Author: Anthony

The Crown, Horsham

Two disappointing pub experiences in Horsham this afternoon. The Black Jug – an occasional venue for me after meetings in the office complex nearby – turns out to be one of those sour-faced pubs that doesn’t let in children under 10, even into the beer garden. They also make some snotty remark about “well-behaved” children, which makes me want to have a tantrum in their saloon bar.

So we headed on to the Crown, a nicely done up pub on Carfax, where we got super-friendly service and very average food.

Different views

Another illustration of the American media attitude. Telegraph headline on the Polish elections: “Texts fire up young Polish voters”. Guardian story: “Polish twins fear the youth verdict.

Washington post headline on their story? “Poland Vote Touches on U.S. Defense Plan”. Because hey, who cares about anything else?

However, while that makes the British press look good, its overall purpose as a propaganda tool is illustrated by the Telegraph’s website, which places the link: “Q&A on the EU Treaty” directly above the link “Write to your MP to demand a referendum”. That’s going to be a balanced assessment, then.

Funny how the press didn’t recommend a referendum on, say, the minimum wage, isn’t it? And the lesson is: if you’re a journalist, referendums are only to be proposed where (a) you disagree with the Government and (b) you think you can scare people into agreeing with you.

Cry Gord for Harry, England and Saint George!

It seems that our gutsy Prime Minister has defended our island race from the tireless assaults of those wicked Europeans. Why do they hate us so much? It seems like every time there’s an EU summit, they’re trying to take over this scepter’d isle with their hateful rights and nefarious health and safety laws.

Or to put it another way, when are we going to get the Government to make an honest case for Europe?

MR(U)SA

Interesting report in the NY Times shows that it’s not just the NHS that’s having trouble with cleanliness. MRSA killed almost 18,650 patients in the US during 2005 – a rate of about 1 per 16,000 people. In England and Wales in the same year there were 1,629 deaths related to MRSA, about 1 per 32,000 people so half the overall rate in the US (though that’s just on a bare population figure, rather than per hospital episode or anything fancy).

Gore blimey

Congratulations to Al Gore (and the IPCC) for winning the Nobel Peace Prize. I see that the BBC ‘most recommended comments’ page on the topic is, as always, full of right wing nuts.

I wonder whether the right-wing noise machine that is the BBC Have Your Say feature is a bad sign for (a) the BBC’s ability to get user interaction right, (b) the future of politics or (c) the future of the human race. Or (d) all of the above, I suppose.

So proud to be British

How could I not be when we have such a wonderful upstanding press? Take the Daily Mail, which forever defends this island against politicians of a socialist bent, immigrants and those cunning, waxed-moustachioed Europeans. This fine example of all that is best about British honesty and fair play has, the Economist reveals:

[paid a Pole] to drive a Polish-registered car to Britain and spend a few days breaking parking laws and speed limits with a photographer in tow, to demonstrate that Poles and other eastern European immigrants flout British rules with impunity.

When challenged as to the accuracy of this allegation, the Mail reporter claimed it was OK because they only committed civil offences, not criminal ones.

So, in summary, deliberately procuring people to break the law is fine upstanding British values, slandering immigrants and deceiving your readers is an essential part of our proud island’s history, but exercising your right of free movement within the EU is an abomination that must be stamped out immediately. See also under “Human Rights”