Say it aint so Jon!
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Remind me, who are the nasty party gain?
(37 posts) (17 voices)
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To be honest, you could probably write any number of articles about JoF along these lines.
If your main job is publishing your thoughts, sometimes exaggerating to make points, sometimes intentionally going off road for the sake of satire, then there's going to be loads of stuff that looks stupid when presented as if it were a cold pronouncement of ones fundamental values.
I haven't read any of JoF's books, and I certainly don't intend to start now, but I expect they would have been less interesting, or unpublished, if he'd been more mindful of future election campaigns and written them in measured, uncontroversial politic-speak.
Posted 3 months ago # -
Truebiscuit
offlineMemberI often dream that someone will kill Ed Miliband. Perhaps a ninja will slit his throat in the night, or a fat man with a sawn-off will confront him and shoot his face full of holes.
It would be best if he died slowly, so his assassin can gloat and explain that he had to be killed because he didn't agree with his policies.
It would be hilarious if Ed Balls was to get cancer as well, because I don't like him. Or Gordon Brown: perhaps his Scottish hovel might burn down, trapping him underneath a fallen beam, where he lies gasping for breath as his life slips away.
Posted 3 months ago # -
riesler
offlineMember"sometimes exaggerating to make points". I think wishing someone dead is a tad more than exaggerating.
Regardless of politics, I do find the recurring calls for the death of Maggie Thatcher more than a little distasteful and only cheapens the arguments of those opposed to her.
Posted 3 months ago # -
Tripod
onlineMemberI do find the recurring calls for the death of Maggie Thatcher more than a little distasteful and only cheapens the arguments of those opposed to her.
You're probably right. I loathed her policies, but she had some standing in the world. Also she was voted in by a majority of voters in a democracy. Blame them...
Posted 3 months ago # -
Gerontius
offlineMemberWell I've read all Jono Feral's books and they are excellent.
I've seen him live on stage at a book launch and a literary festival and he was excellent.
I think he will make an excellent candidate.Jono Feral and the Beastly By-election.
Would make an excellent kids book on politics.Not sure how much mileage there is in 'outing' someone for despising Thatcher.
She was a brilliant politician and did everything it said on the Tory tin.
She robbed poor people and gave it to the rich - it's what they do.
Can't fault her for being true to her beliefs.Posted 3 months ago # -
nickb
offlineMemberNot sure this is relevant and should go in the "dead pool" or "Unimpressive celeb encounter" thread. But the day of the Bombing I was watching TV in a guest house in Stratford upon Avon and watched footage of Norman Tebbit being stretchered out, in his pyjamas. Brace yourself for the next bit. You know how pyjamas are a kind of mixed blessing: ease of access the upside - accidental display the downside. I am pretty sure I saw Mr Tebbit's stricken penis, just for a nanosecond. It's a sight that has haunted me ever since, and reason enough to hate the terrorists that were responsible for this horrible experience.
Suppose Thatcher had been killed, and, in order to even up the numbers, one of the dead Tory MP's had survived. Who would we have had instead? Keith Joseph? Kenneth Baker? Norman Tebbit? The prospect of a fellow right-winger wringing the last bit of martyrdom-benefit from the death of Margaret is too horrible to contemplate. Worse even than the glimpse of that Tory todger I suffered all that time ago.
Posted 3 months ago # -
dvo4fun
offlineMember@Truebiscuit:
"Poor people don't have any money, Gerontius. That's why they're poor.
The Tories just don't give as much of the rich people's money to the poor. "
Sounds reasonable to me Tb; a sound analysis for a sound economy.
Do you know exactly which planet & in which solar system the rich people travel to - in order to collect all their money in the first place btw?
Posted 3 months ago # -
AReader
offlineMemberI've read his memoir "Things can only get better" and I think its massively entertaining that they take that particular quotation out of its context. The person humiliated was John's 19 year old lefty self looked back on by the mature writer.
There's also a hilarious passage where John is trying to explain why it would be a good idea if Britain lost the Falklands just so Thatcher could be removed from power. As he said on the back cover, he really really didn't like Margaret Thatcher.
He can't be the only person who wondered why Thatcher didn't survive the Brighton bomb, but a more mature person would have realised that had Thatcher died, her memory would have been canonized, and the history of the last 30 years would have been very different and probably not to JoF's liking.
Posted 3 months ago # -
Gerontius
offlineMembernickb....that is horific. The stuff of nightmares.
Can just imagine Norman Tebbit being blown to pieces and all they could find was his penis.
Picture two paramedics carrying it out on a stretcher.Hold on...the first and last day you piloted a glider?
Sounds eerily familiar.
OK...so it wasn't a Boeing 747 full of terrified passengers but it was still an aircraft of sorts.
Typical of this country....a fucking glider.Posted 3 months ago # -
Truebiscuit
offlineMemberIain Duncan Smith only wants to give unemployed geologists free money that he's taken from the rich, if they're prepared to do a bit of work for it. High street geologists aren't in great demand, whereas shops that sell cheap things are really popular.
If she doesn't want to work in a shop, fine. No-one should make her. But then she shouldn't expect to be given money that other people have worked hard to earn.
She should probably be paid properly for working there, but she shouldn't refuse to work on principle and still expect to be bailed out.
Posted 3 months ago # -
Squudge
offlineMemberSoz but I'm with IDS on this (never thought I'd hear myself say that).
We've all stacked shelves (haven't we?). I never felt demeaned, and I seem to recall the wage was pretty much the same as being on dole. The point was 1. Get a reference and 2. (bonus) in the warm/bunch of other side benefits like talking to other people with jobs about other jobs.
In Singapore, all pensioners are given jobs that one might consider demeaning, but it is intended to gently keep them active/ensure care in the community. Everyone accepts it. Be afraid, they might do that here.
Posted 3 months ago # -
The All New Jeni B
offlineMemberLove Tebbit's description of the Ed. Ooh! Get her!!
Posted 3 months ago # -
Hasn't Ed Balls (and several other prominent Labour supporters/members) publicly said that he's got champagne on ice for the day Thatcher dies?
Was he called an incontinently-voiced reprobate? Because he doesn't even have the excuse of being a comedy writer.
Posted 3 months ago # -
nickb
offlineMemberIt is perfectly OK to express hope for the death of one's leaders. Come friendly Meteor descend on Notting Hill etc. Mr O didn't think it through though because had she been killed the repercussions would have been horrible. A Tory govt charged with political righteous indignation, the figure of the late Thatch elevated to Joan of Arc status. Things could only have got worse.
Posted 3 months ago # -
Sinnick
onlineMemberInteresting that Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair are the only 2 PM's people talk about nowadays. They both made a big difference to this country, though it evidently isn't fashionable to like that.
Strange that the press like to trawl through the garbage of the past, rather than review what may happen next. I suppose it's simpler for their little minds to read a book published last century rather than analyse what's happening today. Bless them.
When Mrs Thatcher finally shuffles off, there certainly will be a lot of immature hatred flying around. Although I'd strongly disagree with it, people certainly have the right to express their thoughts.
So, who's going to have a go at the DM ?
Posted 2 months ago # -
nickb
offlineMember"Strange that the press like to trawl through the garbage of the past" says Sinnick. Reporting the future is a bit of a challenge. I will try and review what happens next but there's a clue in the word about what it means. Re view, you see. Or view again. You can't really view again something that hasn't happened. As for immature hatred, it sounds better than mature hatred, which presumably is the hatred someone's been brewing for a while. Wait a minute lots of people have been maturing hatred for Thatch for quite a while, so she surely will on death be the subject of mature hatred. Very mature.
Posted 2 months ago # -
ronseal
offlineMemberI might dig out Things Can Only Get Better and read it again.
If only to be shocked at the sheer tastelessness of this left wing extremist's remarks. I can't help it, I'm hooked on taking offence.
I wonder if reading something that makes you angry is addictive.
Maybe that's what we do for fun now that everything's banned. It's the nearest we get to an adrenaline rush. I think it's all I've got left these days.
Posted 2 months ago # -
Sinnick
onlineMemberPerhaps I'm being a little naive, but I'd rather hope a newspaper would report something that's, well, news. I don't expect them to predict the future, that would be a little beyond most of them.
Maybe, if the DM is so interested in Eastleigh, they could present the current opinions of the various candidates rather than just trying to undermine the reputation of an individual. I doubt I would agree with some of JoF's political opinions, but I'm sure he'll make a damn fine MP if he wins.
And I have to apologise unreservedly for my imprecise use of the word "review" - I momentarily forgot the impeccable standards of publishing on the internet.
Posted 2 months ago #
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