This blog is not asleep
Well, not quite. But almost completely, it would appear. It would seem I am hitting some sort of "wall" in terms of keeping the blog going when I am short of time and substantially distracted by other things. We'll have to see.
Anyway, here are two things which caught my eye together in a rather cursory review of the Sundays today. This (scroll down to: "Off-duty taxi driver fined after daughter lights up") strikes me as the unacceptable face of smoking ban enforcement. Taking the facts at face value, a one-off offence where the parties in question genuinely thought they were outside the limits of the law and in a truly "private car", and over-zealous officials apparently enjoying exercising petty powers. I *still* think the ban is a good thing, though. It was great to watch a couple of World Cup matches in smoke free pubs.
And in a comment piece which is only on the Scotsman premium content, Fraser Nelson writes about "Protest voters play the anti-politics card". The snippet here which interested me was that he pointed out that the May 2009 European Parliament elections fall on a date which might prove convenient for the then Prime Minister (he assumes Gordon Brown) to call a general election. Result: UKIP get the platform they want not only to take loads of Tory votes in EP elections, but in the Westminster election as well, and David Cameron is left fighting on two fronts as Europe becomes a "big issue" in a Westminster election. Interesting, and possibly quite a big gamble for any UK Prime Minister. For myself, I wonder whether or not Blair will go early enough (or late enough) to make 2009 a sensible option. An early departure, and we could well see a snap general election in Autumn 2008. A late departure, and we could be looking at an almost five year Parliament with perhaps late Autumn 2009 or even February 2010 a better option.
In the meantime, on in the background as I have been writing has been Big Brother (yes, apparently it has been continuing right throughout the World Cup and it is still a preferred TV watch of Junior Bond) and we watched in horror as one of the contestants managed silent disco-dancing to the same three songs, standing on a tiny mat (yes, that means no toilet breaks, no nothing) for *nine hours* all to get a small trophy for his pains. Puts the World Cup in context, to my mind...
Anyway, here are two things which caught my eye together in a rather cursory review of the Sundays today. This (scroll down to: "Off-duty taxi driver fined after daughter lights up") strikes me as the unacceptable face of smoking ban enforcement. Taking the facts at face value, a one-off offence where the parties in question genuinely thought they were outside the limits of the law and in a truly "private car", and over-zealous officials apparently enjoying exercising petty powers. I *still* think the ban is a good thing, though. It was great to watch a couple of World Cup matches in smoke free pubs.
And in a comment piece which is only on the Scotsman premium content, Fraser Nelson writes about "Protest voters play the anti-politics card". The snippet here which interested me was that he pointed out that the May 2009 European Parliament elections fall on a date which might prove convenient for the then Prime Minister (he assumes Gordon Brown) to call a general election. Result: UKIP get the platform they want not only to take loads of Tory votes in EP elections, but in the Westminster election as well, and David Cameron is left fighting on two fronts as Europe becomes a "big issue" in a Westminster election. Interesting, and possibly quite a big gamble for any UK Prime Minister. For myself, I wonder whether or not Blair will go early enough (or late enough) to make 2009 a sensible option. An early departure, and we could well see a snap general election in Autumn 2008. A late departure, and we could be looking at an almost five year Parliament with perhaps late Autumn 2009 or even February 2010 a better option.
In the meantime, on in the background as I have been writing has been Big Brother (yes, apparently it has been continuing right throughout the World Cup and it is still a preferred TV watch of Junior Bond) and we watched in horror as one of the contestants managed silent disco-dancing to the same three songs, standing on a tiny mat (yes, that means no toilet breaks, no nothing) for *nine hours* all to get a small trophy for his pains. Puts the World Cup in context, to my mind...
posted by BondWoman at 9:58 pm
2 Comments:
Dear Miss Bondwoman,
I was distressed to read that you are hitting the "blogging wall". I think it is only natural that one's enthusiasm should diminish after a while. I used to blog several times a day, but now restrict myself to an occasional ejaculation. I think, though, that this a more rewarding approach. The reason the newspapers are full of such witless prefabricated bilge is that they have to publish something every day whether they have something to say or not. Blogging, though, is like a play by Mr Harold Pinter - defined by its erudite silences.
That may be the correct approach, but unfortunately my occasional emissions of blurb will probably be neither funny nor pertinent...
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