Olympics Opening Ceremony

When we won the Olympics, I did say that it would be a disaster.

Well, it wasn't quite the disaster I predicted, but then it wasn't the spectacle it could have been either.

There were glimmers of brilliance, like the change from a pastoral scene, to celebrating Britain's role in creating the modern industrial age, and the forging of the Olympic rings in the air (although it would have made more sense had they lifted from the "forges" into the air, but for me that was the high point of the evening.

Less impressive was the deadening hand of political correctness throughout the whole affair. Did we really have that many coloured Victorians? Couldn't Britain's broadening ethnicity over the ages be truely represented and celebrated?

I'm not sure what there is to celebrate about the NHS, after all its not unique and not really spectacular enough to be celebrated on a global stage. Not sure either why Great Ormond Street Hospital  was singled out for a mention.

What completely ruined the whole thing though was the BBC's coverage, which insisted in concentrating on close camera work enforcing the diversity meme, as well as the usual creepy PC obsession with children.

The close shots failed to reveal the brilliance of the NHS and GOSH logos made out of carefully placed illuminated hospital beds, failed to widen the shot to include the yellow submarines following a group of people dressed in Sargent Peppers, failed to show other elements of the parade around the outside of the stadium depicting Britain through the ages, which tied the narrative together.

All the while we had a bland commentary, just about raising itself above the crassness we had to put up with during the Queen's Thames pageant. However, there was one interesting point in that viewers watching 3D content on the BBC HD channel were treated to a higher quality and better informed commentary. Why was that I wonder?

Close but no cigar is the rating I'd give the opening ceremony. Not quite the epic mess that the millennium dome was, but I suspect Danny Boyle had to fight hard to not let his vision get diluted too much.

Finally the disappointment of the evening was watching the empty shell that is now Muhammed Ali paraded in front of the world. I remember him in his heyday and its really a shock to see him like that.

Morally Wrong?

So treasury minister David Gauke thinks its morally wrong to pay tradesmen in cash does he?

Well, it was morally wrong for politicians to defraud the taxpayer on a wholesale basis over expenses, did we hear him speak out over such illegal practices? Well, I stand to be corrected, but a quick Google search says no.

So he went along with the patently illegal staus quo, didn't speak up against it and now he's trying to lecture the rest of us on morality? Time he took a running jump.

Currently there is nothing illegal or immoral about paying for services in cash, as as long as that stands then I won't feel the least bit of shame. What the person I'm paying does with that money is not my concern.

While we're on the subject, Isn't it morally wrong that the government wastes vast sums of taxpayer's money?
Isn't it morally wrong they don't make the most of the money they extort from us?

Isn't MPs voting on policies in favour of companies they then become board members of on retirement morally wrong?

Isn't MPs and Lords asking cash for questions morally wrong?

Hasn't prematurely pulling out of wars we started in Iraq and now Afghanistan leaving the population in a world of shit morally wrong?

When the government are whiter than white, get their shit together and act with the utmost propriety, then they can lecture us about what's moral or not. Until then the whole lot of them can fuck right off.

Close to Incandescence

In this post I'll swear a lot, be warned....

Okay: The media have been reporting (with some glee it seems) on the comments made by David Cameron about celebrities avoiding tax. The case of comedian Jimmy Carr has been all over the radio all day.

How and why the fuck has David Cameron made comments about a person's individual tax affairs? And when the fuck has legally minimising one's tax allowance been "morally wrong"? It is not a "scam", it is not illegal. If tax law allows it, then it is within the remit of anyone to benefit from that ruling once it has been found. Call it a loophole if you like, but its still legal and above board.

How the fuck any politician can claim the moral high ground after the expenses scandal and who continues to live permanently ensconced in a subsidised envelope of parasitical privilege defeats me.

It smacks of total and absolute greed. They want ALL our money; no exceptions, no minimising your tax bill, that's morally reprehensible in their eyes because given the chance they'd take all your wage money and give you fuck all back.