Xinomorph

Well, we're almost there. It is suspected that, come Friday, our present Home Secretary, John Reid, will give up the veto on criminal justice to the EU.

If all 25 Home Affairs Ministers agree at the end of the week, and then all 25 national leaders (Prime Ministers and Presidents) agree towards the end of the year, then all aspects of criminal justice (policing, punishments, and even what is and isn't a crime in the first place) would come under EU control.

This is disturbing to the highest level. It would regress our justice system considerably, nevermind the utterly shocking democratic situation which we would be left in (or completely left outside of democracy, as the case may be).

Already, the EU has handed itself the right to punish - under criminal law - those who contravene environmental policies. I really do dread to think what may come next. Bit by bit, we're being sucked into an EU superstate via the 'back door'.

Everything - everything - about this is wrong. Why it isn't being brought up in the press, and why the Conservatives haven't shouted out about it I don't know. The situation is a dire one and needs urgent public attention before it is too late.

Avast, me hearties! If ye's not noticed, it be International Talk Like A Pirate Day! Ye best be gettin' yer rum a'the ready, ship-mates, an' be makin' sure ye got yer crew in line! Thar be much lootin' 'n' plunderin' t'be done, me scurvy sea-dogs, so ye best be gettin' off back to yer ship!

YAARRRRRRRRrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

Gordon Brown has made another speech regarding 'Britishness':

Mr Brown stressed the strong bonds connecting Scotland with England.

He said: "For the first time ever, over half of Scots have relatives from south of the border. We are all part of the United Kingdom."

He added: "The SNP want Scotland separate from the UK and want to force Scotland to choose between Scotland and Britain.

"The Conservatives want English votes for English laws and want the English to choose between England and Britain.

"For all of my political life, I have stood up for Britain and I stand here today again to speak up for Britain and Britishness and for the values that make us proud of our Britishness."

Does this mean that he is going to shut down the Scottish Parliament if/when he becomes Prime Minister? Unlikely, but I hope so.

The BBC are reporting on a whole load of new letters, comments and memos regarding the (hopefully imminent) departure of Tony Blair.

Mr Blair's critics will also seize on a leaked memo obtained by the Daily Mirror newspaper.

The memo, reportedly drawn up by a group of his allies, including his pollster Philip Gould, says the prime minister's departure should promote the "triumph of Blairism".

"He needs to go with the crowd wanting more," the memo reportedly says.

"He should be the star who won't even play that last encore. In moving towards the end he must focus on the future."

It says Mr Blair has plans to appear on Blue Peter, Songs of Praise and Chris Evans's radio show in the lead-up to his retirement.

Other suggestions include spending a day then an overnight stay in half a dozen cities across the country and visiting the 20 most striking buildings opened or redeveloped since 1997.

"He needs to go with the crowd wanting more..." - I don't know where to start on that. He's at LEAST 9 years too late. His "people" really are delusional; purely entertaining their own fantasies of what people think of Blair. Apart from they themselves, WHO actually likes him any more? Seriously. The whole suggestion is ridiculous. I can't think of ANYTHING he could do to make "the crowd want more". (Although I suppose kicking all immigrants out of the country would be a start.)

As for the rest, I just don't know how to react to it. What a pathetic attempt to "get down with the kids"; appearing on Chris Evans's radio show.

Oh, and that last suggestion, I MUST have read it incorrectly - "...visit the 20 most striking buildings...." HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHHAHHAHAH! How utterly stupid is that? What has Blair got to do with "striking buildings"?

It's all just beyond belief. What fucking wankers.

The BBC have now updated that article since I first read it. The following page now contains a number of key quotes and passages from the memo.

Yes, the EU is about to wipe Britain off the map - literally.

Amongst some new "special powers" which it is about to award itself, the EU will have the ability to modify maps, boundaries, even names of regions and places, and force all others to do the same. One of the things they have lined-up for imminent execution under these new powers is as follows -

Kent and Sussex would be officially classified as part of north-east France, while much of England and eastern Scotland would be grouped with parts of Scandinavia, the western side of Britain would be lumped in with the Atlantic coast of France, northern Spain and Portugal, and the far north of Scotland with Iceland and northern Norway and Sweden.

I really don't know what to say to this kind of thing. It infuriates me so much. Apart from being in roughly the same geographical area as 'mainland Europe', we have nothing in common with them. Our style of government is different, society is VERY different, people are different, television and entertainment are different, businesses and attitudes to them are completely different, and generally lifestyles are far from similar. The EU should be about trade-links and support, not any of this rubbish. The whole situation is demeaning. Britain is being raped by Brussels, with Blair and his buddies pinning her down.

It all saddens me, it really does. How can we let this happen to our beautiful nation? And why did all those men die in vain? We stopped Hitler doing it by force, but are now letting them do it "democratically". :'(

I can not believe what I have just seen. Some idiot has skipped a red-light and plowed, at wast must have been quite a speed, into the front-passenger corner of a car crossing the same junction.
The whole area is just a mess of crumpled car, police vehicles, and there's now an air ambulance hovering overhead. I've honestly never seen anything quite like it, not even on television. The front of the car which appears to have skipped the light has been completely crumpled flat, wall-esquely, almost right up to the windscreen. The other car (which is much, MUCH worse off) has had the whole front, at a slight angle eminating from that passenger corner, stoved right in and up like a concertina.
What is perhaps even more shocking is that the passenger who was almost hit seems to be concious and talking to the police attending. At the moment anyway.
I really do hope that there's no fatalities, but I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest.

The Australian "crocodile hunter", Steve Irwin, has been killed whilst filming a documentary. Ironically, it was not some kind of insane fight with a vicious reptile that killed him, but a stingray.

• Fizzy drinks and crisps should not be sold AT ALL
• Salt should not be available at lunch and ketchup and mayonnaise should only be available in sachets
• The only savoury snacks available at lunchtime should be nuts and seeds with no added salt, fat or sugar
• Oily fish should be served at least once every three weeks
• Not less than two servings per day of fruit and vegetables (are there two lunch times now?)

I've just been reading through a few weeks of backlogged e-mails, and found this in the rather excellent The Friday Thing mailout from last week -

FIVE THINGS WE'D DO - INSTEAD OF RECLASSIFYING PLUTO - IF *WE* WERE IN CHARGE OF SCIENCE

1. Cure the obesity epidemic at a stroke by making cows out of lettuce.


2. Disappoint easily-shocked, weather-obsessed Brits by making it consistantly hot in summer, and cold in Winter. And have exactly the same number of hours of daylight, 365 days a year.


3. Reclassify men as being from Venus, and women from Mars.


4. Fuck with astrologists even more by upgrading the moon to a planet, turning Uranus into a star, carving the moon into a giant owl and finally downgrading astrology from 'probably bollocks but it makes a large number of fucking morons feel better about their inability to choose their own destiny' to 'just total bollocks'.


5. Cure cancer.

Seems good to me!