Upon Blair's departure, Hilary Armstrong is to retire as whatever it is that they gave her after she had to be sacked as Chief Whip for sending the Dear Leader home and losing the "incitement to religious hatred" division by one vote. This is to save her archenemy, Gordon Brown, having to sack her from that as well.
So, any suggestions as to what Hilary can do in retirement? I might even pass them on to her...
You should start listening to Paul Weller David - or get therapy!!
ReplyDelete"Unfit to live in - just about fit to burst
Like the banks of a swollen river
As bitterness does its worst
Working on your feelings - eating you all up
But you have to shake that shit to move on
An' let love carry you on up -
(It's just) bitterness rising - taking you off
Bitterness rising - you gotta shake those feelings off
Unfair to give in - and never changes course
If you have the choice before you
You gotta take it with a force
Or the past will take you - keep you from the truth
As bitterness rises - from the ashes of your youth
(It's just) bitterness rising - taking you off
Bitterness rising - you gotta shake those feelings off
Moments in time
finding the space
To be what'cha wanna be
The things you never got
Life you never had
The dreams that you once dreamed
Finding the space - waiting your time
To be what'cha wanna be
Just be!
Or the past will take you - keep you from the truth
As bitterness rises - from the ashes of your youth
(It's just) bitterness rising - taking you off
Bitterness rising - you gotta shake those feelings off"
I don't see what I have to be bitter about. She's the failed and (by all accounts, yes, rather embittered) politician on the way out, ably assisted by her preposterous preferred successor, who managed to take fewer votes than I did even for a Parish Council and nearly lose his seat, and whose sister has screamed hysterically at me in the street that I have "ruined his career".
ReplyDeleteOh, and while I'm here, you might pass on to Tom Forster, not only that Saint Bede's is wholly unaware of his attempt to remove me as a Governor, but also that that august institution had in fact assumed Tom to have been removed as a County Councillor, clearly the expectation, to say the least, of everyone with County Hall connections.
ReplyDeleteSo you have been kicked off a Governors now - the future is not looking so bright for you anymore is it David. What will be next in your apparent downfall as a not-so international Politican? I can understand where your increasing bitterness is coming from. It is interesting, in your attempt to prove that you are not bitter, that you brought up this other councillor that you keep refering to....does that not prove that you are bitter about something!
ReplyDeleteI have been reading about Hilary Armstrong on the internet today - in the Cabinet for 18 years, not bad for a woman and hardly indicative of a failed career or are you going to come up with your usual misogynistic reasons why a woman couldnt possibly be in the Cabinet because of ability and talent. Thinking back ... I have never heard you say a good word about any female cabinet members - why such hatred of women?
She has not been in the Cabinet for 18 years - that would take you back to 1989.
ReplyDeleteAnd the school in question is adamant that I have NOT been kicked off, but rather that everyone in the know in local government in these parts either expects the man who is trying to get rid of me to be disqualified by the Standards Board, or else assumes that that must already have happened by now, as everyone who is anyone knew that it would.
All in all, then, no wonder that they simply ignore him about who is or is not a governor: County Hall has probably told them to. I'll be in for a Governing Body meeting tomorrow, in fact. So the last thing that I am is bitter.
And I have a great, if unfashionable, admiration for Margaret Beckett, the most Eurosceptical Foreign Secretary since Bevin.
Apologies David, I meant front bench not Cabinet. Whats with all this "everyone who is in the know" and "anyone who is anyone" rubbish....the reality is that everyone knows that you have been ejected from the Labour Party for saying that you would stand against the labour candidate and have now lost two governorships. To my knowledge, which I admit is secondhand, you have been sacked from every job that you have ever had. How long are you going to remain a Parish Councillor I wonder with this sort of record? Noone is trying to get rid of you David - it is apparent that it is your own behaviour (just read back the libellous and bitter posts on here) that is causing your downfall.
ReplyDeleteIf I have libelled anyone, then they should sue. I have just been GIVEN a job in the last half an hour. I'm bound to be a Parish Councillor for the next four years. And as for the governor thing, watch this space...
ReplyDeleteI'm not bitter, and have no cause to be. Contrast that with my hysterical opponents, who are for some unknown reason terrified of me.
As the definition of an opponent is "one that opposes another or others in a battle or contest" - unless you are currently battling it out to become the village idiot, there is not a (certainly not political) contest in which you could be a serious contender. I know you from Durham David (we were not acquaintances so do not waste your poor overworked neurons attempting to surmise who I am) and I heard about your more recent antics so thought that I would also amuse myself by reading your blog. You havent learned your lesson from those days have you!
ReplyDeleteI don't see how you can have known me if we were not acquaintances. And my Durham days are ongoing, you might like to learn...
ReplyDeleteNo they are not David - you are deluding yourself as in every other aspect of your life. Have you been sacked yet from the job you were GIVEN the other day?
ReplyDeleteWhich one?
ReplyDeleteYou really should give this up, you know. I think we acn all see who is the bitter one here?
You should take him very, very seriously, I'm afraid.
ReplyDeleteHilary Armstrong is giving up office and so probably giving up her seat. Neil Fleming destroyed (mostly by Lindsay). An imposed candidate from outside would look very bad and is just what Lindsay wants for when he puts up as an Independent.
So let's look at the facts. Apart from one or two Scrutiny Chairs, if that, every position that matters on Derwentside District Council, held whether by Labour or by the so-called Opposition that isn't, is held by an ally of Lindsay's. Every Portfolio Holder is a personal friend of his, including several of his closest friends in the world.
Lindsay knows more of what goes on in the Labour Group than up to a third, and definitely a quarter, of the elected Labour Councillors on it. He is also very close indeed to the "Independents" - traditional Tories whose main role is to cover the Labour Leadership's backs against that quarter to a third of Labour Councillors. They in turn have links in the Wear Valley, where Labour is pro-Armstrong but the "Independents"/Tories are anything but.
Then there are, as has been said, the unions, the churches, the farmers, thus the local Tory Party, and so on. A very senior County Council position is held by one of his closest allies from before he was ever even a Labour Party member.
People read this blog and realise, I have to say, that not only would most people be incapable of writing it, but most people being imposed as parliamentary candidates for all parties would be incapable of reading it.
He gave up one of his school governorships voluntarily because he'd done the customary two terms, but he might yet be co-opted back onto the other one. Labour have already had to give it to one of his very closest friends and allies, rather than who they really wanted. There are dark mutterings about him and the coming Consett Academy - he certainly has plenty of rich mates to make him Chair of Governors on a salary, or even Principal (because you don't have to have QTS).
The University really has very enthusiastically brought him back, not that he ever went away. His main critics there are fighting for their professional lives. Coincidence? Lindsay doesn't do coincidences!
You should take him very, very seriously, I'm afraid.