Pictures of Lily...

...came to mind so there ya go. It has also come to my attention that some bloke from Walsall - where else? - has become Britain's oldest father of twins, I don't wish to be unkind but isn't there something scarily bug eyed about aforesaid twins.

Volunteers

Continuing the insurrectionary mood of recent postings, here are Jefferson Airplane from way back when with Volunteers, the title track from one of the finest rock albums vever in the rabbit's opinion. Warming to my theme, and going even further back in ancient history, I've made it a double header with Buffalo Springfield and For What it's Worth. That's enough political rock stuff for now...

Charon and Minor

Because it says it all, here is Charon's posting today in full without further comment.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009 by charonqc
Imagine a country where the right to trial by jury has been undermined, where an individual can be tried twice – the rule on double jeopardy abandoned – where well over 3000 new crimes have been enacted in the past ten years; where racial, sexuality and religious tensions are said to need the protection and might of law.
Imagine a country where the chief justice and many leading judges fear for the future of justice and civil liberties because the government of that country has eroded civil liberties in the name of countering terror and has reduced support for those of limited means, and vulnerable people, to fight their corner and pay for lawyers.

Imagine a country where people are imprisoned without charge for 42 days.
Imagine a country where the right to speak freely is restricted and individuals can be threatened by lawyers who can simply telephone a judge in Chambers to restrict them from speaking out, on what may well be a matter of great public importance, to protect sectional and very private corporate interests, where attempts to restrict the reporting of the proceedings of the press are routinely granted through the use of super-injunctions and, latterly, a country with laws which allowed lawyers to attempt to restrict the reporting of proceedings in parliament itself.

Imagine a country that leads the world in CCTV surveillance with more cameras per head of population than any other on Earth.

Imagine a country where not only the police but local authorities and other civilian bodies can routinely spy on you, intercept your email, bug your phone and can intrude to examine your bank accounts and then, even for quite minor offences, can seize your assets, freeze your bank account and seize and crush your car; powers intended to tackle terror and organised crime but which now will, inevitably, be used for far less serious offences.

Imagine a country which has restricted the money paid to experienced criminal lawyers with the result that many lawyers can no longer afford to practice in the field and the quality of representation may decline as a result.
Imagine a country with over 85,000 people in jail, a country where the Justice Ministry wants yet more prisons and even considered hiring prison ships from elsewhere.

Imagine a country where the government uses the device of statutory instrument to slide controversial legislation through into law without the eyes of the public, expert commentators or members of parliament being able to see, or objective minds, to consider those laws.

Imagine a country that allows the prime minister to wage war without the consent of the elected representatives of the people…

You don’t need to imagine such a country. You are living in it.

The picture is - in case you don't know - Delacroix's Liberty leading the People.

On a completely different topic below - with Hat Tip to Jailhouse Lawyer is the millionth Morris Minor from the 22 December 1960. It is a pleasing mauve. It is also up for auction and estimates as to the likely selling price are £25-30,000 but of course wno-one has a clue. It will be interesting to see.

Beau Bo D'Or strikes again...

This is irresistible! After the postings about Griffin's appearance on Question Time and Springtime for Hitler I discover that Beau Bo d'Or (link to left) has been keeping up the good work with a clip that combines the two. Just sit back and enjoy. For overseas readers, Griffin aka FatFuck the Fascist (nice one Charon!) is the leader of a fascist party called the BNP (British National Party). It won two seats in the European Parliament this year and thus the BBC concluded in its infinite wisdom that it was necessary in the interests of political balance to have FatFuck the Fascist - sorry Griffin - on flagship current affairs panel programme Question Time. Then things got very lively. I didn't even see the programme but gather FatFuck didn't acquit himself too well including an embarrassing amnesiac episode as regards his previous holocaust denying writings.

Talking of the BBC, it may be necessary to drag law into this blog shortly as I am on BBC Radio 4 Law in Action next Monday discussing Ken Macdonald as DPP. I was recorded at BBC Birmingham yesterday. They have a dirty great dalek just by reception. I was pleased to note.

FatFuck the Dalek

Milton and the Flintstones

The thought is not original - it comes from Armando Iannucci - but deserves spreading about. The opening line from Milton's Paradise Lost 'Of man's first disobedience and the fruit of that forbidden tree...' rhymes with the theme tune to the Flintstones. Okay the first sentence is 16 lines long but that's the first bit and it rhymes perfectly.

Thought you should all know ;)

Springboard/time for Griffin

Beau Bo D'Or (link to left) - whose praises I am ever singing - strikes again! It inevitably put me in mind of The Producers - one of the funniest films ever - and Springtime for Hitler. So here it is...

Hic!

Hat Tip to Earl (link to left) for drawing my attention to this.

Visual effects: 100 years of inspiration

The above was nicked from savannah who nicked it from someone else herself. So the blogworld goes round.

I have just returned from Telford which is a seriously weird place. Like most new towns the layout of the centre is confusing and is a town centre Jim, but not as we know it. Below is a picture of the God-forsaken dump. I have also discovered a new rail franchise to hate - Arriva Trains Wales, grubby, tatty and overcrowded.

Sugaree

Must dash - an online criminal law textbook to write and I'm getting seriously behind schedule but here are the elderly gents with Sugaree. Enjoy...

Courage

The above pic is titled 'courage'. It might as well be 'desperation' or 'short sightedness'. Hat Tip to Ute via Memphis Steve.

On a more sombre note, following the UN Human Rights Council's vote on the Goldstone Report, the Israeli government and the Israel lobby generally are predictably screaming the house down. Here's a reminder of what it was all about. Warning: some disturbing images and one absolute shocker.

Dancing pig

Finding myself in the canteen thingy at Snaresbrook Crown Court today, who should I espy but the slapped primate of counsel (at least one of you knows who I mean) who drew my attention to this dancing pig...

reefer madness

JoJo mentions having some old anti-marijuana posters. Here is a clip from the famous, one and only Reefer Madness.

satan was a lesbian

With Hat Tip to Hank (link to left - well two links: Downtown Guy and Hank's Dreams), how insane is this? It's a cover for some piece of 60s trash fiction. Interesting to see what this header does to traffic, though. I'll be watching the counter carefully. Okay, I know you want me to. Here are some more duff album covers. No more after these, I think...

Just think, they might move in next door, Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Our Ruby looks like she's been decapitated and had her head stuck back on incompetently. Perhaps she has. I suspect the Witty family.

A bit of law! In 1957 Liberace sued the Daily Mirror for defamation for suggesting that he was gay. Well, it didn't quite put it that way, it described him as 'this deadly, winking, sniggering, scent impregnated, chromium plated, luminous, quivering... (and so on - you get the general idea). The jury awarded Liberace £8,000. Young people and the terminally inattentive may need to know that Liberace was - erm - not ungay. Didn't stop him trousering what by the standards of the time was a very large sum of money on the basis that he was not gay and cut to the quick by the very suggestion.

Please don't. And finally...

Erm, yes. Oh okay, I know I said finally but just one more...


Can't fool me!!! He doesn't look anything like a teenage girl!

By popular request...

Okay, by popular request here are some more terrible album covers. Millie Jackson is a repeat offender and here is a horror that tests - okay totally ramraids - the boundaries of good taste. Why has she got a shoe in her right hand, by the way? Okay, I don't want to know. I discover that she has a relatively recent album called Not For Church Folk. Or indeed for anyone else, I suspect. Talking of Church folk...

At least they are not on the toilet. Beyond that, ermmm... Sarcastic Bastard (where I found this gem) comments to the effect that if the one on the left can have confidence with those glasses, what's your problem? I move briskly on.

Erm, yes. Don't ring us, we'll ring you. Our man founded Dexy's Midnight Runners. His brother-in-law is director of football at Barnet FC (beat that for utterly uninteresting trivia!) Moving briskly on again...

I'm running out of words here. What can I possibly say? Evidently it's a parody of a Herb Alpert album. For some reason. Just one more..

No they don't. Kindly seek professional help.

This is terrible...

Oh dear! Sarcastic Bastard (link to left - a fellow squirrel fancier) has posted a couple of bizarre album covers. This set me off on researches for what I have a nasty feeling may be a recurrent theme. There are bizarre album covers all over the web like a rash. Most are by pretty obscure - erm - artistes but at least I've heard of Godley and Creme. I even spent a nanosecond wondering what happened to them before concluding that no-one could possibly care.

I've never heard of this dude but you must admit he looks pretty scary...

WTF??? Dear mother??? I wonder how WR's female readership would feel if this character appeared on your doorstep with a bunch of red roses. Okay how you would feel in the split second before you dived for the phone to call the police.

The next horror is from Millie Jackson. The 70s aren't called the decade that taste forgot for nothing.

A lot of the dreadful album covers are American Gospel records. The one above is just routinely dreadful but the last cover (for now) just defies description - or even comment...



I confess that when I saw this one I just corpsed. Does this make me a bad person? No, don't answer that. It's a rhetorical question.

Support Your Local Pig

I went to Tamworth today. I don't believe I've ever been to Tamworth before in my life but I've taken to doing a bit of personal injury work to top up the crime and Tamworth has a County Court.

The only thing I knew about Tamworth was that it gave its name to the Tamworth pig. Further researches (into the pig and not Tamworth) were in order. Tamworth pigs are ginger pigs and among the oldest pig breeds but are unsuited to contemporary production methods and are therefore an endangered breed. They may be descended from wild boars which are in my opinipn seriously cool animals. They are hardy little fellows (well actually they are medium sized for pigs) and are called Tamworth pigs as they originated on Sir Robert Peel's estates at Tamworth.

'I like pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals' (Winston Churchill)

Homage to the Tamworth pig.

Comments on the Sun's shift of political allegiance...

...from the consistently wonderful Beau Bo D'Or above (link to left) and Steve Bell below (don't pull your punches Steve, tell us what you really think)

Naughty parrot....

Dirty parrot! Stop it nowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!!! Plus, because it came to mind, here is Bruce with Drive All Night

.