In their quest to create the perfect soldier, the perfect citizen and the perfect State the Spartans created a culture which would inspire many, and appall others. Hitler was one admirer of their ruthless practice of
Continue reading →Monthly Archives: September 2012
Missing White Woman Syndrome.
And so the lithe and luscious Megan Stammers has been returned to her rightful owners â she was after all, taken âwithout their permissionâ. Or âabductedâ as our hysterical press prefer to claim.
It has been a miracle wrought
Continue reading →Corrupt Cops say Cheeseâ¦Limerick Competition.
The Canadian Mounties always get their man. In this case, one of their own.
After a nine month undercover operation â painstakingly taking plaster casts of tyre tracks, deploying the dog sniffer teams, forensic tents filled with scurrying
Continue reading →The Seat of Wisdom.
Lilian was in her 80s when I first met her. A reserved widow; small, stooped, and shy. She was my next door neighbour. I called her Mrs Smith out of deference to her age.
I found
Continue reading →Itâs a Wind-up!
David Leigh has had a brainstorm. A remarkably altruistic brainstorm, it has to be said, since it is intended to save the future of the âquality newspapersâ and Leigh works for, er, The Guardian.
Leigh is an âinvestigative journalistâ. I think that means
Continue reading →The Godless at the Bench
âTo no one will we sell, to no one will we refuse or delay, right or justiceâ â these hallowed words, from the Great Charter of Liberties popularly known as the Magna Carta, stands etched in the glass-panel doors in
Continue reading →When in doubt, ask a Policemanâ¦
The air-waves and cyber-waves are fair buzzing with the debate on whether or not âto arm our policeâ. Everybody and his maiden aunt has a definitive view.
On Sunday morning, the BBC fielded its usual âbalanced panelâ to discuss
Continue reading →Parish Notice.
Would you care to vote on some changes to the site?
I had been wondering how convenient it was for you all to have the ârecent commentsâ and ârecent postsâ section at the bottom of the
Continue reading →Off Their Trolleysâ¦
I have to talk about Shopping Trolleys. Naturally, I do not expect you to do so, unless you are a follower of Tesco, the One True God, and his Revealed Word, the Holy Clubcard. For you to do
Continue reading →The Liberal Delusion.
A few days ago, I picked up on news of Totnes. Allegedly, democracy was dead in Totnes.
Why? A âright-onâ whole food business had vacated their premises; not gone bust, just moved to a new home. Oxfam was mooted as a
Continue reading →Devilâs Kitchen
In the early hours of this morning, one of the corner anchors of the blogosphere quietly disentangled his restraining cords and floated off into cyberspace.
In the past few months, we have lost many of those anonymous souls who gave
Continue reading →Budget Day in Scotland â some unusual solutions being proposed.
Ahead of todayâs budget, MSPâs on the Finance Committee were advised by âexpertsâ speaking to them in Holyrood: I thought I should take a look at who these experts were.
Colin Mair, chief executive of the private company limited by
Continue reading →Breast interests of the public
Why, exactly, do we care about HRH the Duchess of Cambridgeâs breasts?
Actually, to me, as a lawyer, what is more interesting is how privacy law is increasingly being used as an excuse for empty âmoralisingâ by
Continue reading →Vera Baird â Beyond Parody.
Vera Baird is calling for Sir Norman Bettison to quit his job over claims that he tried to discredit a senior judge by attempting to prosecute him.
It is alleged Sir Norman Bettison, chief constable of West
Continue reading →Land of the Rising Scumâ¦
We have a feral underclass. It is a statement many bloggers make daily â but we do not think too deeply about it. We donât go out in the morning, leave food out for the cat, drop our kids off at child care â
Continue reading →Attack of the Rouge Landlords
Those evil Rouge Landlords.
They’re at it again, terrorising tenants up and down the land.
At least in the imagination of anti-landlord campaigners.
Unfortunately, when Shelter did some research to try
Continue reading →Indoctrinate the Little Children.
Like Marleyâs ghost, rattling the chains of Old Labour, the spectre of David Blunkett hove into view this morning.
He is giving âdelivering a pamphletâ â an upmarket version of writing a blog post, except that his has a forward
Continue reading →A âRightâ Royal Tit â and a Previously âLeftâ One.
What a prize pair of tits we have on display this morning. The Duchess of Cambridge for engaging in the âoh so fashionableâ mindset of âI have every right to behave as I want, where I want, when I want, how I
Continue reading →The Rotten and Vicious Borough of Hillingdon.
From Hillsborough to Hillingdon in 24 hours. Here we go.
On Tuesday, Mark Neary, Father of Steven Neary, whose battles with the rotten borough of Hillingdon I have documented many times, Continue reading →
Rights Downriver
Concluding one of the longest-running court cases of New Zealandâs rather unique legal history â its legal system itself is a mixture of English common law and MÄori tribal law â, the dispute around the status of the
Continue reading →Liverpool Expects This Day â Sick Justice!
My regular readers will be well aware that I am a Scouse. Born, bred and married in that peculiar sub-culture of Liverpool known as either âbitterly deprivedâ, by the legion of North London champagne socialist journalists who pontificate on these
Continue reading →Urgent Spam Notice.
If you have received an e-mail which appears to come from Anna Raccoon in the last couple of hours asking you to confirm that you wish to sign up to receive e-mail notifications of new posts â do not
Continue reading →The Green Party and the new DUMBYâs.
The Green Party conference in Bristol is turning into the gift that keeps on giving.
On Friday we heard that the Party of just ONE MP (fielded 300 candidates, just one elected) was the new opposition. All one of them. The entire Labour
Continue reading →The Untouchables.
We seem to have a permanent section of criminal society that is marked âuntouchableâ, a niche corner where no one is responsible for their actions, where those suitably labelled are accorded automatic victim status regardless of their part in
Continue reading →MP in the Sh*t.
Sir Tony Baldry hasnât had a good day. First he got a parking ticket when he just popped into Poundland, as your average penny saving MP does.
Then he bent down to retrieve the parking ticket whilst starting his car up. Whoops! Car lurches
Continue reading →The £46 Million Pound Front Page.
Would the Sun sub-editor responsible for this front page please stand up and take his punishment like a man? Shoot him if necessary â what is one life compared to the carnage caused by his actions?
Continue reading →
Let them Eat Conservatories!
With exquisite timing, David Cameron has found a way to boost the economy. Whew! Just when we thought he was bereft of ideas.
As from today, you can build a bigger conservatory on your house. The
Continue reading →The death of Baby K.
The death of baby Jaydon Lee Green was a tragedy. Of course it was. The death of any child is a tragedy. Was it an avoidable tragedy? The Serious Case Review has concluded that it was.
I am not so
Continue reading →iTunes, iWallis, iCanât make sense of itâ¦.
Several days ago I was sent a press release advertising the iTunes festival which started 1st September in London and invited to write a blog post about it â I didnât, I canât find the time to write
Continue reading →Politics, Performance and Proseâ¦
The ultra-fashionable cry has gone up again â âWe must have a Public Inquiryâ!
20 years of ever increasing numbers of children getting high grades in their GCSE results, Teacherâs pay linked by
Continue reading →