What’s Up
Bonuses for Bankers? Bollocks!
Unbelievable!
Despite the fact that their selfishness and greed has dropped us all into the worst financial crisis for decades, RBS, Northern Rock and HBOS bankers are still planning to pay themselves bonuses!.
+31Obama is only human
Today’s news story about President Obama admitting that he “screwed up” over his handling of a controversy that led two politicians to decline posts in his administration, is – I think – a welcome breath of fresh air.
One of the things that politics has increasingly suffered from in recent years (and this is particularly true of US politics) is an ever-growing tendency by Joe public to view the top dogs as infallible. If they make any kind of mistake (even comparatively small and relatively honest ones), they get crucified by the press.
This tends to create an environment where politicians do one or more of the following, whenever they “screw up”:-
+13Snow and Chaos
Last night’s heavy snowfall (at least by British standards) has predictably caused the usual commuter chaos today.
Large sections of the rail network have shutdown completely, London buses, trains and even the tube have largely ground to a halt and the roads are, by all accounts jam-packed.
And all for less than 6 inches of snow.
Why is that?
+16Holocaust Memorial Day
Lest we forget…
When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.
When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.
When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.
When they came for the Jews,
I remained silent;
I was not a Jew.
When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.
- Martin Niemoller
References
+38Rant: Lazy Cartoonist Poster Boy
I’m a long time fan of Scott Adams Dilbert Comic strip, as are millions of cubicle farm workers in the ranks of the oppressed and downtrodden.
But I’ve always taken note of Adams’ willingness to shamelessly exploit his creation to make a few trainloads of cash in the vast world of merchandising and his apparent willingness to play both sides of the employee/employer war against each other, if there was a buck in it for him.
+17Barrack moves in…Bush moves out!
The long awaited day has finally arrived.
An estimated crowd of over 2 million people has turned out to witness Barrack Obama’s inauguration and (hopefully) welcome in a new era of relative political honesty, integrity and accountability.
+14Mission: Impossible Questions
After 3 days of battling a particularly nasty flu virus, I reluctantly emerged bleary-eyed and bunged up, from a mountain of sweaty bed linen, tissues and nasal spray bottles, after my fever broke (and the hot water bottle sprung a leak).
After cursing the second-rate nature of all British domestic goods, I managed to drag my carcass downstairs and park it on the couch. Su was watching some episodes of the original 1967 series of Mission: Impossible so I tried to take my mind off my spiraling temperature and wet socks (the hot water bottle was across my feet when it leaked) and tried to tune in to the episode plots.
+23