No 10 aide fired over 'obscene' email smears

I've been laughing my little, white ass off about this. Not, I trust, consequent to an attack of schadenfreude, but simply because the whole thing is so utterly absurd that I don't know where to begin to deconstruct it!

No 10 aide fired over 'obscene' email smears

Let's see, we have this important guy, a senior aide to Texture, thinking that it's appropriate to start malicious rumours, presumably for the purpose of destabilizing the opposition. Now, this may be a pattern of behaviour that Mr McBride follows, routinely, or it may be that he has so little confidence in Labour's competence (or in the electorate's belief in Labour's competence), that he saw the only course as being to attempt to diminish the competition (the Conservatives), even though such a thing pained him greatly, from a moral standpoint. So much for that.

Brown then fires McBride, which he thinks demonstrates his wholehearted opposition to this kind of behaviour, presumably. It doesn't, because he had fuck all to say about Monty Burns et al's treatment of John Buse, which is very similar, to my mind. Probably worse, in fact.

Then, we have this Tory backbencher. Not satisfied with the fact that McBride's stories have been demonstrated to be false, and admitted to be false, nor with the fact that McBride has been dismissed, this, erm, lady, has decided that the only course is to defend her honour in the courts. The civil courts, it should be said, are there to right wrongs between individuals. It seems to me that this particular wrong has already been righted, and with a bit of luck, there being no cause of action, the case will be dismissed.

What a bunch of fuckwits. Small wonder that fuck all ever gets done, when the people who are supposedly the most mature, intelligent and best-suited to lead expend the greater part of their time and energy over this sort of trivia. Meanwhile, when somebody raises a real issue, they're quietly ignored. And then politicians wonder why they're not trusted.

Psychotherapists in turmoil over plans to start regulation

When I saw this, I couldn't help but chuckle to myself, in that blackly cynical way, which I've perfected, over the years. "Go and find your own solutions," I say, because no fucker else has got any!

Psychotherapists in turmoil over plans to start regulation

Remember this, if you remember nothing else: psychotherapists are trying to repair themselves, first and foremost, just like everybody else on the planet.

Matt

Genius: there's no other word for it - Part XXXXIV

There was a time, fifteen or twenty-odd years ago, when every other album I listened to was by Lloyd Cole, either with the Commotions, or solo. I think he may have been the first artist who I discovered for myself, rather than his music just being something that was generally approved of, within my peer group. Anyway, I went to see The Commotions at the NEC, in Birmingham, and they did a brilliant version of Speedboat. The sound reproduction isn't very good on this clip, but you get the idea, I think:



This is probably my favourite LC track. I think I'm going to teach myself the guitar line on this. If you're not aware, a Deux Chevaux is that Citroen, which bears an uncanny resemblance to a tortoise, and appears in every Jean-Luc Goddard film you never saw:

Passionate Blogger

Ana, at Hella Heaven, has very kindly given me a Passionate Blogger award. I do like these awards, I have to say - I dunno, it feels like an arbitrary act of simple kindness, or something!

I've been a bit lazy about looking for blogs to pay them on to, but I'll get round to it, sooner or later.

Matt