The effect of oestrogen on political allegiance...

This from thelocal.de:

"Before undergoing a sex change to become a woman, Monika Strub was a member of Germany's neo-Nazi NPD party. But ten years later, she is running for Baden-Württemberg's state parliament for the socialist party The Left".

The paper euphemises somewhat - Die Linke / The Left party is the successor in title to the German 'Democrtatic' Republics' Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands.  It is part of the GUE/NGL coalition referenced yesterday. 

Meanwhile it does rather make one wonder about some of our home grown extemists and where they might end up if Eves were to become Steves and vice versa.

How to say 'hypocrite' in French

I am indebted to France Soir for commissioning a poll of Gallic types on their support or otherwise for UN military intervention in Libya and whether they would want France's military to join in.

Overall support for the first option stands at a not very high 36%, with the Left generally more supportive than the Right - 42% of Socialists to 38% of Gaullists.

Comparing support for UN action with support for French involvement throws up some fairly yawning chasms:

32% of women want 'something done', but only 24% support French involvement.  The gap for the overall Left (Socialists, Greens, Trots etc) is eight percentage points - 39% vs 31%.  The gap for Communists / Left party voters is the broadest - 14 percentage points between the 33% for UN intervention and 19% for French participation. 

The highest level of support for French involvement is the 35% for the Greens - not what I would have expected.  Maybe they are worried about the palm trees.  Credit, I suppose, is due to Frontistes - both options rated 30% support among them.   

Gadaffi's loyal old friends.

This, from the EU press office:

""EU governments need to stand ready for a decision in the UN Security Council on further measures, including the possibility of a no-fly zone", in compliance with a UN mandate and coordination with the Arab League and the African Union stressed MEPs in a widely-backed resolution (584 in favour, 18 against, 18 abstentions). During the debate, only the GUE/NGL group was against this idea".

And what is GUE/NGL, or Gwengle as I am calling it, when it is at home?  The European United Left–Nordic Green Left, which in its own words claims 'We want to see a different Europe, without the democratic deficit which the Treaty of Maastricht served to confirm and free from the neo-liberal monetarist policies that go with it....In order to deepen its ties of friendship, solidarity and cooperation with the other countries of Europe, the Union should strive to strengthen the OSCE, where instruments should be developed capable of addressing problems of joint security, while disbanding all those structures which, like NATO and the WEU, are a hangover from the political blocs of the Cold War".

Members using the 'C' word include the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia, the Communist Party of Greece and French Communist Party.  From these parts, we have Sinn Fein, in the person of Bairbre de Brún.

Those with long memories might recall this:

"...early Libyan arms shipments furnished the IRA with its first RPG-7 rocket-propelled grenade launchers, and that Gaddafi also donated three to five million US dollars at this time...In the 1980s, the IRA secured larger quantities of weapons and explosives from Gaddafi's Libya — enough to supply at least two infantry battalions".

Anecdote o' the day. Read it - you can thank me later.

This is a tale from John Julius Norwich's 'Still More Christmas Crackers' (1990-1999), a collection of 'poetry, prose and literary odds and ends' :

From What's On? - Wiltshire Wildlife Week published by the Wiltshire Trust for Nature Conservation, 14-22 June 1991:
On Sunday June 2 the Pewsey Group are putting together an unusual combination of attractions, to be staged on the grassy slopes of Martinsell. The centerpiece will be a game of COWPAT ROULETTE.
A held at the base of the hill will be marked out in squares, and participants will stake money on one or more squares. Then a cow is led in and eventually performs on whatever square it chooses to make the winning square. If necessary, a further cow can be introduced for a further round. The field is dearly visible from the flat area above, where there will be a marquee. It can also be seen from the whole path to the summit of Martinsell so if people like to walk to the top of the hill, they can do so while keeping an eye on the cow and their fortunes below.

Always assuming the Viscount does not object, and I can persuade the OCR program to behave, I will be providing further gems when the mood takes me.  

A 1911 Hansard trawl, featuring an early argument for kettling, the misery of tax collectors and some robust common sense on nationalisation.

First up, a late breaking entry for Man o' the Year, 1911 Edition.  Step forward Sir Frederick Banbury, 1st Baronet， Conservative member for the City of London, and prior to that - get this - Camberwell & Peckham, thus having Mrs Harriet Dromey as one of his less impressive successors.  Anyway, to the man's credentials:

Nationalisation of Railways and Canal Bill:

Sir F. BANBURY

I am sorry I must oppose the Second Reading of this Bill. It provides for the nationalisation of the railways of England, which, I think, would be a very large order. I see the Secretary of State for War agrees with me on that point. As if the nationalisation of the railways was not enough, the canals are added to the Bill. I wish to ask the House whether the railways and canals of England should be nationalised. The capital of English railways amounts to 1,300 millions sterling. I am now leaving out the question of the capital of the canals. That I propose to deal with later. I think 1,300 millions of capital is sufficient to deal with on a Friday afternoon. I do not suppose that any hon. Member below 1830 the Gangway on either side of the House would get up and say that he proposes to confiscate 1,300 millions of money. Let me ask: the House to realise what the proposal really means. The National Debt of this country is about 700 millions, and if you add 1,300 millions we are going to make the National Debt 2,000 millions, and we are going to do that at a time when by the course of fortuitous circumstances Consols have gone down from £90 to £81. 

Hurrah for that.

If you have tears, prepare to shed them:

Mr. HUGH BARRIE asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he is aware that, on 28th January, a mass meeting of the surveyors of taxes was held at Birmingham to protest against the amount of overwork in the Taxes branch; and what action he proposes to take with regard to the promised improvements of the clerical staff in tax offices? 

The tax collectors' friend was an Ulster Unionist, so to speak.

The Greatest Ever Englishman and those pesky Suffragettes/Suffragists. Again:

Lord HENRY BENTINCK asked the Home Secretary whether he will give the exact wording of the instruction to make as few arrests as practicable, under which the Metropolitan Police were acting in dealing with the women's deputations on 18th and 22nd November last; whether this order was issued in writing; and whether he has made any inquiry to ascertain by what means it was conveyed to the men and in what form it reached them?

Mr. CHURCHILL No fresh instructions, verbal or written, were issued to the police on or before 18th November. The Noble Lord will, no doubt, appreciate the peculiar difficulties of the police and other authorities in dealing wtih disorderly demonstrations of women Suffragists. If a body of four or five hundred men were to endeavour to force their way into the House of Commons, they would, after being duly warned, be dispersed by charges of police. Many would, no doubt, receive blows from police truncheons; the rest would take to their heels, and very few arrests would be made. In regard to women, and because they are women, no such course is conceivable.

I can't Theresa May arguing for that course of action these days.

And so to his proposed options:

Two alternatives alone remain, each attended by its own disadvantages. First, the police may show great patience and defer making arrests until the conduct of individual women has become so outrageous that their arrest is imperative. This course involves comparatively few arrests, and is confined to persons who have committed serious offences, but has the great advantage of allowing the disorder to continue for a long time, during which the women work themselves into a high state of hysteria, expose themselves to rough horseplay at the hands of an unsympathetic crowd, and finally collapse from the exhaustion of their own exertions. The second course is that the police should arrest disorderly women as soon as there is lawful occasion, with a view to conveying them as speedily as may be to a place removed from the disorders they have themselves provoked. 

Sounds a bit like kettling,doesn't it?。

I rather like this barb of his:  "that copious fountain of mendacity, the Women's Social and Political Union".

A new departure for BritArt?

Given that BritArtists have exhausted their ability to upset / annoy etc Middle England / the boojwahsie and so forth, what about following this template from the DPRK?:

"National and provincial art squads and city, county and district itinerant art squads have conducted agitation activities for increased production over the last week at major coal mines in Sunchon, Tokchon, Kangdong and other areas".

And what's more, 'They have joined coal miners in their work and break, encouraging them to boost the coal output'.  Poor devils - as if coal mining wasn't unpleasant and dangerous enough already.

And while I'm at it, I bet it was not widely appreciated that dogs, parrots and guinea pigs are 'rare':

 "The Central Zoo in Pyongyang welcomed more rare animals. They are 18 pet dogs of six species, more than 130 parrots of eight species and 50 guinea pigs ".

The 50 year old Hansard Trawl, featuring Edward Heath being right. For once.

Yes, I was shocked too, but here's the evidence:

Mr. Longbottom asked the Lord Privy Seal what advice he is offering to British organisations and individuals invited to the 8th World Youth Festival due to be held in Helsinki in 1962.
   
Mr. Heath After studying the activities of the organising bodies, the World Federation of Democratic Youth and the International Union of Students, I have concluded that there has been no change in the Communist policy of promoting these Festivals in order to exploit young people for the purposes of Communist propaganda. They are stage-managed by Communist-controlled organisations solely concerned to advance the aims of the Soviet Government. The proceedings at the last such Festival, held in Vienna in 1959, only served to confirm this once again. I understand that Finnish student and youth organisations have themselves declared their opposition to the holding of the 8th Festival in Finland on these grounds.            

I can just hear him saying it too.

Here's one to shock younger readers, or for older readers to regale their progeny with:

Mr. Biggs-Davison asked the Postmaster-General why lawyers are not given priority in the supply of home telephones, whereas such priority is given to Members of Parliament, doctors and others.

Mr. BevinsMy reply of 22nd February to my hon. Friend referred to the principles governing priority in the supply of home telephones.

    It is obviously necessary to limit the number of priority cases; broadly speaking, we give priority to those who may be concerned with matters of "life and death", e.g. doctors, nurses and ministers of religion. In addition, some telephones are needed in the national interest, for example for Members of Parliament, and to meet the special needs of the sick or disabled and for those dependent on a home telephone for their livelihood. It is not practicable to cover all cases of special need by rules, and discretion is, therefore, given to telephone managers. I am sure that the position of lawyers is given due weight. If my hon. Friend has a case of particular hardship in mind I shall be very happy to look into it.

J B-D was not a lawyer, by the way.  He represented the Epping Forest constituency into the 80s, and thus represented my secondary school.  Friends always looked forward to their 18th birthday cards from him.  While we are on this ramble down memory lane, I remember party lines and sometimes think how much amusement could be derived from mobile lines being shared now.  It would certainly make public transport and coffee shops quieter.....

This is a little gem:

Mr. Emrys Hughes asked the Civil Lord of the Admiralty what are the precise functions of the Liaison Committee 444 that he has set up to assist him in connection with the United States Polaris submarine base at Holy Loch.

Mr. C. Ian Orr-Ewing The functions of the Liaison Committee are to create administrative machinery for the protection of the population, to convey to the public the significance of any incident and to re-assure local opinion on the hazards involved in the unlikely event of a serious accident.

Mr. Hughes Is the Minister aware that he also has liaison officers? Is he aware that they have been inquiring on behalf of the American sailors about the increased price of Coco Cola (sic), whisky, cinema seats and other things in Dunoon? Does he not think that he should make some attempt to get in touch with the local inhabitants in order to prevent the Americans being exploited in case it will make them go Communist? 

Mr. Orr-Ewing I am very surprised that the hon. Gentleman should suggest that constituents near his own constituency are exploiting the Americans. If prices have in fact risen, perhaps this is one of the benefits arising from the deployment of these craft. 

Another one to make one's eyes widen:

Mr. Deedes (yes, that Mr Deedes) asked the Minister of Transport whether his Department has approved the list of shipyards to which the Cunard Steamship Company are about to send invitations to tender for the new Cunarder.
 
Mr. Marples Yes, Sir.

In our time, the QM2 was built in France, and the Queens Victoria and Elizabeth in Italy .