Discuss

"Wind farms are an abomination. As I've said before, I would rather a child of mine went into business manufacturing land mines (which at least have a valid defensive purpose) than got involved in the wind farm industry, which is the sole domain of grubby, conscience-free, exploitative, mendacious, rent-seeking corporatist scuzz balls and has about as much to do with saving the environment as the European Union has to do with free markets, democracy and national sovereignty."

James Delingpole, Torygraph-on-Line, May 2012

Poor Dumb Teenager of the 80s

Iain Martin often writes good sense about Politics. Just as well, because he's got no future as a music critic. His dissing of Pink Floyd in an article on Cameron is typical of a seventies child who became an 80s teenager. To the spotty 14 year old Martin, of questionable personal hygiene and completely undeveloped personal music taste, perhaps the atonal bleatings of Morrissey on The Queen is Dead struck a chord. But he should have grown out of it quickly, discovered The Cure (unquestionably THE British band of the 80s), and then immersed himself in the glorious treasure trove of 70s music, which I think we can all agree was the ne plus ultra decade of modern popular music.

Pink Floyd's classic era, from Meddle in 1971 to The Wall in 1979, is as strong a catalogue from that decade as any band anywhere. Bowie, with Hunky Dory to Lodger, gets as close as anyone else. Martin's point, that a Floyd fan de facto knew nothing about music, is preposterous. He may not be surprised that I consider Blood on the Tracks (75) to be as good an album as Wish You Were Here, or Let it Bleed (Dec 69). But what about London Calling, or Talking Heads 77, or even (I admit it) the classic Elton period from 71-75? We had a broad scope from which to choose. We had it all and we didn't need to be ovine followers of one band or genre. One of Cameron's Desert Island Discs, if I remember, was Wish You Were Here, so it wasn't so dark or guilty a secret, was it?

It is probably a truism that modern Prime Ministers should never answer questions about their favourite cultural things. Just remember the cringemaking thought of Brown on his exercise rocking horse at 6am, digging the Arctic Monkeys. But Cameron comes out of this one just fine. A public schoolboy in the late 70s and early 80s was listening to Pink Floyd and the Clash and the Specials in his study. If he had to make a public choice between the three, he made the right one, politically. I concede to Martin that The Queen is Dead would have been inexplicable to Her Majesty.

UPDATE: Critic's response

On the Case

Forget that it's that old red-top vulgarian Kelvin Mackenzie. Forget that it's the flawed Daily Mail. Just read the following and see if you don't agree with his one-man crusade to get justice for a blameless girl who was badly assaulted by a violent yob whom the police seem determined to protect from the consequences of her actions. The dishonesty of the police and the spinelessness of our institutions is shaming. Why should a fairly rich journalist and his wealthy newspaper be required to appoint a lawyer to take them on? I hope Mackenzie takes this all the way and succeeds. Justice must be done, and must be seen to be done.

Supersleuth Kelv is on the case

I have hired the small but energetic London law firm of Edmunds Marshall McMahon in my battle to get justice for Chloe Tebay.

The 18-year-old student was dancing at a nightclub in Chorley, Lancashire, when she was knocked to the floor, for no reason, by a fellow clubber who then kicked her in the face, breaking her nose.

Unbelievably her assailant, Laura Lewis, was simply given a caution by police. I decided that this was not right and have looked into launching a private prosecution.

My lawyer tells me the following: 

We checked with Chloe as to whether she was contacted by the police officer in the case before Miss Lewis was given a caution. She said she wasn’t. Home Office circular 016/2008 states that before a simple caution can be given, the views of any victim about the offence and proposed method of disposal should be obtained.  

Chloe was kicked while on the floor, which is an aggravating factor of an offence, yet this doesn’t seem to have been taken into account.  

The mother of Chloe’s boyfriend, Carol Pilkington, wrote to Chorley police station on April 24 asking for more information about the caution. She did not receive a reply.

The police Press Office initially said the caution had been given after consultation with the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). They then wrote to say they were mistaken and that no such consultation took place and the CPS were never asked for advice.

 We rang Lancashire police, explained we were acting for Chloe and that we would like the wording of the caution and details of the offence Miss Lewis was cautioned for. We were told to put that request in writing.

We wrote to them again and asked them to respond urgently. No response yet. We told them that Chloe and Carol had not received a response to their letter. The officer on the phone said that was unlikely. We called Chloe straight after to confirm, and she said they have not received a response.

This one will run and run . . . and so will I.

Hopeless

How much longer does one have stay up to discover the result of the mayoral election? So far the imbeciles of Brent have had 25 hours and 25 minutes to count a low-turnout election. The people responsible should be taken out and shot. Olympics? - jeesus, the mind boggles what a disaster it could be. Public administration of any kind in this country continues to deteriorate.

Whatever Boris has done in his first four years, he has had no improving effect on the utterly cretinous people whose job it is to administer a simple election in the capital.