All Posts Tagged With: "Margaret Thatcher"

Asking the BBC to censor voices…..

November 2nd, 2009 • Peter • 0 comments • Related • Filed Under

Those who have lambasted the BBC for allowing the ridiculous Griffin to spout off like a pompous little bragger in the school playground might consider what happened on a previous attempt by government to gag.
   In the 1980s Mrs Thatcher legislated that the voices of IRA terrorists should not be aired on the BBC. To get round this, the Men from Auntie employed actors with a good grasp of that tricky (and somewhat unlovely) accent of the Six Counties to speak the Terrorist’s words for them, which they did fluently, with gusto and to good effect, undoubtedly with a greater clarity than the boyos could have mustered themselves. It was also an unexpected and welcome source of work for those trained in the thespian arts who had the misfortune to grow up in that then cheerless place. They must have been upset when the ruling was rescinded – as well as the Provos whose words had been so crisply rendered, and presumably, too, Mrs Thatcher and her colleagues  – a kind of lose-lose position.
   Perhaps Mr Griffin should be allowed only to have his words spoken on television through the mouth of a Spitting Image puppet – but then, would that, too, give his utterances more credibility, or would we even notice?

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The Point of the Trough

October 30th, 2009 • Peter • 0 comments • Related • Filed Under

Lembit Opik on QT last night was the only politician honest enough to explain the utter bogusness of the MPs’ exes scandal. As I blogged when the story broke, www.peterburden.net/archives/140 , these expenses weren’t expenses, they were merely a way of topping up MPs’ salaries up to a level that came somewhere near the rate for the job. Naturally the Cheeky Chappy had to score a political point by blaming Margaret Thatcher (who was taken away by the men in white coats over 18 years ago).
    If the MPs had had the bollocks (ovaries in the case of the female members) to explain that unless a proper rate for the job is paid, we will carry on getting a high proportion of frankly second-rate brains and operators sitting on the Green benches. Very few people are self-sacrificing enough to take a step down in income (especially if they have a family) to take on a job which, when done properly, is arduous and personally demanding.
    Perhaps the biggest culprit in all this is Mr Joe Public, who has largely been too myopic and small-minded to understand what to expect from an MP in return for the salary of a head teacher.
    Of course, there are a few dishonest, self-serving shits in the House of Commons (they know who they are) and at least this crisis is weeding them out.

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