The Locker Room

Private Eye: no.1206 21/03/08 - 03/04/08 page 5:- EdBalls's friendship with Fleet Street bore fruit on budget day (sic) when the education secretary (sic) was accused of saying "so what?"(sic) to David Cameron's observations that Labour was the party of very high taxes. Initially Balls seemed relaxed about the accusation - until political hacks started sniffing round and a frantic spin operation began. When word went out that "the Express is going to splash with the story", Balls got on the phone. Calls were made to the Times, Sun, Daily Mail and Daily Telegraph. Mail editor Paul Dacre was tempted to run the story big but later lost interest after ne…

Private Eye no.1206 21/03/08 - 03/04/08. Page 5. University College London has come over all coy about the benefits of the private finance initiative (PFI) recently - and no wonder. "UCL has been researching and teaching on the issues of PFI, PPP (Public Private Partnership) and the management of major projects for many years now," boasted Andrew Edkins, director of the new courses. Indeed it has. As Eye readers well know, the author of the damning report: Pump-Priming the PFI, which exposed the inflated costs of PFI projects back in 1999, was none other than Professor Allyson Pollock, until 2005 chair of public health policy at UCL. Professor Pollock ha…

Private Eye: no.1206 21/03/08 - 03/04/08 page 5. No surprise that Alistair Darling fudged his way out of breaking his "sustainable investment" rule that debt mustn't exceed 40 per cent of gross domestic product. Even after dubiously leaving £100bn of Northern Rock debt out of the calculation, £30bn of PFI [Private Finance Initiative] debt would have seen the limit broken had it been on the books - which it would have been if the government had met its own commitments. In response to demands from its advisory accountants last year that it should withdraw the rule that keeps PFI debts off balance sheet (brought in by Gordon Brown a decade ago), the Tre…

http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/38244/Is-this-Labour-s-most-shameful-stunt-yet- if this story is true then it is an absolute disgrace. People trying to protect their homes and reduce crime are going to be taxed. Perhaps those who don't have burglar alarms should be taxed even higher.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=541855&in_page_id=1770 Is this man really the 'Big Hero' he was made out to be, or is it just Sour grapes by the others. There appear to be more people saying he wasn't the big hero, and only actively took part when a female called for assistance. Lets hope it doesn't all end in disgrace for the man, as from this story, he appears to have been the least involved, thats if it's true.

This is just a general "heads up" as there is still plenty of time for things to completely change. However, do you miss having a white Christmas? Would you prefer a white Easter? At the moment the temperature looks set to become extremely cold over the Easter weekend and precipitation could occur anywhere in the UK. That means snow could happen anywhere and, at the moment, there could be a significant fall of snow.

Have a snug day.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=541598&in_page_id=1770 This is the type of Trash that tax payers in this country are supporting.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/mid/7306829.stm Another MP without a sense of humour, but then she is a Lib Dem Tree Hugger.

And the government said education isn't dumbing down??? UNIVERSITY CHALLENGE (BBC2) Jeremy Paxman: What is another name for "cherrypickers" and "cheesemongers"? Contestant: Homosexuals. Paxman: No. They're regiments in the British Army who will be very upset with you. BEG, BORROW OR STEAL (BBC2) <?:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><?:namespace prefix = st2 ns = "urn:schemas:contacts" />Jamie Theakston: Where do you think Cambridge University is? Contestant: Geography isn't my strong point. Theakston: There's a clue in the title. Contestant: Leicester? PHIL WOOD SHOW (BBC GMR) Wood: What 'K' could be desc…

Putting everything else to one side on the issue.What must the country and wider world think of West Yorkshire. The footage from Dewsbury Moor of all the Matthews relatives friends and neighbours is like one big episode of Shameless.Its absolutely horrible and makes the film Idiocracy look like a Shakespearean festival. Last year the cameras were all over the Beeston area of Leeds because of the terror trials and that was just as bad. I honestly don't think it can be any worse and the Yorkshire tourist board must be really worried.

Has anyone noticed that the British sense of humour is so often lost on people from other nations? I have fallen foul of this many times. Many years ago, I went to a dinner party at which most of the guests were Scandinavians. They were discussing World War 2, and what their respective parents were doing during those years. Nils: "So, Brutus, I suppose your parents would have remembered the war?" Me: "Oh, yes. My mother-in-law was actually a member of the Gestapo." Nils: "Really?" Me: "yes, but she was thrown out for being too cruel." It went down like a lead balloon. Stony silence apart from the wind whistling and tumbleweed drifting.... You get the picture.…

arv crash