Election '74, Round One

With the two main parties having a roughly equal number of seats and with neither having a majority of the whole House, he has not got the renewed mandate for which he asked. But the Labour party has not got a mandate for the policies which it advocated, and Mr. Wilson has no right to pose as if it had.

In a shifting and uncertain situation one thing seems reasonably sure. The election campaign has made the public fully aware of its gravity, and they are prepared for a temporary standstill in the standard of living and whatever austerity measures are necessary.

Sunday Telegraph leader article, 03/03/1974, commenting on the results of the February 1974 general election, held on 28/02/1974.

An Arrangement with the Liberals would in any case be insufficiently stable, and Mr Thorpe seemed to be asking too much and offering too little... and a decision to face Parliament without guaranteed support to provide an overall majority would seem to many to be a discreditable attempt to hold on to power

Cabinet conclusions, 04/03/1974.

All of a sudden, the 1970s don't feel quite as far away as they used to...

The Wit and Wisdom of... Winston Churchill

Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm

Winston Churchill, 1941

The Wit and Wisdom of... Robert Baden-Powell, Mk. III

The most worth-while thing is to try to put happiness into the lives of others

Letter from Robert Baden-Powell, Sept 1940

Oh Tony...

And so the phone hacking plot thickens. Today, it transpired that the defendants had received an email from Teflon Tony, one time Labour Prime Minister and now jet-setting millionaire, offering his advice on how to get them through the chaos of the collapse of the News of the World. One line really grabbed my attention:

Get them to investigate me and others and publish a Hutton style report

As in, get an inquiry to completely exonerate you of lying to invade a Middle Eastern country and fit the BBC up with the blame? Might've been hard to blame phone hacking on them...

(I should emphasise, the defendants in the phone hacking trial deny all the charges levied against them, are innocent until proven otherwise by the judgement of a jury of their peers, and the trial is still in progress. As for Mr Blair...) 

The Politics of the Rain

Whatever money is needed, we will spend it.

Thus spake David Cameron yesterday, in response to the latest 'Crisis of Excessive Weather' to hit the UK. Now, this is not to detract from the suffering of those who have been flooded. God only knows they've been having a miserable time, made worse by the seemingly useless response from the authorities, and that they need all the help the state can give them. but, money is no object? Spending without regard for the cost? Doesn't sound much like the modern Conservative party. Or indeed, any past forms of the Conservative party.

A quick look at the areas currently underwater may provide a short answer:

Somerset- 4/9 Conservative MPs
Berkshire- 7/8 Conservative MPs
Dorset- 7/8 Conservative MPs
Gloucestershire- 5/6 Conservative MPs
Worcestershire- 7/7 Conservative MPs
Oxfordshire- 6/7 Conservative MPs (including Dave)
Surrey- 11/11 Conservative MPs

Surely just a coincidence that the Tory heartlands are being promised all this money, when the rest of society has been told since 2010 that public spending must be slashed?

The other side to the argument has been over who is to blame for these floods. Poor Chris Smith, as the chairman of the Environment Agency, seems to be taking much of the blame for the flooding. Other candidates are the landowners (for owning land in areas near to a river) and, rather brilliantly, God, as a punishment for the introduction of same-sex marriages later this year.

This last point was raised by a UKIP councillor (who, it must be pointed out, has now left the party). However, there haven't yet been any gay weddings in Britain, as the legislation doesn't come into effect until March, so if this really is divine retribution, maybe it's for something which has already happened. Let's have a quick look again at where the flooding is...:

Somerset- 3 UKIP councillors, 19.9% at the 2013 local elections
Dorset- 1 UKIP councillor (no vote share given on Wikipedia)
Gloucestershire- 3 UKIP councillors, 15.2% at the 2013 local elections
Worcestershire- 4 UKIP councillor (no vote share given on Wikipedia)
Surrey- 3 UKIP councillors, 22.3% at the 2013 local elections

Just saying... Much like the pirates and global warming, I hasten to add!!

The Wit and Wisdom of... Edward Heath, Mk. II

Do you want a strong Government which has clear authority for the future to take decisions which will be needed? Do you want Parliament and the elected Government to continue to fight strenuously against inflation? Or do you want them to abandon the struggle against rising prices under pressure from one particularly powerful group of workers ...

This time of strife has got to stop. Only you can stop it. It’s time for you to speak — with your vote. It’s time for your voice to be heard — the voice of the moderate and reasonable people of Britain: the voice of the majority. It’s time for you to say to the extremists, the militants, and the plain and simply misguided: we've had enough. There’s a lot to be done. For heaven’s sake, let’s get on with it.

Edward Heath, calling a general election, 07/02/1974. The result was one of the closest elections in British history; Heath failed to retain office by the skin of his teeth.

The Wit and Wisdom of... Del-Boy

Alright, alright, supposing you go for a job, and you go for the interview, eh? What you going to say to the manager? You're going to say, 'Oh yes sir, I've got qualifications and experience, sir yeah. I've got two GCEs, an 18 month suspended sentence and I know a good joint when I puff one.' No, your feet won't touch bruv! No, no, I'm afraid not Rodney, at the ripe old age of 23, you are a social leper. Society has placed you in the darkest corner of its deepest cellar to grow moss and be forgotten about! Still never mind, eh? Viva la France as they sy in Rome. No need to get depressed!

Derrick Trotter to Rodney, First ever episode of Only Fools and Horses, 'Big Brother', 08/09/1981. Some things don't change...