NICK CLEGG AN HIS MINIATURE SPHEROIDS

Made a mistake re Nick Clegg. He didn't turn up for the Primeminister's statement on the EU veto. An absence of political courage?

ALL AFGHANS JOIN THE TALIBAN

What total joy.
Wonders never ceasing.
The genius of our political masters.
The latest GREAT IDEA: to pay members of the Taliban £100 a month for not fighting. What a splendid recruiting slogan:JOIN US AND THE FOREIGNERS WILL PAY YOU!!!!!

CAMERON'S VETO

Bronchitis is depressing - but no where near as depressing as the celebratory baying of the Tory right wing at our isolation in Europe. What relief that Clegg has been forced finally to discover his political spheroids (small though they may be).

OLD MEN CAN'T WAIT

Banner for OLD MEN CAN'T WAIT
I am off to the NEC at Birmingham tomorrow for the UK's major motorcycle show and will be there all eight days signing books on the TRAVEL-DRI stand and on TOURATECH.

BOOK BIRTHING

I have been writing books for much of my adult life; yesterday was my first birthing experience.
Paddy Tyson of OVERLAND magazine drove me across the Welsh border to Pontypool where MWL Print Group was the midwife. Modern printing and binding machines produce with speed. Fascinating to watch books streaming out of the maw and into boxes...
And what instinct leads me to chat to the only man on the work floor who remembers fondly the Good Old Days of pre-Murdoch Fleet Street when the union ran a closed a shop?

SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP

Studying Republican contenders for the US Presidency:
Universal health care is sinful.
Water-boarding is moral.

Brit Political leaders boast of their ability to maintain the Special Relationship.

With these people?
Thank you, but I'd rather give it a miss...

TATA TAKEOVER UK GOVERNMENT

Tata bought loss-making Jaguar Land Rover from Ford in 2008.
Tata immediately invested in research and new models and a new engine plant.
Losses have been transformed into a billion pound profit for 2011.
Tata are recruiting 2,500 workers, all this in the midst of a recession.
HOW TO PERSUADE TATA TO TAKE OVER THE UK GOVERNMENT...?

JAMES MURDOCH, LIAR?

I wonder what percentage of people here in the UK believe James Murdoch is telling the truth or lying. I, of course, have no opinion....

HEY, WHAT DO YOU KNOW - TWO POLITICOS BEING HONEST!

Conversation between President Sarkozy and President Obama.
Sarkozy says of Israeli Premier Netanyahu: I cannot stand him. He's a liar.
Obama responds: You're fed up with him? I have to deal with him every day.

Press, radio, Tv report the conversation as a gaffe.

My question: Why is a truthful interchange a gaffe?

RANTING AND RAVING

I note, in rereading the last two posts, that I am in full rant mode.
A little rage of a morning gets the blood circulating so blame the climate: cold, damp, depressing...

DAVID MILLIBAND, INFANT CHASTISER OF THE WICKED

Ah, Milliband, Milliband...
So tardy in preaching the immorality prevalent in today's financial sector.
Thirteen years in Government, now leader of the Labour Party.
Thirteen years overseeing a massive widening of the chasm between rich and poor.
Thirteen years overseeing a culture of grotesque bonuses and executive salaries.
And now, at last, brave Milliband declares that politicians should listen to anti-banker protesters.
Listen?
In my youth, our leaders led rather than followed the whims of popular protest or the advice of a pollster. Left or Right, most were men of stature; they had achieved something before entering parliament. Conviction was their hallmark, and a desire to serve the nation.
For our present leaders, Left or Right, so young, so untested, politics is merely a career...