Tag Archives: michelle obama

Apology of the week

11:48am Fri February 10th

As the Leveson Inquiry into the culture, practice and ethics of the press finishes off its first stage, the below should perhaps serve as a reminder of why a judge-led inquiry is necessary.

The Daily Telegraph has been forced to issue an apology, after it published a story erroneously claiming that Michelle Obama and Sheika Mozah of Qatar had gone on a $50,000 lingerie shopping spree. In a story (now removed) largely ignored in the UK, but at the centre of controversy in the US, the Telegraph claimed that the pair had had Madison Avenue closed off, and that their $50k purchases caused a 12% sales increase.

Trouble started when the White House denied the story, which subsequently turned out to be untrue. But despite their admission of the error, the Telegraph addresses their apology only to “Her Highness”:

“…we would like to make clear that the “shopping spree” involving Her Highness Sheikha Moza and Michelle Obama that we referred to in fact never occurred, and that Her Highness has never been shopping with Mrs Obama… We apologise for the distress and embarrassment this article caused.”

No mention of distress and embarrassment caused to Michelle.

No touching: ex-IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn meets Michelle Obama

10:35am Fri May 27th

6 comments

Barack Obama seemed to forewarn sleazy IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn at the G-20′s official dinner in 2009.

Image: NY Magazine

Camerons showcase designer kitchen as household spending slumps

10:56am Thu May 26th

10 comments

As new household spending figures hit a two-year low and families suffer the the worst income squeeze since the early 1980s, the Camerons have caught the national mood by, erm, showcasing their newly-fitted £25,000 second kitchen.

Both BBC Online and the Daily Mail today carry a photo of Samantha Cameron and Michelle Obama in the flat above Number 11 Downing Street. High-end household items are neatly arranged and framed with a wide shot calculated to exhibit the Cameron’s designer kitchen and pique the interest of lifestyle editors.

With the BBC enlisting the assistance of Ideal Home Magazine, the design is covered in a level of detail which could only result from a Number 10 briefing. Items captioned by Auntie and the Mail include:

“Fancy Nancy sofa, from £1,431″
“Kahrs Walnut flooring, from £70 per square metre”
“Corinian white worktop, from £310 per linear metre”
“Rancillo coffee machine, £500″
“Floating shelves from [Sam Cameron's] mother Lady Annabel Astor’s furniture company”
Not one, but “two Apple iPads”

Gallingly, the photoshoot comes after Number 10 refused freedom of information requests for designs and cost of installation despite Cameron’s previous promises to pay for expenses exceeding Downing Street’s maintenance allowance and concerns around the terrace’s Grade I listed status.

As the full impact of spending cuts starts to bite, Scrapbook cannot fathom who would think this is a good idea.

How out of touch can you get?

Google hypocrisy over Michelle Obama 'monkey' image

9:14am Thu November 26th

1 comment

Whatever your view on human intervention to remove ‘offensive’ search engine results, it cannot be denied that Google resorted to talking utter crap yesterday while attempting to wriggle away from controversy around the indexing of a photoshopped image depicting Michelle Obama as a monkey.

“We do not remove a page from our search results simply because its content is unpopular or because we receive complaints concerning it” – Google

Except if you’re the Chinese government that is! You can try the human rights Pepsi Challenge for yourself here and here.

Google.com image search for Tiananmen Square

Google image search for Tiananmen Square

Google.cn image search for Tiananmen Square

Google image search for Tiananmen Square (this time in China)

An expat friend has advised that Scrapbook may be the internet equivalent of Norman Wisdom, being one of the few British political blogs available behind the so-called ‘great firewall of China’.

But – on the basis of the above – not for much longer!

GCSE art coursework from Carla Bruni

9:12am Thu October 8th

4 comments

God forgive the individual who gave French first lady Carla Bruni a pencil and sketchpad gift set (her Sarah Brown and Charles ‘n’ Camilla are nearly as bad).

Reminds Scrapbook of a submission to the Hart Beat gallery.

But never too late to learn, eh?