times:

"Muslim extremists have banned Peppa Pig dolls from a shopping centre claiming the children's cartoon character breaks Islamic laws.

Hardline religious leaders told shopkeepers in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, that because the dolls were based on pigs they breached muslim food laws which ban pork, reports local news website Bljesak.info".

Oh well done people. It isn't looking good for a Muppets revival.

Labels: Balkans, idiots, small people

Labels: EU fun and games, France, idiots, war on terror

And I have the proof.

Asked in a Eurobarometer poll whether 'The situation which prevailed in Central and Eastern European countries before 1989 was better than today’s one', some 21% of my compatriots agreed. Mind you, of the pre '89 democracies, it is Cyprus that worries me - some 30% agree with that statement . Not being terribly au fait with the politics of Cyprus, I have found that a Communist Party - the Progressive Party of Working People - fared best in the last Cypriot election. In Central / Eastern Europe, Hungary sees a simple majority agreeing that things were better then. Pretty alarming, frankly.

Meanwhile, all credit to the Swedes and the Finns, with 82% and 84% respectively disagreeing.

More later, maybe.

Labels: EU fun and games, Eurobarometer, idiots

Labels: Attention whores, Greenery, idiots, United Nations

French censors have got rather carried away this week in the ongoing war against a certain 'custome lothsome to the eye, hatefull to the Nose, harmefull to the braine, dangerous to the Lungs, and in the blacke stinking fume thereof, neerest resembling the horrible Stigian smoke of the pit that is bottomelesse'.

Yes, smoking,

Here we see Audrey 'Amelie' Tautou on a poster for 'Coco Avant Chanel':


This has given the Paris Metro's authorities a fit of the vapours, and the poster has been banned. Shame, as the image is not unattractive.

It would seem that our Gallic chums have been making a habit of this, as this indignity has been inflicted on the sublimely talented Jacques Tati:

Well, who knows how many people would take up pipe smoking if they saw Tati with a pipe instead of a windmill? By the way, make haste to see 'Les Vacances de M.Hulot' and 'Jour de fête' either anew or for the first time, as they are both quite marvelous.

Mind you, we had some similar nonsense with Isambard Kingdom Brunel a while back, and doubtless Churchill will be depicted with a sugar-free lollipop ere long.

Labels: France, idiots, Smoke gets in your eyes

"This was a crisis fostered and boosted by the irrational behaviour of people that are white and blue eyed," says Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula de Silva.

Challenged about his claims, Lula responded: "I only record what I see in the press. I am not acquainted with a single black banker." Source

So here are a couple of black swans:

Stan O'Neal - "He became president of [Merrill Lynch] in 2001 in a palace intrigue that eventually led to the early ouster of his predecessor and one-time mentor David Komansky [3]. By 2003, he was CEO and chairman.[1] He was the first African American to hold such a high position on Wall Street".

Labels: idiots, racial minefields, the recession

The relatively sensible, if not altogether committed to being wholly democratic, president of Kazakhstan (he doesn't erect statues of himself everywhere or rename months after himself) has one of the silliest ideas I have encountered in quite some time:

Labels: idiots, Sane economics

Shocked? I am. But a poll for Prospect suggests just that:

Labels: 70s revival, Common sense? What's that?, idiots, just shoot me now

Labels: idiots, Israel

I cannot say that I know anyone who does not have an opinion on it, but maybe I should get out less.

Anyway, the findings:

Labels: France, idiots, Israel, war on terror

'Its cause is irresponsible behaviour by banks and financial institutions taking advantage of the deregulation started by Mrs Thatcher and President Reagan, and continued to a greater or lesser extent ever since".

So who on earth can he blame for pre-1979 recessions, depressions, slumps, economic meltdowns and so forth? Mind you, perhaps this is his backhanded way of handing the laurels to the Dynamic Duo for the growth in our economies since 1979 too....

Discussing BB's call for a public enquiry with Dizzy, he notes that Barber has already made his mind up but wants to throw lots of money at barristers to come to the same conclusion. He has the scope to be the Bar's greatest benefactor since Lord Saville. £179m and counting.

Labels: idiots, Unions

'nuff said.

Or maybe not:



And shunning Jaffa oranges and Carmel avocados won't hurt the man on the Tel Aviv bus much - agriculture accounts for less than 3% (figures vary) of Israeli GDP.

Labels: idiots, Israel