There have been a couple of these in the past....internet humour with a twist:

Log on to Google

Type in "French Military Victories"

Hit the 'I'm feeling lucky' button

And enjoy.

Thanks to Stuart for passing this on to me... tell your friends before Google fix it.....

Did anyone else notice that the eventual winner of Celebrity Big Brother - the Paris Hilton lookalike, Chantelle - was in fact the only non celebrity to take part?    She was invited as the 'fake' to see if the others would notice.

Irony anyone?

As the shooting season draws to a close, I can reflect on my own very first seasons sport and how much fun I have had.

Far from being an orgy of killing anything that flies, it has taught me more about the workings of the countryside than I imagined.   It has been enjoyable in part for the company and cameraderie and in part for the challenge of trying to shoot a moving target 40 ft up in the air moving away from you at some speed....  The adrenaline rush on a successful kill is immense and owes much to the difficulty in succeeding.

I have learned much about how to keep game, to keep them free from predators and keep them on our land (or not, but it's a lesson for 2006).   To build and maintain a pheasant pen, to feed and water the poults and of what crop makes good cover.

And I realise, how embedded in the daily life of country folk is that which many seek to ban.   A way of life that has endured for generations: and these are not just rich folks with expensive weapons and little talent, but ordinary people who will come out for a days beating or train their dogs to pick up downed quarry.   Or whose livelyhood comes from gamekeeping or controlling predators.   The countryside has a natural equilibrium all of its own - and there's a whole industry out there.   It may be of feudal origin, but it seems to work rather well as it is, needing no more regulation or intervention. 

As the ubiquitous car stickers down our way say:   "We keep our bulls*t in the countryside:  you keep yours in Westminster".  

Hear, hear.   And here's to a splendid summer and a good season in 2006.

Kung Hei Fat Choy to all.   Here's hoping the year of the Dog brings you health, wealth and happiness.


The Lunar New Year dates from 2600 BC, when the Emperor Huang Ti introduced the first cycle of the zodiac.

Because of cyclical lunar dating, the first day of the year can fall anywhere between late January and the middle of February. On the Chinese calendar, 2006 is Lunar Year 4703-4704. On the Western calendar, the start of the New Year falls on January 29, 2006 — The Year of the Dog.

If you were born in 1922, 1934, 1946, 1958, 1970, 1982, 1994, or 2006 - you were born under the sign of the dog. Like the dog, you are honest and faithful to those you love, although you also can be somewhat eccentric and very stubborn at times! For dogs in 2006, any recent setbacks or obstacles can be overcome so look forward to a year in which to really shine, either personally or professionally.

George Galloway was evicted from the Big Brother house yesterday.   Leaving the studio to the jeers of onlookers he had been unaware of the strength of feeling against his appearance within his Constituency.

In one memorable scene (I have to say that I read it in a newspaper as I can't bear the to watch the rubbish) he wore a read catsuit and had to pretend to lick milk from the lap of another contestant..

Cue saucers of milk, cries of Miaaaoow and trays of cat litter when he next turns up at the House.   Although, on past form, don't expect him anytime soon.

I don't think we've heard the last of him....

Sir John Cowperthwaite, who died on January 21 aged 90, was Financial Secretary of Hong Kong throughout the 1960s; his extreme laissez-faire economic policies created conditions for very rapid growth, laying the foundations of the colony's prosperity as an international business centre.

The present administration in the UK could learn much from this approach, creating a vibrant and successful economy, the foundations of which survive to this day.

Cowperthwaite was a classical free-trader in the tradition which stretched from Adam Smith to John Stuart Mill and Gladstone, rather than a modern monetarist. He was also a seasoned colonial administrator, with a strong streak of common sense. But his achievement in Hong Kong was hailed by Milton Friedman and other free-market economists as a shining example of the potency of laissez-faire when carried through to its logical conclusions in almost every aspect of government. The Right-wing American commentator PJ O'Rourke called Cowperthwaite "a master of simplicities".

Cowperthwaite himself called his approach "positive non-intervention". Personal taxes were kept at a maximum of 15 per cent; government borrowing was wholly unacceptable; there were no tariffs or subsidies. Red tape was so reduced that a new company could be registered with a one-page form....   more »

Today is Australia Day so a big cold tinnie, or a glass of chaaaardonnay to our friends down under.

More information at  http://www.australiaday.gov.au/default.asp

Cheers!

This summer, for the first time, juveniles overtook adults as recipients of the most Asbos. "I know he's a cheeky so and so," Susan O'Driscoll told the press after her 11-year-old son Ryan Wilkinson became the youngest-ever member of the junior Asbo club. The order was given after allegations of ...   more »

It could only happen in Britain in 2006.    The story of a bottlenose whale heading up the Thames gripped the nation last week as rescuers attempted to return it to the sea.   Thousands turned out to watch and it became the lead story on the news.   (Obviously not much going on in the Big Brother house then)   Sadly, despite strenuous efforts from the British Divers Marine Life Rescue Association (BDMLRA) and a raft of volunteers, the whale died just before it was to be released back to sea.

Spare a thought for the colleagues I have sent over to Moscow on business.    The cold weather in Blighty may be unwelcome.   But it was -30deg celsius in the Russian Capital last week. 

So much for the sightseeing visit ..... this has certainly cooled my enthusiasm for a return trip to take in some of the sights.   Definitely need to wait until Spring.

Rupert Murdoch, billionaire and publisher of The Sun and The Times has put the cat amongst the pigeons in a radio show over the weekend.   Speaking to The Daily Telegraph's Jeff Randall on Radio Five Live, he said: "I think it has been a pretty good government in many ways, but it has extended the nanny state, the welfare state and gone a long way to destroy this idea of personal responsibility for people's lives".

"It is up to people to get on and the Government to get out of their way and to tax them less and give them more incentives."

Hear Hear.  And before it is too late too.

News International have supported the Labour administration since 1997.   Seems as if they have just fired a warning shot across the bows of Toni and his chums.....

The Rt. Hon. Tony Chav....err, no, Blair.   Prime Minister.



Is it the real thing?   Or is it wax?   Hard to tell really.   Both are infinitely mouldable and able to change to suit any either eventuality or offer enhanced voter appeal.    This particular version is the latest by Madame Tussauds and is in response to our Toni's new Respect agenda.

No prizes for guessing which way the folks at Tussauds will be voting then.  

Respect!

Wilson Pickett, the soul singer best known for the hits Mustang Sally and In the Midnight Hour, has died of a heart attack, aged 64.

 

Pickett had been suffering from health problems for the past year and died in a hospital yesterday near his home in Virginia.

 

He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991, the same year that his career was revived as a result of several of his songs being featured in the Alan Parker film The Commitments. Pickett, who is survived by his fiancée and four children, will be buried beside his mother Lena in Louisville, Kentucky.

 

One of the most popular black singers of the '60s, Wilson Pickett helped introduce the aggressive style of rhythmic style of soul music. Aided immeasurably by the excellent studio bands backing him at the Stax Studios in Memphis, Tennessee, and The Fame Studio in Muscle Shoals Alabama, Pickett scored a series of R&B and pop hits on Atlantic Records between 1963 and 1972 that included "In the Midnight Hour," "Mustang Sally," and "Funky Broadway."

Raised in Prattville, Alabama, Wilson Pickett moved to Detroit, Michigan at the ...   more »

A recent government wheeze intended to unite the Brits in a ‘British Day’ seems to have stumbled at the first hurdle.

 

An initial suggestion was Remembrance Day, November 11^th.   Cue cries of outrage and horror.   Rightly so too.  

 

Next, one of the less bright in the House suggested 14^th October, the anniversary of the Battle of Hastings in 1066.

 

Not a particularly sound choice as, if I recall my history correctly, that particular battle didn’t go well for the English.   King Harold II of England lost to Duke William of Normandy.   It was the last time any foreign power was to conquer Britain.

 

Really well thought out choice then.   

It is said the reason Ferruccio Lamborghini created the orginal Miura in 1966, was because he did not like Enzo Ferrari.   Apparently Lamborghini owned a Ferrari and complained that the gearbox was noisy.   Enzo allegedly responded by suggesting he stick to making tractors – which had made him a millionaire - and leave the manufacture of sportscars to Ferrari.   Ferrucio was a tad miffed so decided to have a go himself….

 

Whatever his motives may have been, it’s a great story, an amazing car and it rewrote the rule book for supercars for ever.   Sure, GT’s can have engines at the front, but to be a sportscar the motor has to be in the middle.  OK, or the back in the case of the 911, but that really is the exception that proves the rule.

 

In dazzling orange or lime green, the original Miura epitomised the swinging Sixties, with black eyelashes around its headlamps matching the false lashes of skinny, white-faced models.  Twiggy's manager, Justin de Velleneuve, bought the one above (with her money) to squire her around London's night spots.   One of my friends bought said car a couple of years ago as an investment.   I could barely get in - god knows how you would actually drive one - let alone park it, it was awful.   But it looked amazing.  

The Muira also set the standards in scary supercar handling. Super-fast, its screaming quad-cam V12 engine was mounted across the back; that mass would pull the car into lurid oversteer if you lifted off in a corner and the sharp nose would lift at speed as air got underneath it.

And now, as retro is the new new, it is being reborn.   This new version sports a barrage of aerodynamic splitters and winglets to keep it on the ground. So will it be less scary than the old model? Bentley's chief engineer, Uli Eichhorn, thought so. "I don't think we know how to make a car that handles that badly any more," he grinned.

True, but you still know how to make them gorgeous!

 

I think I need another lottery ticket.   Or two.

Leafing through the Metro the other day I spotted a story about a blog called Gallery of the Absurd.    Very original and rather good, it "illustrates the sordid world of gossip and slander while trying to keep a straight face".

It's the perfect antidote to 'celebrity' trash mags.   I loved it.   The Artist Fourteen is a blogger with a big sense of humour and talent with a pen.   When asked whether she disliked the celebrities she paints she replied "Quite the contrary, I love the celebrites I paint.   They provide me with hours and hours of laughter - such clowns they are".  Spot on I reckon.

The New Yoik Post said of the blog 'hitting the marrow of what is specifically annoying about specific celebrities'.   My sentiments entirely.   Check out the blog on http://galleryoftheabsurd.typepad.com

From An Englishman’s Castle, a report on the increase in public sector workers makes quite shocking reading.

National Statistics Online

Employment in the public sector rose by 72,000 in the year to September 2005, compared with an increase of 115,000 in the previous year to September 2004.

The largest increases in public sector employment in the year to September 2005 were in health and social work (45,000) and education (25,000). There were also increases in the police service (including civilians) (10,000) and public administration (3,000).

There were decreases in HM Forces (8,000) and construction (7,000).

The Englishman is surprised at the proportion of workers though:

Public sector employment in the United Kingdom as a proportion of total employment was 20.4 per cent in June 2005. This was still below the June 1992 figure of 23.1 per cent but above the low point of 19.2 per cent in June 1999.

Well at least that is a trend in the right direction.   Or is it?

From 1991 to 1998, public sector employment fell every year, with an overall reduction of 816,000 over that period. From 1998 public sector employment rose every year to 5,846,000 in June 2005. This was 680,000 ...   more »