All quiet on the blogging front…

…and there is good cause for that.  For those living in a bubble, the news is incredibly fast moving of late, with written sources being outdated as they are printed.  Furthermore, there’s been a distinct lack of ‘real’ news on which to comment.

‘Dae nine hoon’red and who gives a rat’s in the Palace of Westmeenster and Bob has submitted a receipt for a Crunchie’

The Telegraph’s scooptastic exclusive shot itself in the foot on day one by revealing all the juicy bits, the moat cleaning, plasma tv’s and duck houses in one fell swoop, leaving only the snacks and stationary ‘theft’ to shock and titillate on slow news days.  Ok, so George Osborne may or may not have done some flipping to avoid capital gains tax, but he’s not the first and won’t be the last, and the mass saturation has led to apathy and fatigue.

‘Politicians are corrupt money grabbing freeloaders, and it’s all Blair’s fault!’ Please, tell us something we don’t know.  Oh, it isn’t Tony’s fault by the way, former speaker Michael Martin was playing the system way back in the ’80’s when he was a humble backbencher.

Given the fiasco and furore, perhaps it would make sense for MP’s to have a fixed income to cover the costs associated with their position, based on affordability to the taxpayer, and no expenses.  The primary consideration of these individuals after all is meant to be the welfare of their constituents – first rule of politics; give the people what they want.  Except this has been modified in recent times to ‘give the people what they think they want’.  And who decides this? Why the politicians of course!

If we force MP’s to focus on their political duties only, creating career politicians, this will be even more prevalent than now.  A politician who’s sole aim is to remain in his position thus avoiding the dole queue has potential to lie, cheat and swindle to maintain his seat.  The system may become more accountable, but only if those involved are honest, and we all know very few people are capable of that once they gain even a modicum of power.

The argument against MP’s having jobs is that they distract from their constituency duties.  This may be true of the lawyers – how can you prep a case and remain fully available? – but there are some cases where having a job in your constituency can actually created greater contact with the people, increase accountability and also re-build the bond which has been lost.

Of course, it goes without saying second jobs should be just that, secondary to Parliamentary commitments, and should be in the community served, not on the board of an influential company seeking to lobby.  But what is the main function of this debate?  To distract attention from *drum roll* THE EXPENSES SCANDAL!!!

Next on the list of un-bloggable news: F1.  It all kicked off in the leads up to Silverstone, FOTA vs. the FIA, Mosley vs. Briatore.  And just when you thought it was over, the Mosley / Ferrari sideshow rolled into town.  As things stand nobody knows if Max will indeed step down after his term as FIA President finishes, or will stand again, or if the rumours that he will, in a Putin-esque move install a carefully chosen successor in the form of Jean Todt.  The usually diplomatic Bernie Ecclestone (whodat? the F1 commercial rights holder, i.e. the head honcho) has this weekend waded into the quagmire with a potentially controversial Times  interview (see http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/formula_1/article6633340.ece for more info).

My favorite opinion (aside from Hitler possibly being a good leader – he did solve the Wiemar Republic problem after all, just a shame about the rest) is below;

“We did a terrible thing when we supported the idea of getting rid of Saddam Hussein. He was the only one who could control that country. It was the same [with the Taleban[sic]]. We move into countries and we have no idea of the culture. The Americans probably thought Bosnia was a town in Miami. There are people starving in Africa and we sit back and do nothing but we get involved in things we should leave alone.”

Let’s contextualise for a moment – Bernie means Iraq was a mistake because we’ve made the country more unstable, not that Saddam was an ‘alright kinda guy’. He may have governed by fear, but the country was working.

And the Max for PM comments are all old hat, Mosley had considered a political career as a Tory in the past, but didn’t get a seat.  Bernie, despite being a Blairite, has Thatcherite leanings (or perhaps the two are a natural marriage), and isn’t against democracy, but against its corruption and like many is angry with the current situation.  Unfortunately he isn’t the most eloquent and does not mince his words, hence the outcry against him for flippant comments taken out of context.  What would be interesting? The full interview transcript.

Say what you like about him, grumpy old man, capitalist, fascist sympathiser, the man is incredibly intelligent.  How so?  By inciting opinion against himself with the carefully selected tit-bits in Ed Gorman’s piece, Bernie has distracted media glare from the 2010 controversy.

Oh, and in other news, Iran had an election.  A man won.  A lot of people don’t like the declared winner.  And a popular movement led by the students has sprung up to depose him.  Potentially a huge comment piece.  But there’s a but, and it’s a big BUT, a J-Lo sized B-U-T!

WE DO NOT HAVE ALL THE INFORMATION!!!

As such I refuse to pass comment either way, other than to say that the response is perhaps out of proportion and I don’t like some of the things being said, but without knowing the bigger picture, who am I to throw around words such as illegitimate, undemocratic and dictator?

And finally…

A man died.  He used to make music.  But had not produced any new material in over a decade.  He had a talent and a troubled childhood, followed by a difficult adulthood.  But he was NOT perfect, he was NOT the light and the day.  He was a man.  Who touched a lot of people.  But a man nonetheless.  And he is dead and has been for over a week.  ”Man Still Dead” is not news.  ”Man Rises From Grave in Red Suit and does a Dance” is news.  But as that’s not going to happen, let’s leave it alone and let the family grieve and move on.