The Joy Of Sarcasm…Parsing Judgement

Posted on April 15, 2013 by fitzjameshorse

Those of you who watch the comedy “The Big Bang Theory” will know that a recurring joke is the inability of Sheldon (no relation) to understand sarcasm.

Thats the thing with Sarcasm. “Do I take that at face value?” “Was he being sarcastic?” “Did I miss the joke.?” “Was there a joke?” “I think  the person who said that was being sarcastic but I need an explanation and the people who are smiling and understanding it are not telling me what is funny and I should probably be annoyed because it might be at the expense of Someone or Something I value”

So what do you make of this tweet from Conall McDevitt?

“Got on bike today…Got soaked…Changed…Got in Car…Billy Bragg….Got back in car…Elvis Costello…Thatchers Legacy? Great music!”.

What on Earth did he mean? Lefties like myself smile. Do we take it at face value? Man listens to Billy Bragg and Elvis Costello in his car and appreciates that these talented people rose to stardom in the Thatcher Years. What could be more innocent?

Yet oddly (?) some people think there must be an underlying message. Socialist MLA chooses to listen to Billy Bragg and Elvis Costello, two performers who are uncompromising in their dislike for Margaret Thatcher and a not so subtle hint that he might have been listening to some of their music which was a critique of Thatcher.

See…if I had tweeted that (I am no longer on Twitter)…….and I wish I had tweeted it, it would have been simple. I dont really like any music after 1968 except for “country rock” but it would have been a “wind up”, a means of offending Thatcher fans. And I would have taken a little extra pleasure if they were unsure if I was serious or not.

Those of you reading this in USA are probably unaware of the phrase “Wind Up Merchant” …someone who likes to tease.

If the target of the joke like prison officer Mr Mackay in Porridge for example is not quite sure if he is being laughed at….then of course the pleasure is doubled.

For an old greybeard like me can remember the old sitcom “The Good Life” set in Tory Surbiton in the English Home Counties………and Tory Margo doesnt get the joke that hubby Jerry, Tom and Barbara “get”.

People like Sheldon, Mr Mackay and Margo Leadbetter thankfully really exist.

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Causing Offence…Is It A Civil Right?

Posted on April 14, 2013 by fitzjameshorse

Some twenty odd years ago on Remembrance Sunday I was in London and travelled up to Victoria Station to buy a copy of an Irish newspaper. I got on the underground to visit a friend in North London.

The only other person on my carriage was a retired military officer…the full Remembrance gear on him….bowler over beige overcoat, umbrella, regimental tie and a display of medals. Actually I am always amused that even in requirement the “officer class” take precedence.

Athough Colonel Blink did not speak to me, I was aware that he was staring at me in a disapproving manner. This guy clearly did not storm the Normandy beaches or preside over the catering in Catterick Camp so that he would end up sitting in an empty underground carriage with a Paddy reading the Sunday Independent. I was causing him offence.

The London police have issued a warning to people not to cause offence at Thatchers funeral. Well of course to do so would be ban manners and if noisy or confrontational would be an offence in the legal sense. But what exactly is an offence?

Central London, especially the route from Parliament to St Paul’s Cathedral will be filled with the kinda people who always line the routes for “royal weddings”, funerals and the like. The type that used to line the streets in Wootton Basset for coffins returning from Afghanistan. Chelsea pensioners, British Legion types, public schoolboys, women hoping for five minutes of fame saying on Sky News that they have come all the way from Essex and camped out all night to pay their respects.

Middle England. What will offend them? Well pretty much anything the Daily Mail says.

But “Offence” is a strange thing. It can be UNSOCIAL. It can be ILLEGAL. It can be SUICIDAL. The difference is clear. To wear a Tshirt saying “Legalise Marijuana” might cause social offence to someone. To wear a Tshirt in suppomight the murder of two Manchester police women last year was clearly illegal. To wear a Celtic shirt on the Shankill Road is suicidal.

Which means that the Metropolitan Police issuing a warning not to offend the Thatcher mourners/Thatcherite mob AND stating that implementation of the law is at the discretion of police officers seems a recipe for confusion.

In normal circumstances wearing an Argentina football shirt in the streets of Londois an hardly be considered offensive.  Or an Irish shirt. Or a Celtic shirt. Or a National Union of Mineworkers shirt. I often wear a Che Guevara shirt. and I used to wear a Nelson Mandela shirt. But does this mean walking around London wearing one of those on Wednesday is “offensive” because it might reasonably or unreasonably be interpreted as inappropriate.

Will the Police have a list of Tshirts that are acceptable and unacceptable ” Iron Lady …Rust in Peace” will be banned? Argentina football shirt is ok? …..even if worn by a group of thirty people?

What IS clear is that Thatchers Funeral is not “a day for us all” although a risible thread on Slugger O’Toole will possibly try and tell us that it is.

Wearing a Celtic shirt in your front garden while watching an Orange Parade in a nationalist town in Keady might well cause offence to the marchers. So it should. Should it be a matter for PSNI…the police?

On the day after the funeral we will know whether it was genuinely a ceremonial funeral….or whether St Paul’s was effectively over for a massive political rally. Ironically the same people who will “occupy” St Paul’s Square this week are the same people who called for the removal of protestors in the same Square last year.

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Ding Dong! Jeremy Clarkson

Posted on April 13, 2013 by fitzjameshorse

Does anyone sum up the worst aspects of the 21st century more than Jeremy Clarkson? Had we even heard of him ten years ago?

Clarkson is little more than a motoring journalist who got lucky. He presents Top Gear with two other petrol heads but he is the alpha male . Loud and Indeed a loud mouth.

Petrol Heads don’t drive the kinda cars that ordinary decent folks drive….a Kia Carens since you ask. They drive NEW cars. They drive EXPENSIVE cars. They drive FAST cars….and they like to be seen doing it. Which means they have little time for speed limits, speed cameras, parking restrictions, vehicle taxation, global warMing.and cyclists. Especially cyclists.

Clarkson has made a career out of being controversial. Top Gear is merely the day job. Panel Shows, newspaper columns, friend of Prime Minister David Cameron and the Chipping Norton Set….he has become extremely rich being the poster boy for Political Incorrectness.

Love him or Loathe him….it is a carefully crafted persona. He takes pot shots at political correctness, the Labour Party,  Greens , foreigners and when challenged, retreats behind being a national character or even a National Treasure. When he goes too far….he can blame that he was taken out of context or even a VICTIM of Political Correctness.

So …..a year ago on a live TV show, he suggested that strikers should be shot dead in front of their families.

The BBC received thousands of complaints. Clarkson apologised. He affected to be wounded that people would take him literally. He did not seriously want strikers shot dead….well, yes that’s true oOf course but nevertheless for one of the BBCs stars to talk in those terms is de-humanising.  It cheapens discourse.

So if a Celebrity jokes about murder on a TV show in front of two million people…that’s ok….not criminal. But if a teenager puts a similar comment about police on Facebook….that’s not ok. Thats…criminal.

One law for Celebrities.

Unsurprisingly Jeremy Clarkson is a guest at Margaret Thatchers funeral. The BBC agonises about that Ding Dong song….and doesn’t wish to offend. Double standards.

There is a screenplay waiting to be written. Two Funerals, One Wedding, One Jubilee, One Olympics and Too Many Bankers. Diana’s funeral and Thatchers funeral bookend sixteen years of tackiness.

The funeral will stand the test of time, It will be studied by historians, people too cowered now to speak about the nauseating spectacle that it is.

Diana was divorced from the Royal Family. As such she was not entitled to the State Funeral that the Daily Mail and The Sun demanded. Someone wrote the words “Ceremonial Funeral” on the back of a cigarette packet and hey presto….we had a precedent. A “ceremonial funeral” is de facto a State Funeral.

Thatcher is having a ceremonial funeral…all the trappings of a State Funeral, while pretending that it is not a State Funeral. Thatcher….who never served a day in uniform will be put on a gun carriage and paraded thru Londons streets with seven hundred troops. She was never a “royal. Never a commander-in-chief.

Oddly Britain values TRADITION. BRITAIN HAS NOW INVENTED TRADITION. That will have consequences.

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Les Miserables

Posted on April 12, 2013 by fitzjameshorse

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgQgzKVX9jc

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Ding Dong! The Boys Of The Old Brigade?

Posted on April 12, 2013 by fitzjameshorse

I have never downloaded any msic in my life so I dont understand all that ITunes stuff…and please dont explain it to me because I dont need to know.

But the story of “Ding Dong, The Witch is Dead” is an interesting piece of modern culture. This song has been adopted as the unofficial anthem of anti-Thatcherites. It is of course distasteful. But no more distasteful than spending £10 million pounds of public money on the funeral of a multi millionaire former politician.

The funeral is to a de facto State funeral for a woman who was divisive and who claimed there is no such thing as Society. It is absurd….beyond satire. Yet I think Thatchers funeral is in a way and end to the chapter in British History which began with Lady Dianas funeral.

Where is the screen play “Two Funerals, One Wedding, One Jubilee, One Olympics and Several Banks Collapsing”.

Apparently ardent Thatcherites are encouraging folks to download a song called” We Love Margaret Thatcher” so if nothing else Thatcher has singlehandedly revived the British music industry. Having killed off coal mining, steel manufacture and ship building, it seems fitting.

Yet the BBC have decided not to play the song on its chart show. They will play a four second clip with a journalist providing context. That seems odd. A song from The Wizard of Oz is hardly offensive…so no reason to ban it. So it is actually being banned because of the context…what the people who paid for it were THINKING. That seems bizarre.

For all the advocates of “new media”…Facebook, Twitter, Blogging…it seems an unexpected twist. As we saw with the London Riots, or our flegs protest…the instant Tinternet shows any sign of “influence”…it is curtailed.

Yet…a thought. It now seems possible to make a major political point for a couple of pounds and you dont even have to leave your house.

A lesson for flegs protestors? Just download 40,000 copies of The Sash My Father Wore. Or Republicans can download 40,000 copies of the Boys of The Old Brigade.

Offesive songs? Well possibly. So it might be even better to download something entirely innocent but witha hint of satire…and the BBC will actually ban it.

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“Sir” Mark Thatcher?

Posted on April 11, 2013 by fitzjameshorse

You may have wondered what Mark Thatcher did to deserve a knighthood. He was not chairman of a Bank which cost the taxpayer billions. Nor did he grow sideburns and win the Tour de France.

The truth is that “Sir” Mark is not a knight at all. He is …wait for it…a baronet. What’s the difference? Well to be honest, for an Irish Republican, I know far more than is strictly necessary about the British Honours system.

Dennis Thatcher…love him (as the selfless power behind Maggie) or loathe him as a boorish old buffer who played too much golf….was a successful businessman. As a recognition of serving the Prime Minister or as a businessman, he “deserved” an honour (under the rules) but clearly it would have been inappropriate for him to receive one while Maggie was still in office.

Consequently he was awarded a baronetcy a month after Maggie resigned office. In itself this is very curious as awarding a baronetcy had fallen into dis-use since the 1950s. Dennis is certainly the last person to receive one.

Of course nobody gets a hereditary peerage these days. For my American readers this is the style “Lord” and passed down. And a Life Peerage (also “Lord ” ) dies with the holder. A knighthood (“Sir”) is not hereditary. It also dies with the knight.

But a baronetcy is an interesting hybrid. The holder is styled “Sir” but it is hereditary. Therefore in being awarded the baronetcy….Mark Thatcher, the son on whom Maggie doted was also being awarded a title by stealth. His father was already 75 years old. This has allowed Mark to strut the world as Sir Mark Thatcher.

Yet he has let the side down. Organising and financing a failed military coup in small, oil rich Equatorial Guinea is not the sort of things baronets do…except of course Mark and his friends. The South African court took a dim view, fined him several thousand rand..and imposed a four year jail sentence….suspended. Did his connexion to Margaret Thatcher save him from four years in a South African prison….although his mothers dismissal of Nelson Mandela as a terrorist is a bit ironic. Karma is a bitch. But surely this would imply that Mark Thatcher has profited from being his mothers son.

Of course he is called “Sir” thru being his fathers son.

Is it relevant? His mother is dead. And I on record for drawing attention to the fact that over on Slugger O’Toole, Sheldon had drawn attention to the fact that the neice of a Sinn Fein MP had been sentenced to five years in a London court….for fraud.

Indeed…fraud and organising a military coup. I can see how Sheldon and the good folks on Slugger see the heinous act of fraud being a bigger issue.

But is it relevant to Mommys death? Yes. Next week Sir Mark will be chief mourner at his mothers funeral, walking behind a gun carriage bearing her coffin. It will cost £8.million and is frankly a State Funeral by stealth. Is this an occasion that is dignified or merely as sordid and sleazy as Thatcherism. A fitting farewell?

Vulgar, Vulgar, Vulgar…..as that royal courtier said about Princess Fergie.

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“I Come To Bury Caesar…”

Posted on April 10, 2013 by fitzjameshorse

There is a fiction that parliamentary sketch writers like to peddle…that the British House of Commons is at it’s best when it ita speaking with one voice on a great national issue.

Simon Hoggart and others are unlikely today that tomorrow on the debate in the Commons today on the issue of Tributes to Margaret Thatcher.

Neceassarily at a time of death , there is a conventional decency. David Cameron and Ed Miliband spoke well in the conventional manner of politicians whose speeches have been written for them by experts. The Tory speeches verde from emotional (Tony Baldry)…sycophantic (some woman from Epping Forest) to a sideswipe at the Coalition (Christopher Chope)

On the Labour benches…and not all turned up…Frank Field was effusive in the way that cross-party politics is supposed to be. Gisela Stuart was the epitome of New Labour and the very worst of party’s-party  politics.

But the besof speeches were by Glenda Jackson, Michael Meacher and David Winnick who were not prepared to sacrifice their integrity to be nice about Thatcher. Indeed all this integrity led the pompous Tony Baldry to make a point of order to the Speaker as clearly Labour people were not playing nice…breaking established convention.

So full marks to the Speaker for slapping him down and pointing out it was a parliamentary debate.

Increasingly it looks like the funeral and it’s cost might become an issue. At a time odd austerity the funeral costs (£8 million ) of a multi millionaire party politician is being met by the Taxpayer.

And just three weeks before English Council Elections, this is effectively a party political broadcast on behalf of the Conservative Party.

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Margaret And Jimmy

Posted on April 10, 2013 by fitzjameshorse

Over the past 48 hours, I have not see antsy reference to the curious friendship between Margaret Thatcher and paedophile Jimmy Saville. It seems odd. Saville was after all a house guest of Thatchers over eleven successive New Year celebrations.

Even more curious is that Thatcher was surrounded by Security who presumably vet people who get such access And curious that nobody had seemingly heard the rumours. Every other person at the BBC knew about Saville. And isn’t it odd that none of the assorted police forces who had complaints about Saville reported the complaints to the Whitehall spooks.

After all didn’t MI5 have an office at the BBC?

How on Earth could eleven years pass without some spook whispering in Thatchers ear “We just found out something about Jimmy Saville which we think you should know”? And how on Earth could eleven years pass without “Sir” Jimmy not getting a letter saying “not this year Jimmy”.

The question has often been posed as to how Jimmy Saville, clearly a persistent and dangerous paedophile and rapist escape prosecution and conviction.

Oddly eighteen months ago Jimmy Saville lay in state in Leeds and was given what amounted to a ceremonial funeral in that city.

Perhaps in death…these two old friends can meet up again. They have a lot to talk about.

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A Minutes Silence…Part Deux

Posted on April 9, 2013 by fitzjameshorse

Further to last nights post in which I speculated about a One Minutes Silence at Old Trafford as a mark of respect for Margaret Thatcher, there is an update.

The Chairman at Wigan Athletic (Dave Whelan) and the Chairman at Reading (John Madejski) have called on the FA Premier Leagufacial arrange this. I think it is important to say that these men ..n both at minor clubs …are in the traditional image of football chairmen….self made men like Bob Lord (Burnley), Peter Swales (Manchester City) and Louis Edwards (Manchester United).  Traditionally these men are Tories.

Interestingly, Dave Whelan has said that its a decision for the Premiership but that he was   hopeful his “lads” would support it. In fairness to him, he says that this should be applicable to all former prime ministers.

If I recall correctly, John Madejski has form for making comments which are political. But his call for a minutes silence and black armbands at his clubs home game against….wait for it…..Liverpool!!!!

A Minutes Silence for Thatcher…observed by Liverpool fans….now that won’t end well, will it? So what is Madejski playing at? Are Tories and the Media going to use bad behaviour at Brixton, West Belfast and Glasgow …and the Madejski Stadium possibly to boost their electoral chances?

Football is of course traditionally a working class sport which is watched by middle class people in the 21st century. Wigan is of course a Labour town and the catchment area for the club is probably pro-Labour in sentiment. The balance of probability is that the majority of Wigans fans are Labour. Now this in no way means that they would be against honouring Thatcher but hard to see that honouring her would be universal.

Reading has two constituencies…both comfortably Conservative. And the Berkshire hinterland…even more so.

But surely there must be a conscience clause….surely no Premiership official or Club Chairman can discipline a player…an employee…for thinking that Thatcher should not be honoured.

Courageously James McClean (Sunderland and Ireland) from Derry has refused to wear a shirt with a poppy on it at Remembrance time in Britain.

We really need to get away from Grief being organised and manipulated. Maybe this will be a catalyst.

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A Decade Of…Deaths?

Posted on April 9, 2013 by fitzjameshorse

regular readers will know that the whole Decade of Centenaries irritates me. Not just do Ibelieve that they…or some are not important…or equally important to Nationalists and Unionists but I believe we ae…as usual..being manipulated by tThe Conflict Resolutionists. I for example do not give a tinkers curse about the Battle of the Somme. I would have preferred if the Germans had won…but Im not losing sleep over it.

Besides, I have always thought that a Decade of Half Centenaries is actually more interesting. And more relevant to where we are today. Terence O’Neill, Civil Rights…all that.

And thirdly, I don’t think we can orchestrate events so easily. Events just…happen. The next decade will have it’s own set of events…but some will be no surprise.

Yesterday Margaret Thatcher (87) died. Yesterday the Belfast News Letter had a photograph on its front page…Ian Paisley celebrating his 87th birthday. So….

Thatchers funeral will be attended by Mrs Windsor (86) and her hubby Phil the Greek (91). There is well to wall coverge of deaths and funerals at British national level …and local level ahead for us all. Not necessarily any of those I have mentioned. But the reaction to Thatchers death…from mourning to rejoicing…is likely rot be replicated over the next ten years.

Frankly these events cannot be controlled. Arrange  your street party and boring your Tshirt now.

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