Simon Cowell - A Berlusconi for our nation.

What a wonderful leveler a punch (or a brick) in the face is. The pictures of a bloodied Silvio Berlusconi that appeared in the papers this morning show a scared and confused politician who for all his huge wealth and power is brought to the level of any other human being by a simple act of physical confrontation. In this country there has been a tendency to sneer at Berlusconi and patronisingly assume that such a crass figure could never make it in British politics. News that Simon Cowell is considering introducing the X factor format into politics should give pause for thought however.

Traditional MCC match for Abu Dhabi.

There must have been a few old duffers choking on their pre-lunch gin and tonics this morning when it was announced that next seasons traditional MCC v County Champions (Durham in this case) match will not be played at Lords but in Abu Dhabi. Not only that but under floodlights and WITH A PINK BALL. Anyone fancy a punt on the likelihood of a Dubai ABA finals?

The market can't fix climate change.

I paid a visit to the Trafalgar Square Climate Camp today. "It's anarchy in action", I was assured by one of the campers. I'm not entirely convinced of that, but their hearts are in the right place and you have to respect the initiative. Anyway, the campers can't have any less impact on climate change than the Copenhagen talks that I'm sure will only benefit the Danish hotel and restaurant trade.
Is it me or is there a serious lack of joined up thinking in the mass media regarding the whole question of climate change? Time after time a piece on the future horrors of global warming and the pressing need to reduce emissions is followed by a report on the equally urgent need to get the economy growing again and increase consumer spending. Are these two issues in any way connected? I think that we should be told. And anyone thinking that all this can somehow be fixed by loft insulation and waterwheels needs to get a serious grip.

Class War - tidings of comfort and joy all round.

The so called Run Up To Xmas now seems to kick off shortly after August Bank Holiday so by now the full on retail frenzy is climbing toward it's climax. This is the time of year when us Grumpy Old Men really come into our own and I am reminded of the acquaintance who reckoned that the best Xmas he ever had was the one spent in bed with the flu. Unsurprisingly I suppose, his wife maintains that it was also the best one she has had as well. One thing that is cheering me up a bit is the hope that the New Year looks like seeing a return to some good old fashioned class politics. Not before time.

Keep The Tories Out. deja-vu all over again.

As the reality of a future Tory government looms ever closer more and more people, many of whom really should know better, are once again climbing aboard that rusty old train to nowhere - Vote Labour To Keep The Tories Out. It's as if all of the neo-con policies of New Labour have been forgiven and forgotten at the first whiff of Old Etonian grapeshot. Blair, Brown and the rest of this sorry bunch of City Spiv front men have presided over a redistribution of wealth that Old Labour politicians can only have dreamt of - trouble is it was a redistribution from the less well of to the already wealthy. Times have changed, but nothing about New Labour on the back foot makes me at all hopeful that a further term in office would make them any more likely to question the basic tenet of Blair/Brown philosophy; all hail the market. And yet. And yet hidden deep in the Labour Party is a vein of collectivism and a current of decency that recognizes that there is more to politics than political careers. You don't see much of this tendency these days, certainly not on the Front Bench, and maybe it is doomed to forever be just another fringe meeting. Socialism - remember that? It's the part that all those mandarins of twenty years ago thought made the party unelectable.

Dark Mountain.

I am obliged to the My Arse blog for pointing me in the direction of the Dark Mountain Project. Brainchild of dark mountaineers Paul Kingsnorth and Dougald Hine the project has received a fair bit of attention from the mainstream press and has obviously made a few people sit up and take notice. I recently read Kingsnorth's Real England and found none of the apocalyptic visions of this latest offering. I'm not quite sure what to make of Dark Mountain, which is not to say that I don't welcome it. Check it out for yourselves.

Yachties explain themselves to mullahs. Could be interesting.

I am not at all surprised to hear that the crew of the British yacht being held by Iran "somehow strayed into Iranian waters". Having spent a large chunk of my life working with merchant seamen, Thames Watermen, fishermen etc. I think that I can honestly say that yachties are without doubt the most clueless bunch of bastards you are likely to drift into. In fact the old saying that "the two most useless things that you can have on a ship are a lawnmower and a ex-naval officer" could equely well apply to yachties. I am not able to confirm the rumour that three of the five crew members are called Ollie, but it seems likely.