Cameron: KGB tried to recruit me

David Cameron reckons that the KGB tried to recrut him on his gap year (from the BBC):

The suspected KGB approach from Russian intelligence came while he was travelling in his year out between school and university.

He met a friend in Moscow and went to Yalta on the Black Sea coast, where two Russians speaking "perfect English" had turned up on a beach mostly used by foreigners.

"They took us out to dinner and interrogated us in a friendly way about life in England and what we thought and politics," he said.

"We were obviously very careful and guarded in what we said but later when I got to university my politics tutor said that was definitely an attempt."

Of course; because if friendly Russians speak English, they must work for the Russkies, eh!

Then again, his son is called Ivan...

Best. Spam. EVER.

Otherwise just a normal Nigerian 419 scam. But Yours in Vineyard? What the hell is that supposed to mean??

No 20 Kofi Street
Off Avenue Road
Zambia
Republic of Zambia



Dear Beloved in Christ.


How are you today? hope you are fine.

Please permit me to introduce myself, I am John Akpati As you read this, I don't want you to feel sorry for me,because, I believe everyone will die someday.
I was a Crude Oil merchant in Zambia,my spinal cord was broken after the motor accident i had a year and six months now. It has defiled all forms of medical treatment no improvements I stay one place in the Hospital without walking, this mail was written by one of the nurses who is in the hospital here and hard promised to keep this secret.

I await for death any time from now may be in the> next few months,according to medical experts. I have not particularly lived my life so well, as I never really cared for anyone(not even myself)but my business. Though I am very rich, I was never generous, I was always hostile to people and only focused on my business as that was the only thing I cared for. But now I regret all this as I now know that there is more to life than just wanting to have or make all the money in the world.

I believe when God gives me a second chance to come to this world I would live my life a different way from how I have lived it. Now that God has called me, I have willed and given most of my property and assets to my immediate and extended family members as well as a few close friends. I want God to be merciful to me and accept my soul. so,I have decided to give alms to charity organizations, as I want this to be one of the last good deeds I do on earth. Now that my health has deteriorated so badly, I cannot do this myself anymore.

I once asked members of my family to close one of my accounts and distribute the money which I have to charity organization, they refused and kept the money to themselves. Hence, I do not trust them anymore, as they seem not to be contended with what I have left for them.
The last of my money which no one knows of is the cash deposit with a Security Company . I will want you to help me collect this deposit and distribute it to charity organizations.
If you feel up to it and you are honest

please contact me asap.on my private email: jakpati_550@yahoo.fr

I shall proceed to inform you on how you get the donation from the security company.

May God bless you as you do for mankind.

Yours in vineyard

Whenever Politicians start demanding things from the Criminal Justice System...

...people should get scared:

(from the BBC)

Most people think the criminal justice system lets people get away with breaking the rules, says Tony Blair.

As he launches a policy consultation, Mr Blair is calling the justice system "the public service most removed from what reasonable people want".

He will tell Labour's Let's Talk event in central London that sentencing is one area many see as out of touch.

Mr Blair has also written a series of letters to Cabinet ministers to set out their priorities.

He tells new Home Secretary John Reid he wants to see whether new laws are needed to tackle the issue of courts using human rights laws to over-rule the government.

And he orders Lord Chancellor Lord Falconer to deliver "speedy, simple summary justice".

Is it just me, or is the idea of the government of the day demanding "speedy, simple summary justice" slightly worrying? I mean, yes, it plays well with the Daily Mail and the Sun crowd, and makes el Tonio look like he's doing something ("look, look, it's not me. I'm a straightforward kind of a guy. It's those judges, using the law against us and the people, and using it to save thugs and MURDERERS! What we need is a people's law and people's judges"). I suppose the rule of law is something else we can see going up the swannee, and I also suppose that this plays right into the hands of Cameron and his demands to nullify the Human Rights Act; Tony and Dave seem to be going along the same route with this one, and at least Dave can say "I didn't make the thing law".

And it's scary that Blair seems to think that people's perceptions of the law are more important than the law itself...

It scares me that a lawyer could have such flagrant disregard for the law. What's Cherie got to say on all this?

Boris: another hairy day

hannahswiv: the boris has special hair in that photo

Jamie: doesn't he just

Oh Boris. But, once again, you're the loveable Tory who says sensible things, this time badmouthing both Labour policy and those from the last Tory manifesto (written by one David Cameron; from the BBC):

Mr Johnson said: "I certainly don't believe in some government target of 50% university admissions, but that is because I don't believe in targets or quotas or indeed in many of the other positively harmful instruments that are currently used to control universities. "But by the same token, I certainly don't believe in some mad plan to try to compel a certain proportion of people to stick to vocational courses and thereby reduce university numbers."

In his speech Mr Johnson evoked the Thomas Hardy novel Jude the Obscure, in which the eponymous hero is denied a place at university because of his impoverished background.
He said: "It's no use saying to people 'It's all right sonny, you can be a stonemason, or you can pack my bags at the supermarket checkout while I go off and be a lawyer.'

"Even if we thought it right that we should tell people to stick to being stonemasons, there is the practical objection: how do you physically stop people enrolling for Mickey Mouse courses without crass invasions of academic freedom?

"You can't. And then there is a moral objection."

I'll just say what I've been saying for years (not that anyone listens): increasing numbers is not the same as increasing accessibility. Okay, yes, it's lovely for the government to be able to say that now we have many more students going into Higher Education; but exactly how many of those new students actually come from lower-income households? I have a feeling that by increasing numbers, what's actually happening is that there are more and more middle-class children going to Uni; given that the reason that there are no more grants is that there are so many students that it's not possible to give out even means-tested grants anymore, it seems to me that the attempt to drive up numbers actually harms the ability of the poorest in society to attend. If numbers were reduced to a certain extent... well, maybe there would be more flexible ways of getting the limited amount of money to those students who really need it. And it would reduce the impossible teaching loads... (I have to teach elementary Latin to 50 students next year... moan, moan, bitch, bitch).

And, well, micky mouse subjects... I can't moan about I.R. not being a real subject anymore, partly because fellow I.R. basher Mal has now done a flippin' Masters in it, and also because Classics and I.R. have got into bed together up here with the Constitutions project (paid for by Sean Connery, no less); but Film Studies started up here, so that's my new target. Classics, blah, blah, real work, blah, expanding the mind, snort, 2000 years of philology, blah... But I guess B.J. has a point too.

Anyway. Points to Boris for talking about Jude the Obscure, the only decent thing that Hardy ever wrote.


Oh, and Dave Cameron nearly said something interesting in his attack on the way that BHS were selling inappropriate children's clothes; master of the market claimed that:

"I've never believed that we can leave everything to market forces...I'm not prepared to turn a blind eye if the system sometimes leaves casualties in its wake"

It almost sounds as though you mean it, Dave. Just a pity you picked on a line of clothing that BHS stopped selling 3 years ago...