GayGordo's Financial Crisis Summit in America

Twatto is off to America to sprinkle his gold dust upon the troubled financial markets. Then I read that Hank Paulson won't meet him. It goes on to quote McGloom:

"I and then Alistair will meet financial and government leaders in New York to make these proposals." However, the official schedule for the trip shows he has a breakfast on Thursday morning with "fund managers from Wall Street" to discuss the financial crisis. He is also meeting Mayor Bloomberg and giving a speech on Friday about the global turmoil. Mr Brown will announce a new global malaria action plan that will aim to completely eradicate the disease by 2015. Also travelling with the Prime Minister were (sic) Elle Macpherson and the Duchess of York.

Dunno about the Duchess of Pork - possibly tagging along to try to improve her bank balance (sorry, her profile), but thank fuck the lovely Elle will be there. At least someone who understands finance will be on the Brown team.



Did I ever tell you my story about when I met Elle? Twice on the same day in two different countries? A memorable tale.

Serious Stuff - Idle's New Hero

I got to meet a woman today who I have long admired. She spoke for only twenty minutes - she was one of ten contributing to the debate - but what she said and how she said it was profound. Somali women of Yemeni origin are a new one on idle, who has tried manfully to expose himself to the women of the world, but you will have to take it from me that Ayaan Hirsi Ali is a luminous beauty. It is hard to believe that such a slight and soft-spoken woman can be quite so brave. Her upgrade to Hero status was passed nem con. Read her autobiography.

One of the benefits of temporary idleness (Indian plutocrats take a lot of getting along with, and sometimes my sunny diplomatic nature turns to naked contempt) is that one can take up all sorts of diversions and distractions. So I found myself today attending The Centre for Social Cohesion's conference in Westminster, sitting next to the grandson of a very great Prime Minister, and being intellectually challenged and entertained by, amongst others, Ayaan, Mark Steyn, John O'Sullivan, Melanie Phillips, Theodore Dalrymple and others. This was robust stuff, discussing "Soft Jihad, and How to Stop it", followed by "Western Civilisation: Strategies for Recovery". It was all off the record, so I will simply say that there was consensus that our late-twentieth century liberal Western civilisation was more likely to die by suicide than murder, and that we had to organise ourselves to avert the catastrophe.

It's not an attractive name, The Centre for Social Cohesion, and there are a few swivel-eyed neocons passing through, but today's confab was excellent, and meets the approval of the founder of the No Nonsense Party. And I got to meet Ayaan.

Gordon's Landslide

Gordon Before.....Gordon After






Much to his Mum and Dad's dismay
Gordon fell apart one day
It happened at terrific pace
The first to go was Gordon's face.

"We can't have this" his Dad opined,
"You're due on telly's News at Nine"
But even as he spoke they saw
Gordon slipping more and more

First his nose, his chin, his eyes...
Then his neck and then his thighs,
"Stop him someone!" Mother hoots
"His jowls are heading for his boots"

Too late, too late - and what bad luck
His looks, just like the country, fucked
The normal-looking Celtic man
Now resembled Aberfan

And there he lay: PM no more,
Just a slagheap on the floor....


Apols to Python (Monty)

Adam and Eve, Taliban Style

I can't remember where I got this cartoon came from, probably from the excellent Theo.

I think it needs a caption.

Credit Crunch Gifts; No.1 in a New Series

Is Harriet Harman's birthday coming up? Let's have a whip-round for her.

Can't Stand This Rain Any More

We're off to Prague for a jolly. Armed with good shoes, a raging thirst and a cameraphone to gather some images that would delight even a professional tottywatcher.




Now this is what I call a proper capital city. There may be the odd phalanx of the yellow hordes to contend with, all teeth, specs, and Sonycams, but they tend to disappear at sundown and only reappear at a leisurely 6am (!)

The stag parties long since opted for the cheaper fleshpots of the Baltics. The weather forecast is approx 10c warmer and 90% drier than Southern England.

Na shledanou, as they say in Praha...