Taken to extremes

Simon Titley has come up with a funny spoof of BNP Policy.

To paraphrase, Simon is suggesting that the BNP have policies of reintroducing national service, and then arming the general population with assault rifles so that they can shoot burglars.

What a card!

Er... hang on though he refers to this BBC News article about the launch of the BNPs manifesto. So... it's not a joke. And therefore only grimly funny. Eek.

Killing two birds with one stone

How do you satisfy two of your passtimes at once.

Well you go and deliver leaflets in a more rural area of course, making sure you have put on your lovely new walking shoes.

You don't however forget which way is North and then get embarassingly lost outside a local councillors house. Could have been worse, she could have known I'm an Explorer Scout Leader.

World War III

was great.

The Doctor Who episode broadcast tonight called World War III that is.

There were some particularly naughty political allegories in both episodes that had me giggling like a loon. For example the cliffhanger to Aliens of London had the Depty Prime Minister misusing ID cards to deadly effect. And this episode had some rather more obvious parallels to British premiers warning of threats from non-existant weapons of mass destruction.

So the moral of the tale is vote Lib Dem. As well you should.

Stakeboards, friends' birthdays and pigs.

After packing, I headed on over to Leeds North West to help with the delivery. Wherever you go round there, there seem to be Lib Dem diamonds up. Stakeboards, window posters, you name it. There are a few Conservative posters round Bramhope (for some reason they seem not to have fielded a serious candidate this year). I've seen only one house with labour boards in the garden and posters all over the windows. What's going on, have the other parties given up?

Even as someone merely delivering the Lib Dem message I am getting a positive reception from people saying they'll be voting for Greg.

In the evening I headed on down to Loughbourgh. For it was Claire Thorpe's 30th birthday. Was good to catch up with people and there was a mini SSAGO Exec of 98 reunion as Simon and Karen Pugsley were amongst the party goers. I arrived in time to be fed lots of nicely cooked meat from the barbecue, which I supplemented with rice salad from the buffet. I do like rice salad.

I set my alarm for the next day, but did not stir until I heard people playing with Alex's toys.

So I left at 11, narrowly missing breakfast at McDonalds and headed on back to Leeds. Slave driver that she is Hazel got me straight out delivering two more rounds when I returned to the HQ.

I made sure I left at 6pm, to get home in time to watch Doctor Who on BBC3. "Aliens of London" appears to have divided fans, but most regular people appear to have loved it. This episode was for me full of some great scenes and concepts, but I could have done without the farting. In fact it is the only episode this series where I've run the tape back and watched it a second time straight away.

So all in all a great weekend.

"And so to bed."

"Gentlemen..." part II

David Tennant has been confirmed as the new Doctor in Doctor Who. He'll be in the Christmas special and the next series, as will Billie Piper.

As anticipated by Nick

"Gentlemen. If you could do what I can do, then you would do it too. But you can't."

BBC4. As someone says it's a channel which always has somthing on that's worth watching. Unfortunately that doens't mean it always has somthing on that I feel like watching.

Last night was an exception, however. I turned on the TV, and flicked through the channels until I chanced on a documentary by and about the McLibel two's struggle in the courts against McDonalds. While I don't agree 100% with their cause, they came across very well, and seemed quite admirable in their stand for free speech.

And then just as I was about to switch over, on came Marcus Brigstocke's Late Edition, an enjoyable mix of talk show and satire.

Then just as I was about to switch off, on came a repeat of "Russell T. Davies: Unscripted", which I'd missed on Monday due to making my tea, and thinking it was longer than it was. Russell, for those who don't know, is the writer of the moment. He cut his teath on Childrens TV, working on "Why don't you" before moving on to create "The Dark Season" and "Century Falls". Via a string of acclaimed dramas for ITV and Channel 4, his latest projects are as key writer and executive producer on the new series of Doctor Who, and also as writer of the BBC3 miniseries Cassanova. Both of which I enjoyed. As I did the documentary. Russell comes across as an immensley likable chap, and is a talented writer, even if an odd bunch were queueing up to sing his praises.

When is "Century Falls" coming out on DVD?

Endless Fun

You know how a week or two back I was going on about the annoyingly spoofable Conservative Party posters?

Well, as featured on many other blogs, someone's produced a website to take all the hard work out of mocking up your own.

Here's my own effort:

Back in Yorkshire

Back from a few days off, using up my unused holiday allowance from last year.

Thrusday night was spent in London in a pub with some Doctor Who fans. Having not been able to visit monthly for a few years, I found I knew hardly anyone there. Some people I did know plainly didn't want to talk to me, but there you go. There were others there I recognised more than knew, including a couple of guys who wrote for the new series. One of them is a lovely guy, very talented, but seemed to be a bit overwhelemed by the interest of his fellow fans. As you would. On the whole I think I enjoyed catching up with the people I caught up with so it was worthwhile.

Friday I had free, so visited Watford to help out there for a few hours. Then up to Norfolk for the SAGGA AGM. It was nice to catch up with everyone, and I only had to put up with a few hours of meeting to do it.

On the way back I called in at Hesley Wood to pick up a brochure, and found that the site is not available for the weekend booked for the district explorer camp. But hey, we've only had it in the diary 12 months, and we decided on Hesley 3 months ago, so I'm really getting ahead of myself by going behind the person responsible's back and trying to book myself.

At the SAGGA AGM it was remarked that I havn't updated this page much recently, and was that because I've been away. Well yes and no. I have been busy, but also havn't had much to say. Despite ocasional flashes of opinion, this blog stays firmly in the "I had egg and chips for tea" category. There were also one or two difficult conversations. Outside this blog I keep my two (three? four?) lives separate. When a good friend says "I'm bored of this general election." I have nothing to say. Especially given her opinions on the alternatives offered to her sitting Labour MP, which seemed to me to be pretyty valid. I don't know what I can say either, I'm more of a worker when it comes to... well anything for that matter. Another mentioned the fact that his Lib Dem MP was standing down, so they have a chance for a change. A third friend turns out to be the daughter of a Labour MP, and wished me happy campaigning whilst warning me off turning up where he's standing.

I returned home, to find for once messages left on the answering machine. I don't find a speeding ticket from when a camera flashed me a few weeks ago, so maybe it was a little sensitive.

Great Minds think alike.

Going through some of the posts on the blogs this afternoon:

Peter Black: At the starting line
Richard Allan: And they're off
Nick Barlow: And we're off...
Chris Ward: And we're off...
Lynne Featherstone We're off
James Oates: The race begins
Will Howells: General Election called for May 5th

And we're off.

Get on your leafletting shoes, the election's been called.

For some of the Scouty people reading this I'd like to draw your attention to this:

Blair sets 5 May as election date: "Lib Dem leader Charles Kennedy has visited Manchester, Newcastle, Leeds and Edinburgh on a whistle-stop tour of key seats to begin his campaign. "

For Leeds read Bramhope, the village in Leeds North West, home of the Scout Campsite of the same name.

More Training

Had a free day yesterday, so no guesses what I was doing. This time in Horsforth, and wearing a bright yellow T-Shirt courtesy of LD Image.

Today has been more Scout Leader training, modules 9, 11, 12 and 13. That leaves just 14, 15, 17 and 18 that I havn't done any traing for or validated, and I recon I can validate 17 and 18 without training.

I can do training for 14 and 15 in two weekends time, but I might be busy by then.

In other news, fewer people were watching Saturday night TV this week, but Doctor Who still trounced Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway.

Jokes

"I'm looking forward to The End of The World Tomorrow."
"Look I know Eccleston's departure hit you hard but get a grip!"

"Knock Knock"
"Who's There?"
"Chris?"
"Chris Who?"
"I knew I'd get typecast."

Are you voting Lib Dem This Time?

Then you're in good company.

Brian Eno has started a campaign. Quite a few names have signed up too, and you can add your support if you want.

If the only reason you're not voting for us is that you think we're not going to win, please read what he has to say. Actually go and read it anyway.

Obviously I'd love you all to vote Lib Dem this time.