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Tuesday, August 31, 2004
 
HISTORY IS A STARTING POINT TO SELECT THE FACTS YOU WANT: Unsurprising to see Guilliani back dropping down to dirty politics, managing to get the republican convention to boo loudy at the memory of how the Germans (remember them, those darn old Europeans?) letting the terrorists caught in the Olympic Village in 1972 go? Even allowing for the reheating of something over thirty years old for cheap point scoring, we hope Guilliani feels at least some shame for not bothering to mention the circumstances in which the Germans reluctantly released the men when a Lufthansa plane was hijacked; nor that the terrorists were then trailed and killed by Israeli forces.
posted by Simon Hayes Budgen at 1:01 PM
(0) comments
 
DON'T DO AS I DO, DO AS I SAY: The Republicans hit New York, and fill out the strip joints:

The man later told someone in the club he was a Washington lobbyist. I wondered if he would try to add a clause allowing "two girls at once" into the Republican Party's plan for a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.
posted by Simon Hayes Budgen at 12:52 PM
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Monday, August 23, 2004
 
NEVER MIND THE WASTE OF TIME: WHAT ABOUT THE WASTE OF MONEY: Interestingly, it's now turning out that Liverpool regeneration bosses knew two years before the scheme was axed that the Fourth Grace would never be built - in other words, before the expensive sham of a competition to choose a design, the expensive sham of a public consultation (the results of which were ignored anyway) and the burning up of cash on promoting the project. Even more unpleasant is that the "Cloud" formed the heart of the Liverpool bid for City of Culture in 2008 - even although those in charge knew it was almost certainly never going to happen.

If I was a member of the Gateshead/Newcastle team - who had actual, completed and half completed facilities at the heart of their bid - I'd be absolutely livid right now.
posted by Simon Hayes Budgen at 8:31 AM
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Wednesday, August 18, 2004
 
IT'S THE OLYMPICS: Did we miss something? Has the International Olympic Committee become something other than a self-appointed, self-interested business? It's bad enough that their unreasonable demands have really screwed up internet radio - is it really that important, IOC? - but they've also got a hilarious hyperlink policy insisting that nobody link to the results and news site without their permission, with any words other than Athens 2004 as the link, and so on. Get over yourselves, will you? Either you're the games for everyone the planet, or you're a small business running a sports day. Make your minds up.
posted by Simon Hayes Budgen at 5:20 AM
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EXTREMELY DISTURBING SUGGESTIONS: As you read B Sky B's complaints about EDS, remember this:

EDS and the UK Government
EDS works closely with our UK government clients to implement solutions that help address the constantly evolving challenges to the business of government. Our UK government clients include:

* Department for Work and Pensions
* Ministry of Defence
* Court Service
* HM Prison Service
* Metropolitan Police [Source: The EDS website]

BSkyB suggest this company might not be the clean pair of hands that should be at the heart of our justice network and defence systems: "Our view is that the decision by BSkyB to select EDS... was founded on fraudulent representations made by EDS," a BSkyB spokesman said. "They were made to induce BSkyB to award the contract."
posted by Simon Hayes Budgen at 2:36 AM
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Monday, August 16, 2004
 
CUTTING YOUR CLOTH: During the long years of Thatcher-created unemployment, the press were always quick to condemn strikers - "if they don't want their jobs" they'd write, "there are plenty who do."

Now, of course, unemployment is much lower. So how does the Daily Telegraph respond to the threat of strike action by BA baggage handlers? "In an era of full employment, if they're unhappy with their jobs, why don't they go and work elsewhere?" Absolutely perfect.
posted by Simon Hayes Budgen at 11:53 PM
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IF ONLY WE THOUGHT THAT WOULD STOP HIM: The news that information commissioner Richard Thomas has suggested that Blunkett's plans for ID cards takes us in the direction of Franco's Spain would cause most people to rethink. We suspect, though, that David B. will be encouraged and set his staff to finding out how much the brocade will cost for his uniform.
posted by Simon Hayes Budgen at 4:56 AM
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Monday, August 09, 2004
 
WELL, THAT'S BEEN A MASSIVE SUCCESS FOR OBJECTIVE ONE FUNDING, THEN: It's not for us to suggest that the continued mismanagement, stupid creation of 'Pathways' groups, their abolition and replacement with other pathways groups, a small smattering of corrupt or questionable decisions, a bunch of unobtainable targets, the matched funding regime, bunches of infighting, frustrating duplication of effort and a failure to carry support for any project through has lead to the squandering of millions and millions of pounds on Merseyside. Having said which, Merseyside falling from 41st to 206th place in the EU jobs and growth ranking would seem to support such a viewpoint. An incredible, shameful waste of money, opportunity and, worst of all, so much human potential.
posted by Simon Hayes Budgen at 6:13 AM
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THE ONLY THING TO FEAR IS...: Is it just me, or is there something a whole lot less scary about Al-Qaeda when you hear that amongst they detrius of the computer stuff that got captured, they'd "downloaded pictures of Gordon Brown"? A supposedly shit-hot religio-poitico terror group that needs to refer to a photo right-clicked off the web to recognise Gordy? Doesn't really suggest much for the quality of the minds they've got working for them, does it?
posted by Simon Hayes Budgen at 1:57 AM
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Tuesday, August 03, 2004
 
REALLY, THOUGH, YOU WOULDN'T WANT TO THINK IT'S A PRE-ELECTION STUNT: It turns out that the big panic in New York, Washington and Newark is based on intelligence over four years old:

But intelligence officers said much of the information may have been collected before the September 11 attacks. "There is nothing right now that we're hearing that is new," one intelligence officer told the Washington Post. "Why did we go to this level? I still don't know."

We've noticed a rising pitch of mumbling about possible terror attacks as we get nearer and nearer to the elections - there was also, of course, that frankly bizarre Womens Wall Street story about how not-white people are (gasp) flying in groups and sometimes standing in the aisles of planes - and it would be hard to not at least wonder if this isn't all in response to the 9/11 Commission and various other suggestions that maybe Bush is using the Twin Towers as an excuse to cover a lot of abuses.

posted by Simon Hayes Budgen at 4:19 AM
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