Muck raking?

Conservative MEP Malcolm Harbour also accused us of "muck-raking" and threatened: “If you value your relationship with the Conservative Party I would recommend that you think very carefully about continuing with this...

From the Open Europe blog. Which is a rather clear indication of why I don't like or trust Open Europe in that guise, or when they are in fancy dress as 'I want a referendum' since they just dilute the real issue of our EU membership, something they don't want to address. Lord Leach will not forget who gave him his peerage and why...

outrageous and hypocritical

But what else do we expect from this government?

Private schools were urged today to stop building state of the art theatres or sports facilities and to spend their funds on bursaries for poor children instead.
New laws mean independent schools will have to prove they operate for "the public benefit" if they are to retain their charitable tax breaks collectively worth £100 million per year.
Fee-paying parents need to be told that facilities do not exist simply for the benefit of "their little Johnny", a legal expert warned the Independent Schools Council annual conference.

So parents who spend money on private schools because the other schools are so shocking, and I speak from experience here, now have to pay twice over for other kids to go to private schools even though they already pay for state education in their taxes.

Why? Because of this fucking hateful bastard cunt of a government. The people who, because of their hatred of anyone doing well, decided to slash the assisted places scheme in 1997. The assisted places scheme which helped poor people go to private schools and escape the misery of the failing state system where 1/4 children aged 11 cannot read and write, whose playing fields are being sold off and who are being let down utterly.

Danish embassy bombed

There was no immediate claim of responsibility but the blast came within weeks of al-Qa'eda number two Ayman al-Zawahri calling for attacks on Danish targets in response to the publication of caricatures in Danish newspapers depicting the Prophet Mohammed.

So, in response to that:

More on Post Offices

Evidence from the Communication Workers Union:
Mr Hayes 'We think it's a funny consultation process that says there are going to be 2,500 Post Office counters closed at the beginning and at the end of the local consultation process says there are going to be 2,500 post offices closed.'

Well, that is because the decision was made with the permission of the European Commission in secret meetings and there is nothing that MPs or anyone else can do about it except leave the EU and govern ourselves.

And once again there is not one single mention of the EU in any of the media coverage.

In Henley, of course, the Dim Libs are campaigning to save local post offices, which makes them the hypocrites we all know, as are those labour MPs and Tories saying they want to save local post offices. For if we look at the voting records on the legislation in the European Parliament we find:

1997 - 1st Postal Directive 3rd Reading - Non RCV Simple Majority
(19th November 1997) Vote Passed

* North West New Labour MEP Brian Simpson was the rapporteur for the above 97/67/EC Postal Directive reports in the EU Parliament.


2000 - 2nd Postal Directive 1st Reading - UKIP Against
(Final Vote) Tories Against
New Labour For
Lib Dems For
Greens For

2002 - 2nd Postal Directive 2nd Reading - UKIP For
(Rejection Amendments) Tories Against
(2002/39/EC Postal Directive) New Labour Against
Lib Dems Against
Greens For

2007 - 3rd Postal Directive 1st Reading - UKIP Against
(Final Vote) Tories For
New Labour For
Lib Dems For
Greens Against

2008 - 3rd Postal Directive 2nd Reading - UKIP For
(Rejection Amendment) Tories Against
New Labour Against
Lib Dems Against
Greens Against & Abstain

New Labour In favour.
Have always voted for all the postal directives since 1996 & was their MEP that ensured its adoption from 1996-97.

Tories Changed Position.
Originally broadly in favour, but opposed the 2000 1st reading, however have voted consistently in favour of every postal directive ever since.

Lib Dems In favour.
Were against the original proposal, but since 1997 have always voted for all the postal directives.

Nick Clegg and Chris Huhne voted, in every case, FOR these Postal directives (when they were MEPs - 2000 and 2002 votes)

Still trust your MPs? Same old story of say one thing in the UK, do quite another in Brussels. And if you want them to stop then you have to stop voting for them. Simple.

And because I really don't like the Lib Dems:

With a sense of devilment the UKIP group then went on to Aston Rowant and Kingston Blout and delivered whole village with our leaflet. This is the village where the DIM-LIB candidate now “lives” even though just as recently as the May local elections he was telling everyone how much he loved Plymouth and how well he was settled there. Unfortunately he didn’t win a seat on Plymouth Council so obviously his love of the City has waned somewhat. Any bets on how long he remains a Henley resident after he looses the by-election. A week? A few days? A couple of hours!

Thanks to Steve Allison for that rather enjoyable snippet...

Corbett: harness the hagfish

From Cuntbett's website:

Farage flatters himself that he and the pipsqueek remanents of UKIP are my target

This from a man who sat there in the committee and said that the only people who would be affected would be the Ind Dem group of which Nigel Farage is co president. And he wonders why there are people saying this was to target UKIP. From a man who published a phamplet containing a load of bollocks called 'the truth about UKIP' or some such shite and who probably wakes up in the middle of the night thinking, 'I'e got something else to write on UKIPwatch!!!'

Listen, Corbett, you might have managed to convince yourself on this one but we simply don't believe you because we know that you are a fanatical euro federalist who wants to sell this country down the river and have us all one country. Presumably this is because you can't actually get a proper job, and certainly wouldn't be elected in a directly elected contest, even by your Labour colleagues. You were the rapporteur on the EU constitution and on the Lisbon Treaty. You spend your time writing new laws to further undermine accountability and democracy and don't even live in the country you are paid to represent.

Also, next time you decide to try to defame me, don't just walk past me like you haven't done anything wrong. I am a bitch and I am vindictive.

Oh no, please...no...

I am more than a little disturbed that Big Brother 9 is on its way to punish us. I have a better idea for these programmes; take anyone who wants to be in it, shut them in the house and then leave them there. Same for the one where a bunch of twats go to Australia and pretend to 'rough it'.

The worst thing about Big Brother is that it imposes on us endless lines of z list celebrities like Chanelle, who cannot even spell her own name correctly. She, for example, has a porn video out where the words are in some kind of lyric form



Is that the next step in her 'posh spice' fascination? To see how far you can get in the music business whilst being devoid of talent?

If you thought the singing Frenchies were bad...

This

Will have you screaming at the screen.

And don't forget, that these people get to make laws that affect the UK but you can't vote them in or out.

And note, the Tory MEP talking about the role of the EU in foreign policy...

Batshit approves of criminals in positions of authority

Some weeks ago I wrote a letter to Batshit asking him if, as Foreign Secretary, he approved of the appointment to the position of EU Justice Commissioner going to Jacques Barrot, who as we know was given an eight month suspended sentence for embezzlement.

Well today I received my answer:

Dear Trixy,

Thank you for your email of 7 May to the Foreign Secretary about the appointment of Commissioner Jacques Barrot. I am replying as Desk Officer responsible for the European Commission.

The issue you raised was fully discussed in the European Parliament at the time of Mr Barrot's appointment in 2004 as Commissioner for Transport. The European Parliament Legal Service concluded at the time, in their opinion of 25 November 2004, that there were no grounds to oppose Mr Barrot’s appointment.

We are confident that Mr Barrot will make a valuable contribution in his new role as Commissioner for Justice, Freedom and Security, and we look forward to working with him over the coming months.

Considering that the story was unknown by Euro MPs, even group leaders like Toady Watson, I can't imagine that the legal committee was too aware, and that they only approved the decision as it would make them look stupid and in the EU it's a case of all of them or none of them and a new lot instead.

But, whilst trying to avoid answering the question, he does say that the UK are happy for Barrot to hold this position. We look forward to seeing Ian Huntley as Minister for Children, Jeffrey Archer as Chancellor of the Exchequer and David Blunkett as Minister for women's affairs.

update on EU groups

present text

2. A political group shall comprise Members elected in at least one-fifth of the Member States. The minimum number of Members required to form a political group shall be twenty

Amendment by Richard Corbett

2. A political group shall comprise Members elected in at least one-quarter of the Member States. The minimum number of Members required to form a political group shall be thirty.

This amendment was voted down twice. The first time, Corbett stated in the Committee that the only group this would affect would be the Ind Dem group. That woke up the Greens and other smaller groups into realising that the plan here was to keep large groups who can be easily controlled in the same way that big businesses are easier to control than lots of small businesses.

What happened after this was voted down was that against the Parliament's own rules, the amendment was voted on again but without the specific details and MEPs were collected from around the parliament building to bulldoze it through. And through it went. So this amendment is part of the report which will be voted by all MEPs but it was allowed to happen without the details of what MEPs were voting on being actually written down. Andrew Duff, a Liberal Democrat and pro-EU politician who talks about 'post national governments' said that the committee had no right to do that. But who cares about the rules, eh? They're only there to stop people railroading the project of unification.

When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.

When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.

When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.

When they came for the Jews,
I remained silent;
I wasn't a Jew.

When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.

Just pop that in there for posterity, really...

But then the truth has never really been an issue to most of these people. A friend of mine wrote to the Daily Mail asking how the EU could pretend to be pro democracy when it was ignoring the wishes of the people three ft away from it. This was following the protests in the European Parliament calling for EU wide referendums. Corbett took this to mean that the person writing it, who was a member of staff, was illegally in the Chamber. He tried to get him fired for that without bothering to check the details. Four months after the protest had taken place his boss received a letter asking about this. It took all of 30 seconds to establish that the guy in question had been in the gallery observing and the complaint was just inaccurate vindictiveness.

But let's not let the truth and even more importantly, democracy, get in the way of the mission. Let's take a look at another amendment from the Constitutional Affairs committee:

'Calls on the Commission to take account of possible requests by the European Parliament to activate the infringement procedure against a State accused of having breached a parliamentary prerogative and requests to be informed by the Commission, in writing and in full detail, about the reasons in the event that the college decides not to take the action as requested.'

Which says, in essence, that if the Treaty of Lisbon isn't passed, they want the parliament to be able to take national parliaments to court for infringing EU law which the Treaty allows. Which does beg the question, how can some people like batshit say that this Treaty strengthens the role of national parliaments?

Our last chance. Ireland, say NO to Lisbon

The man with his thumb down in the German speaking section is Richard Corbett. Telling his party, representing Labour voters throughout the UK to vote against that amendment.

The true nature of federalists

From The Telegraph today:

The European Union assembly’s political establishment is pushing through changes that will silence dissidents by changing the rules allowing Euro-MPs to form political groupings.

Richard Corbett, a British Labour MEP, is leading the charge to cut the number of party political tendencies in the Parliament next year, a move that would dissolve UKIP’s pan-European Eurosceptic “Independence and Democracy” grouping.

Under the rule change, the largest and most pro-EU groups would tighten their grip on the Parliament’s political agenda and keep control of lavish funding.

The proposals to change the sizes for the numbers needed for a group have already been rejected once in committee but Richard Corbett is nothing if not anti democratic and persistent and so submitted the same amendments again. UKIP managed to ensure that we had members in committee to vote against it but when it is put forward in plenary the EPP and the Socialists will hold the balance and it will probably be passed.

There are also proposals for the president to have to approve the questions from MEPs which go to the Council and the Commission and for there to be a maximum of 3 a month from each MEP.

Words failed me when I read this: that a man unelected by the British people should have the right to decide what questions British MEPs can ask is preposterous. It cries of dictatorships, actually. Once again, when this goes to plenary the big groups will have the power to decide on the fate of other MEPs. It was through written questions and the failure of the Commission to answer them that Nigel Farage got enough support for a motion of censure on the Commission President.

This is nothing more than censureship by the socialist pro Europeans to stem the tide of skeptics and the withdrawalist movement.

Richard Corbett made it perfectly clear that the only group who would be affected would be the Ind Dem group, lead by his bete noir and containing the group he hates so much. Hence his dedication to UKIPwatch, purveyors of lies about UKIP since 2004.

Remember when you come to vote in the euro elections next year what these people are like and how they are even trying to demolish democracy to get their way.

And the people of Ireland remember: you are our big chance to stop this Treaty. They are lying to you and saying that you will be alone, but you will have more friends than you could imagine. They might not be Communist friends who hate you and just want your money, but they would be ones who valued your opinion.

Because let us not forget: that in the plenary session MEPs voted to reject respecting the results of the Irish vote. In the same committee, Corbett's chum Jo Leinen wants the parliament to keep the same powers over national law and the courts as it would have had in the Treaty. Even if the treaty is not accepted.

Anyone who thinks the EU is a good idea has a very skewed view of democracy.
UPDATE:

England Expects tells us how badly behaved they were from a first hand view...

Farewell flight of the Dakota

The 15th July looks like it will be the final flight of the Dakota, an aircraft which is acknowledged to be the safest aircraft which has ever been designed.

And yet, it is 'safety' regulations which has ensured that past this date, they will never be allowed to carry passengers.

The EU-OPS legislation has laid down requirements that are impossible or impractical for vintage aircraft and so the airliner that made flying profitable for airliners and safe for passengers is embarking on a farewell tour.

Brussels regulation have demanded that all air passenger planes are fitted with oxygen masks but the Dakota does not fly high enough to use them.

They also insist that all exits are fitted with escape slides, but the doors of the Dakota are only 4 ft from the ground and slides would not be financially practical, even if they did exist.

It's another example of 'one size fits all' EU regulations which are destroying yet another part of our history and taking away enjoyment for thousands of people, for no other reason than meddling bureaucrats.

So another vintage aircraft is banned from taking to the skies, another part of our history sentenced to gather dust and another season of MEPs and EU civil servants congratulating themselves for a job well done: passengers who were never in danger saved from themselves, companies gone out of business and past times swept away. All in a days work for our friends across the channel.

The Dakota can fly when it's full of holes and yet EU paperwork has managed to ground them. They were used extensively by the allies in the Second World War when enemy gunfire couldn't stop them.

As my chum Godfrey Bloom said, "You could whack them with a mallet and they'd still be safe to fly which tells me one thing: that the EU fundamentally misunderstands air safety."

My father went on a farewell flight yesterday; a tour which shouldn't be happening because they shouldn't be banned. If we weren't in the EU, of course, we wouldn't have to.

The mainstream media, alas, are far too busy reporting about blondes with plastic knockers and some footballer I don't care about doing something I'm even less interested in than trying to raise attention of another piece of EU legislation strenghtening the cause of us leaving and being able to govern ourselves. But then, that would highlight a huge hole in the Tory campaign to be the next general manager of the UK leisure centre. And we couldn't have that, could we.

It amused me on this rainy day....

UKIP watch left a comment (well two, but they were the same thing) which I didn't allow because they decided they knew who I was. They did, however, leave a subtle message which was that they couldn't read.

This is why i fucking hate socialists. They took my post on the actions going on in Italy with regards to the Roma and decided to tell me that I was racist because I was endorsing it!

No, cheekychops, have another go. I simply informed people that EU law was superior to national law and that you federalists who hate democracy are happy that policies a party was elected on can be overruled by the unelected EU.

I now ask The Devil and Mr E to come up with a suitable punishment for Archbishop Corbett and his followers for not only this display of ignorance, but for holding liberty and democracy in such contempt.

Fire away (she writes, dreaming...)

How to be a Lib Dem: a step by step guide

1. Campaign by promising a referendum on an important EU topic. If necessary, tell voters, especially in the South West, you are eurosceptic. It's a lie, but by the time they find out it will be too late.

2. Shirk on election promise of supporting a referendum by creating a diversion such as a referendum on a completely different issue. Make a fuss when things don't go your way, but secretly be releived.

Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg defended his decision to tell his MPs to abstain, and maintained that he instead wants a referendum on the "real" issue - Britain's membership of the EU.

3. When voting on a referendum you promised lie to voters, via main stream media, that you would have voted for a different referendum if you'd had been given the opportunity, but that the one being presented isn't the one from your manifesto. Talk about wanting an 'open debate'.

He said "as the dust settles" people would see the Lib Dems had been "very consistent" in their view that the "real question" to be put to a referendum was Britain's long-term EU membership.

4.Hold 3 line whip to abstain; ignore snide comments that 'only the Lib Dems would have a three line whip on not doing anything from prominent opponents of the EU.
5.Break sigh of relief when promised referendum is not passed, in no small part due to your broken promise.
6. Campaign against referendum when it reaches the Lords and ensure that leadership never mention anything is occuring there to avoid public scrutiny.
7.Remain calm when presented with option to have your 'desired' referendum. Always remember Lib Dem fall back position: if in doubt, lie.
8. Do complete u-turn. Ignore comments that you should be supporting the amendment in the House of Lords calling for a referendum on membership since you have been calling for it, including on high profile morning radio programmes.
9. Vote against the referendum you desired to avoid a referendum on what you promised. Send out anonymous spokesman to talk about why you want a biased referendum on an issue you think you have the better chance of winning even though the amendments requesting a referendum by you and another party were identical.

Peers also voted late on Tuesday on an amendment by UK Independence Party peer Lord Pearson calling for a referendum on Britain's continued membership of the EU.
Lib Dem peers abstained - despite their party's backing for such a referendum.
A Lib Dem spokesman said the party did not want to "give succour" to eurosceptics by voting with the UK Independence Party.

10. Go back to stage 1 and repeat, ensuring to be consistent in your inconsistences.

Lord Strathclyde (Leader of Opposition In the House of Lords, Parliament; Conservative)
My Lords, does that mean that the noble Lord and his party will abstain on the question of the referendum when it arises?
Lord McNally (Leader, House of Lords; Liberal Democrat) Link to this | Hansard source
No, my Lords, we will not abstain on the referendum.
Noble Lords:
That is a third position!

I think it's fair to say that I hate politicians more now than when I started working in politics. I also have a deep loathing for people in the mainstream media as they encourage 'our rulers' in their behaviour.

But now my hate has developed into an all consuming anger which is eating away at me. I can't watch the news any more as I want to shoot the TV. Last time I read a paper I ripped it up and jumped up and down on it screaming 'liars!!!' and I certainly can't bring myself to watch the goings on in Parliament; the real Parliament in Strasbourg or the admin centre in Westminster.

I had another e-mail from my father pointing me in the direction of a story on the Beeb about some cunt at some council painting lines around a car. He points out that yellow lines to stop parking used to be there to safety reasons. Now, they are just another way of squeezing the tax payer dry, particularly the motorist whom the government hate.

I have also been discussing the next General Election and that also makes my heart sink. You see, for some reason people think that a Tory government will be any different from this one. I grant you, there are a fair amount of people who know that they are as bad as Labour, but their view is that at least they won't actually be Labour. Because especially with the Lisbon Treaty, what can the government in Westminster actually do? Those of you watching the debate on the Treaty in the House of Lords will know that the government are unable to answer the simple question 'what area of our lives can the EU not legislate over?'. (Yes, there is a debate in the Lords. It's been happening for a couple of weeks and has had some startling admissions from the government and fantastic debate but no one has got round to telling the media this.)

On Monday, for example, Lord Owen, the man who started the SDP and quit Labour over their anti EU policy said that since the 1980s the politicians have been ignoring the views of the electorate over the EU and that in itself was anti democratic. And this from a former foreign secretary.

"We consistently move forward with greater European integration against the will of the British people. We can argue about particular opinion polls at particular times, but there is a steady opposition to what we are doing in Parliament, which has been going on, I would say, since the early 1980s, which is a long time for Parliament to be in opposition to sustained public opinion".—[Official Report, 19/5/08; cols. 1328-29.]

We were also told by the government why there was not going to be any reform of the CFP. Okay, it took some time, but this policy which is one of the world's biggest environmental disasters and has caused havok for the British fishing industry, all but killing it:
Lord Bach said:

I want to sit down because we have other important business to attend to. However, these are important matters, and the noble Lord, Lord Pearson of Rannoch, has been waiting a long time for what I am about to say. I am going to tell him who is on our side, or closer to our view, rather than those who are not, so he will have to work it out for himself. As well as us, at least eight other countries in the EU are what we now describe as reform-minded. They are: Sweden, Denmark, Netherlands, Germany, Estonia, Latvia, the Czech Republic and Malta. It is important to have allies in this important enterprise.

Which means that the reason we can't control our own fishing policy isn't because the British don't want to, it's because the French, Spanish, Italian, Irish, Finnish, Lithuanian, Bulgarian, Romanian, Greek, Austrian, Slovenian, Slovakian, Portuguese, Cypriot, Belgians, Luxembourgish, Hungarian and Polish don't want to. So that's nice.

Much more important to write about it some twat to superglued his knob to a fishing line or a dog which can do its times tables. Fuck the future of our country: show me a budgie that knows all the words to 'whistle down the wind' and I'll be set for life!

A recent conversation with a political observer left me depressed and wondering why there are so many people out there who like to encourage politicians to behave in such a vile manner. She said to me that the threat of the EU wasn't there anymore. This was said in all seriousness by someone who had only a few weeks ago been writing about how appalling it was that we as a country were not able to have a referendum on the EU Constitution. Think how often it was in the papers and on the news. People knew about it and were talking about it and the journalists were outraged. We wanted a referendum! But now one part of the ratification process has gone through the Commons they've forgotten that. They'll let them get away with lying, they won't choose to remind people that they have handed away another chunk of our country to the unelected European Commission even though no government is supposed to bind its successor.

It really is no wonder politicians lie when they are allowed to get away with it time and time again. But then, how can we expect them to change if we offer no incentive to do so? Like shoot them when they tell a lie. That would work with some of them, I suppose, but ones like Brown and Mad Nad are such pathological liars that they'd be dead within a few seconds of opening their mouths. Now, there's a thought....

Ridiculous survey on shoes

Croydonian has written about a survey from France which says French researchers have revealed that the average Frenchwoman has just nine pairs of shoes.

I have just shown this to my French colleague who informs me that she owns a damned site more pairs of shoes than nine and her very young niece (less than a year old) has more than nine pairs for winter alone.

I have tried to count how many pairs I have and you probably won't be surprised to know that it's more than nine. I did my changeover for the spring/summer season and put nine pairs away and took nine out and there were still two full shoe racks with 'all season' shoes and the designer shoes still in their boxes and bags, with shoe trees.

I do hope the French aren't letting the side down, but I suspect it may just be a stupid survey.

Never forget who our real masters are

I have been sent an e-mail from an MEP assistant in Brussels who writes about the action Italy are taking against illegal immigrants. From the Mail:

Hundreds of illegal immigrants were arrested in a nationwide roundup in Italy yesterday, with dozens immediately deported.

The operation followed rising anxiety in Italy over the scale of illegal immigration, with tempers flaring in Naples where vigilantes set alight a Roma gipsy camp.

Silvio Berlusconi was elected to a third term as prime minister last week after promising to crack down on illegal immigrants who are blamed by many Italians for a rising crime rate.

Burlusconi was elected by the Italian people with that manifesto pledge.

Dear MEPs especially Italian,

I kindly ask your attention to the happenings in Italy today.

Number of Roma camps have been burned down as a serious case of persecution against the Roma. The Roma NGO representatives from Italy have been calling me to report about cases where even access of Roma to public services is not allowed in this hours of Anti Roma hysteria in Italy.

They then go on to say that the whole thing was staged, even though the main issue started when someone from Romania murdered and raped an Italian woman.

What is happening here in Italy after the elections is SCARY!! Seeing the TV images of yesterday's pogrom
in Naples reminds of 1933-35 in Germany. We are all becoming a bit nervous, not to say scared!!!

Don't forget, you are allowed to compare right wing people people who like direct democracy 'Nazis' but you can't call someone who, for example, likes to have dictatorial presidential powers anything vaguely like that.

But, always leave the best 'til last:

I also hope the Slovenian Presidency will find some courage to tell the Italian Government that Anti-Romani actions are forbidden to take place in the EU.

Which I think translates to 'I don't care if this was a manifesto promise you voted for, the Soviet State of the EU don't like it and so we will make you stop and remind you of who really controls the country.

And yet people think staying in the EU is a good idea...

In the beginning

In the beginning God covered the earth with broccoli, cauliflower and spinach, with green, yellow and red vegetables of all kinds so Man and Woman would live long and healthy lives.

Then using God's bountiful gifts, Satan created Dairy Ice Cream and Magnums.
And Satan said "You want hot fudge with that? And Man said "Yes!"
And Woman said "I'll have one too with chocolate chips". And lo they gained 10 pounds.

And God created the healthy yoghurt that Woman might keep the figure that Man found so fair.

And Satan brought forth white flour from the wheat and sugar from the cane and combined them.
And Woman went from size 12 to size 14. So God said "Try my fresh green salad".
And Satan presented Blue Cheese dressing and garlic croutons on the side.
And Man and Woman unfastened their belts following the repast.

God then said "I have sent you healthy vegetables and olive oil in which to cook them".

And Satan brought forth deep fried coconut king prawns, butter-dipped lobster chunks and chicken fried steak, so big it needed its own platter.
And Man's cholesterol went through the roof.

Then God brought forth the potato, naturally low in fat and brimming with potassium and good nutrition.

Then Satan peeled off the healthy skin and sliced the starchy centre into chips and deep fried them in animal fats adding copious quantities of salt.
And Man put on more pounds.

God then brought forth running shoes so that his Children might lose those extra pounds.

And Satan came forth with a cable TV with remote control so Man would not have to toil changing the channels.
And Man and Woman laughed and cried before the flickering light and started wearing stretch jogging suits.

Then God gave lean beef so that Man might consume fewer calories and still satisfy his appetite.

And Satan created McDonalds and the 99p double cheeseburger. Then Satan said "You want fries with that?" and Man replied "Yes, And super size 'em".
And Satan said "It is good."

And Man and Woman went into cardiac arrest.

God sighed . And created quadruple by-pass surgery.

And then ............ Satan chuckled and created the National Health Service.

My quotation of the week

goes to UKIP Peer Lord Willoughby de Broke. Not because he's UKIP or because he is very sound, but because I cannot imagine anyone else saying it in the House of Lords or, indeed the Commons:

On the Olympic Games, recently, in London, we had unfortunate demonstrations when some Chinese goons in rather unfortunate track suits were guarding the flame.

It made me smile. And debates from the chambers rarely do so.