And In Foreign News

The Grauniad keeps on giving.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEJy9Xcnyu0

The Grauniad keeps on giving.
It does rather highlight the gulf between Ms Sarkar and the demographic that she and her peers so merrily disdain as in need of either correction from above, by their betters, or outright replacement. As noted recently, from crime and policing to mass immigration, there’s been a marked shift in allegiance – one that’s apparently been noticed by quite a few voters. A point demonstrated, at times vividly, in this documentary by Martin Durkin.
Also, as Tim Newman observed, Ms Sarkar appears to have, shall we say, baggage.

And right on cue, a Barbara Ellen column. Headed “To be young under Margaret Thatcher was tough for many. I fear this will be far worse”
I was young under Margaret Thatcher. I don’t recall it being tough. Of course, I had a job.
“I’ve never had anything against Leave voters, but, guys, look at the state (the absolute state) of your leaders!”
We did. Then we looked at yours.

If anyone has trouble with comments not appearing, email me and I’ll jiggle the spam filter. Though not for a couple of hours, as I’m being taken out into Derbyshire.

Christmas in a nutshell: https://twitter.com/buitengebieden_/status/1205082844617420801

“It’s why we find articles by Guardian columnists in which they defend ‘problem families’ but not the working-class neighbours of those families, on whom their sociopathic behaviour is inflicted.”
I was reminded by a couple of comments at Guido’s this morning of my realisation about 30 years ago that we have (or had then) in Britain a liberal party called “Conservative”, a socialist party called “Liberal”, and a deeply conservative party of the unemployed and feckless* called “Labour”.
Things have changed over the years, but I think it’s more true than ever. And since the Liberals merged with an avowedly socialist party and added the word “Democrats” to their name, they’ve managed to find themselves fighting an election on a platform of ignoring the biggest democratic vote in this country’s history.
You couldn’t make this shit up. It’s almost like there’s a Trades Descriptions Act operating in reverse for political parties. (See also the European imperialists of the Scottish National Party constantly banging on about “independence” as they plot to hand even more power to Brussels.)
“We did. Then we looked at yours.”
🙂 PJ O’Rourke has a theory that the winner of US Presidential elections is always the one you’d most like (or least dislike) to have a drink with. One-term presidents are good examples: Carter over Ford, but Reagan over Carter; Bush over Dukakis, but Clinton over Bush. The point being that policy and what they’re actually like as people is almost irrelevant: Clinton’s an asshole, but he’s fun. Bush is no party animal (so he lost to Clinton), but at least he’s not a dull political geek like Dukakis. I bet he had some good war stories.
In that light, is it any wonder the Tories, led by Boris, won? Or why the last election, with May and Corbyn, was such a close-run thing with an indecisive result? I think Peej is on to something. (Although, to return to my last parenthetical point, it doesn’t explain the Nats. To be fair, for all his oleagenous smugness, Salmond seems like a bit of a laugh. But that bloody Sturgeon woman? She’s like a middle-aged Greta Thunberg.)
*Mind you, as a member of the unemployed and feckless community myself, I wouldn’t vote Labour if they’d held a gun to my head. Which, if they’d won on Thursday, would have been a distinct possibility next time out.
[Cripes. That was a long ‘un. I should probably get one of these blog things myself.]

[Cripes. That was a long ‘un. I should probably get one of these blog things myself.]
It’s all glamorous parties and endless babes. A heady rush.

It is quite pleasing, isn’t it?
It’s pleasingly literal.

The rot is spreading…
https://www.thecollegefix.com/academics-chide-article-on-quantum-computing-for-using-term-supremacy-its-for-racists/

if Corbyn is not representative of the Labour Party then how did he become its leader?
As others have noted, at a gathering of Labour Party members, you’re more likely to see the Palestinian flag than the British one. And photo opportunities like this one are in no way uncommon.

….then how did he become its leader?
It was all Toby Young’s idea.
And it happened earlier than predicted.

As others have noted, at a gathering of Labour Party members, you’re more likely to see the Palestinian flag than the British one.
In fact, I read very recently that the British flag is banned from Labour Party events.
I have also read that when Margaret Thatcher was first elected PM there were senior Labour Party and union officials who wanted to transform the UK into a Soviet state.
Now, am I correct that a less-extremist Labour Party would be far more popular with the public? And how much less extreme would it need to be to have a good chance of winning local and national elections?

Is that like being forcibly taken out into the wilds back of beyond, being given a bottle of water and some chips [crisps I think they’re called in England] and told to find your own way home by foot?
I did question the wording afterwards. We were running low on Meadowfresh of Chesterfield’s steak pie slices, which are available, for a very reasonable price, at the Chatsworth House Farm Shop.
As I believe I’ve mentioned before, they’re among the finest to be had.

Yes, Scargill was one of the people I was thinking of.

We were running low on Meadowfresh of Chesterfield’s steak pie slices,
What cut of beef do you use for steak pie slices? A local restaurant makes a fantastic Guinness Steak & Mushroom Pie. I think they use a sirloin cut. I’ve always been tempted to give it a go at home.

I had to make a trip to PetsMart to get socks for my dog (that’s another story). They had a Santa Claus in the store who would take a picture with your pet. The line up was longer than I’ve seen in the mall for the kid’s Santa. Of course the dogs were like young children and wanted nothing to do with Santa. One little cocker spaniel looked at me as if to say “save me from the psycho in the red suit.” Also, not a cat in sight.
I had no idea people did this. (Says the guy who was buying socks for his dog.)

Also, URLs for the Wayback Machine get completely bolloxed by the commenting software!

Steve E at 21:56
I had to make a trip to PetsMart to get socks for my dog
I really think that is up there with “It is a truth universally acknowledged … ” and “All happy families are the same … “

@ FM Muldoon: “For the very traditional connoisseur we also sell fresh tripe, hodge, cow heel, & chitterlings from our Chesterfield shop.”
Wot?!? No lambs’ brains to be fried with bacon? One of life’s great delights is crumbed brains and bacon. I thank my long deceased English grandmother for educating me in regard to the consumption of what the ignorant call offal. Now if I can only find some one who can make a real bacon and egg pie, not those anaemic quiche things people try to flog instead.
Jim

…chitterlings from our Chesterfield shop.
This is the closest Chesterfield Shop to me. The only part of the animal they sell is the skin.
I really think that is up there with…
Okay, I had to buy socks for my dog because my father-in-law and my mother will be here for Christmas. They are both in their late 80s and have developed very sensitive and thin skin. My dog loves both of them and jumps up on them and his nails end up opening wounds on their arms and hands. This year I thought if I bought socks for him he wouldn’t have to spend all of Christmas locked up in the back porch. I know he should be trained not to jump up, but that ship has sailed.

… has been suspended.
Yes, but with pay, so just eyewash CYA to pretend they did something, Seattle mendouchery I believe has no limits.

I had no idea people did this.
Childless women projecting their frustrated maternal instincts onto their pets. There’s a reason they call them “furbabies”.

Probably poached pancreas…
Absolutely nothing wrong with a bit of pancreas. There’s a lot of faffing about to be done in the preparation but believe me, it’s worth the effort.

Today’s word is milieu.
Antifa -just like normal people!

For the very traditional connoisseur we also sell fresh tripe, hodge, cow heel, & chitterlings from our Chesterfield shop.
One wonders if they have any recommendations for some fava beans and a big Amarone.

I’m guessing the ladies have a version of this.
Via Holborn.

RE organ-based delicacies, such as tripe, poached pancreas, and my favorite – menudo – what is your personal ethics on introducing – let’s say exotic – foods to loved ones who you just know will enjoy them, despite their previously stated trepidation?
I’ve heard enough “I had no idea I was eating ____, but it was delicious!” stories to be tempted into bending the truth a bit in the name of culinary discovery, but alas can’t bring myself to serve those who’ve not consented. Persuasion via inviting aromas is often the preferred method. That and having absolutely nothing else on offer. Thoughts?

“If this serious approach to the problem doesn’t solve homelessness nothing will.”
That’s exactly the phenomenon the Goon Show used to parody with the likes of a tunnel from the House of Lords to the Folies Bergère.* Of course, it looks different; the modern establishment has different taste to the old one. But it’s still pissing taxpayers’ money up the wall.
*“But sir, I thought we were cutting down on this sinful national expenditure?”
“Of course we are! We haven’t built any lighthouses in The Strand this year. And besides, we’ve cut the tunnel estimates down to the barest essentials. There’ll only be plain silver chandeliers.”

A while ago, The Other Half was watching a documentary about street food in, I think, Thailand. One of the temptations on offer was steamed chicken feet.
Can’t say I was swayed.

Nikw211: ’ Well, that didn’t take long …’
Stock up on popcorn, there’s much, much more vicious infighting to come!

@ Sam: “few thing smell better cooking than liver and onions, few things taste worse
In my experience you have this exactly backwards.”
Kidneys are nice too when fried with onion.
Jim

One of the temptations on offer was steamed chicken feet.
Far from the worst thing eaten in Asia, and infinitely preferable to pagpag.

Now, am I correct that a less-extremist Labour Party would be far more popular with the public? And how much less extreme would it need to be to have a good chance of winning local and national elections?
They already win plenty of local elections.
Labour was historically Socialist, and the key to that was Clause IV of their constitution:

To secure for the workers by hand or by brain the full fruits of their industry and the most equitable distribution thereof that may be possible upon the basis of the common ownership of the means of production, distribution and exchange, and the best obtainable system of popular administration and control of each industry or service.

But Tony Blair knew with that the Labour Party would only ever win when the Conservatives were disastrously poor, and he altered it to read:

The Labour Party is a democratic socialist party. It believes that by the strength of our common endeavour we achieve more than we achieve alone, so as to create for each of us the means to realise our true potential and for all of us a community in which power, wealth and opportunity are in the hands of the many, not the few, where the rights we enjoy reflect the duties we owe, and where we live together, freely, in a spirit of solidarity, tolerance and respect.

He also marginalised the extreme left of the party (so much that many of them left it).
And so under him the Party had a run of victories. Labour Parties which are Blair-like social democrats are remarkably successful, including the current NZ Labour Party. The key is that they aren’t Socialist.
The current British Labour is reverting to type, with nationalisation of industry high on its list of priorities, and a love that descends to madness for public schools and the NHS. While they remain like that, they will never rule consistently.
I might add, that the Left loathe Tony Blair. He had the temerity to show them that Socialism was all that stood between them and power. The exact same party, with mostly the same people standing, won massive majorities under him.

. . . street food in, I think, Thailand. One of the temptations on offer was steamed chicken feet.
Or China.
They’re perfectly edible, nothing at all odd—A hyper extended sort of wishbone, sort of???—but then once one has had one, entirely Ehn.
Basically, after the first one, they become merely a step above jicama or eggplant, given that those and related have never achieved being anything more than edible objects for delivering some covering sauce or so.

I agree with Sam, liver and onions on the plate smells and tastes great, but the smell of it cooking is hard to take. Must be the last of the piss-tang burning off. It was a favorite for dinner when I was growing up. We weren’t rich but we ate well. Another favorite was creamed kidneys on toast.
In general I find whatever smells tasty is tasty and vice versa. Some if not all physiologists seem to confirm the two senses are strongly linked. Yet I know some people who say, for instance, they like the smell of coffee but can’t stand the taste. Which baffles me, but that’s their story.

Must be the last of the piss-tang burning off.
Liver – another animal used oil filter, but “piss-tang” ? If there is urine in a liver, the animal was very, very ill when slaughtered, and if you were eating kidneys (which can only be cooked by boiling the piss out of them) you might have thought you were eating well, but anyone who went to a butcher and and had a choice between real meat and a kidney and chose the latter, probably shouldn’t have been shopping, let alone cooking.

It’s all glamorous parties and endless babes.
So that’s what you spend our hard earned money on. 😁

@ FM Muldoon: “…anyone who went to a butcher and and had a choice between real meat and a kidney and chose the latter, probably shouldn’t have been shopping, let alone cooking.”
We kill and butcher our own steers so there’s no shopping, but a lot of cooking of prime meat that we know is clean and unadulterated – and offal too. What we don’t eat goes to the dog.
Jim

Well, that didn’t take long …
Oh, but who needs mere twit sniping when one can go straight to the lawyers?
Labour: Thornberry begins legal action over ‘stupid’ Brexit claims
WRIT HITS THE FAN! Labour in civil war as Emily Thornberry vows to sue ex-MP Caroline Flint for ‘making up s**t’
Stock up on popcorn, there’s much, much more vicious infighting to come!
Popcorn? Nah, this is going to be entertainment on the scale of calling in a team of caterers . . . .

The prime rule of first world dining when it comes to vertebrates: nothing above the first thoracic vertebra and no caudal vertebrae, nothing from either the plural or abdominal cavities, nothing below the tibia and fibula. The only exception is a survival situation; this isn’t the middle ages where the peasants only got the leftover bits the gentry had the sense not to eat.
Addendum No. 1: Yeah, the animal equivalent of a used oil filter, add “retroperitoneal” organs to my list above.
Addendum No. 2: …anyone who went to a butcher and and had a choice between real meat and a kidney and chose the latter, probably shouldn’t have been shopping, let alone cooking.
That’s food wisdom right there folks. If I had the time and money I’d have that chiseled into marble and hang it in our kitchen.
Yet I know some people who say, for instance, they like the smell of coffee but can’t stand the taste. Which baffles me, but that’s their story.
I enjoy the smell of frying eggs at breakfast but cannot stand either their taste or the way they feel in my mouth. Go figure.
RHEEEEEEEEE!!! Terrorist propaganda!
Start warming up the helicopters, I’ve about reached the end of my rope with this krep. Honestly, a children’s book about body identity is “anti-trans extremism”? We’ve reached levels of Orwell that shouldn’t be possible – “In a time of deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary (extremist) act.”

I didn’t say I was a fan of Tony Blair. Unusually for a politician who won multiple elections he is pretty much universally loathed, as the effects of his decisions became apparent. I think Hitler has more fans TBH — at least he didn’t invade countries to “save” them.
My point was that he didn’t have to do much to make Labour electable. Just ditch the emotional attachment to Socialism.

As I recall Tony Blair was portrayed very favorably in “The Queen”, although may have missed nuances from far away across the Pond.