Let the overkill begin...

The London Olympics - which will plainly grind the city to a halt (probably literally) and suffer the hugest media overkill imaginable - is bound to bring out the contrarian in the rabbit. Hopping across London Bridge early yesterday morning, the rabbit was confronted by loads of professional photographers and their great big cameras on the east pavement. The object of their excitement? A float with the seven Olympic rings between London and Tower Bridges ...

Cue rolling of eyes. Compliments of the rabbit's homeboy Shiraz, here is a much clearer pic of the stupid thing ...

Today being the 29th February, by tradition women may propose marriage. The rabbit is open to all reasonable offers ...

And with Hat Tip to Charon QC ...

And a happy valentine's day ...

to all that could use such greetings!






And again in French  complete with pretty people ...

Things from facebook ,,,

Belatedly, and slightly against his better judgement, the rabbit signed up to facebook a while ago and above - with apologies to anyone who has seen it on his facebook page - it was stolen from the rabbit's homeboy Shiraz's page - is informative stuff on how to be made gay. If it doesn't work complain to Jester Wools (in the unlikely event that they still exist) and not to the rabbit.

Also from facebook - via a blogger near you (she may not want naming all over the blogosphere) is some more informative stuff. Never let it said that it was not educational chez rabbit...


The rabbit mentioned top Spanish organisation the CNT in a comment on Daisy's blog - adding something to the effect that it was the only political organisation he would contemplate joining but that was there, that was then. In fact it still exists and has a membership of 10,000 - to be contrasted with a membership of 700,000 in 1919! Rather a pity that - nice banner though.

A stern ticking off ...

Foreign Secretary William Hague denounced the Syria regime as 'murderous' in the House of Commons yesterday. Above is a recent study of Hague giving Syrian tyrant Bashar Al-Assad a stern ticking off as regards the latter's state as instrument of murder. Hat Tip to Old Holborn. For the sake of completeness, and in the interest of political balance below is former prime minister Tony B. Liar showing the now deceased Libyan dictator how all right minded people held his similarly murderous kleptocracy in contempt.

The Artist, Top Totty, The Walbrook and wholesome song

It seems that the entire population of the known universe is raving about just how good The Artist is and the rabbit, who went to see it last night, would like to join in the chorus of approbation. The first thing to say is what a daring project it is: in the era of 3D and the avatar, The Artist is a full length black and white silent movie - about a silent movie actor.
Could they possibly pull it off?

The answer is yes. As a fan of French film, I suspect that only the French would have the flair and imagination to try in the first place. But it works - for a number of reasons. The acting follows the convention of the silent movie, where the story is told mostly told by overstated gesture and expression - with the odd text for the more complex strands. The sets are outstandingly authentic looking - entirely convincing in fact. There are all the set pieces of early cinema - including the performing small dog. The narrative makes a good, affectionate job of conveying the cartoonishness and sentimentality of early cinema. Of necessity the story is driven by image.

And the story? Well let's just say it begins with a chance encounter, the rise of one person as another falls, apparent betrayal - and a happy ending. Otherwise go see. You won't be disappointed. Oh and hiuge credit goes to the two principal actors, Jean Dujardin and Bérénice Bejo who the rabbit was wholly unaware of before but may be slightly in love with.

Here is a really stupid story. Above is the handpump plate for a beer called - erm - Top Totty. It is brewed by Stafford based brewers Slater's and features a bikini clad young woman in its promotion and is described as 'a stunning blonde beer ... full bodied with a voluptuous hop aroma'.

Haw! Haw! Haw! (etc)

Apparently, it's not a very good beer and jokey names tend to give away the embarrassing fact of a naff product, the exception being Fat Bastard Wines, which are generally rather good but I digress. Now the House of Commons has a number of rather good bars. (Selected) members of the public are allowed in the Strangers' Bar (the rabbit has been a few times and rather fun it is too) - Top Totty was installed as a guest beer.

Oh dear ...

Enter Kate Green MP , Labour spokesperson on equality issues in full blown outrage mode. She pronounced herself 'disturbed', demanded a debate on 'dignity at work in Parliament' and further demanded the removal of the offending beer - which was done in 90m minutes flat.

I really have to say that I'm struggling to get worked up about the (former) presence of Top Totty. It hardly ranks up there with war crimes as a source of -erm - being disturbed. Perhaps Kate Green MP should get out more. The topic makes for strange bedfellows: I've just read the first comment from an UKIP member I've ever agreed with (Mike Nattrass MEP) 'This sort of knee jerk puritanism does more to damage the cause of equality than a thousand beer labels. It suggests that to be in favour of equality you must be a dour faced, insult searching misery'.

Not Kate Green's finest hour?

The rabbit has hitherto blogged without ever putting a pic of himself up- but I suppose it had to be done one fine day and the day is upon us. On Friday, he was invited to the Walbrook, a members' dining club in the City of London. so here he is (blue shirt on left) with colleague and friend It's well posh and has a number of oddities, Winston Churchill's hat in a glass case, two (not very good) original John Lennon cartoons and a completely surreal gents. Below is the toilet paper dispenser. Weird or what?

Finally, and as an apology for the appalling lapse of taste in posting Downtown with an - ahem - reference to solitary vice, a wholesome song is in order. What could fit the description better than the king of the slide guitar, Elmore James , with Dust My Broom.

Goodwin, solitary vice and Mrs Windsor

For overseas readers and the terminally inattentive, the above person is named Fred Goodwin. Until yesterday, he was Sir Fred Goodwin but had the 'Sir' bit removed - or 'cancelled and annulled' by some body no-one has ever heard of before - the 'Honours Forfeiture Committee'. Previous persons relieved of honours include Mussolini, Ceausescu and Mugabe.


The rabbit will expend few words on Goodwin, a particularly unattractive individual. In brief summation, he also as a banker with RBS (the Royal Bank of Scotland) had the title of 'Fred the Shred' due to his aggressive asset stripping techniques. American readers: think Mitt Romney minus the effusive charm and social conscience. He over-reached, notably in the takeover of Dutch bank ABN-AMRO and in 2009 Goodwin presided over a loss of £24.1 billion - the biggest in British corporate history. Cue imminent collapse of RBS and with it the British banking system. 


Oh well done, Sir!


The net result was an inevitable Government bail out - the alternative being presumably an economic system based on barter with bright coloured beads - with the result that RBS is now 87% owned by the public. The result for Goodwin was a huge pension (despite huffing and puffing from Government circles about 'no reward for failure') involving him trousering £703,000 per annum (that's $1,113,046 a year to get by on, American readers). Oh and he had add on benefits. Naturally. Like for example a £2.7 million tax free lump sum). After a public outcry, Goodwin's pension was reduced to a mere £342,000 per annum).


Cue the next public outcry. The current head honcho of RBS, a person named Stephen Hester, was about to be paid a 2011 bonus falling just short of £1 million. For exactly what reason remains obscure and it will be called that the public have an 87% stake in RBS since riding to the rescue following Goodwin's depredations. Cue general outrage. The Labour Party in a rare example of it showing signs of having a spine, was prepared to take the topic of the bonus to the House of Commons and force a vote. 


The government wouldn't have liked that. 


Surprise, surprise. On Sunday last, Hester graciously announced he would waive the bonus. Not that he was leant on by a government horrified at the idea of being seen voting for bankers' bonuses or anything like that. Oh no...


So two days later, Goodwin is stripped of his knighthood (given for 'services to banking' as you ask). Now the rabbit views the honours system as nonsense on stilts but there is a distinct whiff of convenient scapegoating in the timing of this. It's always easier to go for gesture politics calculated to make the government look good as opposed to actually addressing the substantive issues isn't it 'Dave'?


It is a short step from bankers to - oh never mind, just change one consonant. The rabbit has long known that Pictures of Lily is about masturbation but was shocked to learn that Downtown is too. And that Petula Clark looked so demure...


:0





Finally, the rabbit was amused to Learn of Leanne Wood, a member of the Welsh assembly. Ms Wood - she being like the rabbit of republican opinion - called a person often described as 'The Queen' as 'Mrs Windsor' in the Welsh Assembly. Some Labour sycophant complained and Ms Wood (a Plaid Cymru - that's Welsh nationalist for overseas readers - member)  was ordered to leave the chamber. As can be seen below.

Welcome back...

Pausing only for a quick 'we are not worthy', the rabbit is delirious to see that total class act Beau Bo D'Or has returned! Welcome back, Sir!

Meanwhile in the land of the free all was not well for two British would be tourists named Lee Van Fryer and Emily Bunting after a twitter announcement that they were going to 'destroy America' and 'dig up Marilyn Monroe' (presumably to measure her - erm - ass for identification purposes - see below). Result: stopped by armed guards at Los Angeles International Airport, interrogated for 5 hours, handcuffed and locked up with various Mexican drug dealers etc. before being deported. Oh and their luggage was searched for spades. Dear Department of Homeland security - Now about that British sense of humour...


Admittedly the less than dynamic duo do look like a pair of dolts, but if this were grounds for banning people from international travel, then there would not be much of it about.

Meanwhile all is not well on the liberty front in the UK. The above is John Marjoram who is Mayor of Stroud, a Quaker and a pacifist. He refused to fill in his 2011 census form as a statement against the involvement of the defence contractor Lockheed Martin UK, which won the contract to run the census. At about the time of the census was the first anniversary of Lockheed Martin's military hardware being used to give Gaza the Guernica treatment. He is to be prosecuted for failing to fill in his census form.


Apparently 1.6 million census forms were not returned. are 1.6 million people to be prosecuted? Nope - apparently about 400 so far with 120 convictions. It is generally agreed in official circles that the census is an anachronistic and unproductive exercise and will not be repeated. 


On what basis has John Majoram been singled out for prosecution? Could it be that he is being prosecuted because he took a stand on principle and did what authoritarians and bossyboots everywhere hate - he showed dissent? Slightly disturbingly - and for reason so far unexplained - he is not to be prosecuted in his home town of Stroud but some distance away in Bristol. No doubt if he couldn't be bothered filling in his census form or simply 'forgot' he would be most unlikely to be prosecuted. Below - as a small sign of support - is a picture of the founder of the Quakers - George Fox - once imprisoned for 'disturbing the peace' (the authorities tend to suffer an irony deficit). It is to be hoped that his latter day follower does not suffer a similar fate.

It's cold up north... mostly photos

The rabbit has returned from his long weekend in the north east where he found himself regularly addressed as 'pet', which is quite nice and attended the Shami Chakrabati lecture as announced on the last posting at Northumbria University - which is an impressive piece of modern architecture (see above). The rabbit stayed in Durham for the long weekend and attended a Verdi requiem by the Durham Choral Society (I'm under orders to give them a plug!) at Durham cathedral which is noted for - as well as its age, it's early Norman - its sheer hugeness. The rabbit couldn't get all of it in one photo from anywhere remotely resembling close up but here is the centre section with tower. Those Normans knew how to make 'we are in charge' statements

Here are a couple of other images from the peninsular (the centre of Durham and a world heritage site). Below is Market Square with statue of Lord Londonderry. Apparently the square was refurbished in the recent past and the statue moved so that - if you wish to photo His Lordship from the front, a less than world heritage Tesco Express appears in the background. the rabbit took the photo from the rear so we - literally - have a horse's arse.

And then The Castle - or at least a part of it. The Keep to be exact...

Then yesterday, the rabbit was taken for a drive in bleak treeless moorland in County Durham. Rather beautiful but incredibly cold and if the skies appear iron grey in these photos - there is a reason...

Apart from the odd mad cyclist, you don't see people on the moors. You do see sheep, though. Lots of sheep. Regularly getting in the way. Oh and the white post just to the left of the road is for orientation in heavy snowdrifts.Very useful up there no doubt...

But this appealed to the surrealist in the rabbit - the cart is solid but the horse is made of strips of metal to create a skeletal image. The rabbit is back in London - where it is significantly less cold - and at work now...

Off I hop...

The rabbit is not a liberal lesbian for reasons too obvious to labour but found the above funny and does find Mrs Gingrich the Third to be scarily fascinating. It's the hair mostly. Is it actually a plastic helmet or is it riveted on or what? 


The circular firing squad that constitutes the Republican primaries is guiltily fascinating - as a car crash is guiltily fascinating. You know that good taste and decorum tells you to look away but you can't help it. With a circular firing squad there are inevitably casualties and the serial killer AKA Perry is the latest to withdraw leaving the repulsive Gingrich slugging it out with empty suit Romney, a man whose business practices are so unattractive as to make his fellow Republicans come over all Michael Moore on him. 


As a peaceful man, the rabbit would not suggest that the loathsome Gingrich (it will be gathered that the rabbit is not a fan) be strangled with the guts of - oh - one of the other would be nominees would do nicely - or anything unpleasant like that but those of a less pacific bent may wish to consider this undoubtedly moderate course of action. Otherwise he will just seek to trade in Plastic Hair for a younger and healthier model in due course. Women of America - be afraid, be very afraid - especially if you make the mistake of getting older or seriously ill.


For the avoidance of doubt - as we say in the trade - the rabbit retains his highly qualified regard for Ron Paul but he's not going to win. God help us, Gingrich might.


Otherwise the rabbit has been invited to Northumbria University to hear   Shami Chakrabarti speak. The rabbit has no idea why he has been invited but will combine this auspicious event with a weekend away staying with a friend who is singing in a choir in Durham Cathedral on Saturday. The rabbit has a front seat ticket.


In the meantime, the smaller small rabbit needs help with his car insurance. He assures the rabbit it will be the last time.Cue for a song... 

Snaresbrook Crown Court and Dennis Potter

Above is Snaresbrook Crown Court in East London. There have been strange goings on there of late. Stranger than usual that is. The advocates' lounge has been closed following concerns as regards the food. Of itself this would be little surprise to anyone who has ever eaten there but there is a particular reason. Namely what? I hear you cry.


There have been fears that the food may have been contaminated. With what? I hear you cry. Ermmm ...

Well it is not official but the suggestion is that traces of urine have been found in soups, sandwiches and salads. Complaints were made that the food 'smelled a bit off'. The rabbit was in fact at Snaresbrook on Wednesday afternoon this week but (coincidentally) had eaten lunch before arriving.


But here is the best bit. Police have become involved and are looking for - erm - 'someone with a dislike of lawyers or judges'.


No doubt.



After the Everly Brothers' Love Is Strange clip in the last posting Tony commented referring to the Buddy Holly version. Good point but not today - though the comment did send the rabbit on an excursion around YouTube in hot pursuit of different versions of this song. Above is the original by the relatively obscure Mickey & Sylvia but with a twist. The clip is from playwright and total rabbit hero Dennis Potter's Lipstick on Your Collar. Potter largely wrote for television as the medium he felt would reach the most people and  Lipstick on Your Collar was a 6 part television mini series. Mickey in the clip above is the young Ewan McGregor. Potter used popular music to frame magical realist scenes as above. if I am not mistaken the cartoons are by those Biff jokers.

Potter, a heroic chain-smoker, became a playwright as he spent most of his adult life desperately ill with regular hospitalisation from arthritic psoriasis, thus making ordinary employment impossible. You can see from the hand with the cigarette the distorting and paralysing effect of his condition. His plays are (largely) great, he was great. I'd quite forgotten that the only time that he ran for elected office - in his twenties - he became so disenchanted he didn't even vote for himself. 'Nuff said. Except this...


He was diagnosed with inoperable pancreatic cancer - probably a by product of the medication he had to take for his arthritic psoriasis. He gave a television interview to Melvyn Bragg in the Channel 4 Without Walls series. I think it is the most moving thing I have ever seen on television. Here's a taster.




He had two months to live at this point, through the interview he is swigging oral morphine, sipping a glass of champagne and smoking away. He was also caring for his wife at the time of the interview - she had terminal breast cancer and died 9 days before him. The full interview is up on YouTube in segments - go check it out or here is an edited transcript. Almost 18 years later I still remember the emotional impact of the interview and thinking' I love this guy'.


For the really time pressed, here are some of his points from the interview...

Resist cynicism, invite criticism.

Remember what's truly important.

Appreciate the now.

Don't be seduced by conformity.

Nurture and cherish talent.

Figures aren't everything.

There are reasons for tradition.

Fight the commodification of public life.

Be true to your idea.

Put wood to good use.

Find your own voice.

Consider what you leave behind.

Always make time for your dad.

As the page these quotes are assembled on says 'cut them out and keep them in your wallet; it will make you a better person'.

Above is his gravestone in St Mary's Parish Church Ross-on-Wye. It connects with that of his wife.  The inscription across both stones reads, 'All the way to heaven is heaven ... All of it a kiss'. It is taken from Alice Hoffman's novel Turtle Moon. Respect from the rabbit. Proud to be a fan.

Eve Arnold and Ron Paul

American born but long term UK resident photographer Eve Arnold has died aged 99. She spent a lot of time photographing Marilyn Monroe. As - erm - can be seen. I'm sorry, i couldn't help myself.

Perhaps a little surprisingly, she was given extensive access to Malcolm X, the net result of which was a number of images.

Not to mention Andy Warhol, here seen engaging in some bizarre sort of exercise regime.

Not to mention Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor. She wrote 'if a photographer cares about the people in front of the lens and is compassionate, much is given. It is the photographer, not the camera, that is the instrument'. Okay, one more Marilyn.

On a totally different subject, the rabbit is constantly asked who he would vote for if he had a vote in the US Republican primaries. On balance and in the absence of definitive guidance from his friend Christine O'Donnell who is still keeping her own counsel (sort of) the rabbit would seek help. 


Let us consider the field. we have Romney (empty suit) Sanatorium - or whatever he calls himself - who is apparently of the belief that the British lost the Empire because of the NHS), Gingrich (utterly loathsome toad), Perry (serial killer and serial dimwit) and the now out of the race Michele Bachman and her definitely not gay husband.


And there is Ron Paul.

Ron is aged approximately 108 and is seen here wearing a prosthetic nose as a bet. He is also - unlike the rest of the field -a  genuinely interesting thinker. He is routinely described as the most conservative member of the US Congress but it's a bit more complicated than that. Let's do a little checklist. His deficit reduction proposals are off the wall but that's hardly unique and unlike drooling idiot Perry, he no doubt can actually remember what they are. He is generally against invading other countries and specifically was opposed to the Iraq war (right). He opposes US aid to Israel (right for the wrong reason). He regards the not medically insured failing to be treated as a consequence of freedom (hugely wrong - the non choice between private care you cannot afford and nonexistent free care is the absence of freedom). By way of contrast, the wants to end the US trade embargo of Cuba (right). He opposed Tony B.Liar receiving a Congressional Medal of Honour (guess) and is opposed to the death penalty (guess again - this is pretty rare among US politicians too). I could go on.


Paul is undoubtedly a thorough going extremist and the rabbit does not buy into his free market beliefs (although some propositions flow from them that are actually quite sound). He is however an original thinker and a challenge to received wisdom. As such, he has to be a highly qualified good thing. The rabbit might even vote for him if some bizarre set of circumstances allowed him to do so. Look at the competition for starters.


Have Love Is Strange as something for the weekend for no particular reason that I heard oit on something the other day and thought 'good song'...

GOTCHA!

... to borrow a phrase - some justice at last For overseas readers, it is difficult to describe just how notorious this case was - and remains - here.

And a happy Christmas...

... to all White Rabbit readers from rabbits large and small. Among the larger rabbit's resolutions will be to blog more next year and get round more regularly to linked blogs. We shall see...

Custody, Knob of the Week 8 and how the rabbit did better out of Europe than Cameron

An update as regards the infamous Croydon Tramlink woman is in order. As the matter is now sub judice the rabbit had better avoid the substantive issue for the time being but one aspect of subsequent events calls for comment.

The Tramlink One - as perhaps we are now to call her is named Emma West. She is 34 and comes from New Addington - a place the rabbit has commented on in comments on original post, albeit less unkindly than as per a site called Chavtowns - Britain's Worst Places To Live (torrent of bad words and worse thoughts alert)- one can only conclude that the Chavtowns writer is a Tourettes sufferer and the rabbit is still pondering the information about the horse.

But back to Emma West - it is little surprise to discover that she has appeared Croydon Magistrates' Court charged with what is described as a racially aggravated public order offence - presumably s5 as SW has observed in previous comments. She was remanded to reappear in court on the 3rd January - in custody. She applied for bail but was refused for her own protection. She has now (last Tuesday) been granted bail but the original remand in custody has attracted little comment - cases with an unattractive racial or sexual dimension tend to result in an instant failure of the liberal instincts of the otherwise ostentatiously liberal. I have only had one client (ever) who in the face of an objection to bail 'for their own protection' was not anxious for bail despite the alleged risks and he didn't apply for bail. Online death threats were apparently made in Emma West's case - one may wonder if they were so serious that they over-rid the presumption of bail that follows from the presumption of innocence - a presumption that even applies to unattractive people doing/saying unattractive things! To post something threatening on the internet - presumably under cloak of anonymity - is one thing. Seeking to effect homicide in real life is another. The distinction doesn't take too much working out. I can only doubt that la West should ever have been remanded in custody in the first place.

The moon faced Tory twerp to the right above (as opposed to the moon faced Tory twerp to the left of whom more later) is named Aidan Burley. He is Conservative MP for Cannock Chase and latest winner of the prestigious White Rabbit Knob of the Week award. Burley is not facing criminal prosecution and is not and has not been in custody (okay, I don't say he should be but the contrast with Emma West is irresistible).

Burley attended a stag do with 12 friends in at the restaurant in the ski resort of Val Thorens in France. Bad behaviour - indeed seemingly criminal under the French penal code - ensued. Burley was unwise enough to be present - and indicating no dissent -  while another guest, sitting beside the MP at the restaurant, was caught on film making a speech in which he said: ‘Let’s raise a toast to Tom for organising the stag do, and if we’re perfectly honest, to the ideology and thought process of the Third Reich.’

Ooops!

Later, after moving on to a British-themed pub, some of the group, many of whom adopted thick German accents, chanted: ‘Mein Fuhrer! Mein Fuhrer! Mein Fuhrer!’, ‘Himmler! Himmler! Himmler!’ and ‘Eichmann! Eichmann! Eichmann!’ One of the party commented ‘We are trying to intimidate as many people as possible. A lot have been quite offended, especially one guy who was both Jewish and gay.’

Double oooops!

The point is not that Burley actively participated in any of this behaviour or dressed up in SS uniform (as two of his party did - Burley is the one on the right - so to speak - above) ) but that he acquiesced in it - indicating no dissent at all. What happens next - which may include criminal investigation in France - remains to be seen. The rabbit will keep a beady eye but in the meantime a Knob of the Week is the least that can be done in recognition of his role.


As regards the other moon faced Tory twerp - the rabbit won £2.80 (two balls correctly predicted) on the Euromillions lottery last Friday, thus bringing back £2.80 more from Europe than Cameron did. 'Nuff said.

Ska, Knob of the Week 7 and appeal...

I mentioned that The Selecter (see posting below) took to the stage at Fairfield Halls to the strains of The Pioneers' Longshot Kick De Bucket through the PA and promised some ska. So the first song selected itself. It was produced by Lee Perry and is the story of a horse race at Cayamanas Park, Jamaica. It is the story of the death of a long lived but wholly unsuccessful horse - the appropriately named Longshot - who died (during his 203rd race).

If this doesn't bring a smile to your face, check your pulse. You are probably dead.



Also played on the PA was The Upsetters' Return of Django - Wikipedia tells me the title is a reference to the spaghetti western Django. Didn't know that.



I've posted Louie Louie before - the oriiginal Kingsmen version - complete with lyrics to debunk the theory that the lyrics are in fact a barrage of filth - which they are not. Here is the Toots and the Maytals version, which wasn't played on the PA at The Selecter concert but did crop up on This Is England on the TV the next night so there is a sort of connection...



So for a complete overlap, played on the PA at the The Selecter concert and figuring in the opening sequences of This Is England here are Toots and The Maytals with 54/46 Was My Number - a reference to his prison number when serving time for possession of two spliffs. Watch the opening sequences anyway - they are a striking  collage of clips of early eighties England.

Moving on, the silly season has come early - for overseas readers and the terminally inattentive, above is Jeremy Clarkson who presents a motoring TV programme called Top Gear that the rabbit manages to find hugely resistible. He is also a prize prat. Clarkson has caused an enormous storm by his comments  on The One Show (another TV programme the rabbit has managed to resist) including comments that striking public sector workers should be shot. Specifically in front of their families.

Cue the most immense uproar - the BBC has received more than 21,000 complaints, 'Dave' Cameron - a prime minister - has pronounced the comments
'a silly thing to say... I'm sure he didn't mean it'. Labour leader and panda imitator Ed Miliband was in some danger of exploding with indignation. Most absurdly, the trade union Unison initially called for the Top Gear presenter to be sacked by the BBC over what it described as 'appalling' comments and then said it was seeking legal advice over the issue as to whether Clarkson could be referred to the police. Free rabbit legal advice: don't be so silly and get over yourselves...


Can we deal with the matter this way (a) Clarkson's comments were witless posturing but anyone with two brain cells to rub together could work out they were not to be taken literally (b) he is an obvious right wing knob (c) let's move on. He loves the attention so maybe stop giving him so much.


But as a parting shot, another White Rabbit Knob of the Week is in order (number 7 I think) and is awarded jointly to Clarkson and whoever from Unison wanted to take legal advice about dragging the police into this farrago of posturing.

Changing the subject yet again, the rabbit's seasonal appeal - Amnesty International are running a campaign - Write for Rights - to send greetings to prisoners. Not all the selected prisoners are political prisoners in the strict sense but all are cases where there are serious questions as to their imprisonment. This has been going for some years and in a number of instances has apparently made a difference. There is guidance given - for example reference to Christmas can get the prisoner in trouble in some countries - and a choice. Seems worth doing and the rabbit will be sending off a few.

Very finally - and belatedly - the rabbit did a guest post on the Charon QC blog on how he became a barrister. If you're really at a loose end take a look...

charm school dropout

The rabbit will blog soon when less time poor but to be going on with here is a clip that has achieved some notoriety on YouTube. The Croydon tramlink is rather a good thing, but not when people like this are travelling on it. The person filming breaks rule 1 - make sure there isn't a thumb or finger in the way - but it soon disappears to reveal charm school dropout in all her charmlessness . ..

rabbit at the hop, an e-mail from Christine and Shelagh Delaney

After the threat from Hank to find a way to come over and kick me in the head if I didn't go, it became inevitable that the rabbit would hop off to see The Selecter live at the Fairfield Halls, Croydon last Thursday. It was stonkingly good stuff - I'd quite forgotten what fun live music can be. The rabbit's companion for the evening was another ageing reprobate by the name of Bob - a serious Deadhead who turned up in a starburst tie dyed T-shirt and greeted the rabbit with an offer to buy him a Doom, an offer which was accepted.

The band came on just as the second Doom arrived, entering to the strains of Longshot A Kick De Bucket through the PA. The sheer energy was the first thing to hit home. 'I'm exhausted just watching them' announced Bob, plonking himself down on the merchandising table. Plus - Pauline Black (vocals) is such a little showboater - playing to the audience shamelessly with a twinkle to her eye. Gaps Hendrickson (also vocal) bounces like - well - Tigger.

Then the standards started piling up, Murder, My England (launched by Pauline getting all political 'I hate the EDL, I hate the BNP. This song is called My England but this is our England' - cue much cheering), Three Minute Wonder (launched by Pauline getting all personal 'You are all three minute wonders!' - How does she know? I wondered - assuming it means what I think it means).

There was only going to be one last finale to the main set - here it is compliments of rabbit phone cam services  (Hat Tip to Bob for stills) - On My Radio

Equally, there was only going to be one encore. The audience were chanting Too Much Pressure before the band even came back onstage. Then the band came back on and joined in the chant - as can be seen.

And then into Fatty Fatty. But even encores have to come to an end - as also can be seen...

The encore completed, the PA blasted out Toots and the Maytals' 54/46, which the rabbit was reminded while watching TV the next evening, also opens This Is England . Then Pauline Black comes over to the merchandising table to sign books and records - and was this near! (see pic) to a starstruck rabbit.

Oh what fun! On a completely different subject, I'm sure - without false modesty - that regular readers will agree that it was only a matter of time before Christine O'Donnell succumbed to the rabbit's charms. Sure enough, the rabbit was greeted this morning with an e-mail from Christine. The header read 'you're invited to a private meeting'. The little saucepot! The rabbit is already licking his lips and making his travel plans. So that there is no doubt, the message is headed 'Dear Andrew'. A gentleman will disclose no further details save to say that Christine has come up with a somewhat implausible cover story - presumably hoping to throw the media off the scent - that the meeting is to discuss the 2012 elections. Can't see anyone being fooled by that!

More seriously, the rabbit was sad to learn of the death of Shelagh Delaney at the age of 71. She wrote her play A Taste of Honey aged 17 after going to a Rattigan play and deciding she could do better. She was something of a one hit wonder but did produce other work of some - although - lesser note. Above is a pic of her from 1961. Frustratingly I can't find a quartet of photos from 1960 of her smoking a cigarette, She could make smoking a cigarette look the coolest thing ever, A dangerous talent...

Freedom Riders Palestinian style

I'm sorry to be serious again - normal silliness really will be resumed again as soon as possible - but this deserves wide dissemination - in an act of nonviolent civil disobedience and with an obvious echo of the US Freedom Riders, Palestinian activists will today attempt to board segregated settler only buses to travel to Jerusalem. There is supposed to be a livestream here but it may be jammed. i've got intermittent sound, stills and text - including from eyewitnesses to the right of screen. Expect violence and hysteria as usual from Israel.

November in England III - the banning season

The ineffably useless Home Secretary Theresa May has taken a break from letting anyone who wants to enter the country do so by standing down the Borders Agency to save money (or something) while simultaneously talking tough on immigration to ban the Islamist organisation Muslims Against Crusades. Let there be no doubt that Muslims against Crusades are an odious shower, the mirror image of their fringe christian equivalent Westboro Baptist Church (whose god sure does a lot of hating but I digress). Both target the bereaved via military funerals (WBC) or Remembrance Day events (Muslims against Crusades). Now it is not necessary to support the idiot military adventures in Iraq or Afghanistan (I don't) or to fail to recognise the enormity of the damage done to the hapless population of those countries to intensely dislike gloating, sneering and heckling the bereaved and what ought to be their events. A predecessor organisation of Muslims Against Crusades planned a march through Wooton Bassett - a particularly sensitive location as it was there until very recently the bodies of British soldiers repatriated from Iraq and Afghanistan were flown in. The march - which no doubt would have been hugely provocative and offensive was banned.

These loons want Europe to be a caliphate. Frankly, I have no wish to live in their - or anyone else's - caliphate. What do I think of the ban?

I'm against it

I'm against it for two reasons, one of principle and one practical. Firstly, freedom of speech includes the right of odious people to say odious things. There is a limit to free speech, namely when one person's freedom of speech threatens or injures another person or persons. So where these individuals incite racial (or more accurately religious) hatred then fine, prosecute them. We have laws against racial and religious hatred We also have public order offences by the bucketload. Again, use thesse laws where appropriate. What does banning this shower add to anything?

That is the practical objection. The ban is merely pointless posture politics, its timing being due to the imminence of Remembrance Sunday and the usual Islamist threat to disrupt ceremonies and made by a politican in trouble. One suspects distraction techniques in play. Organisations don't disrupt ceremonies. Individuals and groups do. Such individuals and groups are in no way disabled from disruptions by this banning.

Theresa May announced in banning the group 'I am satisfied Muslims Against Crusades is simply another name for an organisation already proscribed under a number of names including Al Ghurabaa, The Saved Sect, Al-Muhajiroun and Islam4UK'

Oh well spotted! So that's what they do! Who would have known! As soon as one group is banned they set up another. Or more accurately they change the name. The new group cannot be banned immediately as they haven't done anything yet. When they do they are banned and another group pops up. And so on.

And thus the point of this serial banning exercise is? Okay - to answer a rhetorical questions - it does no good at all. Below with Hat Tip to Left Foot Forward is Theresa May banning Islamist groups, sorry playing Whack A Mole.

November in England II - poppies plus other musings

It is a matter of no particular consequence in the great scheme of things but the rabbit will not be wearing a poppy this year.  Basically as an act of protest at the increasing apparent orthodoxy that it is compulsory to wear one.

For overseas readers another short explanation is in order. In Britain and the Commonwealth Remembrance Day is observed on 11 November. In origin, it  recalls the  end of World War I on that date in 1918. Hostilities formally ended 'at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month' of 1918 with the German signing of the armistice. Of course it now includes the dead of World War II and subsequent wars and conflicts up to and including Afghanistan. Although two minutes of silence are observed on 11 November itself, the main observance is on the second Sunday of November, Remembrance Sunday. There are church services usually adjourning alfresco to the local war memorial and there is a national event at the Cenotaph at Whitehall.

The remembrance poppy originates with the red Flanders poppies of the battlefieklds of World War I and  an American woman, Moina Mitchell who promoted of a poem In Flanders Fields  - a mawkish and frankly pretty awful invitation - purportedly from the war dead - to carry on World War I. Red poppies began to be worn as a mark of remembrance.

And so it is today. Red poppies - made of some sort of stiff paper - are worn in the run up to Remembrance Sunday. Donations in exchange for the same go to the Royal British Legion.

Now in principle I have no problem with the way in which Remembrance Sunday is marked and have worn the poppy in the past. Remembrance is right, appropriate and can be healing. There is no glorification of war. It is not a recycling of Wilfred Owen's old lie. Although the Royal British Legion would not be my charity of choice, no doubt it does much good with the money raised by the poppy appeal.

But inevitably three things happen in the run-up to Remembrance Sunday. Firstly, the poppy wearing season gets longer. Traditionally, poppies were worn for the week before Remembrance Sunday. Now they start appearing in October. Secondly, the sense of pressurisation to conform and wear a poppy seems to increase with every passing year. For example, in a micro version of the insolence of office, a head teacher reportedly directed her staff to wear poppies. Thirdly, there is a heated debate about matters 1 and 2. This year it has even extended to the assembled mums of mumsnet. Nowhere is the apparent compulsion more apparent than on BBC television. Is it possible to appear on BBC tv without a poppy in the present season? Do they have some maniac at the doors of Broadcasting House with a bin full of poppies and a staple gun waiting to attack anyone presenting themselves sans poppy? I noticed that Benjamin Zepeniah on Question Time last week wore the white pacifist poppy but would the BBC actually allow you in a studio without any sort of poppy at this time of year? Evidence suggesting that the answer to this question is 'yes' is scant.

Veteran Channel 4 Newscaster Jon Snow does not wear a poppy. He holds to the entirely reasonable position that he chooses to wear a poppy on Remembrance Sunday itself but not otherwise. Of course a huge avalanche of odium is heaped on his head every November, particularly last year after he came out with the perhaps not entirely felicitous phrase poppy fascism. Below is Snow not wearing a poppy (nasty tie, Jon).

At least on the 12th November it won't matter for - well - 11 months. Completely changing the subject, the rabbit hopped off to see The Ides of March at the Greenwich Picture House. it's a good watch - go see. On one level its about politics but on another level it's about treachery, double dealing and bad faith - a cynic might say same thing really. One question struck me though - what chance would an agnostic who was opposed to the death penalty have of being elected President of the United States? Not much, I suspect. On the subject of President of the United States, is Obama feeling left out because he has yet to do anything catastrophic and heroically stupid on the foreign policy front?

How about attacking Iran? - that would be truly, madly and deeply dumb.

Completely changing the subject again, the rabbit saw a documentary about Everly Brothers tribute act Simon and Garfunkel on BBC1 last night. The documentary was actually about the Bmaking of the Bridge Over Troubled Water album. Paul Simon mentioned meeting a Vietnam Veteran who said that the troops in Vietnam listened to Cecilia and in particular to...

'Making love in the afternoon with Cecilia

Up in my bedroom making love
I got up to wash my face
When I come back to bed
Someone's taken my place'

A common problem, I'm sure all would agree. The vet's comment that when they heard that these lines were actually being broadcast, they realised they weer coming back to a very different America.



Some wag on YouTube comments that Garfunkel has one awesome moustache.