John McTernan 'Labour MPs are morons' for wanting Jeremy Corbyn

https://youtu.be/z-Wr0HCsaUA

I believe that Margaret Beckett has admitted being a moron for nominating Jeremy Corbyn. Not just for that, Ms Beckett who was the worst Foreign Secretary that I can recall.

Spot the problem?

"You’d never get through a bill on electoral reform before a general election.
No-one in their right mind would think that you could."

According to Iain Dale those are the words of Margaret Beckett. Now I am no fan of the dismal Ms Beckett but she quite correct in this instance. The only problem is that the man in charge does want to push an electoral reform bill through ASAP...

The House of the Rising Sun

A much covered song, and one of my favourites, here's some different versions some good, some great, some odd and one beyond the pale.


The Animals (live)



The Animals (film version - 1964)


The Animals version that I like best can be viewed here, love the walking around the studio idea...



Frijid Pink (1971)



Bob Dylan (1961)



Joan Baez (1960)


Woody Guthrie (1941?)



Lead Belly (1948 - the earliest recording, so far as I can tell)


And now for some odd versions:

Duran Duran (live 2006)



Gregory Isaacs (early 1990s)



Sinead O'Connor



The Beatles (jamming)



Gary Glitter



Dolly Parton


Tracy Chapman



ewmarsto (?)



Margaret Beckett!




The lyrics for this song change a lot, but recent versions seem to be male or female:
Male version - eg: The Animals:

"There is a house in New Orleans
They call the Rising Sun
And it's been the ruin of many a poor boy
And God I know I'm one

My mother was a tailor
She sewed my new bluejeans
My father was a gamblin' man
Down in New Orleans

Now the only thing a gambler needs
Is a suitcase and trunk
And the only time he's satisfied
Is when he's on a drunk

------ organ solo ------

Oh mother tell your children
Not to do what I have done
Spend your lives in sin and misery
In the House of the Rising Sun

Well, I got one foot on the platform
The other foot on the train
I'm goin' back to New Orleans
To wear that ball and chain

Well, there is a house in New Orleans
They call the Rising Sun
And it's been the ruin of many a poor boy
And God I know I'm one "

Female version - eg: Dolly Parton:

"There is a house down in New Orleans
Down in the Vieux Carr'e
A house they call the rising sun
Where love and money are made

My father he was a gambler
Mother died when I was young
And I've worked since then
To please the men
At the house of the rising sun

There is a house
Down in New Orleans
They call the rising sun
It's been the ruin of many a good girl
And oh God, you know I'm one

So mothers you go telling all your daughters
Not to do what I've done
To live a life of sin, shame and strife
In the house of the rising sun

There is a house in New Orleans
They call the rising sun
It's been the ruin of many a good girl
And oh God, you know I'm one
Oh God, you know I'm one. "

For even more on the song you could look at Wikipedia or YouTube

Harriet Harman misinformed as usual

The ever excellent Alex Masterley has a great spot today:

"Harriet Harman thought she had a catchy little bon mot when she told the world that the financial crisis probably wouldn't have happened if Lehman Brothers had been called Lehman Sisters. In Ms. Harman's reassuring world view, it is those arrogant and assertive Y-chromosomes that cause all the trouble and the ever-suffering females who clean up the mess the men leave behind. Which just goes to show that there is no finer feeling than speaking volubly from a position of ignorance.

If Ms. Harman had done her research, she would have discovered that the systemic disaster that is the credit default swap originated from the derivatives team run by the ever so definitely female Blythe Masters (great name for a senior swaps dealer: you couldn't make it up, sheer nominative determinism). Indeed, during the boom years, the lefty feminist press made a great song and dance about the fact that her team booked $4 trillion of the things every year.

We could have said the credit crunch was started by a woman, but we didn't want to make it a gender issue."

Harriet Harman misinformed, who would have thought it. Is there a rule that Labour deputy leaders have to be irritating and incompetent or is it just coincidence? The last six people to hold this post were going backwards (like their thought processes) Harriet Harman, John Prescott, Margaret Beckett, Roy Hattersley, Dennis Healey and Michael Foot. What a glittering cavalcade of the mediocre (at best) and the incompetent; some of them falling into both camps.

Harriet Harman sexist?

I see that Harriet Harman has done it again, she's opened her mouth and poured out a stream of rubbish. Apparently she has demanded that one of Labour’s two top posts should always be held by a woman — because "Men cannot be left to run things on their own. I think it’s a thoroughly bad thing to have a men-only leadership." It is claimed that Harriet Harman, Labour’s deputy leader, secretly tried to change Labour party rules two years ago to ensure that it could never again be led by an all-male team, but she was foiled by the party hierarchy. Harriet Harman added "I don’t agree with all-male leaderships".

Some questions for the doughty feminist? Do you believe in all female leaderships? Do you believe that women can be left to run things on their own? Is your opposition to an all male leadership anything to do with you feeling threatened by Peter Mandelson's position at the right hand of Gordon Brown? Jacqui Straw, Ruth Kelly, Margaret Beckett, Patricia Hewitt, Yvette Cooper, Patricia Hodge, Tessa Jowell? Which of those female Labour ministers do you think was held back from high office by virtue of her sex? Which of them became ministers at least partially because of their sex?

The Speaker election

First round results:
Stay in:
John Bercow 179
Sir George Young 112
Margaret Beckett 74
Sir Alan Haselhurst 66
Sir Alan Beith 55
Anne Widdecombe 44

Probably Drop out as less than 5%:
Parmjit Dhanda 26
Richard Shepherd 15
Sir Patrick Cormack 13
Sir Michael Lord 9

No huge surprises in the order but Margaret Beckett seems to have received fewer votes than I expected and Sir George Young more. John Bercow got 30% of the vote and unless there is a tactical switch by Margaret Beckett's supporters at an early stage to prevent Sir George Young winning then I expect Sir Alan Beith and Anne Widdecombe to drop out next. If Margaret Beckett's supporters do work this tactical switch then John Bercow would have 42% add in 20 or so from those who dropped out and he's at 46%, so at least one more round looks necessary.

Now who will get the four dropped out candidates votes? I would imagine that a high proportion of Sir Michael Lord and Sir Patrick Cormack's votes will move to Sir Alan Haselhurst or Sir George Young. Ricahrd Shepherd's supporters are harder to predict as are Parmjit Dhanda's.

When Sir Alan Beith and Anne Widdecombe drop out I expect Sir George Young to pick up more votes than Margaret Beckett or John Bercow.

Margaret Beckett is not fit to be Speaker

When MPs claimed expenses they had to sign next to a declaration that the costs were

"incurred wholly, exclusively and necessarily in the performance of my Parliamentary duties"

Margaret Beckett attested to that fact when claiming £1,380 over three years for hanging baskets and an additional £9,619 over seven years for other gardening bills. She also signed to this effect when she claimed £638 for the wiring of "new lights and sockets in sun lounge" and £1,060 for tasks related to the construction and fitting of a "trellis to rear of the pond". Do examine the rest of Margaret Beckett's expense claims and see if you consider her fit to be Speaker of the House of Commons; I do not.

Margaret Beckett as Speaker?

The Times article that reports:

"Conservative MPs will support Margaret Beckett, the former Labour leader, over one of their own for the Speaker’s chair amid signs that the race is showing a form of inverted tribalism and party whips are playing an increasingly central role."

Also includes these extracts that explains why Margaret Beckett should not become Speaker:

"Prominent members of Gordon Brown’s whips’ office past and present, including John Spellar and Ian Austin, are organising a campaign to install Mrs Beckett as Speaker."

"On the BBC programme last month, the audience turned on the then Housing Minister for expenses claims that included £600 for hanging baskets and pot plants. She was almost drowned out by shouts of “scandal” and “Are you better than us?” after she refused to pay back a penny of her expenses to the taxpayer."

"Mrs Beckett also has a chequered history on votes on expenses. As well as the second-home claims, she voted against reforms put forward by Mr Martin last year to end the right of MPs to claim on furniture for their second homes. She abstained from votes exempting Parliament from the freedom of information requirements."

If Margaret Beckett becomes Speaker it will be a victory for Gordon Brown and the Executive, another biased Labour MP as Speaker and another reason for the public to treat MPs with disdain.

I have said for some time that the Speaker elected now must be a temporary one and that a new Speaker must be elected by the new House of Commons following a general election, assuming Gordon Brown allows the country such an election.

An unbiased Speaker?

Margaret Beckett has put herself forward for the post of Speaker of the House of Commons. She claimed that she would be an impartial Speaker.

Here's Margaret Beckett from the Labour Party's YouTube channel in a piece of video summarised as

"Margaret Beckett talks about the choice between Labour's commitment to investment and the Tories' commitment to cuts "

Unbiased?

Margaret Beckett for Speaker?

I read that:

"Labour Party veteran Margaret Beckett looks set to become the next Speaker of the House of Commons, replacing the disgraced Michael Martin who steps down on June 21. According to Labour sources today, Beckett has "all but made up her mind" to stand for election on June 22. "

The interesting thing is that the article includes this:

" Until last Friday ... she was housing minister under Hazel Blears, but with a seat at the Cabinet table - Beckett has barely been off the Labour front bench, whether in opposition or in government, for quarter of a century.

She has been Leader of the House, Foreign Secretary and Environment Secretary. She even holds the distinction of being a former leader of the Labour Party: she was in charge for the interregnum between the death of John Smith in May 1994 and the election of Tony Blair to party leader in July the same year."

Maybe someone could explain to me how a person who has been a Labour minister or shadow minister for longer than any other current MP could be even considered for the allegedly non-partisan role of Speaker. Oh hold on I've just worked it out, she would be expected to be as non-partisan as the current Speaker, Michael Martin. This Labour government really do make me sick.

What a disturbing thought

Margaret Beckett is fingered by The Telegraph...

Are they all at it?

Tony McNulty, Jacqui Smith, Geoff Hoon, Alistair Darling and now Margaret Beckett are all at it and it looks as though we can add Gordon Brown to the list.

I presume that this is what Tony Blair meant when he said that his Government must be "purer than pure".

The world's most beautiful female politicians

Luciana Leon, 30, Peru's youngest ever congresswoman and apparently the world's most beautiful female politician

Mara Carfagna is Italy's Minister for Equal Opportunities and came at no 4 in the poll

Alina Kabaeva, 26, is a former gymnast for Russia who is now a politician and came 12th in the poll


Yuri Fujikawa, 27, is known in Japan for her glamour and her youthful political success. She caused a stir by posing in her bikini to attract tourism to Hachinohe City and came 5th in the poll


The Daily Mail has gone into one of its pulchritudinous moods as it has not one but two pages devoted to a poll revealing "The world's most beautiful female politicians". This page has the full list from 1 to 54(?) and some rather pleasant pictures of Peruvian lawyer Luciana Leon who was voted the world's most beautiful female politician followed by fellow countrywoman Mercedes Araoz, as well as U.S vice president elect Sarah Palin who was voted 24th sexiest female politician and Former French presidential candidate Segolene Royal ranked 36th. There are also pictures of U.S Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who was the oldest woman on the list (but I would run many miles to avoid) and Afghan Malalai Joya who came in at 54th place. I must warn you that there are also photos of Jaqui Smith and Ruth Kelly who unsurprisingly failed to even get a mention in the online poll.

The Mail's second page devoted to this important story has more photos and is worth a perusal, although I must warn you that there are also pictures of Margaret Beckett and Harriet Harman.


I can hear feminists shrieking that looks shouldn't be important it should be the competence of the female politician that should count. Well I respectfully draw your attention to Jacqui Smith, Ruth Kelly, Tessa Jowell, Patricia Hewitt, Harriet Harman and most of all Margaret Beckett - competence? beauty? No and No.

Intelligent, highly competent women can be sexy but there aren't any in the Labour government (no Caroline Flint and Yvette Cooper are not sexy, they are just marginally better looking than the rest of a very poor bunch); mind you competent and/or sexy male Labour Ministers are also noticeable by their absence...



UPDATE:
Courtesy of The Mail here's the full list:
The most beautiful female politicians are:

1 - Luciana Leon, 30, Peru

2 - Mercedes Ar?oz 47, Peru

3 - Sara Latife Ruiz Chavez, 32, Mexico

4 - Mara Carfagna, 32, Italy

5 - Yuri Fujikawa, 27, Japan

6 - Anna-Maria Galojan, 26, Estonia

7 - Toireasa Ferris, 29, Ireland

8 - Yuliya Tymoshenko, 48, Ukraine

9 - Eunice Olsen, 31, Singapore

10 - Cayetana ?lvarez, 34, Spain

11 - Vera Lischka, 31, Austria

12 - Alina Kabaev, 26, Russia

13 - Gabriela Cueva, 29, Mexico

14 - Orly Levy, 35, Israel

15 - Cristina Dia, 50, Mexico

16 - Tsepeli Nikolet, 28, Greece

17 - Marianne Thiem, 36, The Netherlands

18 - Carme Chac?, 37, Spain

19 - Pnina Rosenblum, 53, Israel

20 - Bibiana A?d, 31, Spain

21 - Tanja Karpel, 38, Finland

22 - Julia Anastasia Bon, 23, Germany

23 - Ruhama Avraha, 44, Israel

24 - Sarah Palin, 44, United States

25 - Stefania Prestigiacom, 43, Italy

26 - Sofia Larse, 36, Sweden

27 - Angelina Sondak, 32, Indonesia

28 - Cristina Fern?ndez de Kirchne, 56, Argentina

29 - Katr?n Gunnarsd?tti, 43, Iceland

30 - Soraya S?en, 37, Spain

31 - Anastasia Michael, 33, Israel

32 - Stephanie Herseth, 38, United States

33 - M?nica Lorente Ram?, 38, Spain

34 - Hillary Clinton, 61, United States

35 - Melissa Park, 42, Australia

36 - S?gol?ne Roya, 55, France

37 - Jiang Y, 44, China

38 - Freya Van den Bossch, 34, Belgium

39 - Nebahat Albayra, 40, The Netherlands

40 - Kirsten Gillibran, 43, United States

41 - Eva Glawischni, 39, Austria

42 - Sabine Herol, 27, France

43 - Hillevi Larsso, 34, Sweden

44 - Hillevi Larsso, 46, Iceland

45 - Piia-Noora Kaupp, 33, Finland

46 - Sabine B?tzin, 34, German

47 - Isabel dos Santo, Angola

48 - Penny Won, 40, Australia

49 - Kate Elli, 32, Australia

50 - Melissa Lee, New Zealand

51 - Marcela Guerra Castill, Mexico

52 - Delsa Sol?rzano, Venezuela

53 - Natalie Rickl, 33, Sweden

54 - Malalai Joy, 31, Afghanistan

National debt

The proportion of UK external debt to GDP in the UK is over 400%, it was 197% in 1997.

Any comments Gordon Brown?

Margaret Becket on the Daily Politics didn't seem to want to answer the point, take a look here, from around 5:15.

Beyond parody

When Henry Kissinger won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1973, the distinguished musical satirist Tom Lehrer decided that he could no longer perform. "It was at that moment that satire died," said Lehrer, "There was nothing more to say after that."

The news that the twice disgraced Peter Mandelson will be awarded with a seat in the House of Lords so as to enable him to return to the Labour cabinet was believable, disgusting but believable. But the news today that "Gordon Brown plans to bring David Blunkett back into the Cabinet" is beyond belief. David Blunkett, the man who like Peter Mandelson had to resign twice; first as Home Secretary in 2004 over claims that he used his office to speed up a visa for the nanny of his lover, Kimberly Quinn and second in 2005 as Work and Pensions Secretary when he admitted he had breached the ministerial code by not getting clearance for three posts he took on after leaving the Cabinet. Blunkett sounds like just the man to bring a sheen of honesty and competence to this Labour government and he would be happy to bring in absolutely any population surveillance measures deemed necessary for the defence of the Labour government country, this would be right his authoritarian street.

Blunkett and Mandelson! Who next? Neil Kinnock, Robin Cook? Gordon Brown has already re-appointed Maagaret Beckett, so Robin Cook is not as long a shot as you might first think.

David Miliband - Immature prat?

Amazingly David Miliband is proving to be a more inept Foreign Secretary than even the dire Robin Cook and the out of her depth Margaret Beckett. The latest rumour concerns David Miliband laughing during a Sky News interview when he gets the number of dead in the latest Islamic terrorism atrocity wrong. It is claimed that the pertinent piece of video has disappeared... I suggest keeping an eye on Guido in case the video surfaces...

I think Libby Purves is angry

"The only regret is that while a couple of the more outrageous milkers of expenses have been sacked or demoted, most of them sail on undamaged, “within the rules”.

Not within natural justice or reasonableness: just the rules. Here is Barbara Follett, millionaire's wife, charging you and me £94 every three weeks for window-cleaning; meanwhile, Margaret Beckett's garden cost us £6,500, including rockery (so important for a minister to have a good rockery, don't you think?). Here are Ann and Alan Keen netting £100,000 of public funds by having a mortgage each, and Ed Balls and Yvette Cooper also doing rather well from his 'n' hers claims. Oh, and marvel at Peter Mandelson's new shower, for which we paid £3,000 five years ago (the ritziest shower in Hartlepool, I'll be bound).

And Tony Blair? Don't start me. Not only did his new Trimdon kitchen cost us £10,600 (plus £50 for servicing the Aga), but thanks to the fine ferrets who battled for disclosure we can now gaze, online, at the very forms on which a Prime Minister made us pay the mortgage interest on £90,000. He borrowed it against a house which - Mrs Blair writes - only cost them £30,000, plus the same again to do it up. Is that a legitimate expense? Did Blair need to spend that money in order to have a billet in his constituency? No. It was bunce. The loan - whose interest we paid - went to fund his future property in Connaught Square.

It was “within the rules”. Just as Honourable Members - who have hobbled employers with strict anti-discrimination law - can pay public salaries to their family members without any open interviews to see if there are better candidates; just as the ridiculous “John Lewis List” lets them charge the taxpayer £150 per dining chair, demand free dry-cleaning for their personal clothes, and spend £795 of our money on a sideboard and £750 on a stereo (God forbid they might have to go to Currys). They may charge a grand total of £23,000 of home equipment, to keep for ever, untaxed. As for MEPs, draw a veil. It's Monday. Nobody feels strong enough to think about that."

That's from Libby Purves's column in today's Times do read the rest. Personally I found it a touch sanctimonious about how wonderful working mothers are and how hard they work and how badly they are treated, but at least she recognises that Caroline Spelman's "crime" is minor when compared to the "within the rules" claims of many senior Labour MPs.

Delusional

John Rentoul in the "Independent" advises David Miliband thus:

"David Miliband: this is it. You have the qualities that could put Labour back in contention. You have the poise, the communication skills and just enough experience at the highest level. But you require courage and a campaign of self-promotion to a general public that still has only the haziest idea who the Foreign Secretary is."

David Miliband has "poise" and "communication skills"?
There must be two David Milibands: the one John Rentoul writes about and the one that is the second weakest Foreign Secretary I can remember, the weakest being Margaret Beckett.

Interesting choice of people defending Michael Martin

David Blunkett and Margaret Beckett... Both paragons of virtue with no history of fiddled expenses, financial incompetence or similar. This Labour Government and its cheerleaders at the BBC have no shame.