The BBC reports his idiotic comments in Bristol.

Now, what he doesn't say about the "hole" in the pension fund is this: when the Tories lied their way into power, the Post Office managers were allowed by them to stop making their agreed payments into the fund. The goverment took the money and shared it out among their rich friends, and spent as little as possible for the benefit of the public. When Labour lied their way back into power, they did nothing to fix this, and kept right on taking money from the Post Office that should have gone into the fund. Now he is busy pretending none of it is his fault, which is what he says about everything. Flogging bits of it off to his rich buddies is NOT the answer.

Time for the Liberal Democrats, so that the public can have the Post Office it wants.

Singalong time.

An email from the last sensible party left in England...

I don't know about you, but I've had enough.

Restriction of our fundamental rights and freedoms has gone too far. ID cards, more CCTV cameras per head than any country in the world, a database of children's fingerprints, a government that wants to conceal its own record on the disastrous war in Iraq - it's the stuff of fiction.

We need to put a stop to this. The Liberal Democrats are proposing the Freedom Bill: freedom.libdems.org.uk.

I need you to look at the bill and comment to tell me how to improve it. What's missing? What's wrong? Is your civil liberties "hobby-horse" not on our list? If you haven't time to comment, you can sign our petition in support of the bill instead.

Here's a selection of the measures incorporated in our first draft:
• Scrap ID cards for everyone.
• Restore the right to protest in Parliament Square.
• Scrap the ContactPoint database of all children in Britain.
• Remove innocent people from the DNA database.
• Reduce the maximum period of pre-charge detention to 14 days.

You can read the full set on the website.

I need your contribution to make this bill as robust as possible - because it's not going to be easy getting this on the parliamentary agenda. The other two parties won't like it, we can depend upon that.

I want to take forward a bill we can all be proud of. I hope you will join me in making it clear to the government that Orwell's nightmarish 1984 was a warning, not an instruction manual.

Best wishes,
Chris Huhne
Shadow Home Secretary, Liberal Democrats

It's a funny thing, but I thought I had posted something quite rude about Jackboots Straw last night, when I was very angry that he had decided there was no public interest in what went on at the cabinet meeting that decided we would do what Bush told us to, and attack Iraq. I think an awful lot of people would be interested to know what lies Blair told the cabinet. The Freedom of Information order was quite clear, they had to tell us. But Straw reached into his bag of tricks, and gave the order that the law could be ignored, to protect us from knowing what our government had done.

Anyway, now it becomes clear that we did what Bush wanted with regard to illegal "renditions" as well.

John Hutton, the Defence Secretary, told MPs that two men held by British forces in Iraq were handed over to the Americans in 2004 and transported out of the country. They are still being held in Afghanistan today.

The Government has consistently denied involvement in rendition operations were suspects' legal rights could be infringed. Mr Hutton admitted that the Government had given MPs "inaccurate information" about the case.

UK officials were aware of the case in 2004. Ministers including Jack Straw, the then Foreign Secretary, were given papers referring to the transfer in 2006. But MPs and the public were never informed.

Oh look! There's Jack Straw again, hiding away information that we should have seen. It's getting pretty obvious that Straw works for somebody other than the British public.

Lord Mandelson has told how he is concerned about the 'political pain' that the proposals are causing in Labour ranks.
But he says he will not 'walk away' from the reforms, which he insists are needed for the Royal Mail.

So, "Lord" Mandelson, how is it you do not explain why having all their best business handed over to rich businessmen for nothing, and being left with the unprofitable stuff, is supposed to be good for the Post Office? Is it, Mandelson, because you are a liar who is in league with rich businessmen?

So, Labour are no good for the Post Office. Or anything else, since Blair turned them into the Tories, or are we supposed to say "made them electable"?

And as for the Tories, well a lot of us remember how when they were in power, they made the Post Office stop paying its contributions into the pension fund, and hand the money over to the Tory government for sharing out amongst its rich business friends. These were contributions they had agreed with the employees would be made, to go along with contributions made by the employees. Nice rip off, by the hag Thatcher and her slimy minions, many of whom are getting ready to ooze their way back into power.

Labour - bad. Conservatives - bad.

What to do? Nick Clegg seems to be honest, decent, and above all, democratic. No, it isn't a wasted vote, if enough of us do it.

Words fail me.

I had a look at the bottle we are currently using. It was made in Spain. Maldito y explosión!

Meanwhile, Hewlett Packard, a hardware firm that was not making as much money as it used to, has bought EDS and is currently raping it. Compulsory redundancies, so that there are not enough people to do the work, which is going to make the customers unhappy. Pay cuts, so those who have not been made redundant will be so much more willing to put in the extra hours they have been doing. All good, because it means HP's vile boss will hugely increase his vast bonus payments. And that's good business, even though it sabotages projects we as taxpayers are financing. Or is there a better way to run the world, I wonder?

You now get a message like this when somebody in Africa spams you...

Spam detection software, running on the system "internet-gw.pdoce.com.br", has identified this incoming email as possible spam. The original message has been attached to this so you can view it (if it isn't spam) or label similar future email. If you have any questions, see the administrator of that system for details.

Content preview: Funds transfer proposal. NOTE: Before you proceed
reading this mail,this is true and not one of those mails you see on
the internet,i am about to retire and here in Africa service is not
adequately rewarded i tell you the gospel truth,hence do not blame me
on this,i only need you to help me so that we can smile in future,GOD
bless you as you read. I presume this mail will not be a surprise to
you. I am an accountant in the mineral commission department of
Ministry of Mines and Energy Ghana and also a member of contracts
awarding committee of this ministry under Ghana government. [...]

Content analysis details: (7.7 points, 5.0 required)

pts rule name description
---- ---------------------- --------------------------------------------------
0.5 FROM_ENDS_IN_NUMS From: ends in numbers
1.4 UNDISC_RECIPS Valid-looking To "undisclosed-recipients"
0.4 SUBJ_ALL_CAPS Subject is all capitals
-2.8 ALL_TRUSTED Did not pass through any untrusted hosts
2.2 FORGED_YAHOO_RCVD 'From' yahoo.com does not match 'Received' headers
0.4 US_DOLLARS_3 BODY: Mentions millions of $ ($NN,NNN,NNN.NN)
0.4 DNS_FROM_RFC_ABUSE RBL: Envelope sender in abuse.rfc-ignorant.org
0.5 DNS_FROM_RFC_WHOIS RBL: Envelope sender in whois.rfc-ignorant.org
1.4 DNS_FROM_RFC_POST RBL: Envelope sender in postmaster.rfc-ignorant.org
0.4 FROM_HAS_ULINE_NUMS From: contains an underline and numbers/letters
3.0 FORGED_MUA_OUTLOOK Forged mail pretending to be from MS Outlook

I do like the bit where the spammer says "this is true and not one of those mails you see on the internet", that was so sincere....

The BBC reports that HP Sauce is not going to be made in Birmingham any more, but in Holland. Now I have nothing against the Dutch, they are mostly great people, last time I was in Holland anyway.

But HP sauce that is made somewhere else just won't do, even if it tastes the same.

I'm off to Tesco to buy up as much as I can with "Made in England" on the bottle. I won't buy the foreign replacement. And I will be checking where the ketchup and the tomato soup come from before they get in my trolley.

And I bet you, Heinz did this because although they made a profit, it wasn't what they call enough. I bet they were not losing money on the product. I bet they are the usual greedy Americans like Mark Hurd at Hewlett Packard, who got $28,000,000 in bonus last year, and is cutting pay at EDS so he can have even more. Yup, HP was losing money, so it bought a profitable firm and cut their pay. That is Americans for you.

You are The Walrus

Cooking, biting people, genocide.

The Walrus points to all things hidden, and shouts at them incomprehensibly. The illumination is from within, and shines out of various orifices.

The Walrus is a card of introspection, analysis and, well, gigantic brains. You do not desire to socialize; the card indicates, instead, a desire for peace and solitude. You tend to eat seaweed a lot. There may be feelings of frustration and discontent but these feelings eventually lead to enlightenment, illumination, clarity.

The Walrus represents a wise, inspirational person, friend, teacher, therapist. This a person who takes the Mickey out of all sorts of mumbo jumbo.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

The Telegraph reports on

Harriet Harman: Britain’s most deluded woman?
Unashamedly ambitious, Harriet Harman believes she’s a leader-in-waiting. But the party’s MPs have other ideas, says Andrew Pierce

Hmm, mad eyes? Check. They point outwards.

Reminds me of some earlier posts of mine, here and the original, here.

A different walrus has had its bucket stolen, apparently.

more animals

There were desperate scenes outside banks owned by Sir Allen Stanford, the Texan financial mogul and brash cricket sponsor, as the fallout from fraud charges laid against him spread across the Americas.

"Sir" means a knight of the realm, surely? Texans and fake priests in Brighton need not apply, methinks...

It's stuffed my password, forced me to change it five times, and refusing to let me log on.

I read it on Faffajane's blog, and apparently Usksider started it. Of course, I do not follow trends and fashions. Please imagine you have not seen the above.

As an update to my old post about politicians with strange eyes, I present you with this unpleasant image of a person who claims her sister's house is her main residence, so as to be able to claim huge amounts of money from us.

Well, I was. I saw a headline saying he had apologised for calling Gordon (is a moron) Brown a "one-eyed Scottish idiot".

But it's not quite the grovelling apology the Press Association report makes out.

In a statement issued through BBC Worldwide on Friday he said: "In the heat of the moment I made a remark about the Prime Minister's personal appearance for which, upon reflection, I apologise."

So, he apologises for calling Brown one-eyed. No need to apologise for calling him Scottish, as it's true. And no sign of an apology for calling the Saviour of the Universe an idiot. So, that's understood, then.

Update:

1/ J C has clarified that he still says Gordon Brown is an idiot.

2/ Scottish politicians think J C should apologise for calling a Scot Scottish, as apparently it is an insult. Strange or what?

Private Eye points out that the web address http://www.ofquack.org.uk/ takes you to, well, guess...

In a desparate attempt to take pressure off the "differently spoken" Jonathan Woss, Jeremy Clarkson has called Gordon Brown a "one-eyed , Scottish idiot".

I am furious.

Utterly dancing with fury.

As angry as an angry walrus, in fact.

I have been calling Brown that, and worse, for ages, and where is my fame, eh?

The nation needs your salt, to save us from the National Grit Crisis.

Take your salt shaker outside, and sprinkle the road, now. It is your duty in this dark hour of need. We must show this vile Russian invading snow who is superior, by demostrating we are worth our salt, and have true grit.

I'm going back to bed.

This one comes disguised as an anti-phishing warning.

FEDERAL RESERVE BANK

Important:
You're getting this letter in connection with new directions issued by U.S. Treasury Department. The directions concern U.S. Federal Wire online payments.

On January 26, 2009 a large-scaled phishing attack started and has been still lasting. A great number of banks and credit unions is affected by this attack and quantity of illegal wire transfers has reached an extremely high level.

U.S. Treasury Department, Federal Reserve and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) in common worked out a complex of immediate actions for the highest possible reduction of fraudulent operations. We regret to inform you that definite restrictions will be applied to all Federal Wire transfers from February 6 till February 13.

Here you can get more detailed information regarding the affected banks and U.S. Treasury Department restrictions:

http://-I-removed-this-link

Federal Reserve Bank System Administration

The IP address it comes from is 85.255.244.65 which is in Poland.

According to Computerworld IBM has been hired by the US government to build a computer with more power than the current top 500 supercomputers put together. With its 1.6 million processors, it will run at around 20 petaflops, which is a bit fast...

IBM is actually building two supercomputers under this contract. The first one, to be delivered by mid-year, is called Dawn and will operate at around 500 teraflops. It will be used by researchers to help prepare for the larger system.

This rather reminds me of Deep Thought in the Hitch-Hikers' Guide to the Galaxy, who helps to design the ultimate computer, the Earth. (What a dull name.)

Turkey, Ephesus, in fact. Note the spurious apostrophe. The toilets were unspeakably evil, of course, though I have encountered worse in Singapore.

I'm scanning all our old negatives. Is it possible to extract the silver from them when I have finished?

Lord Mandelperson is jumping with excitement about the Post Office running a bank.

What planet has this ignorant little featherweight been on? Has he not heard of National Girobank? Pah!