Still not Last Call

 

Not Last Call

 

Water, water, everywhere ...

h/t - Helen/Jill

Quote of the day

From The Independent (here):

... let us roll back a few months to build-up to the 2015 general election. The political consensus was the exact opposite of the one that forms now in response to floods. The key test for the parties was how little they would spend if elected. Imagine if Ed Miliband had pledged to invest significantly more in flood defences as he sought to prove he was a responsible leader in the early months of this year. All hell would have broken loose, in a political rather than climate sense.

George Osborne would have popped up to declare that once again a Labour government planned to spend recklessly. Most newspapers would have screamed that Miliband was an irresponsible spender. Newsnight would have staged a debate between two pundits agreeing that the pledge on flood defences showed Labour had still not learned from past spending sins and would never win an election until it did. 

Misuse of the honours system

From The Mail Online:

Arise, Dame Babs! Eastenders and Carry On star Barbara Windsor heads New Year honours list 

From The Sunday Times:

LYNTON CROSBY, David Cameron’s election guru, will receive a knighthood this week in an award that will provoke a fresh row over cronyism in the honours system.

Just as well that, once again, I turned it down ...

Music of the week

They didn't look like this in the 1960s - but, then again, neither do I :

Where is Rudolf?

- replaced by robots:

'Cos it's that time of year ...

A (not very Christmassy) cartoon for the young at heart:

Remember Afghanistan?

It has rather been blown off the headlines by Syria and Libya.  But all the familiar villains are in play: Taliban, Al-Quaeda, ISIS, a corrupt and incompetent local administration.  And US and British special forces are still involved.  The Guardian comments:

Obama’s decision in October to halt the withdrawal of the remaining 9,500 US troops showed he no longer believed his own rhetoric about the ability of the Afghan army and police to maintain security. Dismayingly, the elected government of the president, Ashraf Ghani, like that of Hamid Karzai before it, has proved incompetent, divided, and mired in corruption.

Now the US is stuck. It cannot leave entirely and it cannot escalate. Behind the bland White House press statements, it seems plain Obama has not the foggiest idea what to do next. 

   

Santa comes to Madrid

The dismal science

Whither the economy?  The Guardian cannot make up its mind:

The optimistic way of looking at 2015 is to see it as the pivot between the long hangover that followed the Great Recession and a new era of strong growth marked by stricter control of financial markets, a new wave of inventions, and the move towards a cleaner, greener economy following the deal on climate change reached in Paris earlier this month.

The pessimistic way of looking at 2015 is to see it as a brief interlude between one crisis and the next, marked by the steady descent into deflation, populism and protectionism. Seen from this perspective, the underlying problems of the global economy – inequality, debt and financial market excess – have not gone away.

Is there a middle way?  Was 2015 simply another stage in the endless process of muddling through?

 
 

By their own words shall you know them

Idiots?  The Sunday Times reports:

LIAM FOX declares today that Britain should leave the European Union, delivering a significant blow to David Cameron’s hopes of winning Tory backing for his renegotiation with Brussels.

...

Fox warned Cameron he would spark civil war and damage his premiership if the leadership treated Eurosceptics as “idiots” during the referendum campaign.

He writes: “Treating the views of others with respect will be key to our ability to govern effectively for the rest of the decade.

“Those who wish to remain in the EU are not ‘unpatriotic’ and those who wish to leave are not ‘idiots’.”

On the other hand, nor are they entirely sensible ...

 

Photo of the week - Cameron at the EU summit

He really should not walk around with his hands in his pockets.  As my mother told me when I was a lad, it is the sign of a scruff.  And if he tripped and fell over, he could do himself some serious damage ...

 

Music of the week

   

Not really reassuring?

Let us not be petty about it.  I'm sure (yeah, honestly, I think) that Mr Ashley will conduct a thorough investigation, maybe?

Sports Direct is to launch a review of all agency staff terms and conditions, which it said would be overseen personally by its founder Mike Ashley.

The move follows a Guardian investigation, which revealed how temporary warehouse workers at Britain’s biggest sportswear chain are subjected to an extraordinary regime of searches and surveillance. Undercover reporters also came up with evidence that thousands of workers were receiving effective hourly rates of pay below the minimum wage.

The company said on Friday: “Sports Direct always seeks to improve and do things better, listens to criticism and acts where appropriate. With that in mind, as noted above, the board has agreed that Mike Ashley shall personally oversee a review of all agency worker terms and conditions to ensure the company does not just meet its legal obligations, but also provides a good environment for the entire workforce. We expect him to start that work in the New Year.”

I mean, he wouldn't put profit above the well-being of his workers, would he?

 

His jaiket has fallen off the shoogly peg

Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you.  The Special One is no longer special ...

 

Is she bovvered?

I don't suppose that the First Minister will be unduly upset.  The Times reports:

Donald Trump has rounded angrily on Nicola Sturgeon and “parochial” Scottish politics after losing the latest round in his bitter battle to prevent a wind farm being built beside his Aberdeenshire golf course.

Ms Sturgeon was denounced as “plain stupid” yesterday by the most senior aide to the Republican hopeful for the US presidency. She was accused of making a “rookie mistake” by stripping the tycoon of his membership of an official Scottish international business club.

Later, in a succession of interventions that deepened divisions between the property tycoon and ministers, the Scottish government was attacked as “foolish and small-minded” and Alex Salmond as “a has-been”.

As Mr Salmond will now attest, you cannot reason with a heidbanger like Trump ...

Talk is cheap

From Nick Boles, business minister, (here) on the iniquitous Sports Direct:

In what appeared to be a pointed warning to Sports Direct and Ashley, Boles added: “I don’t care how famous an employer is. I don’t care how well connected they are. I don’t care, frankly, how much money they have made. They need to obey the law. If they don’t obey the law, we will find them and disqualify directors if necessary.”

Sounds good but what we need to see is HM Revenue and Customs taking action.

   

Photo of the day

They could work for the BBC - it insists that its interviewers and commentators wave their hands about.

 

Music of the week