Events | 2009.05.23
Hugh Muir's diary
With MPs humiliated and some on the road to oblivion, it was only a matter of time before union types began using the disclosures to their own advantage. This trend, wholly unwelcome, begins with veteran troublemaker Ian Bone. "As the son of domestic servants I have been honoured to accept the position of general secretary of the National Union of Moat Cleaners," he tells us. "With drastic cuts in MPs\' expenses there will be a knock-on effect with redundancies amongst our members, something the do-gooders who do not understand the countryside should bear in mind." There will be a day of action in the shadow of parliament next Wednesday, he tells us. "We will then move on to Tory HQ, where we will be joined by the National Union of Mole Catchers; Liberal Democrat HQ with the National Union of Trouser Pressers; and Labour HQ, accompanied by the National Union of Tudor Beam Makers." There\'s revolution in the air. This is it.
As the crisis widens and deepens, we continue to be interested in the explanation of Douglas Hogg, aka Viscount Hailsham, as to why he was forced to spend so much on the upkeep of his country estate. He and his wife spend the week in London and therefore need to employ people, he said. Steph Booth, Labour candidate, stepmum of Cherie, asks: "Is it logical, or even reasonable, to infer that if his wife remained at home rather than accompanying him to London she would, in fact, be donning wellies and overalls to clean out the moat?" No Steph, it isn\'t, for Baroness Hogg is herself a high flyer. But they could muddy themselves at the weekend.
No surprise given this backdrop that there is difficulty getting MPs signed up for an all-expenses paid parliamentary visit to Africa, an event planned by the all-party parliamentary Ghana group. We say it is a worthwhile project and the timing is impeccable. But there is no explaining fear.
Who is watching BBC2\'s nocturnal transmissions of series two of The Wire, with its tale of dock workers smuggling drugs and stealing valuables while struggling to keep their union alive? Well, says the BBC, around half a million people every episode. Keith Flett, our man on the shop floor, tells us why. "Series two has a cult following among trade union officials, and while we clearly cannot condone some of the activities of Bro Serbotka, any portrayal of the vicissitudes of union organisation on mainstream TV is so rare as to be worth watching." Bro Serbotka, for all his flaws, does fight the good fight.
With Euro elections just three weeks away, a fillip for Ukip – the party has gained the endorsement of actor David Prowse, the man who played Darth Vader. May the force be with the EU seemed a dangerous and catchy slogan. The Dark Lord had to do something.
After a week of shock and trauma, a tale to uplift the spirit. A man goes into a barber\'s in south London and asks for a short back and sides. As is customary, the barber, a Cypriot, asks the customer about holidays. "Oh I\'ve been cycling in France," says the man. "Well, me, I\'ve just been home to northern Cyprus," says the barber. "There\'s a Turkish family living in my parent\'s old home." Prepare for a lecture on war, aggression and the failure of international diplomacy, thinks the customer. Not a bit of it. "I met the lady of the house and she let me take some photos," the barber tells him. "Then I met her little girl and gave her some money to buy ice-cream." "Weren\'t you a bit annoyed that they had taken your family\'s home?" asks the customer, now incredulous. "Nah," says the barber, "What\'s the point? I\'ve got everything I need here, and the Turkish family didn\'t take our home from us; it was the Turkish army. So I can afford not to be bitter." A fine example, all things considered. A light in a cold, dark world.
For more information, please visit
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/[...]pean-elections-hugh-muir-diary
Instagram is adding automatic in-app text translation - The Verge views: 1523
Here’s a ‘Brand-New’ Massive Multilingual Dataset for Machine Translation views: 1514