Some politicians use social media to connect better with their constituents, humanise themselves and improve transparency in politics. Not BNP leader Nick Griffin, however, who uses his Twitter account to inform people that his car smells like a cat has done a bad thing:
To mask the smell, Griffin purchased a bigotry and ignorance-scented air freshener at a service station outside Bourbourg.
Be it Paul Gogarty’s “f*ck you” to Deputy Stagg or a national newspaper branding the Government (quite fairly) as “Useless Gobshites”, Scrapbook already understands Irish politics to be rather more straight-talking than over here. As a not-quite farewell gift to not-quite Westminster politics Gerry Adams now injects UK politics with some similarly colourful language.
Though Adams has furnished Commons authorities with a resignation letter, he is refusing to follow the parliamentary procedure to vacate his seat by taking a Crown appointment. So without the Speaker setting some constitutional precedent the republican remains in position. When asked about this, however, a Sinn Féin spokesman said bluntly:
“We couldn’t give a toss.”
The upcoming Irish General Election will surely be more quotable than its British counterpart.
If you haven’t been keeping an eye on the polls, you may not know the Liberal Democrats aren’t very popular at the moment. Even Scrapbook, however, hadn’t realised they were so unpopular that their own websites are now attacking them.
“Welcome to the Keighley and Ilkley Liberal Democrat Website” reads the homepage of — you guessed it — the Keighley and Ilkley Liberal Democrat party. This is followed by:
“I created this web site in the days that the Liberal Democrats had principles.”
Turns out their web designer has left the party. Ouch.
The president of football’s ruling body FIFA faced calls for his resignation after saying gay fans should “refrain” from sex during the 2022 World Cup in the conservative Islamic nation of Qatar.
“I would say they should refrain from any sexual activities.”
Equally, the LGBT community might respond:
We don’t mind FIFA officials being a bunch of corrupt scheisters, just so long as they do it in the privacy of their own homes.
Let’s hope David Cameron doesn’t have two embarrassing rejections today. For, on the day it is announced whether England will host the 2018 World Cup, poor Dave has been told he can’t listen to his favourite band… by one of their members.
Cameron has long claimed to be a big fan of 1980s Manchester four-piece The Smiths (who are so called for the ordinariness of the name). But earlier today, the band’s guitarist (and big football fan) Johnny Marr had clearly had enough of the Prime Minister tarnishing the band’s good name, tweeting:
This isn’t the first time Cameron has been shot down by his musical heroes. In May 2008, the Old Etonian said ‘The Eton Rifles’ by The Jam was one of his favourite songs, to which Jam frontman Paul Weller retorted:
“Which part of it didn’t he get? It wasn’t intended as a fucking jolly drinking song for the cadet corps.”
Don’t worry Dave, Scrapbook is sure Phil Collins won’t mind you liking him.
Johann Harri sticks the knife in:
Two months before the general election, Nick Clegg warned there would be “riots” on the streets if the Conservatives introduced extreme cuts. Now they have begun – and Clegg himself is the chief cutter.
Scrapbook looks forward with interest to Clegg’s next visit to a university campus.
Scrapbook has already highlighted the government’s “do as we say not as we do” attitude to transparency this week in the form of the secrecy surrounding the New Schools Network. Those looking for further evidence of the rhetoric-reality gap need look no further than Mr. Eric Pickles, who this week refused a freedom of information relating to whether a DCLG minister had libelled the Electoral Commission chair, Jenny Watson.
Despite guidance from the Information Commissioner that departments have a duty to confirm or deny whether information requested is held, Pickles rejected enquiries as to whether he had sought external legal advice regarding comments that Watson had “built her career on incompetence”, “milked the taxpayer” and was “not fit for the role”.
If you didn’t see it yesterday, Tom Watson’s letter to Eric Pickles is both pointed and very funny:
“Come off it, my old chum. Transparency cuts both ways. You can’t stuff your face all day with new politics cake and still have it left to eat when you’re hungry in the middle of the night.”
We hope he leaves a slice for Scrapbook.
Imagine a book called ”The list of really idiotic things not to do if you’re the leader of a council”. If such a tome existed, Scrapbook surmises that ”dressing up as Hitler and posing Nazi salutes to camera” would probably feature somewhere in the first chapter.
Clearly, no one told Mike Gardner that aping German WWII officers is something that you get out of the way while at university. The councillor has been defenestrated as leader of Harrogate Borough and suspended by the Conservative Party. Thankfully for comedy, Gardner has been ignoring the standard pleas from spinners not to talk to the press:
“I don’t dress up as a Nazi normally.”
How reassuring!
