Morrisons yesterday

Some rather curious activity yesterday & on Friday which I shall now relate here!

Friday evening I was making my way home past the local chippy,the owner of which used to run another chippy in Cromer. I worked there in my teens, I shall come back to him in a bit. Up ahead of me was one of the local NEDS who'd just paid a visit to the chop.

He turned into Links Chavenue when Big Fat Carol turned up in her car, with it listing over to her side due to her great weight. Big Fat Carol lives at the other end of the street from me, she has produced eight brats of varying degrees of chaviness, all unemployed & probably unemployable. She's the sort of loadmouthed old bag who bellows at all around her, assuming that all her neighbours like her. Unfortunately the woman is also an inveterate backstabber. Fifteen years ago we swapped houses & if I'd known then what I know now I'd have stayed put. Needless to say we have had cross words before. She's the sort of collosally fat woman who think t shirts & black legging suit her.Seeing the lad with chips she leant out of the window & murmured in a subtle roar

"Where are mine then?" . I called out past the lad

"They're just filling the skip for you now, Carol" .

To see her you wouldn't think she was younger than I am. She was in Morrisons yesterday, giving everyone a running commentary on what she was doing, although none really wanted to know.

Dr Evil from two doors away was in there as well.He left with his trolley; then wandered around the car park, & went back in again; then wandered around the car park some more.

Another strange man.

And back to the chip shop man. He was on the bus the other night.

"You're a Radbourne" quoth he "which one?" .When I gave him the answer to his charmingly phrased question he continued in like vein.

"You're supposedly one of the cleverest men in Cromer" (not much of a compliment IMHO, there's not much competition!)"But you started work like me, frying chips!"

"And the difference between us" I replied "Is that you still are."

Tosser.

Been a little sad;

The last few days are sad anniversaries in our house. On the 5th it was the eight anniversary of our losing our labrador, Shane & today is the seventh anniversary of us losing our old tabby, Scruff. In many ways Frodo looks a lot like Scruff, except that Scruff was a grey tabby, not a brown us; and in character the two cats are miles apart.

Someone once asked me why, when it is so dstressing to lose a dog or cat who's been with you for years, do I keep getting them.

It's a simple answer. Yes, it is painful when you have to say goodbye; but they joy they bring you cannot be measured.

Fisking the Galaxy Song

Eric Idle wrote the Galaxy Song for the movie The Meaning of Life. I was quite curious to see how it has withstood 20 years of astronomical leaps in our understanding of the universe.

Just remember that you're standing on a planet that's evolving
While still controversial in some areas, evolution seems pretty well established.

And revolving at nine hundred miles an hour,
The speed of the earth's revolution is once per day but at the equator the circumference of the earth is 25,000 miles so that makes the speed just over 1,000 miles per hour. However, by the time you get as far north as the UK where we are, the speed is actually less than 700 miles per hour. The 900 figure might be good enough for our purposes.

That's orbiting at nineteen miles a second, so it's reckoned,
The earth orbits the sun at 29km/second and there is roughly a 3:2 ratio between kilometers and miles so 19 miles per second is pretty close.

A sun that is the source of all our power.
This may be a bit of hyperbole. The sun is responsible for all wind and solar power and because our weather depends on the sun we would include hydroelectric power as well. Oil and coal formed as a result of sun-driven processes on earth so that's okay. But this particular sun did not create uranium so it could be argued that it doesn't supply all of our power.

The sun and you and me and all the stars that we can see
Are moving at a million miles a day
The sun (and therefore the earth and at least all the stars that you can see with the naked eye) are moving through the galaxy at 225km/sec. This comes out to more than 6 million miles per day.

In an outer spiral arm, at forty thousand miles an hour,
We are indeed in an outer spiral arm of the galaxy. If we were moving at a million miles per day that would come out to 40,000 miles an hour. If the number is closer to 6 million miles per day that makes it close to 250,000 MPH.

Of the galaxy we call the 'Milky Way'.
Our galaxy itself contains a hundred billion stars.

While there have been some estimates that are a bit higher than 100 billion stars, this is still a pretty good estimate.

It's a hundred thousand light years side to side.
Give or take 20,000 light years, this is close to the current estimate.

It bulges in the middle, sixteen thousand light years thick,
Estimates vary quite a bit but 10-30 thousand light years is at least one estimate for the middle of the galaxy

But out by us, it's just three thousand light years wide.
And in the outer arms it is anywhere from 1 to 10 thousand light years wide.

We're thirty thousand light years from galactic central point.
A very good estimate.

We go 'round every two hundred million years,
Rounding down to the nearest hundred million, this will do nicely.

And our galaxy is only one of millions of billions
Millions of billions would be quite a lot. Some estimates are in excess of 1 trillion galaxies but that's only thousands of billions. But we aren't done counting yet.

In this amazing and expanding universe.
And probably expanding at a faster rate than before.

The universe itself keeps on expanding and expanding
In all of the directions it can whiz
We have pretty solid proof of that these days

As fast as it can go, at the speed of light, you know,
But matter cannot generally move at the speed of light so the speed of the expansion is somewhat less. On the other hand, there was a time in the early universe where it seems it did expand at a speed greater than the speed of light.

Twelve million miles a minute, and that's the fastest speed there is.
The speed of light is about 186,000 miles per second or just a bit shy of 12 million miles a minute. There are claims for things that can go faster but it is still speculation.

So remember, when you're feeling very small and insecure,
How amazingly unlikely is your birth,
The human genome project has found 30,000 genes. It would take only 33 genes to make every living person unique.

And pray that there's intelligent life somewhere up in space,
Which is why SETI is trying to find it

'Cause there's bugger all down here on Earth.
An unassailable truth, me escepted of course!.

Another one, mk 2, or ongoing Iain Dale hypocrisy!

As you can see here Iain Dale's complain against the Daily Mail, over their reference to him as being overtly honosexual costing him the nomination for Bracknell, has been rejected.

Quite rightly too.

Don't get me wrong. I am not a homophobe. I defend the right of all people to live the lifestyle they choose, to choose the partner they want ,to the very death. These are rights which have been campaigned for for many, many years by much greater people than I. And although, living in that bastion of perceived Neanderthality that is Norfolk, I defend with every fibre of my being the right of Iain to be proud of his sexuality.

In fact, Iain is invariably, however, the first to tell you he is a homosexual, in his Wikipedia entry and constantly on his own blog.

Which is why I feel the PCC was right to reject his compalint about the Daily Mail referencing his overt homosexuality.

The dictionary definition of overt is

open to view or knowledge; not concealed or secret.

Iain constantly mentions his sexual prefernces ad nausaeam on his blog, whether in reference to the views on homosexuality by Press TV or indeed anywhere and everwhere else.

So why the faux outrage when someone else mentions it in a way he perceives as less than complimentary; perhaps the whole world is full of Neanderthals & homophobes, not just Norfolk.

Or perhaps the universla truth is that, like Rachel Elnaugh, Iain Dale is another of those precious Metropolitan pratts who should do us all a favour and stay within the boundaries set by the M25!

Metropolitan sneering

Poor Rachel Elnaugh.

For years she seems to have lost it; from the days since she was a Dragon in Dragon's Den, through endless self justification & attacking her detractors, down to posting the most appalling bollocks on her website, she's now resorted to the very lowest form of attack. One common among those right wing metropolitan types.

Sneering at those outside of London. She does it here ,here and here.

I was almost expecting to see her write at some point "do you know who I am?"

This is a woman who is supposedly a business guru, sneering in the most appalling & snobbish way at a business in Rotherham. I once suggested Rachel for an interview in a national business magazine I once worked for. They were prepared to interview James Caan, Duncan Bannatyne, Theo Paphitis, but not Rachel.

When I asked why, I was told

"Well, she's a bit of a joke really these days." Having read her recent posts, I've got to say that I now agree. So sorry Rachel, come down off your high horse. This is the last time you will find a link to this silly bitch from Sagely Wisdom. She's obviously forgotten who she is; a rather minor failed entreprenuer, not the major figure she once thought she was.

If she wants to indulge her snobbery she can find her links elsewhere!

Is it just me

Or am I the only one who can anticipate Valuev having problems when he fights David Hay on Saturday, particularly when the bell goes?


You rannnnngggg?

The return of Fat Pat

Pat was in high dudgeon this morning.

"I think it's disgusting" she said "we've had that Lesbian treaty forced on us now the Czechs have signed it." There was a brief silence. Then she was off again.

"They'll make us have all sorts of things from Europe now",

To which I answered, "As it's the Lesbian treaty perhaps we'll be asked to have a few protective dykes."

"Don't be silly" she said "Lesbian is the capital of Portugal, not the Nether Regions."

She retires in three weeks.

Fisking Iain Dale

Just to explain;

The term fisking, or to fisk, is blogosphere slang describing a point-by-point criticism that highlights perceived errors, or disputes the analysis in a statement, article, or essay.Eric S. Raymond, in the Jargon File, defined the term as:

A point-by-point refutation of a blog entry or (especially) news story. A really stylish fisking is witty, logical, sarcastic and ruthlessly factual; flaming or handwaving is considered poor form. Named after Robert Fisk, a British journalist who was a frequent (and deserving) early target of such treatment.

Let's turn to the Dale column of the EDP yesterday.My thoughts are in italics.

“I suppose you’re going to pour some kerosene on the South West Norfolk selection in your EDP column,” said one local MP to me yesterday, rather miserably. Much as I might like to indulge in some more hyperbole, I shall do my best to resist temptation and try to offer some mature reflection and analyse where this whole sorry saga may head next. Some cool heads are going to be needed among local Tories over the next couple of weeks.

Firstly, let me put the record straight. I did not call all South West Norfolk people ‘neanderthals”, contrary to what Thursday’s EDP front page story implied. I wrote on my blog that the social outlook of those Tories who sought to deselect Liz Truss over her past affair with an MP was ‘neanderthal’. It’s the same social outlook which caused a few – and I emphasise, a few – North Norfolk Tories to swallow hard when I, a gay man, was selected as the candidate there in 2003. And yes, I believe it is an outlook which belongs to a bygone era, not the 21st century.

(Yes, well good start with the mature reflection. They aren't cavemen but they just think like them. And a none too subtle dig at N Norfolk as well. Don't you realise that in the 21st Century many tories still beleive in traditional family values?)


Others are quite within their rights to hold a different viewpoint, but they needn’t be surprised when they are called to account for it. Why? Because they are often people whose own private lives don’t quite stand up to scrutiny. I wonder how many of the nineteen members of the South West Norfolk Conservatives Executive Committee who voted to put into doubt her candidacy could look themselves in the mirror and honestly say they were entitled to sit in judgment of Ms Truss. The only person entitled to judge her is her husband. And he stuck by her. Isn’t that what should matter?

(Ok, people who sit in glass houses, true, shouldn't throw stones. But with the media constantly looking at the behaviour of MPs, the expenses scandal being the most recent, surely those who sit or hope to, in parliamentary houses should expect such scrutiny?)

Ah, some say, but if she betrayed her husband, how can we trust her? How can we be sure she won’t betray her constituents? Utter poppycock. It’s a lazy argument perpetrated by the small minded. Did we not trust Lloyd George to lead us through a world war, when it was common knowledge that he was one of the randiest old goats in the country? (Was it common knowledge back then?I see to remember reading that Lloyd George actually successfully sued a neewspaper that implied he had affairs. Of course we know he did now, but that wasn't the reason Baldwin referred to him privately as the Goat!) Was Paddy Ashdown disqualified as LibDem leader when we found out about his affair with his secretary? Was John Major’s ability to do his job negatively affected by his affair with Edwina Currie? (Sorry, Major was one of the worst Prime Minister's ever, & again, the affair was concealed until after he left office. Would he have been elected leader had it been revealed earlier?) Was Robin Cook a worse Foreign Secretary after he left his wife for his secretary? We might all tut tut in disapproval at what they did and how it impacted their families, but is it any of our business?
(Could I refer you back to my comment about people in parliamentary houses Iain?)

Yes, but she was dishonest in not telling the Association and Conservative Central Office should have told us, say some Association members. Wrong. In a job interview it would be regarded as discriminatory to ask someone about their private life and there is a well established precedent that you’re not allowed to ask people if they are married or have children in a political selection, let alone expect them to tell you about every unsavoury aspect of their private life. When I was selected in 2003 I voluntarily chose to tell the local party that I was gay, as I knew it would cause a furore if it emerged later. I won with 66% of the vote on the first ballot. But I would not expect Liz Truss to have to mention a four year old affair.(Why? She is potentially standing as a tory candidate.Look at your own words Iain. It would cause a furore if it emerged later.Especially as the affair was with a frontbench MP.How soon they forget the sleaze stories of the Major era)

What I genuinely don’t understand is why local members hadn’t looked her up on the internet. The shortlist was available to any member who wanted to know following the initial meeting which the candidates addressed at the Executive the previous week. If you type Liz+Truss into Google, the detail of the affair is shown on the first page. Most employers take this rudimentary step when employing anyone nowadays. South West Norfolk Tories have only themselves to blame if they did not do the same.
(The internet is frankly, not always a reliable source of personal information.Particularly those areas which rely on people inputting their own information.Iain, for example, trumpets himself as the first openly gay tory party candidate when in fact it was Derek Laud of Big Brother infamy who was.A bit like being the second man on the moon, eh Iain? )



I see no reason for Liz to have been open about a completely private matter. But even if she had been or people had bothered to research the matter, those present would not have been entitled to take it into account. This isn't about "trust" - it is about the boundary between what an Association is entitled to know about a private individual, and what it absolutely isn't entitled to meddle in.

(So, bearing in mind the fact that, again in your own words,It would cause a furore if it emerged later, they should just blindly ignore the issue?)

But does it matter what a few local members with questionable social attitudes think?(Yes, mature consideration again) Isn’t it more important to ascertain what the electorate makes of it? If Radio Norfolk’s vox pops are anything to go by, they are remarkable relaxed about having a candidate who has had an affair. Thank goodness for some common sense.

So what now? I imagine Liz Truss is feeling hurt and wounded by the whole experience. In two weeks she will face the music of the local Association in a general meeting, where she will face calls for her deselection. I hope we get to see what mettle she is made of. I wouldn’t blame her at all if late at night she had thoughts of throwing in the towel. She would only be human. But I really hope she doesn’t and that she fights this to the end.

Can we also put to rest another myth, the one which says that David Cameron is trying to parachute in candidates against the will of local parties. It’s rubbish. The six strong shortlist was drawn up by the local party with very little direction from the centre. The local party included one local candidate. James Tumbridge, who fought Norwich North at the last election, but ignored the merits of any other local candidates among the 150 or so who put their names forward. Presumably they did that because they felt that Liz Truss and the four other candidates were of better quality. What other reason can there have been?

I am all in favour of local candidates being selected where they merit it.(Curious,in 2005 although you'd only recently moved to Swanton Abbott you were very critical of Norman Lamb for living in Norwich;despite his long years of working to win his seat & fully involving himself in North Norfolk to an extent that you did not?And conveniently forgetting that both David Prior & Ralph Howell lived outside the constituency as well?) But if they genuinely aren’t there and don’t come forward, what are we saying? That inferior people should be selected just because they happen to have a local accent? I don’t know how many were at the selection meeting which voted for Liz Truss by a majority on the first ballot, but it will have been at least 200. They did this because they thought she would be a better MP than James Tumbridge or the other four. No one told them or influenced them to vote that way. They did it of their own free will.

And I hope they will repeat the exercise in two weeks. If they vote to deselect Liz Truss it will be a dark day indeed – not just for Liz, but for the Conservative Party.

(At least Liz Truss has had the sense to remain quiet & to wait to see what the constituency party wants to say. I've often heard Tory commentators decrying interference in local branches by the laboour leadership & here's Cameron doing it himself;ah, the true heir to Blair!)

1st November.

It's dawned cold & wet.Thankfully no trick or treaters last night, possibly deterred by the Grim Reaper standing in my front garden.

Not much in the news except that Iain Dale, who for once recycled his EDP column on his blog rather than vice versa, has clarified his position on SW Norfolk tories. He says that they aren't neanderthals but their social outlook is.

Glad he cleared that one up, & nice to see him using a new epithet, his constant reference to anyone he disagreed with being a homophobe was getting a bit wearing;especially as Iain is the one who informas his public most frequently that he is openly gay.

As for Conservatives using Google to check up on their candidates it's not exactly reliable, particularly in the case of Wikipedia. Dale's own wikipedia article has been heavily edited, I suspect by Dale himself, to present him in the best possible light.

Perhaps from his ivory tower in London Iain ought to consider the fact that , following the recent expenses scandal ordinary people are concerned about the standards their MPs set for themselves;had Liz Truss not stepped forwards to become a MP her affair would have been, as Dale says, her own business. But Liz Truss chose to aspire to a career in the public spotlight. And ordinary Conservatives at grass roots level tend to be traditionalists. Wasn't it Baldwin who refused to have FE Smith in his cabinet after Smith had an affair.

The otther big thing seems to be that Stephen Fry might be leaving Twitter, after a spat with another user. The whole argument seems a wee bit twee to me, especially as I left Twitter months ago.I didn't leave it because of a disagreement.

I left because Twitter is shit.Youhave friends on Facebook, on Twitter you have stalkers.

And lastly I notice that in Afghanistan Abdullah Abdullah is refusing to stand in the run off against Hamid Kharzai. Rather defeats the purpose of all his complaining about rigged elections.

Happy Halloween

All done.

I've now had my final salary paid to me from White Digital Media, which conclusively ends a ten year association with him & his companies. I haven't parted with Glen White on bad terms, although we barely exchanged words when he was last in the UK. Nor am I on bad terms with WhiteDM itself, I just didn't like some of the new procedures that they were bringing in. I've worked in publishing for ten years, I don't need to take an exam to prove I can do the job & then be presented with a certificate in a crappy QD picture frame to prove it.

Nor do I beleive having plastic boards where you plan ahead for six months particularly works, I doubt if anyone really seriously fills them in properly & I strongly doubt that most there actually do much work in their own time. When I look at some of my ex colleague's updates on Facebook I wonder that they have ANY spare time at weekends.I wasn't doing well there because I had to work Supplychain & Logistics;& frankly there is no money in Europe in that sector right now.It took a year of me telling them this to get the message across; & then they decided to sit me with the trainees!

That capped it for me. It was done with the best of motives on their part but I felt it was a little bit degrading to put me in that position. And so, having been thinking about it for a few months, I decided to cut my ties with WhiteDM & move on.

Don't get me wrong; there are people still there I shall keep in touch with, including in the management team, just as there are one or two that I won't bother about. I won't miss the whooping & hollering when someone achieves something for one.I shall, & do miss the friends I made over ten years, but hopefully I will see some of them around.

As for the new place;it's not as laddish as White's is, & laddishness can be a bit wearing when you aren't a lad yourself, so that's a plus for me. It's much more like the old days of Conquest BM before Ben Weaver was in charge.

So thats that really.Time to move onwards, & hopefully upwards after being becalmed for a year or so.