Terror police, arrest this man

In case anyone's wondering why Damian Green was arrested by 'anti-terror' police - it's because all investigations involving potential breaches of the Official Secrets Act are dealt with by Special Branch, which was renamed to Counter Terrorism Command when it was merged with the Met's Anti-Terrorism Branch in 2006. As with the freezing of Landsbanki's … Continue reading Terror police, arrest this man

World of Chutzpah

BBC City Diarist 'Stephen': During the chancellor's pre-Budget report and the opposition's response, there were alternate gasps of disbelief and jeers of contempt across our trading floor. It's utterly bewildering how our political system has managed to put such innumerates, however well-meaning, in charge of our economy. Hmm. Perhaps, after you - not the politicians … Continue reading World of Chutzpah

Generic response to generic ‘oh no, the trains are so expensive’ wittering

Inspired specifically by this piece, but more generally by the dozens of such pieces, left and right, which perpetuate ludicrous myths about the cost of travelling on the trains. The fact is, in Great Britain, train fares rise at a couple of percentage points above inflation every year. This isn't surprising - most of the … Continue reading Generic response to generic ‘oh no, the trains are so expensive’ wittering

‘How Racist Are The BNP?’

BNP apologists frequently claim that supporters of the group aren't necessarily racist, they're just misguided working-class souls who've been abandoned by the mainstream parties and feel the BNP speaks for them. Non-apologists suggest, with equal frequency, that perhaps if people weren't racist then they wouldn't vote for a party whose primary feature was racism, even … Continue reading ‘How Racist Are The BNP?’

Traditional ‘where’s your grammar?’ line

("in t'front room watching telly, what's it to you?") An apparently valid study has shown that 25-34 year olds are best at using apostrophes correctly, while over-55s are worst. While this doesn't fit with the traditional narrative of 'it's all gone to the dogs since trendy liberals took over teaching', it does fit with the … Continue reading Traditional ‘where’s your grammar?’ line

Electoral impairment

Two things are going to impair my analysis of this election: brennivin, and my landlady's inability to make the wi-fi work. On aggregate, however, I'd rather be spending it in Iceland than pretty much anywhere else. update: yeah, that pretty much worked. been liveblogging on lc, will link sometime. Yay Obama, yay the American people, … Continue reading Electoral impairment