The Current Outlook

Riot police in the Belarussian capital, Minsk, have broken up a five-day demonstration against the re-election of President Alexander Lukashenko.

And now, a round of tut-tut-tutting from the good old European Union, Britain and the United States. Witness the Russians stand idly-by, doing sweet fuck-all. Everything is hunky-dory, with the totalitarian Belarussian regime fully in place. Hurrah, hurrah for the last dictatorship in Europe.

If George W. Bush really gave a flying shite about democracy he’d raise more of a fuss about this. But he doesn’t, so he won’t.

Charles Clarke, the Home Secretary, has been forced to apologise after reducing the clergyman father of a July 7 victim to the brink of tears during an extraordinary encounter in a cathedral.

That was utterly disgusting behaviour. Good stuff. Rachel North (his daughter, who was one of the 7 July victims) has more on this story here.

South Park’s creators have renewed their “battle” with Scientology, after a US TV channel dropped a show which mocked its church and actor Tom Cruise.

Dear, oh dear. They gave in. I hope they feel better after kowtowing to a moody, petulant little pissant like Thomas Cruise Mapother IV. Well done.

However…

Matt Stone and Trey Parker, in their usual take-no-shite-from-anyone style released the following statement directly to Mr. Cruise and the other Scientologist (you can find out more about this particular hatstand religious movement over at this Wikipedia article):

So, Scientology, you may have won THIS battle, but the million-year war for earth has just begun! Temporarily anozinizing our episode will NOT stop us from keeping Thetans forever trapped in your pitiful man-bodies. Curses and drat! You have obstructed us for now, but your feeble bid to save humanity will fail! Hail Xenu!!!

Trey Parker and Matt Stone, servants of the dark lord Xenu.

This is what is commonly referred to as ‘a class act’. No ifs, no buts. A class act.

Tom Cruise: if you’re reading this, I’m going to offer you a gratis piece of advice. If you want to go around making yourself look an arse and a total nutter to boot, throw a gargantuan temper tantrum over a 22-minute animated topical satire show that no-one would have cared less about.

I’ve said this here before and I’m going to restate it. South Park S9E12 (’Trapped in the Closet’) is damned funny. If you are able to see it, do so. Just for the hell of it, like.

One last point: the egregious Isaac Hayes can suck my white chocolate salty balls, quite frankly.

Tonight’s edition of Question Time will take place in Gateshead and will be chaired by David Dimbleby.

Margaret ‘Enver’ Hodge MP (Labour; Minister for Work)

David Willetts MP (Conservative; Shadow Education Secretary)

Baroness Tonge (Liberal Democrat; peer)

Kwame Kwei-Armah (actor)

Sir Simon Jenkins (Guardian commentator)

A special website has been set up. To oppose the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill currently making its way through The United Kingdom Parliament. It’s called Save Parliament. Link to it on your blog. That is all.

Just had an e-mail from the nice people at the Save the Radio 4 Theme campaign on the new CD single:

UK Theme Release Information - 27th March 2006
Released on MONDAY, 27th MARCH as part of the `Save The Radio 4 Theme’ campaign.

PROCEEDS GO TO THE LIGHT MUSIC SOCIETY & LIBRARY

The campaign’s specially commissioned CD single of the ‘Radio 4 UK Theme’ plus ‘Sailing By’ was recorded on Friday 17th February by a Grammy Award-winning production team at Henry Wood Hall, London – performed by the Royal Ballet Sinfonia under Gavin Sutherland.

THE SIX-POINT CAMPAIGN PLAN
…YOUR LAST CHANCE TO SAVE THE THEME!

1. The single is released on MONDAY 27th MARCH (both online and in the shops)
2. All 17,000 petition signatories, amongst others, buy it (£1.99 in the shops/online - 78p per track to download)
3. The single hits the music charts (these days half that number would do it, and this time of year 17,000 would go top ten, if not higher)
4. Fresh publicity is thus generated, recruiting more supporters to the campaign.
5. Maximum pressure is exerted on Radio 4 controller Mark Damazer by raising the campaign’s media profile to new heights - they thought we’d go away. Ha!
6. Mark Damazer reconsiders, “having underestimated the public’s affection…” etc.

THE UK THEME IS SAVED.

Well done all!
(and we each now have a CD of the superbly recorded new version – plus ‘Sailing By’)

If Mark Damazer does axe the UK Theme after all our best efforts, then perhaps he and his successors will at least think twice next time they have a great British cultural icon in their sights… and at least your opinion will have been heard loud and clear!

IF YOU KNOW SOMEONE WHO WOULD LIKE TO BE KEPT UPDATED ABOUT HOW & WHERE TO BUY THE CD, GET THEM TO SEND A BLANK EMAIL TO savetheradio4theme-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

YOU CAN PRE-ORDER THE CD NOW BY FOLLOWING THIS LINK TO HMV… Click here to order at HMV or visit the website http://www.savetheradio4theme.co.uk for more details.

EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST NOW WILL HELP MAKE THIS HAPPEN.

I’ve pre-ordered my copy. Have you pre-ordered yours?

One nice little tidbit (interesting to me, anyway): Ernest Tomlinson, who helped to produce this comes from my small town. He’s known to my family.

Hazel Blears MP (Labour; Home Office Minister)

Chris Grayling MP (Conservative; Shadow Transport Secretary)

Jean Lambert MEP (Green Party of England and Wales)

Rod Liddle (associate editor of The Spectator)

Right Reverend Dr. Michael Nazir-Ali (bishop of Rochester)

I can’t be doing with the horrible goblin that is presently known as Hazel Blears, and the rest of the panel look a bit of an irrelevance - to me, at least. I think I’ll give this one a miss; The Road to Guantanamo over on Channel 4 looks far more interesting.

Astronomer Sir Patrick Moore, host of The Sky at Night, is to be fitted with a pace-maker after suffering heart problems, his agent said.

Hopefully he’ll be OK. I don’t often watch The Sky at Night - maybe catch glimpses of it every few months or so - but whenever I do his obvious enthusiasm for the whole thing turns what might otherwise have been a rather dull programme (for people not interested in the sky) into something interesting.

Well-behaved teenagers are to be rewarded with a so-called “good behaviour card” to spend on sport and leisure, under plans being unveiled.

Another horrible dog-turd of an idea. We shouldn’t be rewarding any class or creed of people in society for ‘behaving well’, but we should punish them when they do wrong. It’s perfectly simple to me.

I WAS surprised to read (News Letter, February 15) of Lady Sylvia Hermon’s support for the Identity Card Bill currently before the House of Commons.

An interesting letter about the the Ulster Unionist Party’s continued support for the UK ID/NIR Stasi database. The UUP are the only parliamentary party in the entire United Kingdom (and the only political party in Northern Ireland - the Democratic Unionist Party turned against it some time ago) who still supports the Government on this issue.

The Ulster Unionists have only one MP at Westminster so their single vote doesn’t carry that much weight but they should turn against this, for this utterly abhorrent scheme has absolutely zero merit whatsoever.