Not One Blue Rinse In Sight

[Now we have pretty women there's no stopping us]

I was originally alerted to the Guardian's montage of the 'new-look Tory women' [i.e. well presented, ethnically diverse and surprisingly young] over on Tory Bear. I had a glance at it, but it just seemed like another one of those articles; you know the ones, the ones that suggests Cameron has fundamentally changed the party, based on the fact that a handful of marginally attractive youngsters can be photographed posing like they will be appearing in Vogue.

So yeah, I disregarded it. Then today I got this tweet referring to the article, and I went back to it and, as well as checking out the shoes they were all wearing, I read the quotes that accompanied the pictures. If you were expecting a collection of pithy one-liners that emphasised the cerebral qualities of these top Tory women, then think again.

We have Anna Fazackerley of Policy Exchange saying: "I do not aspire to big hair. In fact, I don't own any hairspray". Hmm. Happy for you there. OK, I get it, but is that really the best quote they could find for her? Fazackerley said recently that she finds the current crop of women in politics a 'bit bland'. Antidote? Less hairspray and more witty banter.

Then we have Adeela Shafi. Her quote reads thus: "Being Muslim and a woman is part of who I am. It is important for me to be the first". Now I know what she means, but it does make it sound rather like she might be up for a spot of gender reassignment surgery. Doesn't it?

What of the very glamourous Liza Chantelle? As *ahem* 'Social Action Officer', which in itself sounds like a mid-level lieutenant in some kind of lefty militant organisation, or perhaps, more unfortunately given her quote, the person in charge of organising 'social action' *sly wink*. Her quote reads: "People from my community can do it – if you're a girl, if you're a Tory, whatever". I can confirm that being a girl and being a Tory does not, in any way, prevent one from 'doing it'.

The curious thing about Chantelle's quote is that if you read the source article, you will see the full quote, where it is clear that she is talking about her feelings on becoming an MP. One wonders why the full quote was not associated with the picture, as out of context, the quote by her picture as it stands lends itself to all manner of childish innuendo.

Last but not least I thought I would mention the ever fragrant Louise Bagshawe. You can read her full article here, but the quote they have chosen to go with the picture is: "I can't stand politicians preaching about personal morality". At last something that is both comprehensible and I can agree with. What about this though Louise? One can only imagine you have forgotten your cheerleading for Palin, or were somehow not fully aware of her politics, which, to put it mildly, especially by the standards of this country, were just a smidge preachy.

On Hindsight & Power

Oliver Kamm indulges in a little self congratulatory 'I told you so' backslapping on the topic of Brown's tenure as PM here. Kamm concludes:

Brown is no towering figure brought low by fate. He is a party functionary whose deficiencies of imagination and personality have been inevitably exposed by his undignified tenure in the highest office of state. What he schemed for was neither earned nor merited, and will end in electoral catastrophe for Labour. I don't welcome that but it will happen, and everyone knows it.

Kamm is not the only one who called Brown right of course, but I think the recent horror show of his premiership does obfuscate the despair felt by many Labour supporters immediately prior to Blair's departure. Following the damaging cash for honours investigation, a bloody nose in the 2006 local election, slipping polls popularity and lingering negative public sentiment over our engagement in Iraq, Blair was seen as a past his sell by date liability.

Brown's arrival was greeted not with great euphoria amongst my Labour supporting friends, but at least with hope that here was an opportunity to build a progressive agenda without the distractions of Blair's high handedness and foreign adventurism. Brown's own rhetoric of "listening and learning", of more "open and accountable" Parliament, the push for a constitutional reform programme and his rejection of spin, all suggested a renewal and an agenda and a personality that activists could sell to the country. It does not surprise me, against this background, that so many people were willing to overlook his character flaws and personality traits, yearning, as so many were by that time, for anything that was different from that slippery salesman guy.

In the article, Kamm quotes Christopher Hitchens writing in Vanity Fair.

He is in power only in order to be in power. He is in power only because he believes he has long had a natural right to be prime minister. For many years he waited as a resentful dauphin, swallowing his envy and bile. And then, like the fruit of the medlar tree, he went rotten before he was ripe.' [emphasis mine]

Some truth in Hitchen's metaphor rich analysis, but is that the only reason Brown clings to power? Speculating on the motivations of Brown, I would say it is not just because he thinks he is entitled to the job, but that he feels he is the only one who can deliver Britain from what ails it. I always feel that Brown feels like some kind of tragically misunderstood misanthrope, bearing the cross of unpopularity to deliver the country to some utopia. Crashing through the rooms of Number 10, throwing mobile phones at adjutants who scurry from his path, he cries, "Oh if only they could see my perfect vision just as I see it, then would they understand....only then." I find that prospect more frightening than if he was just the 'resentful dauphin' that Hitchens pegs him as.

The Blogger's Circle

To many echoes of the Magic Circle for me in the name of the new RSA sponsored initiative designed to create a kind of interactive blogging commune, but it does sound like a promising way of supporting aspiring bloggers. Head RSA honcho Matthew Taylor has given it a push too, and his own blog is going to be one of those involved in the circle.

The ideas behind it are laudable and will resonate with many bloggers starting out and venturing into this already very crowded marketplace. Building and retaining an audience for your blog can be a challenge, and if this is going to be an important measure of success for you, then you need to think about how you are going to achieve that.

My first ventures have been on sites that have also had a strong social networking aspect, so my readers came from the people that I made connections with. It was relatively easy therefore to build a small readership for your blog, but ultimately the technical constraints of using a 'closed system' for my blog and the at times parochial nature of such social networks, with the usual shifting alliances and flame wars, led me to move the majority of my blogging to Blogger.

Getting your blog noticed outside the comforting gated communities of the social networking site requires, I think, a combination of good content, good connections and different ways of promotion. Even if you are doing all of this though, good bloggers, or should I perhaps say, good blogposts, will inevitably slip unnoticed and unloved (boohoo!).

The Blogger's Circle is an attempt to find and spotlight those gems through collaborative endeavor. Uncovering new blogs is a very hit and miss process, at least for me, of following links between blogs or investigating interesting sounding entries on the blogroll. The RSA idea of a Blogger's Circle is really just a way of trying to formalise and add some structure to that process.

I would think one of the main success factors here would be how the traffic is drawn in from people outside of the nucleus of bloggers directly involved. I follow the blogs of five or six of those involved in trialling this idea, and it will be interesting to see which of the other 80 or so bloggers I end up reading/following as a result of this process of promotion within the circle.

Other than shining a light on some hidden blogging gems and giving them a wider audience, I would hope that those bloggers involved could also use it as an opportunity to pick up ideas around what works well and what doesn't work so well. Reading the blogs of others is a good way of learning, not just about the content of the post itself, but also about presentational and stylistic considerations. How long should a blog post be? How can you achieve the impact you desire? What is the point of Comic Sans font?

So if you are not already following one of the blogs in the circle, maybe you should, and see where the recommendations take you.

RIP Henry Allingham

A belated blog to mark the passing at the weekend of the world's oldest man, Henry Allingham at the age of 113. Allingham was one of only three remaining British World War I veterans, who saw action both during the naval battle of Jutland and also at Passchendaele. By the time Armstrong walked on the moon Allingham had already retired and was in his seventies.

The understated language used by veterans like Allingham never ceases to leave me feeling a sense of admiration for these ordinary men thrust into extraordinary circumstances. I watched a couple of programmes that ran on the History Channel a few months back, featuring interviews with veterans from WWI and I distinctly remember one old guy sat there recounting the wholesale slaughter around him in the trenches, concluding with a pause, a shake of the head and the phrase, "Ruddy stupid business really." That is a sentiment, I suspect, Henry Allingham would have found himself much in agreement with.

Blackpool Drafts in Obama

Is there no end to Obama's talents? The plaudits following speeches in Cairo and Ghana still ringing in his ears, he moves now to address the issue of British seaside town decline. The regeneration of Blackpool though might be a stretch even for The One's considerable talents.

No no, don't worry your suburban socks off people; like most of us upstanding and respectable folk, Obama would not be seen dead in Blackpool. This is a wax model of the President, one of the latest additions to Louis Tussaud Waxworks.

Is it just me.... or is there something just ever so slightly disquieting about Tussaud's version of Obama? I am thinking of a political version of House of Wax. Can you think of anything more terrifying than (a) being in a film with Paris Hilton (unless, guys, it is the kind of film released in all its grainy glory on the internet), and (b) running away from your assailants to collide with this wax monstrosity grimacing at you? Alright, perhaps if you pursuing assailant was Dick Cheney, then it would probably elevate the horror a few notches.

Why do I get the impression that this model may have been commissioned as a prototype for wild-eyed neo-con wingnuts? The more sophisticated animatronic version is going to nationalise everything and make Islam the official religion of the US, ensuring that the country takes up arms, and brings back the GOP from its wilderness retreat, like some grumpy old gunslinger in an early Eastwood movie, to rule all the way through until Rapture arrives.

But the thing that most unnerved me about the model, was after a few minutes of looking at it I began to feel that it was that carnivores smile that was most unnerving; it's the forced smile that cannot quite conceal the predator below. Now where had I seen that damn smile before? Answers on a postcard.

You know, I must stop drinking so much coffee....I am getting paranoid.

Blackwinged Bird

I can only revel so long in the misfortunes of our political class before I get bored. If the Telegraph is to provide such a vital public service and set itself up as the moral arbiter of all that is good and pure, then could it not do it any fucking quicker? After days of revelations even I am getting into that millenarian frame of mind that will see me out in Parliament Square with my 'End of Democracy' sandwich board in tow. 

There have of course been some eloquent and incisive analyses of events, but I cannot find the requisite interest level to dig them out of my bookmarks and post them at the moment. Some music instead then. The other week, whilst my significant other was away in the border country with family, I took to pining via Spotify, and became rather taken by a cover version of a song called Black-Winged Bird by Nina Persson. 

The original is by Canadian singer Emm Gryner and can be viewed here. I prefer the cover version though.

Expended?

[Moat clearance required. Generous rates paid. No Poles]

The drip, drip, drip of the Telegraph's tortuous revelations about exactly how much some of our MPs have been leeching from the system has a kind of addictive quality; my interest starts to wane and then here arrives the next selective expose. It almost has the feel that at some drunken MP bash, some of them formed a cabal, all sniggering as they set out the rules of a game to see who could get the most ludicrous claim past the fees office. 

Tomorrow's trawl looks set to dredge up the dirt on some of the Tory backbenchers, so I expect to see claims for rebuilding the servant's quarters or perhaps a Van Dyck to hang above the fireplace. The framing of the story and the choice of targets displays more than a hint of classism. The piece makes reference to 'country estates', 'clearance of moats' and 'domestic staff'. All very Jeeves and Wooster and in fitting with the mood of antipathy towards the prosperous and privileged which has permeated the country since we all decided we would quite like to see city bankers hanging from the nearest lamppost. There is danger here then for the Tories, as the one thing that the public hate more than funding the lifestyles of money grabbing, corrupt MPs, is funding money grabbing corrupt MPs that live in mansions and call their kids Crispin and Tamara.

Cameron, according to Conservative Home, may look to take disciplinary action against some of his MPs. Admirable though that maybe, it is difficult to know how that would take shape as undoubtedly all of those claims were....repeat after me everyone....'within the rules' [Bagehot, Liam Murray and, in a masterful trashing of Blears, Heresy Corner, all cover off exactly why this 'excuse' is so risible]. 

I am sure most people would prefer straightforward apology from the individual MP concerned; in fact I am convinced that the first MP that does something that feels like genuine contrition and offers to pay the money back, may well be able to ride on the public sentiment all the way to being Prime Minister. Some tears would be a nice touch, perhaps some kind of "I was weak, sooooooo weak..." type speech as well. 

For once though, I don't think we want Gordon Brown to apologise. Of course,  due to the 'a pox on all our houses' nature of this scandal, those habitual originators of requests for Brown to apologise, the Tory Party, are hardly in a position to make such a request. So what happens? He apologises anyway; not for himself though, but 'on behalf of politicians on behalf of all political parties'. Iain Dale and The Nameless Libertarian have already pointed out how weak and misleading this apology is, but it is also typical of Brown's brand of non-apology apologies. His language always sounds like something out of a letter from customer services explaining why you cannot be refunded for your broken kettle. 

He offers a kind of generalised apology rather than advocating for personal responsibility, which in a way is surely symptomatic of the culture that has led to the expenses fiasco in the first place: a general feeling that every other MP is doing it so why shouldn't I coupled with a complete lack of personal responsibility. Really quite sad and pathetic.