The professor's brochure

It said in the brochure to the professions, that we had to be a certain type to get involved in the game.

In particular, those appointed above us for their talent, brains & acumen, as well as their superior abilities to make the tough choices, set aside from the personal loyalties & affections of their underlings, are qualified to decide whether or not we're useful.

Should you encounter one of these superiors whilst going about your daily employment activities, be sure to convey to your reverence to both their person & even the space it occupies.

On no account should any presumptuous attempt be made to engage with such higher beings on a personal level, so only speak if spoken to. Keep all responses concise and fully furnished with the utmost, subordinate respect.

Ass Bitten Max Clifford

The British nation rejoices with more closure on its institutionalised-paedophilia past as it publicly punished paedophile, sexual predator and world leading PR guru, 71 year old #MaxClifford. I'm sorry to have had to unmask him as a disgusting PR fiend, but the truth is the truth. 

Long standing gonzo-learners may recall I wrote a piece some years ago (see "Jaded") which talked about how Clifford had managed to turn fairly loathsome, racist, pseudo-celebrity Jade Goody into a poster girl for cancer prevention and the nation's (the working class, South of Watford, big brother viewership demographic part of it anyway) sweetheart. He's certainly got skills of such a phenomenal transformation as that is within his seemingly limitless powers.

However, like his fellow entertainment industry luminary, Jimmy Saville (see "TheJimmyRiddle" previous post), it turned out Clifford had been using his power and influence to seduce (basically rape, under current legislation) and otherwise sexually assault females, some of whom were as young as 12. 

However, this previously untouchable, powerful man fell hard today after TV reporters harassed him outside court where he was sentenced to 8 years in prison for 8 assaults on 4 women. It also seems he wasn't prosecuted for indecently assaulting a 12 year old girl in Spain because he's being charged & sentenced under the old rules. 

Certainly in the current public atmosphere of societal redress where the people publicly punish such wrongdoers in the press, on talkshows and in their minds, allows people to do think the nation is worth something in terms of its moral fibre. We're not animals, yet. That is the disgrace, the public loss of face, the exposure of the hypocrisy we see and know exists absolutely everywhere in our nation and is endemic to the operation of its systems. 

Thus, what struck me as equally hypocritical was how enthusiastic the Sky reporters laid into Clifford outside court as he stood alone, waiting to be sentenced. He looked like shit and as if his minute (apparently, very small) tail was firmly between his legs. 

I've never liked the guy at all. He's always smelled vaguely to me of sulphur. What amused me was how the sky reporters fed on the guy that helped build their business from the ground up. 

It was like watching a snake eat its own tail. 

When sorry seems to be the hardest word...

I've noticed how we've become a nation that doesn't like to say sorry, even when we are clearly wrong. It used to be an annoying British thing. Say sorry and move on. Like brushing the whole thing under the carpet, but using words. People don't like to do that. Can't blame them really. It seems to be perceived as a sign of weakness. It also seems these days to lead to out of control spin where legal and professional liability is owned by the apologiser, often with dire personal and legal consequences. It's not seen at the decent thing, but the stupid thing to do.

We've had a day of saying sorry today. Gordon Brown has said sorry for what is now being called "Smeargate." He's even apologised personally to the people now being called "Smearees" by the media. I wonder if this means he's finally passed the "Smear test"? Georgie "Woo What a Big Boat" Osborne, who got to keep his job after his most recent indiscretion, is going on the news shows all guns blazing with a call for a restoration of decency in Number 10. Of course he means that the Conservatives should be elected into government. I guess if you can't get your policies across and your economic strategies don't actually make any sense, then you might as well divert focus onto something more trivial.

The next thing is that Damien Green isn't being prosecuted for leaking confidential government documents. They were confidential, and they were leaked. But that's not the point. It's become a matter of whether the material leaked was actually harmful to national security or not. Jacqui Smith, who should really have gone long ago for a variety of reasons already discussed on these pages, should have checked all this out long before sending the stormtroopers in to raid his office in the House of Commons. What is clear is that if you are in a position of trusted authority in this nation, and you don't want to get arrested, then don't leak confidential government documents.

What we are really left with at the end of all these charades is two apologies and now we're moving onto the next thing. Jacqui still looks silly, Gordon is still having his leadership questioned, and George still looks like an ambitious, out of touch, whining elitist. The only real change we've had from all this is a few more people know who Nadine Dorries is.