Hopefully, Tony Blair’s ambition to become ‘El Presidente of Europe’ has suffered not one, but two political kisses of death in the UK this week!
The first nasty ‘smacker’ on Tony’s cheek came from public schoolboyish character David Miliband (he who apparently sees himself as the former prime minister’s campaign manager), immediately arousing suspicions that this enthusiastic show of support was merely to put him in a good position to land the job of EU foreign minister – something he firmly denied, of course!
The second kiss was much more sinister. And given that it was from Gordon Brown – Tony’s successor and bitter rival for many years – it was probably blown from a great distance, giving cynics the opportunity to spread the rumour that Gordon was only trying to leave an incoming Tory government with a massive headache! And in that direction, many of us feel he has already succeeded without even trying.
Meanwhile, in other European member states, a certain four letter word is still being banded around whenever Mr Blair’s name is mentioned in connection with the post of EU President. And that word is Iraq, which many believe should disqualify Mr Blair from standing. And so say all – well, most – of us.
Fingers crossed, as they say. There may be some justice after all.
MAIL ORDER
As a union member all my working life I have great sympathy for the situation that postal workers find themselves in.
And being a former employee of British Airways, I can verify that an ‘us and them’ situation seems to thrive in companies of mammoth proportions when it comes to modernisation, in spite of the efforts of both parties. Put purely and simply, unions seek to protect jobs and improve conditions, whereas management – often because of a downturn in the economy – find themselves having to ‘prune back’ by employing cost-cutting methods to survive.
Unfortunately, this is part and parcel of life. There will always be conflict – and there will always have to be sensible compromise.
Let’s hope a quick and sensible compromise can be found in this case because with household names abandoning the Royal Mail – the latest being Marks and Spencer – the CWU threat of stepping up strike action might be the final nail in the coffin.
For heaven’s sake: both sides please get back round the negotiating table. We all know that alternative mailing methods exist, and that mammoth companies can become extinct. But who gains from that? Neither workers nor management.
So why not jointly agree a plan to become a truly competitive giant – not mammoth – in this hi-tech era for all our sakes? Survival is the name of the game – alternatively, prepare for the dole queue.
TOTALLY BONKERS
Hats off to 112-year-old Somalian Ahmed Muhamed, who – in spite of a 95 year age difference – married his sweetheart Safia Abdulleh, 17.
After the wedding in the Horn of Africa (no smutty jokes, please!) town of Guriceel, Ahmed – who has 18 children by five wives (well, perhaps he just collects them) – is reported as saying: “Today God helped me realise my dream.” Yes, I expect He has!
Erm – I think that’s got everyone’s imagination working overtime, Ahmed. Anyway, I’m sure everyone over here in the UK wishes you and your bride a long and happy life together – if you manage to survive the honeymoon, that is!
PARTY POOPER
Question: When is it not cool to admit you’re a member of the Green Party? Answer: When you are its 48-year-old leader, Caroline Lucas, and your office is allegedly wasting more energy than that of any other party supremo – pumping twice as much carbon dioxide into the atmosphere as the average family home!
Hmm. If that’s true, she isn’t really practising what she preaches, is she?! Anyway, the above was established by an infra-red thermal imaging camera and should certainly be enough to turn the face of the Green Party leader – on record as attacking political leaders over global warming with the words: “They’re talking green but not acting green” – bright red!
Other words spring to mind, Caroline. How about pot and kettle?!
Have a great weekend.
