the brainstorm

i am not against rednose day just the sad sods who have no humour who use such things to pretend they have some sort of personality. No amount of silly wigs will stop you being a sad act. I'll give my 50p in my own way. as for hasbeen celebraties trying to resurrect their career on the back of charity - i mean Ruby Wax ?

joe

Well I have returned to Blog writing after a break. To be honest I had forgotten how to do this. I am at that age forty something when things really irate. Clichéd grumpy older male I suppose. What really irates me is the propaganda we are fed throughout our daily lives. What to eat what to drink when to fart. Sorry but who knows maybe it will be an offence to fart in a public place., However I am sympathetic to the ideas of controlling cheap booze to stop spotty kids getting pissed on their EMA. I mean when I was a kid it was a bottle of woodpecker and a can of Long Life. Pretty undrinkable and expensive. The new backdoor polices of this government to bring us into a new age of new Puritanism is a bit cloying. Yet I do like the idea of not getting choked to death with smoke.
Anyway I m back in Blog world. I don’t know if anyone will read it.

Brainstorm (Joe Privates)

If ever there was a sly career politician she is one all career and no comptence . How can she have the gall to be in a supposedly left of centre party and send her kid to a private school. Yes it’s the third way and all that but it hardly a vote of confidence on the New Labour's polices on education. I suppose she will exaggerate the special needs of her kid to justify this. Perhaps with Blair going she knows her cabinet career is over when Brown gets in

Am I a woolly minded liberal or has free speech gone in this country? Much I find it abhorrent what Nick Griffin leader of the BNP has to say by attempting to prosecute him for ‘inflaming ‘ racial hatred’ it has had the effect he wanted of having a platform to broadcast his ideas. If the speech( in the loosest terms) had been ignored by the media and law his poisonous words would have reached about 20 fanatics who don’t need to be inflamed anyway. Now he has national platform. Much as I despise his views I think he has a right to say them just as much as extreme religious fundamentalists . On the net there is the most utter rubbish which to all extents is ignored. If one tries to suppress ideas it gives credence to crap. In the confines of the court he can say libellous tripe he couldn’t get away with outside it- Am I woolly minded liberal? Probably- but by ‘ cracking down’ on intolerance seems so counter productive.

Mr Saccharin and nice. I am depressed that loads of Daily Mail readers and Guardian readers will be fooled by him. Is he more Blair and Blair? I think this is irrelevant as Cameron doesn’t have a Mandleson and Brown. I cannot see him keeping the right of the party quiet for long . The Labour Party had started to reform prior to Tony taking the helm the Tories have kicked against it for years i.e. Portillo. Will the party of Thatcher put up with this fluffy liberal? I don’t think so . I think Blair’s credibility has been shot since the Iraq war and appointing Brown will be a mistake. I’d bet Millsahw is the next leader.

Yes I am a leftie does this count anymore?

Elvis Costello and Emperors new clothes.

I have been an avid fan of this artist for over 25 years. I have suffered the Bacharach debacle and tolerated the Juliet Letters but lately what does he think he is doing? North was shite and the delivery man well mogadon country. To top it all he has done an opera on Hans Christian Anderson this is after his Il songo . The guy has pretensions above his talents and I can’t believe that the music press has not slaughtered him. The Emperor only got away with it for a bit old Declan McManus has got way with it for too long. It’s so sad as his music was so vital 20 years ago now it’s hidden in the back shelves in music shops.

Calling all Costello fans what do you think?

I like working at home but i always feel a bit guilty. Then again i'm not wasting time by the water cooler. Not that we have a water cooler at work but if we did we would probably waste time by it. I get irritated by the americanims that invade our language. What's wrong with a tea break. I heard a new phrase the other day which was ' what's your take home thought?'. My thought was to not think about that phrase!!

i always seem to want get more work done later in the day at home just when the kids are arround. Strange eh?

How do you start a blog? Well I am on my lunch break from teaching students. I am a Uni lecturer. I feel a bit thick today as a couple of the students look quite bright but by tomorrow I will feel better. So I have had my butty and I will get back to work in a bit. So how do start a blog you just type whatever you feel like. As for the name brainstorm well it stems from my angst at over fussiness on political correctness. Brainstorm is not now the term to use when you get a group of students together and ask them to scribble thoughts onto a flip chart. The preferred term is now ‘ ideas shower’. I think it is the worry of offending people with epilepsy or something. I have never met anyone with epilepsy who has been offended by the term brainstorm. I have met people who get offended by the term black coffee we are supposed to say coffee without milk. Strangely it is usually white liberal people who bother about such things, as black people are worrying about true racism to worry about intricacies.

Anyway I have started my blog and I need to say I am not against political correctness I just think there is a tendency to be over elaborate in some cases.