OT: He's gone.

Dan Gregory

Epetruk wrote:


> I don't think that ID cards are a bad thing in principle. However, I don't
> think that the technology to be used and the cost of the project justify
> introducing them at this time.
Surely these are going to be an "exit tax" with the price of a passport
rising to £85 (?) to cover costs just after mine expires ''''
:-((
Dan Gregory

Just zis Guy, you know?

On Wed, 15 Dec 2004 23:54:34 +0000, Jon Senior
<jon_AT_restlesslemon_DOT_co_DOT_uk> wrote:

>Sorry but I haven't been this happy about politics in years. Herr
>Blunkett has left the building.

I always thought that, just as Margaret Thatcher had to become more
masculine than the average bloke to get ahead, Blunkett had to be more
illiberal than the average Tory to overcome allegations of playing the
disability card. I was really happy when he made it into Government,
I have several blind friends (including my bike mechanic) and I really
wanted him to prove that disability is no disability, as it were.
Well, I guess he did: even the gutter press seem to have ignored his
being blind. Or maybe I just don't read that kind of story?

Guy
--
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

88% of helmet statistics are made up, 65% of them at CHS, Puget Sound

Tony Raven

Just zis Guy, you know? wrote:
>
> Well, I guess he did: even the gutter press seem to have ignored his
> being blind.

Even when in the Kelly enquiry he said he hadn't seen a particular
report. Or am I being just too cynical?

Tony

dkahn400

Simon Brooke wrote:

> I hate to say this, but I can't help remembering how elated I
> was when the Tories got kicked out. What happened?

Simple. They got replaced with another lot of Tories under a different
name.

--
Dave...

dkahn400

Just zis Guy, you know? wrote:
> I have several blind friends (including my bike mechanic) and
> I really wanted him to prove that disability is no disability,
> as it were.
> Well, I guess he did: even the gutter press seem to have ignored his
> being blind. Or maybe I just don't read that kind of story?

The fact that he made his blindness irrelevant is his great
achievement. Even down to exhibiting the same human weaknesses as
everyone else.

--
Dave...

Tony Raven

dkahn400 wrote:
> Simon Brooke wrote:
>
>
>>I hate to say this, but I can't help remembering how elated I
>> was when the Tories got kicked out. What happened?
>
>
> Simple. They got replaced with another lot of Tories under a different
> name.
>

Maggie was always a good strategist. She knew the Tories couldn't hold
power indefinitely and planned the succession well. All the things a
Tory Government could never have got away with have now been done by her
protege ;-)

Tony

Trevor Barton

On 16 Dec 2004 08:49:03 -0800, dkahn400 wrote:
>
> Just zis Guy, you know? wrote:
>> I have several blind friends (including my bike mechanic) and
>> I really wanted him to prove that disability is no disability,
>> as it were.
>> Well, I guess he did: even the gutter press seem to have ignored his
>> being blind. Or maybe I just don't read that kind of story?
>
> The fact that he made his blindness irrelevant is his great
> achievement. Even down to exhibiting the same human weaknesses as
> everyone else.

That is indeed true, much as I dislike his policies and politics, I
can't but admire his personal achievment.

--
Trevor Barton

Arthur Clune

Carol Hague <carol@wrhpv.com> wrote:

: In fairness, nobody forced him to have an affair with a married woman.
: His downfall was entirely of his own making

This I object to strongly. So what if he had an affair? Every bugger and
their wife does. It shouln't be a requirement for high office to be
holier than though.

Arthur

--
Arthur Clune PGP/GPG Key: http://www.clune.org/pubkey.txt
It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness

Richard

Arthur Clune wrote:
> Carol Hague <carol@wrhpv.com> wrote:
>
> : In fairness, nobody forced him to have an affair with a married woman.
> : His downfall was entirely of his own making
>
> This I object to strongly. So what if he had an affair? Every bugger and
> their wife does. It shouln't be a requirement for high office to be
> holier than though.

Surely every bugger and *someone else's* wife? ;-)

No, it shouldn't be a requirement for high office per se. But when said
incumbent of high office is using the fact of being in high office to go
about spouting off about family morals, indeed is using his office as a
megaphone, but then is most definitely not practising what he preaches,
then I don't think he's fit for said office. It would be entirely
different if he had kept his moralising separate from his position as
HS, but he did not.

Personally, I think the tickets and visa thing were more than enough
reason to go. The affair on its own possibly not quite enough, but it
was certainly the icing on the cake.

R.

Michael MacClancy

On 16 Dec 2004 17:06:23 GMT, Arthur Clune wrote:

> Carol Hague <carol@wrhpv.com> wrote:
>
>: In fairness, nobody forced him to have an affair with a married woman.
>: His downfall was entirely of his own making
>
> This I object to strongly. So what if he had an affair? Every bugger and
> their wife does. It shouln't be a requirement for high office to be
> holier than though.
>
> Arthur

He didn't fall because of an affair, he fell because his officials were
doing favours for his mistress and he gave her train tickets that weren't
his to give.

In this country we do have a high standard of probity for our politicians.
Do you think that's a bad thing? Politicians volunteer for these
positions, they're not forced on them, and accept the standards. Look
around the world for examples of what happens in countries where the
standards are lower.

Anyway, how many buggers are there in the country? Is it compulsory for
them and their wives to have affairs? Are you insinuating that Mr Blunkett
is a bugger? ;-)

--
Michael MacClancy

Carol Hague

Arthur Clune <ajc22@york.ac.uk> wrote:

> Carol Hague <carol@wrhpv.com> wrote:
>
> : In fairness, nobody forced him to have an affair with a married woman.
> : His downfall was entirely of his own making
>
> This I object to strongly. So what if he had an affair? Every bugger and
> their wife does.

Ahem. I certainly don't, for one. And the fact that lots of people do it
doesn't make it right.

Huge numbers of people exceed the speed limit. They are all in the
wrong, but if the Minister of Transport, previously having made speeches
about the evils of speeding, gets caught doing it, he's a hypocrite as
well.

Blunkett has, I understand, commented a number of times on the
importance of marriage and family life.

>It shouln't be a requirement for high office to be
> holier than though.

I don't think it's "holier than thou" to avoid sleeping with other
people's spouses, just basic decency.

--
Carol
"Mmmmooooowooooff!" - the Moobark, "The Treacle People"

Nick Kew

In article <5sc3s0pcp47tv03u1b86osc8p7a4pbd8bh@4ax.com>,
"Just zis Guy, you know?" <norfolk.inspam@dev.null> writes:
> On Wed, 15 Dec 2004 23:54:34 +0000, Jon Senior
> <jon_AT_restlesslemon_DOT_co_DOT_uk> wrote:
>
>>Sorry but I haven't been this happy about politics in years. Herr
>>Blunkett has left the building.
>
> I always thought that, just as Margaret Thatcher had to become more
> masculine than the average bloke to get ahead, Blunkett had to be more
> illiberal than the average Tory to overcome allegations of playing the
> disability card.

Not just that: being thoroughly illiberal and unpopular goes with
the territory of Home Secretary. That much one can forgive him.

What is not forgiveable is this government's collective crime of
taking away our rights *in the name of* alleged terrorism. They
do have one anti-terrorist accomplishment: Dubya is less keen than
his predecessors were on sponsoring terrorism in Northern Ireland.
Now the roots of that problem go back to the (legitimate) climate
of fear surrounding the Spanish Inquisition, and in this country
fear of papists (including the "gunpowder plot" terrorist outrage).
If history teaches us anything, it's that we're creating a problem
that will be with us for a very long time.

--
Nick Kew

Tony Raven

Arthur Clune wrote:
>
> This I object to strongly. So what if he had an affair? Every bugger and
> their wife does. It shouln't be a requirement for high office to be
> holier than though.
>

I agree in general except where private activities demonstrate hypocrisy
in relation to their public policies and positions.

Tony

pk

Just zis Guy, you know? wrote:
> On Wed, 15 Dec 2004 23:54:34 +0000, Jon Senior
> <jon_AT_restlesslemon_DOT_co_DOT_uk> wrote:
>
>> Sorry but I haven't been this happy about politics in years. Herr
>> Blunkett has left the building.
>
> I always thought that, just as Margaret Thatcher had to become more
> masculine than the average bloke to get ahead, Blunkett had to be more
> illiberal than the average Tory to overcome allegations of playing the
> disability card.

I agree with one of the commentators on the radio today, he was far more in
touch with the socially conservative views of the typical traditional labour
voter than his liberal left colleagues. Plain speaking, strong auctioned
Blunkett would get more traditional labour voters out than ever would have
effete Oxbridge Fellow Jack Straw.

My experience growing up in the working class north was that the typical
man/woman was socially very conservative but voted labour. Frank filed
remarked recently on just this contradiction and wrote about the unspoken
bargain between labour working class voters and the labour party - provided
they protected the working man in the workplace the liberal intellectuals
could also do their liberal social stuff.

pk