What is Guido trying to prove?

Guido has got two stats up showing the Olympic medal tallies for both the EU and the British Empire.

Is he trying to say that becoming a more central part of the EU would be just as good as what we had under the British Empire (after all both kick China and America's collective arse's)? Or is he trying to say that the one Gold medal lead for the British Empire renders the EU impotent?

I know he says it's just for fun, but if that's the case what amusement can be derived? Sure I love stats, but really... fun??

Olympic medals neither prove the worthiness of a country (after all China is winning!) nor are they an obvious source of amusement. Confuzzling.

A Little Less Harsh In Future, Please

Nothing drives me crazier than getting stuck behind a woman who is walking at a snail's pace because she obviously has no idea of how to walk in heels. Sometimes I want to lean down and whisper in their ear "Sensible shoes in future, yeah?". Of course I don't, I'm too British for that, instead I spend my time quietly seething.

But I obviously owe a few of them an apology. It would seem that some businesses require women to wear high heels. I had never even conceived that in this day and age anyone would be compelled to wear anything more than "smart shoes". Expressly suggesting "high heels" is disgusting, control freakery and obviously incredibly sexist.

I find the requirements for a tie in some businesses to be incredibly insulting (and you won't find me doing it) but at least it's unlikely to affect my posture or health. Any business requiring high heels should be ashamed of themselves.

Tories Have No Sense Of Humour Or Proportion

As our great country suffers an economic downturn, the possibility of it's own destruction, a few wars, and etc. the Tories have nothing better to do than claim that a video made in response to a petition calling for Jeremy Clarkson to be Prime Minister shows that the Government is out of touch with reality.

Actually it shows someone in the Government is a human being, who understood the humourous intentions of the petition in question and responded in kind. The Tories need to stop trying to score idiotic political points and start actually showing their vision of a Tory United Kingdom. Of course that is too much to hope for, given the bile pent up with the Tory party.

The Tories have until recently been successful in maintaining their "Not the nasty party" image. They had been espousing tolerance and getting all excited over green issues. Now, as their political star begins to rise once more, they return to their true colours. The green policies disappear as they begin to move back towards the right wing.

See David Camerons recent speeches on social reform. "Social reform" is a euphemism for Government interference in the personal lives of the citizens of this country. They are ideologically bound to promote "marriage and family" as being the "foundations" of a secure society. HA! Marriage and family didn't do so well at keeping Victorian Britain a safe or secure place did they??? NO. Murder and crime were rampant. This defunct ideology just keeps on being espoused because they have NO IMAGINATION!

I'll be interested to see George Osborne's suggestions for improving on Labours record on poverty. The .pdf on this page is all anti-Labour rhetoric. Nothing positive nor constructive. Same old Tory party.

Labour might be bad, they might make terrible decisions... but the Tories would make life even worse. This country needs a hero. David Cameron is not that hero.

Leo Abse 1917 - 2008

Leo Abse has passed away. He shall be remembered as a liberal reformer, a man of great integrity who began the process of moving this country towards greater freedom. May he rest in peace.

The Olympic Handover Sham

The soon to occur Olympic handover from Beijing to London sounds like it was made up by a bunch of idiots with little Olympic knowledge. It'll be led by David Beckham, who last I checked was a footballer. He will be kicking footballs to children representing each Olympic nation. Hurrah, I hear you say... at least it's got something to do with sports. Yeah... just not one the British participate in!

Due to much legal wrangling over professional sportsmen, FIFA recognition and some nationalistic tomfoolery there is no Team GB football team for the Olympic games. We don't play football at the Olympics!! Isn't it a tad insulting to the many gold winning British Olympians to have some guy who doesn't represent a British Olympic sport opening the games just because he's famous?

Then we have the actual order of events:

After entering the Bird’s Nest stadium atop a London bus, he will kick a football around with children representing the 205 Olympic nations. Lewis, the X Factorwinner, and Page, lead guitarist with Led Zeppelin, are also scheduled to perform. Hundreds of ballet dancers from the Royal Opera House accompanied by an urban dance act and a disabled dance troupe will perform routines before Mr Johnson receives the Olympic flag from his Beijing counterpart.

Does that not sound like the most uninspiring event ever, possible made up by some boring bureaucrat without any sense of occasion? I'm going to reserve further judgement until the event but I don't hold out much hope. The Chinese took the Olympics to a whole new level of cheesiness. I suspect any hope that Britain would add some much needed class to the event is misplaced.

Team GB have performed so amazingly well and it's the least we can do to respect their achievements by holding a dignified and classy Olympics. HA! I suspect by 2012 it'll be Team Eng-er-land and all the glory of Team GB will have been wasted.

Former Homophobic Head Of Kent Council Dies

As a child who was at school whilst Mr Sandy Bruce-Lockhart (no Lord in my opinion) was in charge of the Kent County Council I can only say this about his passing; my sympathies lie with his family.

This homophobic man is finally gone. Perhaps Kent might use the news of his death to now move out of the 18th Century and into the 21st and replace the idiotic language in Kentish educational provisions that suggest that heterosexual marriage is the only successful basis for society. His anti-libertarian beliefs had no place disturbing the tranquility of the most wonderful county in Britain.

A Metric Martyr Who I Like

Yes! Finally... someone actually wants to use metric. As someone whose understanding of Imperial measurements stops after pints and miles, this is something I totally understand. That's despite my old Grammer school using maths textbooks that still taught in things like furlongs.

Free the metric one!! As it were.. ;)