tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-83589730024561210692024-03-05T21:53:56.733+00:00Red ThreadsRedThreadshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02327265612285968252noreply@blogger.comBlogger43125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8358973002456121069.post-85730422638501040592010-03-25T08:20:00.004+00:002010-03-25T08:35:53.305+00:00Post-budget spam of the weekA friend was sent the below.<br /><br />We've all had this sort of spam, but the timing of this con-artist of this spammer is impeccable, the day after the Government confirmed a deficit of £167bn ...<br /><br />-----Original Message-----<br />From: Hon Gordon Brown [mailto:info@cox.net]<br />Sent: 25 March 2010 04:10<br />To: undisclosed-recipients:<br />Subject: Contact Hon David Miliband(hon.davidmiliband@discuz.org)<br /><br />OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER<br />TREASURY AND MINISTER FOR CIVIL SERVICE,<br />LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM.<br /><br />Our ref: ATM/13470/IDR<br />Your ref:...Date: 25/03/2010<br /><br />IMMEDIATE PAYMENT NOTIFICATION<br /><br />I am The Rt Hon Gordon Brown MP,Prime Minister British Government. This<br />letter is to officially inform you that (ATM Card Number 048000101775550)<br />has been<br /><br />accredited with your favor. Your Personal Identification Number is 477.The<br />VISA Card Value is Ј4,000,000.00(Four Million, Great British Pounds<br />Sterling).<br /><br />This office will send to you an Visa/ATM CARD that you will use to withdraw<br />your funds in any ATM MACHINE CENTER or Visa card outlet in the world with a<br /><br /><br />maximum of Ј5000 GBP daily.Further more,You will be required to re-confirm<br />the following information to enable;The Rt Hon David Miliband MP Secretary<br />of<br /><br />State for Foreign and Commonwealth Office. begin in processing of your VISA<br />CARD.<br /><br />(1)Full names: (2)Address: (3)Country: (4)Nationality: (5)Phone #: (6)Age:<br />(7)Occupation: (8) Post Codes<br /><br />Forward Reply To:(hon.davidmiliband@discuz.org).<br /><br />TAKE NOTICE: That you are warned to stop further communications with any<br />other<br />person(s) or office(s) different from the staff of the State for Foreign and<br />Commonwealth Affairs to avoid hitches in receiving your payment.<br /><br /><br />Regards,<br /><br />The Rt Hon Gordon Brown MP<br />Prime Minister<br />Phone: +447024024522RedThreadshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02327265612285968252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8358973002456121069.post-5409858423808603112010-02-23T13:35:00.003+00:002010-02-23T13:37:26.749+00:00Whoops! Who fed ConHome wrong polling data?Whoops! With all the talk on Newsnight last night about sources, with Rawnsley forced to <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/newsnight" target="_blank">defend the veracity</a> of his No 10 "bullying" stories, the Tories have their tales between their legs this morning. They had it "from a normally impeccable source" that, as Tim Montgomery tweeted "Tory lead doubles to 12% in immediate wake of Bullygate".<br /><br />He has in the last few minutes corrected himself via tweet and <a href="http://conservativehome.blogs.com/thetorydiary/2010/02/tory-lead-doubles-to-12-in-immediate-wake-of-bullygate.html" target="_blank">ConHome</a>: "Many apologies, I published inaccurate information about last night's YouGov poll." The figures were actually unchanged: C39-Lab33-LD17 ... a Tory lead of six points, not 12. Unfortunately bruiser Eric Pickles' bragging from last night are still there for all to see.<br /><br />So who was this "usually impeccable source"? Apparently The Sun has declined to to the full figures on its site, leaving it to Reuters. Private Eye has recently speculated that Tom Newton-Dunn, old Etonian political editor, has become The Sun's de facto "link man" with the Tories ... Could it be his mistake?RedThreadshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02327265612285968252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8358973002456121069.post-87177266069976453472009-12-27T10:28:00.010+00:002009-12-27T11:05:08.481+00:00Fraser Nelson: Balls is a crypto-Soviet, I am a crypto-McCarthyite ...<a href="http://www.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/5665961/balls-pitches-for-the-leadership.thtml">Fraser Nelson</a>, Spectator editor and arch-Thatcherite, takes issue with what seems a perfectly reasonable - you might even say innocuous - statement by Ed Balls in his <a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article6968507.ece">Sunday Times interview</a> today:<br /><blockquote style="font-style: italic;">“I think our family policy now is actually about the strength of the adult relationships and that is important for the progress of the children.”</blockquote>What is Fraser actually objecting to in this statement? We don't really find out, as he immediately goes off on a tangent, parroting the Tory line about promoting marriage and ending welfare depedency - oh, and of course, Balls is a crypto-Soviet "lefty":<br /><br /><blockquote style="font-style: italic;">"Does Balls have any idea about the extent of which the welfare state under Labour has robbed the low-income family of its economic function, about how adults are no longer better off together, and incentivised to split up with all the effects that has on the children? But it gets better: children are to be given lessons in the importance of relationships from 2011. More resources may be given to marriage guidance services. It’s like Balls is mentally living in 1975 Moscow. Family problems? Why, the Party will simply ask the schools to simply program the kids to be better at relationships."</blockquote>Is it just me, or do relationship lessons in school sound like a reasonable, moderate, interesting idea? We have already have <a href="http://www.relate.org.uk/home/index.html">Relate</a> for grown-ups. Why not start earlier? Certainly, as evidence of Balls' Brezhnev-style statism, it is pretty weak.<br /><br />So why are the Tories - and the Right - apparently so scared of Balls, if his politics are so old-fashioned? Are they worried his policies might actually be popular? <span style="font-style: italic;"><br /><br />Sounds like McCarthyite paranoia to me.</span><span style="font-style: italic;"> And if Fraser Nelson wants to talk about jobs ...</span><br /><br />Unemployment under Thatcher peaked at 3.5m. That's 3.5m families "robbed of their economic function". And the <a href="http://www.cepr.org/pubs/bulletin/DPS/DP105.HTM">Centre for Economic Policy Research</a> estimates that unemployment in the 1930s peaked at 15% in 1932.<br /><br />In this recession, at least the Government is trying to do something about it. The UK unemployment rate was <a href="http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?ID=12">7.9% in the last quarter</a>. Wild predictions of 3m or even 4m unemployed now - touch wood - seem wide of the mark.<br /><br />This is because of Government action like the <a href="http://www.dwp.gov.uk/newsroom/press-releases/2009/september-2009/dwp030-09-020909.shtml">Young Britain</a> campaign - a pledge to create 85,000 jobs for the young - more apprenticeships and university places.<br /><br />Balls may be stuck in the 1970s ... Nelson - who would apparently do nothing but tinker with marriage rules - is stuck in the 1930s, 15% unemployment and all.RedThreadshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02327265612285968252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8358973002456121069.post-36269577126796241512009-10-09T13:08:00.012+01:002009-10-09T19:25:56.936+01:00Good to see the Thatcherites are calling the policy shots, DaveThe ads in GoogleMail aren't working - they suggested I join <a href="http://www.conwayfor.org/">these guys</a>:<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.conwayfor.org/Files/MediaFiles/pearldinner.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 429px; height: 76px;" src="http://www.conwayfor.org/Files/MediaFiles/pearldinner.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Their URL, conwayfor.org, keeps making me think of Derek Conway ... Conway for PM? Probably not their intention.<br /><br />I should probably have heard of a group so influential in the Tory party. Indeed, their website gleefully quotes David Cameron: 'The largest and most effective pressure group in the Conservative Party today', he calls them.<br /><br />Good to see the Thatcherites are calling the policy shots, Dave. Check out their <a href="http://www.conwayfor.org/Files/MediaFiles/CWF%20corporation%20tax%20paper%20FINAL%20lowres.pdf">latest pamphlet</a>, for example, which calls for a cut in corporation tax similar to that proposed by John McCain in the presidential election - 10%. It's written by members of the Taxpayers Alliance.<br /><br />Let's hope the Tories, currently <a href="http://www.conservatives.com/Policy/Where_we_stand/Economy.aspx">advocating only a 3% cut</a>, adopt the plan and go the same way as McCain come May.RedThreadshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02327265612285968252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8358973002456121069.post-49472753820239355332009-10-09T12:37:00.002+01:002009-10-09T12:42:26.310+01:00Tasteful tweet of the week<span class="status-body"><span class="entry-content">The award goes to <a href="http://twitter.com/BenBradshawMP">@BenBradshaw</a> for this effort earlier today:<br /><blockquote>the camerons got good nhs care thanks to Labour's investment and reform. is this the "big government" he derides?</blockquote><br /></span></span>RedThreadshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02327265612285968252noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8358973002456121069.post-81277314516318494612009-10-03T00:30:00.004+01:002009-10-03T00:42:31.184+01:00Left Foot Forward banned from Tory conference - a backhanded complimentSee this from top new prog website <a href="http://www.leftfootforward.org/">Left Foot Forward</a>:<br /><span style="font-style: italic;"></span><blockquote><span style="font-style: italic;">Left Foot Forward has been banned from attending Conservative Party conference. In a letter dated 23rd September from the Conservative Party’s Head of Conferences, Stephen Williams writes:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">“I am writing to let you know that you application to attend the above event [Conservative Party Conference] has been rejected…</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">“For over twenty years the party has included the following words on its application forms; ‘the completion and submission of this application does not confer any right upon the applicant to attend conference. </span><strong style="font-weight: normal; font-style: italic;">The Conservative Party reserves the right to refuse admission to any person without ascribing any reason thereto.’</strong><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">“I am sure you appreciate that these words and this policy were carefully chosen to avoid the development of any misunderstanding.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">“I know this is not the reply you were hoping for, and I am sorry for that. However, </span><strong style="font-weight: normal; font-style: italic;">it would not be sensible for me to fly in the face of agreed and accepted practices.”</strong><blockquote style="font-style: italic;"> </blockquote><span style="font-style: italic;">Left Foot Forward will, nonetheless, report live from the Conservative fringe.</span></blockquote>Take it as a backhanded compliment, I think. It's not like Labour hasn't been known to to do the same. I can think of at least one Labour pressure group that in the past denied a press pass to <a href="http://iaindale.blogspot.com/">Iain Dale</a>, then of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/18_Doughty_Street">18 Doughty Street</a>, for fear of adverse coverage.RedThreadshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02327265612285968252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8358973002456121069.post-47826323324697033982009-10-02T11:47:00.014+01:002009-10-03T00:30:17.734+01:00Mandy: Even in the 1970s I was relatively influentialEarlier this week, Peter Mandelson <a href="http://www.labour.org.uk/peter-mandelson-speech-conference">castigated</a> the Tories in his Labour conference speech for their lack of commitment to industrial activism<br /><br /><blockquote style="font-style: italic;">When did you last hear David Cameron or George Osborne last say anything about Britain's industrial future?</blockquote><br />Such a line of attack would have been pretty much unimaginable only a few years ago. New Labour bought into the Thatcherite shibboleth that the only indispensible industrial policy was not to have one at all.<br /><br />The Tories may try to label this as a return to 1970s-style dirigisme. In fact, you get the impression Mandy would quite like that. Labour conference this week was all about stressing the new, post-crash dividing line: government action is needed to deal with the recession, and the Tories would do nothing. The new bogey decade is the Thatcherite 1980s where the Government 'did nothing' to help out-of-work young people.<br /><br />Mandy warms to this theme in an article on youth unemployment for the Young Fabian <a href="http://www.youngfabians.org.uk/content/view/68/28/">Anticiaptions</a> magazine, published this week (as ever, check for modesty):<br /><blockquote style="font-style: italic;">Back in the 1970s, I chaired the British Youtyh Council and whilst there published what was then a relatively influential report: "Youth Unemployment: Causes and Curses". I remember taking it to the Prime Minister, Jim Callaghan, in Downing Street to discuss the issue of young people and their prospects.</blockquote>Even then, the now First Secretary of State was relatively infleuntial!<p></p>RedThreadshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02327265612285968252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8358973002456121069.post-1714751327809078122009-09-29T00:02:00.006+01:002009-10-02T11:20:23.589+01:00Guido's beloved FDP<a href="http://order-order.com/2009/09/28/why-hasnt-clegg-congratulated-guido/">Guido</a> is very impressed with the result of the German election, particularly that of the third party, the pro-business, anti-tax, anti-regulation Free Democrats. And he chides the Lib Dems for not yet congratulating their 'liberal' German equivalents:<br /><blockquote style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Cameron was quick to offer fraternal congratulations to Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats. So far no word from Clegg, the Free Democrats are their sister party and sit with the LibDems in the European Parliament. <p style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">The German FDP have had their best showing in decades on a pro-business, tax-cutting manifesto which has driven the Social Democrats out of the government. Most LibDems seem disinterested, only LiberalVision is ecstatic. <em>Makes you wonder if they prefer permanent opposition…</em></p></blockquote><p>Two quick points:<br /></p><p>The FDP got <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8277912.stm">14.6%</a> of the vote in Germany on Sunday. The Lib Dems here got 18.3% in 2005 on a perhaps less Fawkes-friendly ticket of raising taxes on the rich.</p><p>The FDP benefits from a much fairer, more proportional, electoral system which Guido presumably supports ... though I can find no mention whatsoever of electoral reform on his blog.</p><p>Sorry if this sounds insufferably po-faced or anything!</p>RedThreadshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02327265612285968252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8358973002456121069.post-8305744007159364282009-09-16T17:21:00.006+01:002009-09-16T19:40:01.258+01:00Balls is just stating the obvious<a href="http://waugh.standard.co.uk/2009/09/ed-balls-makes-his-pitch-for-the-left.html">Paul Waugh</a> and <a href="http://regentsparklabour.blogspot.com/2009/09/balls-to-bat-left.html">Theo Blackwell </a>have been discussing Ed Balls' article in the latest, Ken Livingston-edited New Statesman. In it, Balls says:<br /><br /><blockquote><p><em>We did not always strike this balance right: in public service reform, we sometimes sounded as though private sector solutions were always more efficient.</em></p><p></p></blockquote><p>Is this really a leadership pitch to the left, as they're saying? It sounds more like the stating of the obvious to me, especially post-crash.</p><p>The Blair government came in with what seemed like a mania to privatise left, right and centre, which has now (Royal Mail aside), thankfully eased. It seemed like some sort of virility test to impress Middle England, even though it was obvious to some of us that mainstream voters weren't that supportive of privatisation after all.</p><p>One possible source of regret is surely the <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/8084628.stm">disastrous PPP for London Underground</a>. Balls's mentor, GB, was so determined it should happen he rushed it through to make the contracts signed and irreversible before Livingstone power over the the running of tube by being elected Mayor of London in 2000.</p><p><em>Is this some sort of coded apology to Ken?</em></p>RedThreadshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02327265612285968252noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8358973002456121069.post-76672983717586322292009-09-16T16:55:00.003+01:002009-09-16T17:02:04.369+01:00Muse are the perfect New Tory band<a href="http://www.torybear.com/">Tory Bear </a>is clearly desperate for his teenage heroes (how young is he?), Muse, <a href="http://www.torybear.com/2009/09/are-muse-tories.html">to be revealed as Tories</a>. It wouldn't surprise me if they were, as I elucidated as a comment on the TB site ...<br /><br /><blockquote><em>Muse are the perfect New Tory band.<br /><br />They have that veneer of cool that<br />might make someone who is totally uncool think that they are cool. If you see<br />what I mean.<br /><br />Muse, of course, are total rubbish, thoroughly in the MOR<br />rock tradition of overblown, slightly gothic choruses. To me, they have clearly<br />always wanted to be Radiohead. But ultimately they're just fucking boring.<br /><br />To stretch the analogy to the limits of usefulness, I think that makes<br />Tony Blair Thom Yorke ...</em></blockquote>RedThreadshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02327265612285968252noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8358973002456121069.post-7279059104403387082009-07-16T23:39:00.012+01:002009-07-30T12:21:52.273+01:00MPs boozing during the Commons Afghanistan debate?Glad to hear the Tories aren't getting complacent about winning the next election - or the state of Afghanistan.<br /><br />It seems I wasn't the only person following the cricket today. Like most people who <span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">have to work for a living</span>, I had to follow online updates from sites like <a href="http://www.cricinfo.com/">Cricinfo</a>. Here's one <a href="http://www.cricinfo.com/engvaus2009/engine/match/345971.html?innings=1;page=2;view=commentary">update</a>, helpfully sent in by a reader:<br /><blockquote style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">"Hello from Westminster!" cheers Ed Condon from the Policy Exchange, one of those slightly meaningless think tanks which British politics is filled with. "In the pub with, wait for it.... 10 chiefs of staff and six MPs. Your tax pounds are hard at work!"</blockquote>I can't imagine such an impeccably Tory think-tank hanging around with anyone but Tory MPs, or their 'chiefs of staff'. Whoever they are.<br /><br />The post seems to have come in the same over that Kevin Pietersen got out, <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/england/8150645.stm">around 1613 this afternoon</a>. So much for the Tories' outrage about lack of helicopters. This was slap bang in the middle of the <a href="http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmtoday/cmdebate/17.htm#hddr_1">House of Commons Afghanistan debate</a>.RedThreadshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02327265612285968252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8358973002456121069.post-76316623872308627262009-07-08T16:45:00.014+01:002009-07-30T12:32:54.806+01:00Brown-Nixon: we noticed. Next!The opening passage of <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jul/07/gordon-brown-labour-richard-nixon">Jonathan Freedland</a>'s Guardian column today seems to be gently sending up the commentariat for its propensity for hyperbole, group-think and superciliousness:<br /><blockquote><span style="font-style: italic;"></span><p style="font-style: italic;">Brown is surely the first man since Nixon to walk on a beach in jacket, shirt and black leather shoes. He, like Nixon, is seen as a brooding leader, aided by a clutch of loyal hatchet men ready to resort to all manner of dirty tricks to destroy his enemies. Note too the bitter jealousy felt for a predecessor blessed with the sunny charm he lacks: Kennedy in Nixon's case, Blair in Brown's. The prime minister feels vaguely like an outsider in London, just as Nixon did in Washington. He shares Nixon's conviction that the establishment looks down on him as provincial and uncouth.<span style="display: block;" id="formatbar_Buttons"><span class="on" style="display: block;" id="formatbar_CreateLink" title="Link" onmouseover="ButtonHoverOn(this);" onmouseout="ButtonHoverOff(this);" onmouseup="" onmousedown="CheckFormatting(event);FormatbarButton('richeditorframe', this, 8);ButtonMouseDown(this);"><img src="http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif" alt="Link" class="gl_link" border="0" /></span></span></p></blockquote><p style="font-style: italic;"></p>As Freedland points out later in the column, he is the umpteenth columnist to notice some striking similarities, in terms of style and personality, between the PM and the Watergate President.<br /><br />Cult mag Bad Idea probably got there first; to be followed by, inter alia, <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1132956/Brown-Nixon--leaders-ease.html">Martin Bright</a>, <a href="http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23676139-details/Vengeful,+brooding+and+secretive+%E2%80%93+will+Brown+become+our+own+Nixon/article.do">Dominic Sandbrook</a>, <a href="http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/christopherhope/3656171/Separated_at_birth_Gordon_Brown_and_Richard_Nixon/">Christopher Hope</a> and <a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/matthew_parris/article6115437.ece">Matthew Parris</a>.<br /><br />Now, I have nothing but admiration for some of these people. Martin Bright was the first columnist to make the comparison. Parris is ok. But the general point needs to be made - the comparison is getting pretty tired.<br /><br />Freedland notes that when you concentrate on the really substantive issues - matters of war and peace, for example - the parallels fall away; 'Instead, he is beginning to build up a decent legacy', says Freedland, most notably in saving the banks and combating the recession.<br /><br />Perhaps labouring such comparisons open the door for <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1175876/RICHARD-LITTLEJOHN-If-Gordon-dog-hed-down.html">less respectable commentators</a>, risibly, to compare Brown to Stalin, Mugabe or Hitler.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.badidea.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/brownnixon.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 219px; height: 318px;" src="http://www.badidea.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/brownnixon.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;">Enough already</span>RedThreadshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02327265612285968252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8358973002456121069.post-46805203244706792742009-06-27T12:10:00.004+01:002009-06-27T12:22:28.589+01:00Show this to any young person thinking of voting ToryThis, from <a href="http://www.dontpaniconline.com/">Don't Panic</a>, was definitely my video of the week:<br /><br /><div><object height="339" width="420"><param name="movie" value="http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/x9osgg"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/x9osgg" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" height="339" width="420"></embed></object><br /><b><a href="http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/x9osgg">The New Young Conservatives</a></b><br /><i>by <a href="http://www.dailymotion.com/DontPanicOnline">DontPanicOnline</a></i></div><br />The video has already been removed from You Tube 'due to a copyright claim by London Conservative Future'. You can see why; they know it has the damaging potential of Cameron's infamous Bullingdon club <a href="http://www.gavinwhenman.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/david-cameron-bullingdon.jpg">snap</a>.<br /><br />Anyone desperate to avoid a Tory victory at the next election should show it to any friends thinking of voting for Cameron, especially if they are under 30. The reaction I got from one serious waverer: 'What idiots! I am never voting for them.'<br /><br />Result.RedThreadshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02327265612285968252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8358973002456121069.post-55680821327521171172009-06-27T04:59:00.006+01:002009-06-27T11:44:56.637+01:00A mini-McBride in the making?Ben Bradshaw, after at last being <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/jun/10/ben-bradshaw-opera">promoted to the cabinet</a>, finally gets to nominate a (at least one) special adviser.<br /><br />It's Lenny Shallcross - his long-time Parliamentary aide and general carrier-out-of-anything-and-everything - who has moved into DCMS.<br /><br />It seems, though, we may have something of a mini-McBride in the making. Shallcross seems already to have the former Brown chief spinner's knack for e-incontinence, if this <a href="http://www.oxfordstudent.com/ht2005wk5/News/mp_apologises_to_merton_student_after_email_slur">2005 story from an Oxford student newspaper</a> is to be believed ...<br /><br /><blockquote style="font-style: italic;"><p>AN OXFORD student has expressed her dismay after receiving an offensive email sent to her accidentally from her MP's office detailing her alleged ‘insufferable' arrogance. Hannah Caspar, a biochemistry student at Merton College, wrote a letter to her Labour MP Ben Bradshaw in January to express general political concerns. She had claimed Bradshaw did not adequately represent the views of his constituents.</p> <p>She also made reference to a speech he had made to her and fellow pupils when she was at Maynards Girls' School in Exeter during 2000 where they felt he had come across as a “yes man of Labour, devoid of unique thought.” However, the response she received was not what she was expecting. In the email which Bradshaw's PA, Lenny Shallcross, thought he was sending to his Colleagues, he made specific reference to her background. He wrote: “I don't know why this girl has annoyed me so much.</p> <p>The arrogance is insufferable.” His concluded the message: “If you can suggest any sarcastic comments to add, [they will be] gratefully received.” Caspar told The Oxford Student: “At first I was stunned and couldn't believe it, I had to read the email several times. Then I was shocked and very hurt. It was a really personal attack.” When she emailed Shallcross to point out his mistake, he simply responded, “No!” making no attempt to apologise.</p> <p>She expressed particular annoyance at his attitude, because she had written to Bradshaw about issues such as the Iraq War and foxhunting which she wanted addressing. “It isn't a point scoring contest,” she said. “You shouldn't try to skirt issues by belittling the sender. The email shows the contempt that his office has for his constituents.” She received a reply to her original letter the day after Shallcross' email, Bradshaw seeming to be entirely unaware of his PA's unfortunate mistake.</p> <p>When she wrote to inform him of his PA's actions he sent her an apology which she describes as “bland”. Casper told this newspaper she felt “appalled by the reply.” When contacted by The Oxford Student, a spokeswoman for the South West division of The Labour Party declined to make an official comment.</p></blockquote>RedThreadshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02327265612285968252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8358973002456121069.post-6707799790266507612009-06-24T11:35:00.004+01:002009-06-24T11:50:22.690+01:00Mangled metaphor by a racist of the dayWell, actually yesterday. <a href="http://simondarby.blogspot.com/">Simon Darby</a>, deputy leader of the BNP <a href="http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1184614595?bctid=27285510001">complained on the C4 News</a> that<br /><br /><blockquote>They're trying to airbrush white people out of the equation</blockquote><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_P_L02XxLyWQ/R9auSAiwT4I/AAAAAAAAA0A/TKzo2xkv4XM/s400/Simon+Darby.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 244px; height: 286px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_P_L02XxLyWQ/R9auSAiwT4I/AAAAAAAAA0A/TKzo2xkv4XM/s400/Simon+Darby.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br />A cliche-wielding racist ... <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Must remember to invite him round for tea!</span>RedThreadshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02327265612285968252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8358973002456121069.post-72278365504203417432009-06-18T17:35:00.007+01:002009-06-18T18:16:56.220+01:00Woodcock to stand down from No 10Easy to miss during today's hilarious <a href="http://page.politicshome.com/uk/expenses_publication_latest_revelations.html">expenses allegations</a>, a very interesting <a href="http://blogs.ft.com/westminster/2009/06/another-of-gordon-browns-spin-doctors-to-leave/">nugget</a> from the FT's Westminster Blog:<br /><br /><blockquote style="font-style: italic;">I have it on good authority that John Woodcock, one of Brown’s two spokesmen, is to quit; the move could come soon. <p>Apparently he wants to stand at the next general election as candidate for Barrow and Furness, John Hutton’s seat. The latter <a href="http://www.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/3672423/john-hutton-joins-the-ranks-of-the-rebels.thtml">resigned </a>as defence secretary amid the reshuffle excitement of two weeks ago. Woodcock used to be Hutton’s special adviser.</p> <p>He will spend some time backstage at 10 Downing Street before he starts campaigning later in the year.</p> <p>Unfortunately for Woodcock, his chances of preserving the seat are far from assured given that Hutton’s majority is relatively slim. Then again, the life expectancy of a Brown adviser isn’t exactly infinite these days.</p> <p>Woodcock and Michael Dugher became Brown’s joint spokesmen after Damian McBride took a back seat last autumn. It’s fair to say that Dugher has seemed far more enthusiastic in the role.</p></blockquote>Interesting to hear about Sheffield-hailing Woodcock's interest in his old boss's vacant seat of Barrow and Furness. Presumably that would, by default, make him one of Parliament's biggest advocates of nuclear bombs. BAE Systems is in line to build the four nuclear subs as part of the <a href="http://www.nwemail.co.uk/news/trident_replacement_still_on__says_barrow_mp_hutton__despite_call_to_delay_decision_1_563475?referrerPath=home">Government's plans to replace Trident</a>.<br /><br />But aren't special advisers becoming MPs and then ministers all part of Parliament's current problems? Peter Oborne made this point a while before the expenses crisis blew up, in his book, <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Triumph-Political-Class-Peter-Oborne/dp/0743295277">The Rise of the Political Class</a>. It's a compelling case, though Oborne comes close to saying the racist, sexist, homophobic old establishment was somehow better (he doesn't necessarily accept it was racist, sexist homophobic).<br /><br />Not that one of the emblems of the Parliamentary crisis, Michael Martin, could really be described as political class ...RedThreadshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02327265612285968252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8358973002456121069.post-78452172605491782022009-06-11T22:02:00.003+01:002009-06-11T22:57:09.099+01:00More on BIS - Mandy's new girlfriendNice to see my point about BIS echoed in <a href="http://www.parliament.uk/parliamentary_committees/ius/iuss_080609.cfm">Parliament</a> and in the <a href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/25b71474-5556-11de-b5d4-00144feabdc0,Authorised=false.html?_i_location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ft.com%2Fcms%2Fs%2F0%2F25b71474-5556-11de-b5d4-00144feabdc0.html&_i_referer=http%3A%2F%2Fsearch.ft.com%2Fsearch%3FqueryText%3Dmandelson%2527s%2Braj%26x%3D0%26y%3D0%26aje%3Dtrue%26dse%3D%26dsz%3D">press.</a> Well, more or less.<br /><br />The new name got me wondering: why BIS? Some have expressed concern about the <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/mortarboard/2009/jun/09/drayson-science-defence">lack of 'universities'</a> in the title. Surely BIS is an overused word anyway. You've got:<br /><br />The <a href="http://www.bis.org/">Bank for International Settlements</a>, the bank for central banks.<br /><br />TIm Sweeney's excellent <a href="http://www.beatsinspace.net/">Beats in Space</a>.<br /><br />Then there's '90s Scottish Indie poppers Bis. I remember buying the below song on DIY-style 7" vinyl. Mail-order. To complete the circle, is that <a href="http://waugh.standard.co.uk/2009/06/geraldine-smithkaufman-two-plp-highlights.html">Peter Mandelson's new girlfriend</a>, Geraldine Smith, on vocals?<br /><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/mOJTuAbZNpk&hl=en&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/mOJTuAbZNpk&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object>RedThreadshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02327265612285968252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8358973002456121069.post-81748308444688068752009-06-09T16:55:00.009+01:002009-06-09T17:23:17.766+01:00BIS: undemocratic behemoth<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs9KEY_i9uFCuM-bn4eDXjPorCcqJmM1FtTSD3iY4gyJdVHQNgcTr1nQEeyHSDy6rJjE1Z25gGqoHv6sPVlZYpaT2hj_cZlnVu_dMAapLGwzs0suWmV4_GHeEig1xE10Q9c6OmqsPdOO4/s1600-h/orglogo.gif"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 302px; height: 33px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs9KEY_i9uFCuM-bn4eDXjPorCcqJmM1FtTSD3iY4gyJdVHQNgcTr1nQEeyHSDy6rJjE1Z25gGqoHv6sPVlZYpaT2hj_cZlnVu_dMAapLGwzs0suWmV4_GHeEig1xE10Q9c6OmqsPdOO4/s320/orglogo.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5345364191994090482" border="0" /></a><br /><br />People are right to worry about the high number of Lords being promoted to the cabinet under Brown.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.spectator.co.uk/martinbright/3675226/the-least-democratic-cabinet-since-the-war.thtml">Martin Bright</a> says:<br /><blockquote>This was a desperate reshuffle. With Lord Adonis at Transport and Lord Mandelson at Business, Innovation and Skills (and presumably Universities and Enterprise and Regulatory Reform as well) this is the least democratic government Britain has seen since the end if the Second World War.</blockquote>Quite. 'BIS' (Business Innovation and Skills, Dept for) is the new amalgam of the old Department for Business (BERR) and the short-lived Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS). Aka First Secretary Mandelson's aggrandised power base. An undemocratic behemoth if ever there was one. Take a look at its list of 11 (yes, 11!) ministers:<br /><br />Department for Business, Innovation and Skills<br /><br />* Minister of State - The Rt Hon Pat McFadden MP**<br />* Minister of State - The Rt Hon Lord Drayson* & ** (jointly with the Ministry of Defence)<br />* Minister of State - The Rt Hon David Lammy MP<br />* Minister of State - The Rt Hon Rosie Winterton MP*** (jointly with the Department for Communities and Local Government)<br />* Minister of State - Lord Davies of Abersoch CBE* (jointly with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office)<br />* Minister of State - Kevin Brennan MP (jointly with the Department for Children, Schools and Families)<br />* Parliamentary Under Secretary of State - Lord Carter of Barnes (jointly with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport)<br />* Parliamentary Under Secretary of State - Ian Lucas MP<br />* Parliamentary Under Secretary of State - Baroness Vadera (jointly with Cabinet Office)<br />* Parliamentary Under Secretary of State* - Lord Young of Norwood Green (and Lord in Waiting - paid)<br /><br />Plus Mandy. Of the 11, five are unelected peers, among them some of the most influential figures in the government - Mandelson, Vadera, Carter, Drayson.<br /><br />No institution better illustrates (simply by existing) the need for a democratic House of Lords. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Now.</span>RedThreadshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02327265612285968252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8358973002456121069.post-19297054812754071192009-06-05T16:30:00.005+01:002009-06-05T17:33:25.173+01:00Bob Ainsworth: consummate media performerLet no-one say that Gordon is scratching around for Cabinet ministers. Bob Ainsworth, for example, has been on course for promotion ever since this stellar performance on Newsnight.<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ziTrlKAkn94&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ziTrlKAkn94&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>RedThreadshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02327265612285968252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8358973002456121069.post-55721581650850106882009-06-05T15:24:00.004+01:002009-06-05T15:42:57.338+01:00Over-60s stand firm for BrownCrazy 48 hours, huh?<br /><br />Here's a useful tally of <a href="http://page.politicshome.com/uk/the_tally_so_far.html">those ministers who have resigned, come out for GB, stayed silent</a> since Purnell's resignation last night<br /><br />***BBC has just reported Hoon has stepped down, as I write***<br /><br />Not sure how much more of this the Govt can cope with. But with the reshuffle largely complete, GB may be secure, for now. Well, until Monday, if the <a href="http://timesonline.typepad.com/comment/2009/06/exchange-with-philip-collins-after-purnell-what-does-everyone-do-.html">James Purnell/Phil Collins strategy</a> is vindicated.<br /><br />Most of the Labour voters I spoke to on the doorstep were none too impressed with the scheming against Brown. Granted, most were women over 60 (94 in one case). But I think they may have a point in their wariness of doing something so impulsive and risky. Things may look bad now, but perhaps a bit of faith is what's required.<br /><br />***MORE BAD NEWS: Tories take control of Derbyshire County Council***<br /><br />***MORE BAD NEWS: Tories take control of Lancashire County Council***<br /><blockquote></blockquote>RedThreadshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02327265612285968252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8358973002456121069.post-88586200636369726392009-05-24T12:05:00.006+01:002009-05-24T12:26:12.280+01:00Smiling assassin on the JohnOne of my favourite MP expenses claims revealed last week was former Home Sec John Reid's £30 claim for a <a href="http://www.wishawpress.co.uk/wishaw-news/local-wishaw-news/2009/05/13/mp-john-reid-claimed-for-30-toilet-seat-76495-23606359/">black, glittery toilet seat</a>.<br /><br />This must be among the most inexplicable of all claims. The man known for having the smile - and style - of an assassin, who at the Home Office positioned himself somewhere to the right of Genghis Khan, who proudly wears the scars of Glasgow Labour politics, submitting a receipt for an item that would not have been out of place on Elton John's wedding list.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgciAUDLn2shaiHJnexG1dq75CA38GMcOhbMeThe9Udxu-3cLaq3FzWpjrdI31XBxwORxAJinwZwjsrCpLO5k0hkJs6mdwUAJu5xtqCn5mxpeUrAEwK9qj5gcm5JfbfZt4AtCT_Bo0XUd0/s1600-h/Black+Glitter+toilet+seat+250.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 135px; height: 169px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgciAUDLn2shaiHJnexG1dq75CA38GMcOhbMeThe9Udxu-3cLaq3FzWpjrdI31XBxwORxAJinwZwjsrCpLO5k0hkJs6mdwUAJu5xtqCn5mxpeUrAEwK9qj5gcm5JfbfZt4AtCT_Bo0XUd0/s320/Black+Glitter+toilet+seat+250.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5339349702499340354" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQDK_5JaVQwNHjhyphenhyphenMVkipq5HWYCvZbXvoBQy2C5SNfW7y4T32ZR80eLWG_EtSi7QyO9TTodgpfLNFJqh2uj0Z1wzYUZ8NT2CUq3YNQkY3DFZXXTGnxdvOr5lTKtXX4UIyvwRkdzkDARJo/s1600-h/johnreid.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 144px; height: 181px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQDK_5JaVQwNHjhyphenhyphenMVkipq5HWYCvZbXvoBQy2C5SNfW7y4T32ZR80eLWG_EtSi7QyO9TTodgpfLNFJqh2uj0Z1wzYUZ8NT2CUq3YNQkY3DFZXXTGnxdvOr5lTKtXX4UIyvwRkdzkDARJo/s320/johnreid.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5339349396063633010" border="0" /></a>RedThreadshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02327265612285968252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8358973002456121069.post-22816501759833484272009-05-17T10:35:00.004+01:002009-05-17T11:41:57.453+01:00John SmithThanks to <a href="http://www.rupahuq.co.uk/">Rupa Huq</a> for tagging me into this, three questions about John Smith, who died fifteen years ago to the week. I then have to tag others, like a chain letter ...<br /><br />Where were you when you heard John Smith had died?<br /><br />I was at at secondary school when he died. I'm pretty certain there was no public announcement ... so I would have probably been told by my mum when I got home. I would then have watched Newsround and the BBC One News at Six. I don't remember where, but I distinctly remember watching footage of a Tory MP (don't know who) being told about the death in the middle of a press conference, and him clearly being on the verge of tears.<br /><br />How did you view John Smith when he was leader and how do you view him now?<br /><br />I didn't have much of a view of him, being the age I was. I remember my Mum and I being very disappointed when Kinnock stood down in '92 (we sent him a telegram asking him not to resign). But John Smith seemed alright to me. I remember my Granddad describing a 'devastating' performance in the Commons of Smith's ... possibly about Arms to Iraq.<br /><br />As for now: it's difficult. I don't really have much of an 'organic' view of him, but one shaped by the reminiscences of others. A 'waspish' and 'devastating' Commons performer. A member of the Old Right of the party. A serious, perhaps boring public persona. His shadow budget (as Shadow Chancellor) of 1992 is often blamed for losing Labour that year's general election. I tend to disagree.<br /><br />Do you think he would have made a good Prime Minister?<br /><br />Why not? He was serious, able and had real conviction. (By the way, I think he would have been elected in 1997).<br /><br />What do you think is his lasting legacy?<br /><br />The biggest of achievement of Blair's first term, Devolution, was inherited from Smith. It wouldn't have happened without him. And by 1994 I think Labour had changed sufficiently to be elected. Blair went further, and some of that - the worship of wealth, for example - is coming back to haunt us now.<br /><br />Tagging:<br /><br /><a href="http://timmymc.blogspot.com/">Tim McLoughlin</a><br /><a href="http://newerlabour.blogspot.com/">Tom Miller</a><br /><a href="http://www.labourhome.org/">Alex Hilton/Labour Home</a>RedThreadshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02327265612285968252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8358973002456121069.post-1819800715480665532009-05-14T18:45:00.005+01:002009-05-14T19:08:54.658+01:00Liam Byrne on BBC News just nowLiam Byrne was really trying to take the fight to Cameron on expenses on the Beeb just now. His criticism of the Tories' committee to review its MPs' expenses - with phrases like 'cosy confines of party HQ' and 'party apparatchiks' - is severely time limited, tho'; it is only an interim measure before Christopher Kelly reports. <br /><br />And the claim that GB 'broke the deadlock' on the issue with his feeble flat-rate proposal a couple of weeks ago stretches credulity ...RedThreadshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02327265612285968252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8358973002456121069.post-61975291205124584092009-05-12T23:20:00.008+01:002009-05-13T06:46:14.608+01:00More and more, is Cameron being treated like a PM-in-waiting?Well, didn't Cameron manage to turn the tables in the expenses row? <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8044998.stm">Lots of positive coverage on the BBC</a>, for example, for his sudden decree that Tory MPs don't claim for furniture or food in their second homes. We'll see what the papers are like.<br /><br />I can't help but think the BBC coverage was <span style="font-style: italic;">a bit too positive</span>. 'Appalled Cameron leads payback', was the headline. <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/nickrobinson/2009/05/from_unthinkabl.html">Nick Robinson</a> is a well known Tory, granted, but his clear implication tonight was that Cameron's (let's face it) essentially reactive measures displayed 'decisiveness' and 'leadership':<br /><blockquote>For David Cameron the stories of cash for moats and manure was both a threat and an opportunity. A threat to his claim to have changed and modernised the Conservative Party but also an opportunity to demonstrate leadership in doing just that ... Labour [has] been left trailing in David Cameron's wake ...<br /></blockquote>And Norman Smith's report on Radio 4's 6pm bulletin described how Cameron had 'summoned' senior Tories to instruct them to pay some of the money back, without even mentioning that Cameron himself has come under scrutiny for a £680 home repair bill. Which left me shouting at the radio - <span style="font-style: italic;">'What? He summoned himself?'</span><br /><br />(This is not to sat to say the proposal is not spot on - Brown should have done exactly the same thing a couple of weeks ago when he went on You Tube. As we know, he came up with a lump-sum half-measure which pleased no-one, effectively paving the way for Cameron to take the initiative).<br /><br />Notwithstanding some greater scrutiny of their policies, there is the inevitable tendency for PMs-in -waiting get an easy ride from a media hoping for access when the new regime enters Downing Street. Is it happening for Cameron now? Tories made exactly this complaint against coverage of Blair before the 1997 election. But nothing remotely as serious as these Tory expenses revelations happened to Labour between 1994 and 1997, did it?<span style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span>RedThreadshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02327265612285968252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8358973002456121069.post-29166488753627419752009-05-12T22:39:00.011+01:002009-05-12T23:24:10.884+01:00Expenses doppelgänger<a href="http://iaindale.blogspot.com/2009/05/well-done-hazel-blears-but-what-about.html">Iain Dale tonight praised Hazel Blears</a> for coming out and saying she will pay back the capital gains tax she avoided paying on her 'second' home.<br /><br />I couldn't help but notice the clip of Hazel on the BBC News at Ten, and the startling resemblance between long-time Blears special adviser Paul Richards (flanking Blears in the clip) and the Dale himself ... <span>it just dawned on me.</span><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"></span>Not sure what I could be implying here, but it could be explosive.<br /></span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk47N03AZHiK7mg4RM2Gdgr_Uc9PUlXTkNtxh1OFeQxA0hUZpH02j-rLBbA5tEM0SxmhGUhQG-JGxtioFtWkr5B6BhR-sOK9DCk2P9jX2Cv6Ow-NQcYXENzca8r3Ve357ZqbGKDRhCbu0/s1600-h/blears_spad.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 96px; height: 124px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk47N03AZHiK7mg4RM2Gdgr_Uc9PUlXTkNtxh1OFeQxA0hUZpH02j-rLBbA5tEM0SxmhGUhQG-JGxtioFtWkr5B6BhR-sOK9DCk2P9jX2Cv6Ow-NQcYXENzca8r3Ve357ZqbGKDRhCbu0/s320/blears_spad.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5335063417166274850" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Dale<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0xuWacFOPrzhuQt9ZhywcIPESTDg6H3cRUQe3lJSMO6cg0Ykj0W0OifCWC_Oc_1rmB0vMq2I9pDiMMmO6VZ5HUvc3ZOJD6GMXC7nUrRPAmqG4Qq0XBiU1kulBoNjPrrNF6rpo6af423A/s1600-h/Dale.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 96px; height: 92px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0xuWacFOPrzhuQt9ZhywcIPESTDg6H3cRUQe3lJSMO6cg0Ykj0W0OifCWC_Oc_1rmB0vMq2I9pDiMMmO6VZ5HUvc3ZOJD6GMXC7nUrRPAmqG4Qq0XBiU1kulBoNjPrrNF6rpo6af423A/s320/Dale.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5335063948216276114" border="0" /></a><br /><br />RichardsRedThreadshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02327265612285968252noreply@blogger.com0