Defying International law

A letter I've sent to our MP (David Rutley) on the subject of the UK government proposing to discard bits of the Brexit withdrawal agreement Johnson/Cummings are not keen on:

I'm writing to you to express my dismay that the government is proposing to break international law in 'a very specific and limited way' - whatever that means! - over the Brexit agreement.

If I were to break the law even in a very specific and limited way, I'd expect to find myself in trouble with the police. I realise that our prime minister has trouble with honesty and integrity (and especially via his unaccountable and unsackable 'advisor' Dominic Cummings) but I would hope that you have higher standards and will argue against this breaking of the law and if it is brought to the commons will vote against it.

If we do this - despite Johnson claiming his deal was 'oven ready' and all conservative candidates signing up to it at the 2019 election - to discard the inconvenient bits sends a message to our international partners that it is not worth agreeing trade treaties with us which can be thrown away on a ministerial whim. You are also all breaking your word to the electorate as well as ignoring the very recent manifesto.

If we do this how can we possibly criticise the government of China for not sticking to the Hong Kong agreement?

a paragraph of more personal information elided!

feel free to borrow bits of this!

Prorogation and Tory Whipping

I wrote this letter to my MP after an earlier exchange of letters where David Rutley's response failed to address any of my points and was clearly a form letter from conservative central office. I got the first response around 24 hours after my email, his was sent my post - why(?). I'm still waiting for a response from this.

Thank you for your speedy response to my email about the deselection
of rebel tory MPs, unfortunately your letter addressed none of my
points and seemed to be to be high grade flannel from Central Office,
but no doubt you're a little busy. Let me then offer these questions
for hopefully a more to the point consideration.

Were you there at the Chequers meeting which agreed that Tory MPs who
rebel on Bexit will be ejected from the party and not allowed to stand
in the future?

Do you agree with that position?

Will the same sanctions apply to anyone from the extreme right of the
party who votes against any agreement by Johnson's 'negotiating' group
delivered before 31st Oct?

Did you know about the decision to prorogue Parliament more than 24
hours before it was publically announced? (the leader of the House
appears to have difficulty with this question hopefully you can give a
more honest answer)

Was the decision to prorogue Parliament announced on 28th Aug discussed in a full meeting of Cabinet beforehand?

If the answers to either of the last 2 questions is no, then your
letter saying 'nothing to see here' 'usual practice' is clearly a
lie. I remember (you may have forgotten) that the decision to extend
the Parliamentary session was taken to give the time for Bexit to be
done. To therefore prorogue 6 weeks before the current departure date
seems a little at odds with that!

I guess these direct questions are a little harder to flannel around. I see his twitter handle on the linked parliament page is still incorrect - should be @DavidRutley rather than @DavidRutleyMP. David Rutley is a tory whip.

Teaser Tuesday - Jun 30

The rules are:

• Grab your current read.
• Let the book fall open to a random page.
• Share with us two (2) 'teaser' sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.
• You also need to share the title and author of the book that you’re getting your 'teaser' from .. that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you've given!

His modest background and notorious history meant his career relied on him performing the role of upstanding master of home, land and party to perfection: to show artistocratic disdain for bourgeois values was impossible. Mary Anne's position in society and at Hughenden was dependent upon her marital status.

from Mr & Mrs Disraeli A Strange Romance by Daisy Hay - our book group book of the month. Interesting I remember doing Victorian politics as part of 'O' level history at school.

The blog appears to have gone that was the source for this - but as it's 6 months since I last did one of these I shouldn't complain!

I voted for Chirac!!

A horrifying confession - but it was the story of the left in 2002 in France when Chirac and Le Pen were the 2 candidates left in the second round.

We went to an OU French association film day on Saturday where we saw 'Le Nom des Gens' - a querying of identity in modern France. It puts various modern French taboos in conjunction - the Holocaust, the Algerian war, race and asks what they mean for modern society, have they assimilated them or just glossed them over. Here's a trailer (no subtitles)and here's a shorter version - with subtitles and more inhibited! We had a few talks which explained some of the complicated cultural references... (just one) Arthur Martin (the name of the male protagonist) would be like being called John Lewis in the UK! The film is neatly set between the 2002 and 2007 French elections.

Nigeria and Anglican Mainstream

I was looking through some old blog entries here and came across this from 2007 when I quote a letter to the Church times from Anglican Mainstream about legislation against homosexuality in Nigeria:

Anglican leaders in Nigeria have been working closely to uphold human-rights issues in the proposed legislation on homosexuality.

I wonder how that's going? As you probably know that law has recently come into effect and Anglican Mainstream have been somewhat silent on the issue.

Politics and the Family - i

Earlier this month we saw the last film of Silkscreen's season - Blame it on Fidel, here's the trailer:

A tale of children growing up in a left-wing activist household in 1970's France. It probably helps to be to some extent left-winged and have a sense of humour, otherwise it becomes a joyless exposé of the trauma that the children suffered. Here's the Guardian review - I loved the way the children felt their way into relationship with a variety of child-minders by the sharing of creation myths. We bought the copy of the dvd at the end of the Silkscreen evening so a re-watch is lined up!

Caption..

However this post may have something to do with ecclesiastical politics!

This was a caption competition today on twitter run by @shipoffoolscom and this was my contribution.

Coalition!

Dan and Dan form a coalition:

listen right to the end....

Crawling out from the woodwork..

From Liberal Conspiracy

They [Tory Cameron critics] cannot see that Cameron had to run the party like that so as to distract attention away from the unreconstructed Thatcherite, homophobic, xenophobic, intensely Euro-sceptic, callous, Christian-fundamentalist loon contingents that make up huge chunks of the Tory grass-roots and Parliamentary party.

and will it all come unstitched even more rapidly if Cameron does work with the LibDems than it appears to be doing?

And speaking of dogs

(see the comments two posts down) Here's Christopher Logue's I shall Vote Labour written (as you can probably tell from some of the references) in the 1960's

I shall vote Labour because
God votes Labour.
I shall vote Labour to protect
the sacred institution of The Family.
I shall vote Labour because
I am a dog.
I shall vote Labour because
upper-class hoorays annoy me in expensive restaurants.
I shall vote Labour because
I am on a diet.
I shall vote Labour because if I don't
somebody else will:
AND
I shall vote Labour because if one person
does it
everybody will be wanting to do it.
I shall vote Labour because if I do not vote Labour
my balls will drop off.
I shall vote Labour because
there are too few cars on the road.
I shall vote Labour because I am
a hopeless drug addict.
I shall vote Labour because
I failed to be a dollar millionaire aged three.
I shall vote Labour because Labour will build
more maximum security prisons.
I shall vote Labour because I want to shop
in an all-weather precinct stretching from Yeovil to Glasgow.
I shall vote Labour because
the Queen's stamp collection is the best
in the world.
I shall vote Labour because
deep in my heart
I am a Conservative.

Logic?

I suppose expecting logic on election leaflets which drop though the door might be expecting a bit much, but I boggled rather at this extract from one which dropped through our front door today.

This is from the local independent candidate hoping to overturn a large conservative majority (though the sitting MP has retired). The leaflet appears to be saying that, if this seat is lost to the Tories (in which case it must be a marginal!), it would make no difference to David Cameron's changes of becoming Prime Minister - hmmmm. I think DC would have one seat less in that case.
Here you are, a posting on this blog, propping up the Conservatives!

They must have a mole

Or be against small furry animals

Walthamstow Christian Party's rather sketchy website - the 'Contact us' page is even less exciting than this one. One of their manifesto items (you need to go to the national website for this) is for compulsory Christian worship in all schools - I wonder if this extends to Jewish schools?!

Teaser Tuesday - 27 April

Teaser Tuesday
The rules are:

• Grab your current read.
• Let the book fall open to a random page.
• Share with us two (2) 'teaser' sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.
• You also need to share the title and author of the book that you’re getting your 'teaser' from .. that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you've given!

They don't interest me. There is hardly a single person in the House of Commons worth painting; though many of them would be the better for a little whitewashing.

I'm still reading Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray and couldn't resist quoting this far from random, but wonderful, quote especially as the UK is in the midst of an election campaign.

The Daily Mail Song

Hat tip to Maggi Dawn

Sun-treader

I listened to Carl Ruggles Sun-treader yesterday afternoon.

An inspiring prickly work which didn't get its US premiere until 1966 - it was written in 1931 and takes as its title part of a line from Robert Browning:

Sun-treader, light and life be thine forever!

a homage to Shelley and as such acts as a fitting tribute to that lover of Shelley, Michael Foot, who died yesterday.A man of principle who remained positive even when the rubbish of politics was being thrown at him. He didn't fit well with today's image conscious media driven politics. As the Guardian obituary (linked above) records:

When a general election was called in 1935, he walked into Labour's headquarters, asked for a list of constituencies that needed candidates, and was adopted the next day for Monmouth. Politics was simpler in those days.

Ruggles died at the age of 95, Foot at 96.

Teaser Tuesday - 22 Dec

Teaser Tuesday
The rules are:

• Grab your current read.
• Let the book fall open to a random page.
• Share with us two (2) 'teaser' sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.
• You also need to share the title and author of the book that you’re getting your 'teaser' from .. that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you've given!

During the night, sympathisers hung a banner from one of the buildings at the University of Tehran. It showed Jamileh as a strong goddess with a rifle slung over her shoulder.

My reading is still a little patchy what with my daily commute having stopped so I'm still in Kader Abdolah's My Father's Notebook (keep on trying to type Netbook here!) - I quoted from it last week nearly complete, I thought it was an interesting read - not least for the Iranian history.

Teaser Tuesday - 15 Dec

Teaser Tuesday
The rules are:

• Grab your current read.
• Let the book fall open to a random page.
• Share with us two (2) 'teaser' sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.
• You also need to share the title and author of the book that you’re getting your 'teaser' from .. that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you've given!

He knew that his father needed to write about the things he didn't understand or wasn't able to explain in sign language. Inacessible, incomprehensible, intangible things that suddenly struck him and caused him to stare helplessly, or to stand transfixed, or to sit down and ponder.

I don't think that's too much of a teaser, it is from Kader Abdolah's My Father's Notebook the story of growing up in Iran and the politics of that country.

A dark and non-globally warmed night

The Slate has announced the results of a Write like Sarah Palin competition there's some wonderful (? ed) examples there. Here's part of Anne Sensenbrenner's winning entry:

One night after a long day of campaigning, when the haters had made my spirits reach a nadir, I looked into Todd's eyes, which were as blue as the stripes on Old Glory, and too representing truth and loyalty, and he looked back at me with a twinkle of determination which I hadn't seen since I told him my goal of having another baby in my fifties and naming it Tron, then did I know for sure

(etc), but go and read them all. Thanks to Chris Ambidge for the pointer.

Teaser Tuesday - 1 Dec

Teaser Tuesday
The rules are:

• Grab your current read.
• Let the book fall open to a random page.
• Share with us two (2) 'teaser' sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.
• You also need to share the title and author of the book that you’re getting your 'teaser' from .. that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you've given!

As far as Mrs Munde could see, her daughter had no ambition and no faith. It had never occurred to her that Gloria had chosen to be nothing in order to avoid being her mother's something. Only by remaining in a vacuum-sealed diving bell could Gloria hope to avoid the storm at sea that was Mrs Munde.

Jeanette Winterson having far too much fun with the story of Noah and Genesis in 'boating for beginners' (a re-read here but I've not read it for quite a few years).
The woffle on the back says: 'If you find Monty Python The Life of Brain amusing, then this is your comic book of revelations' But go and read the link I've provided to what JW says about it on her website.
Yes I know it is three sentences, do you think I could miss out sentence three?

From the coffee to the reason

Today's Doonesbury was, I thought, a classic. I nearly missed it as I don't often go to the website. Does any UK paper have the Sunday Doonesbury? The Independent on Sunday used to (I think) but I can't find it in the paper these days!