Pompous Politics

A muddle of random occurences, beginning with things seen yesterday:

1. On the way to college I got stuck behind a Land-Rover Freelander. On the spare wheel cover on the boot door was printed in large letters: Park Lane Land Rover, 17 Park Lane, Mayfair! The Monopoly car is now a Freelander, it seems.
2. While walking back from college to where I park my car - in the lane behind St Faiths Prep School 10 minutes down the road - I passed a Dons of Dunmow coach parked by the school entrance, disgorging the Felsted Prep School Rugby teams, including William Gwyther.
3. In the afternoon, I got a text message from my dear sister (Vicky) saying she passed her driving test, first time, with 3 minors. Absolutely daft, isn't it!? She even hit the curb at one point, but she's a girl, so she passed. No doubt her ample assets distracted the examiner. How handy!

Things seen in the news today:

1. Fox hunting will be illegal in 3 months time. It seems absolutely daft that an act designed to enable the swift declaration of war when under attack has been hijacked (again) by New Labour for something actually rather trivial. The control of the Fox population is now carried out largely by cars, as can be seen by the number of corpses on rural roads around here. Hunting with hounds has been shown to be kinder to foxes than shooting them, the only viable alternative (apart from to the saboteurs, who would obviously like to see them running happily around like innocent little bunnies - reality check, they rip little bunnies to shreds). This issue only actually matters to a few dedicated people on either side, but its symbolism has meant that it has been used by the Labour backbenchers to attack the House of Lords - The only political institution left that talks sense, not spin. Hunting with hounds doesn't actually do any real harm, and there is no real justification for banning it. This will hopefully be the decision arrived at by the appeal courts.
2. A former secretary in the household of Prince Charles is suing for unfair dismissal and sexual discrimination, after she was sacked for being a hyper-politically-correct lefty. Up to Charles to pick people he gets on with, surely? She has produced as evidence a private letter from Charles to a senior member of his staff, in which he puts forward the opinion that annoying people like her are the product of a society that is afraid to tell people that they aren't good enough to be pop stars or prime ministers, and that in order to achieve these aims actually requires a lot of hard work and talent/suitability for the job. Shocking! Every Private can't become a Sergeant Major?! Every Second Lieutenant can't become Chief of the Defense Staff!? Surely not! Bear in mind, too, that this was not a public statement, but private correspondance.
   None the less, Education Secretary Charles Clark attacked the Prince for being out of touch with modern youth and teaching. What hypocrasy! This same Charles Clark today announced that pupils who have been expelled for disruptive behaviour should be distributed equally among the other schools in that region equally, even if that means putting those who fall far below the entry standard into grammar schools. Congratulations, everyone is now equal. Or not. Placing someone into classes where the content and speed is far beyond their grasp is hardly likely to encourage them to pay attention and become model pupils. Making the class slow down to the level of the weakest, however, means that all the others will be twiddling their thumbs, messing around and becoming disruptive. Well done, Mr Clarke. No one, surely, could be more short sighted and out of touch, or more of a prime example of what the Prince referred to in his letter: Overreactionary politically correct nitwits (My words, not his) who condemn anyone who dares to be less than totally optimistic.
3. I watched the news and saw, at the opening of his presidential library (built to hold the records and paperwork of his goverment) and in the prescence of Bush Sr and Jr, as well as Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton displaying again the oratory skills that made him outshine both candidates in the recent election during his brief rally appearance. Putting John Kerry in the shade might have proved rather unhelpful...
4. In the local paper today: 3 men breaking into the office of of an Ongar businessman were shocked to find him still there. The black-belt martial arts enthusiast was practising with his Samurai sword while working late. He heard the glass smash in the back door, and then, said the 58 year old: "I was confronted by three men with an iron bar. I let out a massive Kiai(sic) shout holding this sword and the look of terror on theirfaces was unbelievable." He chased them, still screaming, out to their car. PMSL.

Other things that happened today: It snowed! Hehehe!