I started this site to try to illustrate how, partly through the thoughtlessness of the local council, life around me was changing for the worse. My first post, which you will find here or by clicking the “About” button from the menu, concerned a bench that as children, we used to congregate around before seeing a film on rainy Saturday afternoons. I was complaining about the fact that it had simply vanished along with other benches in the neighbourhood simply went “missing”.
Well, in all fairness to the council, I have to report that this bench has been replaced. Not only that, but another bench has been put there too. Little old ladies, young and old alike may now have somewhere to sit down and rest a while while life goes by.
So this is a positive post, which is a change (if not a first) and this grumpy old man is today a little less grumpy. So far as I am aware, the other benches that I reported as “missing” are still in that state but where there is one there is hope and maybe the council is planning to return those too. Let’s just wait and see.
Good grief! I’ve just been watching Hazel Blears being interviewed from the Party Conference in Bournemouth and she is just the latest in a long line of New Labour toadies, including the Big Cheese himself, to spout that immortal line… “The British people just want us to get on with the job.” Well I’m one of those people and I want a little bit more than some bland meaningless statement from every New Labour politician I see.
Is this new New Labour mantra the result of “Spin Tutorials” originating from the same primeval slime they employ to write their speeches?
When Inner Party member Big Boris was asked to comment on how he felt about Tony McNulty’s appointment as “Home Office Minister of State” this morning he said that the Oceanian people did not want a “pompous suit-wearing Scottish git” to be a member of the Inner Party.
“This four-eyed moron is going to be making real policy that will affect you and me.” said Boris. “I mean, his first name is ‘Tony’ for goodness sake! How can you trust someone with a silly name like that to be making responsible decisions?”
In response to Mr McNulty’s suggestion for the Newspeak Dictionary, that the term “War on Terror” be changed because it is not fit for purpose, Boris said “But it is a War on Terror! What else can we call it?”. He said “Mr McNulty has suggested that the term be changed to ‘Unresistance’ because ‘War on Terror’ sends out the wrong message but this is obviously not the right course of action. Is Mr McNulty perhaps secretly a member of the resistance himself?”
The BBC asked Tony McNulty today how he felt about Boris Johnson running for Mayor of London. This after showing the same old 10-second video clip that we all remember being played over and over again on “Have I Got News For You”, showing Boris in a white bandanna wrapped around his head and wearing his jogging shorts; he had in fact just been jogging (surprise, surprise). I bet that arsehole McNulty has never been jogging in his life.
Why did the BBC choose to show this ten-second clip of Boris? Was it because it was the best clip they could show in order to re-enforce the public’s view of him as a fool and buffoon?
In his reply to the BBC, shown just after the clip, McNulty rubbished Boris as a serious politician by pointing out his past performances as an author of humorous books and game show host and said that the British people didn’t want someone with “fluffy blond hair” as Mayor of London. He then repeated the “fluffy blond hair” bit for good measure as the BBC started running the same clip of Boris for the second time.
That Mr McNulty would punch below the belt is predictable. He is a Fabian “do as I say, not as I do” kind of guy after all. No one suggested that David Blunket was unfit for the job because he was blind or that Gordon Brown shouldn’t be involved in politics because he has a “trick jaw”. Making personal remarks about a person’s appearance is low when used to score serious political points. So what if Boris has blond hair? Was Mr McNulty really saying that he was unfit for the job because he was “too Aryan-looking”?
In addition, could not the BBC have found another clip to show? Why did they choose to run the same clip twice within the space of a few minutes? A clip of Boris apparently making a fool of himself. I bet that they could find a clip of Gordon Brown falling over if they tried to or show pictures of him as a spotty student with his long greasy Beatles hair-cut and yet they somehow manage to show him only in statesman-like situations.
The BBC is a giant self-appointed Big Brother mechanism. It decides what we the proles should think, who we should be voting for and who should be chosen as Mayor of London.
The Ministry of Truth announced today that Monday’s illegally broadcast speech by Emannuel Gorestein and relayed by members of The Oldthinkers Resistance on an illegal frequency was in fact copied almost word for word from a speech made last year by our glorious leader Brown Brother to members of the Inner Party.
A Minitrue spokesperson said “Frankly, we are not at all surprised that Emmanuel Gorestein would stoop so low. He obviously saw how moved Inner Party members were by Brown Brother’s doubleplusgood newspeak last year and decided to try the same thing to keep control of the few followers he still has”. He added that Gorestein has been steadily loosing credibility with the few remaining Resisters over the course of the last year and that many have turned themselves in to The Ministry of Love for re-programming, prompted by their deep sense of guilt and feelings of betrayal to both the Inner Party and their fellow proles.
An official from Minipax stated that Gorestein’s speech had not worked because there was no conviction in its delivery. “People know when they are being deceived” he said “and they trust their instincts when it comes to crimethink.”
Gorestein’s speech has now been consigned to the Airstrip One memory hole.
“Political Correctness” is dangerous populist clap-trap that is being peddled by cultural Marxists and members of the Fabianite “Liberal Elite”. It is not a particularly new idea although the wholesale adoption of it in our society is a relatively new thing. Like suggestion of “conspiracy theory”, not adhering to “politically correct” procedure automatically “taints” the individual.
Bill Lind has written an article entitled “The Origins of Political Correctness” which deals with the true nature of this collectivist menace and below is a 22 minute video that puts the whole evil philosophy in a nutshell. It refers to “political correctness” in the US but is just as relevant, if not more so, for the UK.
Collectivism is the climate in which we all live today but there is not much difference between the collectivism of the Left and that of the Right. In fact the very terms “left” and “right” are there to convince us all that the collectivist path is the only one and that the only thing we have to decide is which way to go on it. The fact is that we are all individuals and if we noticed the fact that we have wings, we wouldn’t have to follow the path at all. We could all just take off.
To “take the red pill” we have to understand the true nature of politics and get rid of the “reality” that has been pulled down over our eyes to blind us from the truth. If you’re still on the left/right blue pill trip and you’d like to take the red variety then reading this article by G. Edward Griffin would be a place to start.
BRIAN “You are all individuals!”
MOB “Yes, we are all individuals!”
Some films and television series become dated and re-making them with new production values can often give them a new lease of life and bring them to a newer audience. This is not the case with the Granada productions of the Miss. Marple stories. The new series was started in 2004, exactly 20 years after the BBC started producing the Joan Hickson series and production techniques have not changed enough to have made any marked difference. The production of the new series of stories, starring Geraldine McEwan, is not very different from the Hickson episodes.
Catherine Tate is in the fourth one, “A Murder is Announced” and she puts on a surprisingly good performance. Attempts to use any old celebrity whose main talent may not be acting in an acting role, often results in a poor performance but this is certainly not the case with Catherine Tate. However, she is just about the only good thing this story has going for it.
Geraldine McEwan is a “proper” actress but I’ve personally never had the pleasure of being convinced by any character she’s ever played and feel that her choice for the character of Miss. Marple is unsound. Her acting is more suited for the stage than for television. Zoe Wanamaker is a typecast has-been and a terrible choice to play the character of Letitia Blacklock. Indeed, one expects to see Citizen Smith pop out of a closet at any moment followed by two brat children and Harry Potter.
So often plots of well known stories are “updated” unnecessarily and this is often the case throughout this new production. I don’t believe that in “A Murder is Announced”, Agatha Christie ever intended Lizzie Hinchcliffe to be having a gay love affair with her maid Amy Mergatroid and I certainly don’t remember Miss. Marple ever bursting out into tears in any of the original stories.
What I am at a loss to understand is why so much money should have been spent on a television series that has effectively already been made. I feel that Joan Hickson did an excellent job and it is my opinion that the 1980s productions are far superior to the newer ones. Surely there must be other more worthy stories to throw money at? Is the re-making of this series symptomatic of modern-day producers being unwilling to take chances? Are we becoming like the Americans; devoid of enough imagination to make something new and destined to keep repeating ourselves like a broken record.
Much of Agatha Christie’s material has never been brought to the screen although it surely deserves to be. David Suchet’s portrayal of Hercule Poirot is as wonderful as Joan Hickson’s was as Miss. Marple but now that these definitive modern versions of the stories have been made, isn’t it time producers moved on to new ground? Why have we never seen Parker Pyne on our screens for example. Whilst it may be true that Agatha Christie didn’t write so many Parker Pyne stories, his is an interesting character, hardly two-dimensional and certainly one that would translate well for the modern world.
The great beauty of fiction is that there is no end to it. There are always new stories to write and new takes on life to relate to. Are we really destined to fall into the trap of being Lazy just like our American cousins?
Most of us are old enough to remember the violent repression by the junta of the Burmese people in 1988 when we saw pictures of student protesters being shot just for protesting against the junta and calling for democracy.
In 1988 the Chinese government supported the junta and a democratic election was simply declared to be invalid and its leaders have been in prison ever since.
The situation in China is very different now. It relies on the western world for its exports. Some would say that this has been something for the West to have been ashamed of and I would agree. Not only has the West been supporting the Chinese regime by allowing itself to be seduced by cheap Chinese imports but western countries have severely damaged their own economies by doing so. Nevertheless, the West is now in the happy, if unintentional position to help the Burmese people achieve their goal by putting massive pressure on the Chinese government. In addition, the Chinese know that they have to behave themselves because the of the upcoming Olympics.
The best thing that we can do is to pressurise the Chinese government into not just turning a blind eye to Burma but into actively supporting its peoples’ struggle. They were able to sustain the democracy in Hong Kong when it was returned to them so it shouldn’t be too difficult for them to do the right thing where Burma is concerned.
Ingsoc Party leader Brown Brother made a glorious and doubleplusgood speech this afternoon re-enforcing the philosophy that has been behind the recent great successes of Airstrip One. He said that “Oceanians were getting on with the job” and that there were no problems that could not be solved by Oceanians “getting on with the job”. He also said that the prolefeed and pornosec output is to be increased and that chocorat will go up for the fourth time this year.
Brown Brother then announced his plans for his “revolution in public services”. Free bubble gum for under fives and certificates for all students without any discrimination. “Previously”, he said, “only the hard working smart students received certificates. But now all students will receive them regardless of what they have individually achieved”. Brown Brother also announced that crimestop was being made the number one priority for The Ministry of Truth and promised that crimethink would be punished with the maximum penalties from now on.
He also talked about dissent and the efforts of the glorious authorities to restrain the followers of Emmanuel Goldstein and stamp out resistance to our fair and just newspeak society.
The speech was plusgood received and only small pockets of resistance were detained for facecrime and crimethink.
In a surprise move today, Brown Brother made a appearance on the BBC Breakfast TV News. He was interviewed by Sian who wore a “Jackie Kennedy”-type two-piece suit in pink tweed. Sian asked him about his breakfast and he said “Well, I don’t really want to talk too much about that right now. I’m just getting on with the job.”
When asked about the bad weather front now moving towards Britain, Brown Brother said “My focus is on just getting on with the job and I don’t think it would be helpful to speculate too much about that.” He later emphasised that this wasn’t important and that he was just getting on with the job.
In discussion with political editor Nick Robinson, Sian and Dermot both agreed that asking Brother Brown about his breakfast may not have been helpful and that his measured response had illustrated how extremely focused he was, whilst at the same time it had shown that he was just getting on with the job.
