What we need are more MPs

At a quick count there are 127 problems with the current British political system. But a couple of key problems are the significant disconnect between popular assessment of the worth of MPs and their own assessment, and an electoral system that renders a huge proportion of votes worthless and grossly over-represents the votes given to Labour and the Conservatives in the number of MPs they get.

I think both of these can be addressed fairly straightforwardly by splitting up the duties of MPs. Currently they have a dual role, both as those who draft and pass legislation and also as representatives of their constituencies. These roles don’t really mesh particularly well, either in terms of skills required or in terms of overlap of duties. MPs who may be very responsive to the complaints and issues of their constituents may not have the understanding and insight to be good at helping to create good legislation or at holding the executive to account. It also requires MPs to have a home in London (for practical reasons) and one in their constituencies (for political reasons) – one of the factors that have strongly contributed to recent expenses “scandals”.

Jam today

I’m currently writing epic and doubtlessly hugely influential posts on reforming the UK electoral system and vegetarianism. But while you’re waiting, some more links.

I’ve not watched any X Factor this season (and only under duress in previous series) but Jack Seale’s blog on the Radio Times site is so good that I just read it all the way back to the start. Most recent update here, click on “previous” for earlier entries. Amusingly, most people commenting make no reference to the articles, but simply lay in to Simon/Louis/ITV for whatever iniquity they have been responsible for this week.

Garfield minus Garfield, remove Garfield from Jim Davis’ tedious comics and suddenly an existential nightmare envelopes Jon … with hilarious results. Well, quite funny results, anyway.

The ever-excellent Pitch Invasion site has a genuinely touching article on supporting the Chicago Fire and their play-off game against the New England Revolution, plus the sites trademark quality photos. A useful corrective to anyone who likes to mock US soccer (like the idiot who wrote the last blog entry on here).

Lastly, congratulations to Wales on winning the Korfball Eurobowl Western Division and qualifying for their first ever European Championships. It’s reported with trademark lack of flair on the IKF site.

Soccer a game for sissies?

Elizabeth Lambert tries to prove otherwise.

Update: Jennifer Hewitt from the consistently interesting From A Left Wing blog points to the more serious issues involved.

Oh well, in that case…

I’ve long since given up posting on live journal (and I only posted sporadically when I did) but I still check it for some friends journals. On the front page there is a daily suggestion of a topic to write about for those struggling for creativity – usually very sensible ones, if a little dull.

Today’s however made me laugh out loud: “If your romantic partner told you that, given the chance, he or she would sleep with a celebrity/public figure you disrespect, would you be amused, jealous, or bewildered?”

The thing I’m tickled by is the bit about “disrespect” as if you’d be more or less jealous if you thought the celebrity merited their fame. “I can’t believe you want to sleep with 50 Cent, he can’t rap for shit! I thought we had something good going on! Now if you wanted to screw Jay-Z, then I’d say go for it. In no way would that undermine our relationship.”

…and your enemies closer.

Just look at the last endorsement. Obviously plenty of Americans do get irony, but good that some people out there are keeping up the stereotype.

For even less highbrow humour, reportage that pulls no punches. This is years old, but I still laugh every time.

 

They Still Haven’t Found What They Are Looking For

When short of material, a blogger always has the trusty fall back of search terms that people used that Google sent to their site. Here are a few recent ones for here:

• “where can i buy david dimblebys tie” (x2) – I only wish I knew. Then I could try and put them out of business.
• “bestialité moyen-âge” – I hope they were looking for bestiality from the Middle Ages rather than bestiality involving middle-aged people. In any event this blog is a bestiality free zone.
• “bavarian faces” – I genuinely am not sure what they were hoping to get here.
• “sexual brutality” (x2)  – Eww.

Crazy Taxi

When you’re living in the countryside getting a taxi is a bit more complicated than in the city where all you need to do is stick out an arm. No, invariably you have to book in advance, sometimes more than a day beforehand. One of the reasons why this might be is the taxi company in Church Stretton doubles as the undertakers, and when I was younger they drove the school bus too. The Welfare State may no longer guarantee to look after us from the cradle to the grave, but Morris and Son are willing to fill the breach. When I did manage to get organised enough to book one of their taxis I did think about asking them if they ever had to bring the hearse out for a taxi trip – perhaps if their regular car(s) broke down, but I guessed they’d probably heard the joke too many times.

Perhaps they also need the money on the side because they have broken the cardinal rule for taxi companies – having a name that goes right at the top of the alphabetical list in the phone book. This desperation is now getting to ridiculous levels. Old favourites like A2B and ABC taxis are being pushed down the list by more imaginative firms. I’m looking at the Shropshire Yellow Pages now (time hangs heavy) and A2B are only 4th, with ABC behind them. Just ahead are AAA Shrewsbury Taxis which at least looks like it could stand for something, but they are trumped by AAAAAA R&J of Shrewsbury who have abandoned all pretence of dignity in a desperate bid to get first place. Sadly, their efforts are in vain as they still fall behind AAAAAA 1st 4 Taxis who are clearly masters of the post-literate txtspk world. The multiple ‘A’ trick undoubtedly works, but I’m a little unsure that calling your firm something that resembles a scream of terror is going to encourage business.

One trick no-one seems to have used is going from the start of the dictionary and having Aardvark Taxis. Perhaps they fear that it will give people the impression of some kind of rickshaw, pulled by one of these:

Quiz of the Week

OK, the subject of this quiz is the most common names of England Football Internationals. Despite the subject, I don’t think its particularly of interest for sporting reasons, more for social historical ones.

Book meme

“List fifteen books you’ve read that will always stick with you, for whatever reason. Make sure it’s the first fifteen you can recall in no more than 15 minutes.”

Tagged by Nerves Strengthened with Tea. I’m interested that my list contains much more non-fiction than either her list or adventures in bibliotherapy. Luckily, none of us is at all interested in speculating on the importance of gender in determining cultural significance.

The fact that I’m going to order my list (alphabetically) doubtless tells us nothing either.

(frankly I think that the directions given are incompatible, so I’m just going with part 1)

• Animal Farm – George Orwell
• A Season With Verona – Tim Parks
• Bad Science – Ben Goldacre
• Homicidal Psycho Jungle Cat – Bill Watterson
• How to be an Alien – George Mikes
• Middlemarch – George Eliot
• Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
• The God of Small Things – Arundhati Roy
• The Little Prince – Antoine de Saint-Exupery
• The First Casualty – Phillip Knightley
• The Plot Against America – Philip Roth
• The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers – Paul Kennedy
• The Silence of the Sea – Vercors
• The Summer Book – Tove Jansson
• Winnie the Pooh – A.A. Milne

 

Bodyworld

I know that this blog has been relatively serious since I restarted posting, so as a reward for sticking with it, here’s some music. The theme is body parts (though I restrained myself to only one “heart” reference to stop it being too easy)

Music posted on this thread is intended to create interest in the featured artist. Should copyright holders object to the use of material on this blog, please contact me and the links will be removed ASAP.