Who is the most absurd looking UK politician?
This story is pretty dull - I mean, I'd rather councils did their job and picked up the bins every week, but I can't get worked up about it. But I would like to point out the picture in the story, if only because it is so striking in so many ways:
Oh look! It's Humpty Dumpty forced into a business suit on his way to his first day in the office as an accountant.
Ok, Ok, I know it is wrong to diss politicians because they aren't photogenic, but fuck it. They largely bring it on themselves, the preening camera-whores. So I'd like to set a deeply shallow and deeply offensive, but hopefully still fun, competition - who can come up with the person who is the most absurd looking politician in British politics today? Pickles gets my vote - who gets your vote?
Labels: Pickles, Political Correctness Gone Wrong, Politics
posted by The Nameless Libertarian @ 9:41 pm
4 Comments
4 Comments:
I see what you mean, but I would never even mention that fat bastard by name, let alone vote for him or her, even in a negative way.
The wierdest face is actually Theresa May, she looks almost Cubist. Or Justine Greening, all of whose portraits are in landscape format.
Oh come on Nameless! You condemn the practice and then do it. But I don't care much what he looks like; what matters is what he thinks and does as a government minister. Overall on Pickles, I really don't know much about him yet, but he does look clean and tidy, even smart (not that easy for a man of his dimensions). Whilst I don't agree that he needs a second home for his 37-mile commute, he was cleaner than average on MPs' expenses. And unlike another politician of dimension, I haven't heard he is simultaneously misusing his office and female staff. And the late Clement Freud? He also lacked top-hair, and was strong on dimension.
Concerning the actual political content of the article: Pickles writes to Audit Commission to tell them to stop 'bullying' (my word) local councils into fortnightly bin collections, surely the guy has a point.
It strikes me as highly dubious that there is a clear-cut case for less frequent bin collections, especially when one takes into account the impact on householders of the additional storage and problems with smell and vermin. It must depend somewhat on typical weather conditions (especially temperature), though it would be more difficult to persuade the public to have variable frequency of collection between summer and winter. Also, it must surely depend (when considering householders) on average ease of storage between rural and urban densities, and cost of transport per resident for those different communities. So the issue should be clearly outside any audit remit, let alone one of a general 'one-size fits-all' policy.
The matter is obviously one entirely suitable for determination at a local level, without any contribution from central government; especially when that bit of central government is performing an accountancy function. If, as it should, (nearly) all money spent by local government was raised by local taxes decided my locally elected councillors, who also decided local policy, that would be enough protection. Then the Audit Commission could concentrate on its proper job: against fraud and gross mismanagement, rather than distraction politics.
[Aside: How about an Audit Commission against central government, that fines, bans from office and otherwise penalises government ministers, civil servants and quangocats for failing to do their job properly? Oh: Crown Immunity I hear you mutter, and something about the NAO: that would be the serial lapdog and troughing NAO and parliament that it serves. I just hope, on that, the past tense might become the only appropriate one.]
I'm delighted to see that Saturday morning has brought to your attention, things less frivolous and more in your usual mold.
Best regards
Oh, I can condemn the practice and then do it. I can do what ever I like. It may not be logically consistent, but then I never claimed it was.
There is a deeper point to be made about the appearance of our politicians, though. People like Pickles are increasingly rare in senior political positions. They tend to be Blair clones in appearance. Don't believe me? Well look at the leaders of the Tories and the Lib Dems - they both look very similar, and when a Miliband is elected Labour leader (which seems to be the likely outcome of that contest) they will all look like middle-aged men trying to do an impressions of Blair.
In theory, I'd agree with you - it shouldn't matter what politicians look like. Churchill was a great leader, and he looked a lot like a shaved testicle in a big coat. But in this day and age, politicians spend so much time flirting with the media and far too little time talking about what they stand for, that their appearance becomes something to focus on - because there is not much more to them.
TNL
The ginger haired one from Labour has to be the most absurd politician. She reminds of that famous bird in the rugby song the wild west show - the wherethefuckarewe bird - as she jumps up and down trying to speak in to a microphone.
It was even funnier when she gave that cheque for £14k back to us tax payers - the cheque itsels was bigger than her,
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