The Year That Nearly Isn't

It's time for the retrospective!

January

It was all a bit... political as the Sexual Orientations Regulations were passed, and it was a sad month what with Rays funeral and all. :(

February

There was snow, I went to Nottingham and we all began to get a little excited over Eurovision.

March

Scooch won Making Your Mind Up, we discovered Charles Dera was doing porn, and Iran kidnapped some British sailors (and got away with it).


April

There was an earthquake in Folkestone, Doctor Who arrived for it's third series, I began planning to leave work (still trying that one...), Kallie left work and I went to Birmingham all on my lonesome.

May

I caused controversy at the Shepway Lib Dems, we discovered Marco Dapper, EUROVISION!, and I scared some poor homophobes.

June

I turned 24, Gordon Brown became Prime Minister, we all learnt that politeness is a good thing and geez there were a lot of nice pictures that month.

July

Videos and photos galore as Jae prepared to go on holiday.

August

Jae goes to France, John and Vixie get married in Cornwall, we learnt about Bodmas and Sam America finally left the country.

September

What a horrible month. I found someone was using my blog in order to hurt Jim, Vy was attacked and hospitalised and it was all very horrible.

October

A new website caused work to become too awful for words, Vy left, I made some controversial comments about abortion that sadly lost me some Dear Constant Readers, and I went on a booze cruise down the Thames. Jim and I ran out of money.

November

Jim and I continued to be out of money until the very end of the month when my parents came to our rescue. Then I treated myself to presents. Work remained shite.

December

Boring.



2007 was a year of poverty, restlessness and boredom with some lovely interludes. I hope 2008 brings better things both to me and to you Dear Constant Reader.

Happy New Year!!!

A Lovely Evening

So yesterday, after watching a few Star Trek movies, Jim and I headed to Charing Cross Road in search of Cachaça, Jim's latest favourite alcoholic beverage. Well sorry... actually it's only his favourite when part of a Caipirinha. Yes, we have gone all Brazilian all of a sudden.

After purchasing a few bottles on behalf of our local (we make other alcoholics look positively amateurish) we had dinner at our favourite Tokyo Diner in Chinatown before wandering through a fair at Leicester Square (with the scariest pendulum ride in history).

We headed back to Greenwich and the local and spent the night drinking, chatting with some mates and watching Jim drink Caipirinhas made by the Brazilian barman.

All very good.

Blasts From The Past

There are some memories so terrible, so absolutely awful that your minds only sensible thing to do is to block access to them completely. Today one of those memories escaped it's incarceration... I remember the Purple People Eater movie...



God that was an awful movie that for some reason 6 year old Jae just had to watch over and over again. And I could because, sadly, my Mum worked in a video rental store and I got the privilege of hiding out back watching 1) god awful movies (Howard The Duck), 2) terrifying movies I smuggled in using an empty Flintstones Meet The Jetsons case (such as Killer Klowns From Outer Space and Slugs) or 3) weirdo childrens movies such as Purple People Eater and Pinocchio and the Emperor of the Night.



There I was, a boy with a whole store of videos at my disposal, and I used that time to watch the dregs of the late eighties...

The Down Side

I think sometime in September I reached the pinnacle of my success at work. Since then I've been on a slow decline. I'm still the Oracle (I do have double the experience than the next person down in the department). I'm still the person people ask for help. But the spark has gone, and yes there was once a spark. I just can't take it anymore... the customers are not just stupid, they are now so stupid it defies description. The same mistakes keep getting made and no one pays any attention to me when I rally against them because my moaning is now considered background noise.

The more I read about the subjects I do enjoy the more I wish I was able to actually get off my arse and seek out a job I'd like.

Good news is: Mum has said she'll bankroll any course I want to do.

Bad news is: my mother has a lot of "good intentions" that never become reality.

We'll see.

Random

Well it's nearly the end of the year and Jae is quite tired. However I did get asked by a tall, black muscle bound hunk (that ticks all the right boxes in my opinion) if I wanted to play American Football with him at Waterloo Station. I had to say no that that question though... there was plenty else I wanted to do with him though!

Got asked if I wanted to join something called "United Queerdom" today. It's a Twinkleboi project so I'm sure it'll be worth keeping an eye on.

That reminds me... I must catch up with my podcasts... sadly most of my favourites have ceased to publish but I've got some new likely candidates to replace them...

Caught the news at lunch at work and watched the Benazir Bhutto tragedy unfold. Poor Pakistan, things just seem to get worse and worse over there.

Consumerism Makes Me Sick

I'm not anti capitalist. I'm not anti buying nice things for oneself. As you, Dear Constant Reader, know I love getting new books and DVDs and things.

However, I am becoming increasingly horrified by the state of our nation and it's obsession with consuming.

I can't understand people who spend their free time INTENTIONALLY queuing for consumer goods (rather than necessary ones). I can't understand people who buy things on Christmas Day. I really can't understand people who buy things online so close to Christmas (it's not like late deliveries at Christmas are unexpected hence why I bought my stuff at the end of November!).

I just logged onto my works query system to see Christmas Day emails are up 400% on last year... that's really sad. There is more to life than this rat race and yet people seem intent on just following the herd and becoming sad consumers just like the business world wants us to be.

One of the most common conversations you'll hear out in the real world is the "customer services/call centres suck" conversation. I see this as more of a sad reflection on those who call call centres than anything else. I'm a normal person, with a bank account and a real life. But I haven't been in a bank in two years (which makes me terribly scared of that woman from the First Direct adverts who claims that when she calls her bank at 3 a.m. there is someone there... doesn't that frighten anyone else? HAS SHE NO LIFE???).

And I've called a call centre only once this year and that was because they asked me to! I can't believe how many people I know who are on the phones to various companies EVERY day. What are they doing? Are they just signing up for everything that gets advertised on telly and then spending the rest of their life bugging those companies because (quelle surprise!) their service doesn't live up to that advertised?

Maybe I'm doing something wrong. Maybe I'm not consuming enough and thus not needing to contact companies enough. But whatever it is I just never seem to have the same customer service stories that other people do.

I pray I never become like the freaks out there who spend their lives in queues and on the phone... who never have the time to relax, veg out and enjoy their short time on this planet because they spend their time conforming to the current social norms. If there's one thing I'll always be thankful for it's my fear of crowds and my hearty dislike of shopping. They've saved me from becoming just another sheep.

My Family

That picture is of my Great, Great, Great Grandmother, Phillis Semark. After months of work on one branch of my family tree I had a breakthrough on Christmas Eve, discovering many more ancestors. It's amazing... she gave birth to a boy who fathered a girl who was the mother of a boy who fathered my Mum. And my Nan was living in the same village as her back in the forties. Thing is... my Nan hasn't any idea who she is, barely knowing anyone beyond my Grandfathers mother in fact. It's a bit weird to think my family have lost so much of our family history even though most of us have grown up with people who were part of it.

When I was growing up in Snodland (and beyond) I was taught that my family had Spanish blood, German blood, Scottish blood... we were a cosmopolitan family with a mysterious past. But I've discovered through my research that this is far from the truth. Not only is our past remarkably unmysterious but it's reassuringly dull. 90% of the ancestors I've discovered so far were born in, lived in and died in Kent. Even as far back as the 15th Century. Those who weren't came from other parts of Britain (given some of the interbreeding among my family in the past thanks to the small hamlets they lived in this brought some much needed fresh genes to the family blood line!). And what is really shocking is that those families I grew up near like the Schoolings and the Townsends weren't just neighbours... they were my relatives.

It makes me quite proud to know that the place of my birth, Kent, has been the place of birth for much of my family for most of recorded history. There's not many people around who can say that!

Christmas - How Can It Go So Fast????

Christmas Eve Jim and I headed to the locals Christmas Quiz after watching Muppets Christmas Carol and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.



We had a team of six (Jim, me, Mark, Jo, Gloria and Gus) whilst our neighbours Rod and Melissa had a team of 4 right next to us. Had a brilliant time and thanks to Jim swotting up beforehand our team, the Tailenders, came third out of nine and won a bottle of wine each.

Christmas Day. We awoke quite late (nothing to do with the night before surely??? ;) ) and opened our presents. I got more presents than I've had in years. Jim got me The Times Complete History of the World, the Temeraire books: The Throne of Jade and The Black Powder War and Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files 9. My family got me The Empire of Ivory, Shadow World, Lord of the Flies, Extraordinary Animals Revisited and Heart Shaped Box.

I'm told that more presents now await back in Folkestone. Woo!

After a quick nap and some watching of You've Got Mail we headed to the local again, swapped cards and Merry Christmasses with the regulars before the pub shut... with us inside... What?? Didn't I tell you we had been invited around for dinner by the landlord and his husband? ]



Yes... we had a most lovely Christmas dinner, cooked by a proper chef, with a Mushroom and Onion soup to start, a starter of duck in a crispy pancake, salmon and a Sea Bass fish cake, a main course of Gammon, Turkey, Lamb and bacon cover sausages (the lamb was so nice) and then desert of Christmas Pudding followed by coffee and wine.

We were join by Karen (a regular at the pub who provided us with some wonderful songs between courses, she has an amazing voice!), Morris, and Anna Lee (an elderly German who took the traditional Nan's role in the event).

Afterwards we all sat around watching the landlords husbands brother Sri Lankan wedding on DVD. I thought it was all going to be very awkward but it was delightful and I got the most lovely scarf as a Christmas present from the landlord. Yum!

I trust that you, Dear Constant Reader, had as wonderful a day as I did. And here's wishing you a brilliant holiday and a wonderful 2008 too!

Merry Christmas!!!

Being boss has it's advantages, such as allowing my team to go home early... hence why I'm sitting here writing this! Ah... lovely... Merry Christmas, Dear Constant Reader... I hope you get all that you desire!



Love Jae x x x



P.S. Keep an eye out for Father Christmas!

Online Shopping And Stupid People

Merry Christmas! I've got to go to work today (sympathy please!) but before I do let's look at the following news story: Online shopping complaints rise.

Sometimes I really do worry about people and it's time I used my experience to say it's really not the retailers fault.

Firstly: I bought EVERY present I knew I had to get online in November. NOVEMBER. That's because I understand that buying online is great but if you really need the goods you must plan ahead. Did I have any problems? Nope.

Secondly: As someone who works for an online company I am consistently amazed at people who buy online. Most of them haven't a clue. Some people have been ordering items that are out of stock for Christmas. AND THEN PHONING TO COMPLAIN. "You didn't make it clear!" Actually the availability is shown in bright colours and prominent places on at least 4 occasions before order confirmation. Surely you'd want to check the availability before checking out??? It's madness. I can't wait to get to work and deal with the moaning bastards again... it's not like they have anything better to do on Christmas Eve... The customers on Friday were insane (Can I return this item, it's peeling after I washed it in petrol and metholated spirits... I can't believe you've increased your prices [actually it's the same price Ma'am as you paid 6 months ago]). FUN.

Jae The Royalist

You might think that being a left leaning libertarian I'd not be much of a supporter of the monarchy. Oh how wrong could you be!

David Starkey this week suggested the Queen was a philistine and compared her to Goebbels (misquoting Goebbels at the same time, silly boy)! Say she isn't very academic, say she hasn't any idea about her own history, even say she is a "housewife"; just don't compare the Queen to a man who killed his own children (and that was the last of his hideous crimes). I used to respect Mr Starkey but obviously he is willing to do anything to promote his TV series (and books). Shame on him.

This comes in a week in which the Queen became the longest living monarch in recorded British history (but she is still not the longest serving one!) and Her Majesty also launched a fabulous youtube account.

To me the monarchy is something to be proud of; a living link to our history, a non political head of state, a figurehead for our country and a brilliant ambassador to other nations.

God Save The Queen!

If you buy stuff off the net on Christmas Day...

...you should be pitied. What kind of freak shops at all, let alone online, on Christmas Day???

I'm an atheist and even I see the value in having one day a year where normality doesn't exist.

Honestly... it leaves me speechless that millions of people are so sad as to want to create work for other people on Christmas Day... STOP IT NOW!

The Collection

So... Thursday was my office's Christmas party. We begun at 5pm with a few drinks (mainly champagne) in the kitchen, followed by a presentation about the company over the last year, this years superheros were unveiled and then we all swapped Secret Santa gifts. My Homer Sapien is currently engaged in getting to know the other toys on my desk at work (group picture on Monday!).

After this we grabbed a taxi and headed to Kensington. Sadly the taxi driver was a numpty so I made an executive decision and had him drop us off at South Kensington station and we had Paul use his mobiles map function to find out destination... The Collection.

I'd not really been looking forward to it. Everything I read about it made it sound very poncey. I was to be even more bitterly disappointed... it wasn't just poncey, it was obviously well past it's prime.

Upon entering I discovered the staff to be very unfriendly, obviously trained in the attitude their clientele expect from staff at a venue such as this, and then saw across the overly large bar that it was filled with the Nouveax Riche and the Wannabe Rich.

Now I mention the Nouveax Riche from time to time, but don't really explain what I mean... these are the people who have the money, but none of the manners or class one would hope of someone who should be "refined". They tend to work in the city wearing suits, buy things less out of desire or need but out of an attempt to impress others, and act like they are in some way superior to others when in fact they are quite evidently only in a position to make the kind of money they do because they have the right "attitude" (and ability to politic in the office) rather than any actual skill. No I'm not jealous, I just know some very rich people (members of my extended family included) who wouldn't be seen dead in the company of these kind of people, and would rather go down the local pub or to their favourite "best kept secret" restaurant.

Anyway... my company had several tables up in the restaurant and we sat down for food. I was lucky and found myself on the most fun table and much fun was had. The food was good but not amazing... again it seemed designed for looks and style rather than culinary excellence. And it wasn't very Christmassy, quite unlike the TVW do in Folkestone.

Since I've Been Gone...

...into a very lazy blogger phase lots of things have happened...

Nick Clegg was elected Lib Dem leader (commiserations to my choice, Chris Huhne), declared himself agnostic and selected his "Cabinet". I'm glad he included Chris Huhne in the front bench team... we've got both the candidates in strong positions so we get the use of both of their talents. The best of both worlds!

Teachers tie up children at Folkestone Academy.

The Daily Show will return despite the writers strike, praise be to Jesus!

And...

Customers continue to call us... Don't they know it's Christmas time, at all??? Oh well... I'll just sit here pretending I'm working whilst blogging, playing with my Homer Sapien and playing Star Wars The Complete Saga on my Nintendo DS.

My gift from work!

Homer sapien!

The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year

Christmas. I love Christmas. But sadly I am going to have to admit that looking back over my Christmas posts of Olde shows I actually get very depressed over Christmas. Which is sad... but unfortunately it's happening again.

Last night Jim was telling me about a disagreement he had at the local and I said one sentence in which I tried to see the issue from the other guys perpspective, to understand why he would even be upset with Jim. And Jim took offense to that, didn't let me continue (and put the remarks in context. I wasn't blaming Jim... I was just trying to comprehend the situation.) and stormed out. When I asked him where he had gone he just sent back a text saying "You insensitive prick" and that was the last I heard from him. To be honest I don't know why I bother talking any more I only ever seem to upset or hurt people.

So last night I went for a walk for a couple of hours, and when it got too cold and I got bored of sitting on freezing benches, I returned to the local to read for a couple more hours. It gave me time to reflect that I always seem to find myself wandering in the cold at this time of year feeling less than chipper.

I tried to sleep on the sofa at home but that wasn't exactly successful and now here I am at work with projects to do, people to shout at and more work than I really have time for. And when I finish work tonight there is not much to look forward to. I might frequent the bars of Vauxhall or wander into town and see the Christmas lights or see if I can tag along with the mysterious Wednesday Club who are a secretive drinking group from work.

Yay. Another Happy Christmas in the world of Jae.

Really I don't know why I get excited about Christmas. But I suppose I'll have forgotten about how bad Christmas usually turns out to be by next year and will again get out my Christmas Dog and my Christmas smile. Until the next bad thing happens.

SSDD

Happy Birthday Blogging

It's been ten years since the term "blog" was invented. Ten years? Jesus, not long at all!

Crazy Lady At Somerfields

Jim and I went out to Somerfields to get some ingredients for his marvelous meatballs and pasta recipe. Now this is normally a stressful experience as it's always busy, and the queuing system is terribly annoying ("Form Three Lines"... well if there was space for three lines we would!).

Today's trip was worse than usual as someone had tired up their cocker spaniel outside the shop and it was barking it's heart out. The barks drilled into your brain... luckily Jim and I arrived at a checkout just as it opened and Mr Cute But Dim checkout boy began to scan our goods through (he's lovely just don't ever pay in change... you'll be there for a week). Just as Jim handed over his money a woman pushed in behind him and "asked" whether she could jump the queue as she "had been waiting a long time and my dog is really annoying everyone". By the time she'd finished the sentence she'd already started unpacking much to the queues displeasure...

Now let me just say that already she'd broken two cardinal rules of public ettiquette:

1) her dog was obviously badly trained and was barking it's head off in public causing much distress and bemusement. In my opinion she should not have drawn any further attention to herself and been extremely apologetic and unintrusive (i.e. she should not have pushed in the queue and just kept her head down)

2) she broke the most cardinal rule of British life; do not queue jump. If the British had written the Ten Commandments this would have been the first, second and third.

So when someone in the queue pointed out they had been waiting a long time too you would of thought she'd have been meek and apologetic. Nope.

"Maybe someone should mind their own business".

I'm glad I was out the door two seconds after that comment as if I'd been in the queue behind her I might have lamped her one. Or two. Perhaps a drop kick as well.

How can someone think they could get away with being so obnoxious and impolite? But as Jim pointed out it proved the rule that there is no such thing as a bad dog; just a bad owner.

Yawn....

So... Friday was the first real quiet day at work we've had since the beginning of October and it was actually bearable for once. After finishing up there we headed round to the Wheatsheaf for some Friday night drinks where we formulated plans to answer the phones on Christmas Eve in the voices of Star Wars characters. Oh drunken plans are so much fun, are they not?

However, in all this wonderful drinking I'd forgotten my parents were coming up to see Madness and had planned to stop by our local to see Jim and I (as if we are ever there!). After getting a text message to that effect I rushed from Vauxhall to Greenwich and briefly said hi to them and a couple of their friends (who offered to give me a lift to the TVW Christmas do as their works Christmas do was happening at the same time and place).

With them gone I settled down for a few drinks and a meal with a rather inebriated Jim and then headed home.

Saturday I caught up with some shows (Supernatural, Reaper, Kitchen Nightmares) before heading out to catch a train to Westenhanger. I got to my parents house, got ready to go out and before I knew it my lift had arrived. We stopped off to pick up someone else... Phil the local shopkeeper. He was a little surprised to see me and exclaimed "It's the two litre bottle of diet coke man!" Ah... finally the fame I've been craving for so long.

We were the first to arrive at the East Cliff Pavilion and chatted over a pint before our respective companies arrived and we split up. It was nice to see Stacey and I caught up on the goss. Sadly Henry didn't show like he'd promised. :(

The meal was nice, traditional fare. The bar was staffed by one hell of a gorgeous barman as my drunken post may have indicated. He was 6'6" (yeah, a little short for my liking but hey I'm not prejudiced) and looked like John Barrowman except sexier and moxier. I'm going to state it again... EVERY time I go back to Folkestone I am consistently amazed by the quality of the talent down there.

We finished up at about half one and I dreaded waiting for the taxi with my two very drunk fellow Lympneites... but we skipped the queue when I told the dispatcher where we were going... No taxi driver is going to turn his nose up at that kind of a fare!

Todays trip home was hellish... Westenhanger to London Victoria (bloody signal failures at Charing Cross) then to Vauxhall then Waterloo then finally home.

Folkestone

My home town is the source of all good looking men... As proven by the baR man i've been perving over all night.

Procrastination

Today I'm supposed to be heading to Folkestone. It's my Mum's birthday so I want to give her her presents and it's the Three Valleys Water Christmas party, which I will be attending as always.

But I don't really want to. I just want to relax, sleep and procrastinate. Oh well... must get off my arse and get myself out there...

Two Days Until The Weekend!

Wow. I've finished Temeraire and I have to say... wow. It was amazing, the best book I've read this year. I loved it, and have put the rest of the series on my wish list ready for the new year.

Tomorrow I shall give up the ghost of resistance and begin to read everyones current favourite; His Dark Materials Trilogy.



*LATER* What sad news about Terry Pratchett. He is the man who made me fall in love with reading and I'll be hoping he stays well for as long as possible.

Bookworm

So I've finished reading Three Men Seeking Monsters which is actually a really good book. The theory it proposed, that many cryptids are in fact one and the same type of creature who use their forms to terrify and dazzle in order to feed off of human emotions, may seem outlandish but it also mentions that many cryptids are dark in form and have bright red eyes... which is almost an exact description of my Shadowman.

You never know, they might be on to something there! Although their asseration that the American bigfoot might be an emotion sucking vampire is a little off as we actually have bigfoots DNA (yeah, bet you never knew that did you! Watch the Sasquatch episode of Monster Quest) which shows it to be a creature who's DNA is only slightly different to our own. But I think the British "ape man" sightings they reported sound more like Shadowman sightings (black forms with red eyes) than a bigfoot so I can forgive them this minor point.

But anyway it was an enjoyable read even if you don't care a jot about their ideas.

I'm now on to reading Temeraire. I'm only about half the way through it and I'm already in love with the thing. It's an amazing book, extremely well written and paced. It's kind of an alternative history fantasy novel based on the premise that dragons were real and could be tamed by humans. It's set during a very different Napoleonic War.

Marvellous. I want my own dragon and I want it NOW!

A Civilised Day

Friday night we introduced the Brazilian bar man to Snakebite Black. He liked it until someone told him what happened to your stomach whilst you drunk it... and it quickly got thrown away. Sacrilege!

Jim and I had a rather civilised day yesterday.

After a quick trip to HMV to spend those vouchers I got from work (I got Michael Palins "Around The World In 80 Days" DVD and Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga for my Nintendo DS), we headed down to our local for a pint to see how work on their Advent Window was going. Our curiosity satisfied we headed down to Pets And The City to see their Advent window, have some mulled wine and see the blessing of the shop by the local Vicar.

After this we had a really nice meal at Vietnam, although it was far more than we should have eaten it was the best meal we'd ever had there. The centre piece was a whole steamed sea bass which was just divine.

We finished off the evening back in our local with lots of alcohol. Yum.

Do you know your nativity?

So the UK lacks nativity knowledge according to a think tank. (Read that story after this post!)

So here's a little test Dear Constant Reader...

1) Where was Jesus born?

2) Who told Mary she would have a son?

3) Where did Joseph, Mary and Jesus flee to in order to escape Herod?

4) Who was Jesus' cousin?

I got all 4 but then I did do Religious Studies as an A level!

Groundhog Year

Working for the company I work for is a lot like being trapped in a similar time loop as Bill Murray was but just it's on an annual rather than daily basis.

No matter what happens, every single year the same things happen... Christmas Trees go out of stock. Diaries get discontinued. Ok... everything gets discontinued. But no matter what... no matter how often I prophesise these events nothing ever gets changed or fixed or corrected. I suppose at least it's predictable. I know that in February things will cheer up again...

I've been working until late this week to fix the issues and I'm starting to feel like I'm not actually getting any me time. I wake at 6.30, I'm out the door before 7am at work by half 7 and then I'll leave work at 7pm and get home at 8pm. Then it'll start all over again. I hate it...

There is nothing in this world that depresses me more than serious talk of the destruction and slicing up of the country of my birth. You think the Scots don't like the English now? Just wait until they find out the English won't let them keep anything... God Save The Union.

Oh well... no matter what happens, my heart shall be forever British.

Back To Work

I returned to work yesterday after a break that felt more like 5 minutes than 10 days. After about 6 months of being in one office my department has returned to it's old office, but a whole new configuration of desks. With that plus some new hirings and some people leaving and being promoted I feel like the whole department has changed completely whilst I was away. I remedied this by beginning my usual email spamming of the departmental group email. I bet they are glad I'm back!

Eurotunnel had Facebook remove the logo from my Eurotunnel group for ex employees. How petty and mean can a company be? Jesus... sometimes I wonder whether lawyers should have better things to do with their time than spend it on Facebook. Oh well... it's their legal right, mean spirited though they might be.

Today Jim and I met up for lunch, as he is now based out of Vauxhall. We decided to go to Rez's. We'd been there once before and it had been okay with Mediterranean dishes. Not exactly amazing but not too bad. We returned to discover it had changed... and was now a Thai restaurant. And wow... what amazing food! We had prawn toast and yellow curry. YUM! Twas gorgeous.

Blasts From The Past, JD and Coke and Commander in Chief

I cannot put into words my love of JD and Coke. That is the drink of Gods. Sadly, as many who know me are well aware, I don't handle JD too well and must only partake of this devine liquor in moderation.

Whilst looking for a picture of JD and COke I found the following:



Is this the best idea ever?

I think so...

Seeing the full season of Commander in Chief on iTunes prompted me to give it another watch. Jesus, I loved that show. And not just because of Matt Lanter!



That show idealised the Presidency and just makes me fell all warm and tingly inside thinking about how great the world would be if America could have such a bloody awesome President. Likely? Nope. But one can but dream!

World AIDS Day

As the pandemic continues we should all take some time today to remember the fallen and to give either some time or money to one of the many charities out there dealing with AIDS prevention and care.

The Green Party Evolves

I'm going to come out. It's time to be honest. I vote Green in European elections. I know... I'm a Lib Dem member. I feel ashamed! But the main reason I vote Green in those elections is because of the candidate at the top of their party list in the South Eastern Constituency: Dr. Caroline Lucas. I heard her speak once at some concert in Mote Park, Maidstone that my hippy mother took me to, and since then I've been a constant political admirer of her.

Recently she has been campaigning to change the structure of the Green Party leadership. Until now they have not had a leader, but instead have 1 male and 1 female Principal Speaker (the female speaker is... Dr. Lucas!). But she, among many others in the party, wanted to bring it in line with most other parties and select one leader for their movement. And their campaign has been successful!

I do admit I think it's actually fairly sad. The Green Party was the one party known for being a little different, and now they are just "mainstreaming" themselves to get into power. Which is the business of politics I suppose but still... idealism is far more attractive than realism. Shame.

Talking of idealism being more attactive than realism...



Bugger... I just realised I'm not in the South Eastern Constituency anymore... looks like the Lib Dems now have all my votes!

The New Union Flag... In Bizarro World!

So... Jim reminded me yesterday over a few beers that there is a cross of St David, and given yesterdays idea to redesign the Union flag I gave it a go (more to see what it would look like than anything else!). Others have already had a try (see here). Number 4 is similar but come on, the black has to be in there if we are to keep in with the previous precedents.

Oh the joys of having free time on my hands...

The World Today...

Well I thought I was obsessive with my collecting! Some heartless bastards go around stealing wild bird eggs to get their collecting kicks. Jesus. Can't they just collect coins or comics like the slightly more normal people?

I am forever amazed by the arrogance of people when it comes to nature...



Once, back in my school days, my entire class got put in after school and lunch time detentions because someone had farted and wouldn't admit it. We all, quite correctly, thought that not only was the teacher petty but the punishment did not fit the "crime". Well who would have thought that a judge could be just as a bad? He put an entire courtroom audience in jail with a $1500 bail just because someone's phone rang and they wouldn't admit it. Justice in action!!

And a flag redesign idea has been proposed in which the Union flag would incorporate the flag of Wales. Personally I think having a Dragon on the Union flag would be a little silly so I'd hope consideration would be given to just incorporating the white and green of the House of Tudor colours from the flag.

Another Non Working Day

So today I received: a tiny little Christmas tree for my desk at work, some presents for my sister and a Phil Olivier calendar... YUM! That boy is so sexy.

Doctor Who News: Rose Returns

Yes, you heard me right. Rose, played by Billie Piper, will be returning to Doctor Who for three episodes next series. Cue bitch fights between Martha and Rose and Donna. Jesus Doctor... I know you're a bit of a ladies man but this is getting silly!

Then Jack will probably show up and the Tardis will just descend into either a bitch fight or an orgy. Fun... I think...

Free Speech

I hate the BNP. If they ever gained power in this country I would fight them with every ounce of strength in my body. They are traitors, insulting the memory of all those who fight and died (a large percentage of whom were not white) to keep this country out of the hands of the Nazis and to keep it free.

However, I also believe in free speech unless it encourages violence or worse. And although the BNP are scum they do not openly encourage violence (I know, I know... they still get involved in it, but hey so do football fans etc)

So it seems almost ironic that protesters disrupted an Oxford debate on free speech featuring the BNP leader Griffin and Holocaust denier Irving. Here are supposedly virtuous anti Fascist protesters and they are trying to stop people practicing the most basic right in the world; free speech. We must never sink as low as the Nazi traitorous scum and deny them their basic human rights, no matter how much we want to. Let them speak, just make sure there's a good speaker from the sane world there to discredit their crackpot theories. And as one of my fave Lib Dem MPs Evan Harris was there I think we were safe at the Oxford debates!

Present Day!

Woo. The first part of my Christmas shopping arrived today in a huge Amazon.co.uk box (ordered Saturday, here on Monday. Impressive service as always). The postman gave me such a dirty look as it was very heavy. Poor man! All of Jim's presents plus a couple for my families. Oh and a few for me of course... Star Wars Legacy: Volume 1 graphic novel, The Beasts That Hide From Man, A Dictionary Of Cryptozoology and Three Men Seeking Monsters. :)

We had lunch down in Wetherspoons (my first ever Surf 'n' Turf... delicious) and I picked up another "present" for myself in Waterstones; Temeraire by Naomi Novik.

We did some shopping at Bookers, a wholesale chain, and I bought myself the LARGEST bag of giant Coca Cola bottles, my favourite jelly sweets. Plus a huge box of Reeses Nutrageous bars, something that can be fairly hard to get hold of here in Britain. Yum! Oh and two hundred million* yule logs

Some people are a bit too sensitive... such as over the Muhammad Teddy bear incident. I give it two days before riots break out across the world protesting for that poor teacher to be killed. I give it three days before the death toll from said protests reaches double figures.

There's rules promoting respect for native beliefs and there's STUPID idiotic draconian laws restricting peoples freedoms and I think this incident proves Sudan has a lot of the latter.

I'm in a Charles Dera mood today (rather than a Jensen Ackles one... I alternate!).



* May not be two hundred million.

Ask The Question!!!

Imagine the joy of watching those Republican candidates squirm whilst they offer fake sympathy for these parents and then brush over the LGBT issues presented by the question. We'd truly see whether any of those people actually have souls...

Google Loves Cameron

Shudder.

I'm a Google whore. I use Blogger, I have Google desktop, Gmail is my main email account and Google Reader is all I use to keep up to date with my fave blogs. So it's safe to say... I heart Google.

However... I was disturbed to see that Google not only invited David Cameron to speak at an event but paid for his fares there AND for his travels around California including to his meeting with the Governor.

I thought Google had a whole mantra to "Do No Evil".

And David Cameron is off to visit President Bush next week. Expect more arse licking than even Blair managed.

I cast my vote yesterday in the Lib Dem leadership elections for Chris Huhne. Fingers crossed!

My idea of yum:



Guess who bought the majority of their Christmas presents yesterday? Yes.. that's right! It's smug old me! he he... That's a weight off my shoulders.

A Lovely Day

So yesterday was the day Jim and I had looked forward to for weeks. It was Jim's pay day. We popped out in the morning to search for food, a substance we'd come to believe might be mythical, and on our way to Wetherspoons I found my parents cheque had cleared. We had breakfast (with beer, nothing like alcohol at 11am in the morning to set you up for a good day) whilst pondering how quickly our financial situation had turned around.

We went shopping in Canary Wharf and I got myself Command and Conquer: The First Decade as a treat. I LOVE C&C. I was fairly shocked how quickly the graphics in the original had dated... Jesus! I used to think that was the Bees Knees in gaming technology.

Aferwards we popped into our local and enjoyed a quick pint before heading home to enjoy our purchases.

I then headed out for drinks with the work crew including a visit from GP, one of our former American temps from 2005.

What a nice day. I can now confirm that as of this moment I have finished my Christmas shopping. *smug grin*

Doctor Who Producer Dies

Verity Lambert, the first ever producer of Doctor Who, died yesterday. This comes just a day before today's 44 year anniversary of the first ever episode of Doctor Who.

She was behind many other projects including the gay classic "The Naked Civil Servant".

May she rest in peace.

Venezuela Invades Guyana...

... and nobody noticed!

The Government who can't look after basic details of millions of people wants us all to get ID cards and store all our personal data? Jim and I thinks not.

I love society's concept that the older you get the more responsible and dignified you should be... which leads to "humourous" features about 101 year olds stripping off for charity. This kind of story, and frame of mind, seems to suggest that a 101 year old thinks differently to a 21 year old... which is daft... the only reason there aren't more of them stripping off is there's more 21 year olds than 101 year olds! You go girl!

Happy Thanksgiving for tomorrow to all my American readers!!!

Lib Dems (and eye candy)

I'm going to admit that as a local MEP and friend of my old local party (Shepway Lib Dems) Chris Huhne has an unfair advantage when it comes to my decision on who I support for the leadership.

First things first. Chris Huhne has said no to a new Trident. This can only be a good thing. I am now dead set against all things nuclear. Nick Clegg says us having this replacement will give us "leverage" in any nuclear disarmament talks. Why because we can threaten not to get rid of them if others don't? This isn't about political wheeler dealing... we need to stop our nuclear programmes NOW. That is the principled thing to do and will set a good example to the world. I am not a pacifist. I believe in defending ourselves... but nuclear weapons pose a danger to US and to coming generations. We can defend ourselves in other ways.

Nick Clegg also comes across as unprepared. I saw him on the Politics Show (I think it was that, or maybe the Daily Politics) and they were discussing the Scottish budget. He said how he a unionist (good) but that the issue of Scottish independence had been settled in the last referendum on the matter. At which point the presenter (and myself from my sofa!) had to inform him that there has never been an independence referendum. I just felt he wasn't really paying much attention... and you should all know how I feel about the Union.

That's not to say I don't like Nick Clegg, but Chris Huhne comes out as the better man for me. He seems approachable, friendly, passionate and honourable. Nick Clegg still reminds me too much of a Cameron clone (I'm not trying to be nasty here, so no offense to Mr Clegg with that comment!).

Support Mr Huhne at his website: Chris Huhne and see the odds here



And so we move on to Brian Paddick for London Mayor. I really hadn't spent much time paying attention to his policies as I've been busy following the leadership election.

Well anyway... firstly... Mr Paddick is by far the sexiest candidate for London Mayor. Not hard when you're competition is Boris and Ken. But just take a look at him in his police uniform on his site... yum!

It has to be said he hasn't stated too much about his manifesto... but what he has said is in line with my own beliefs... tough on illegal drug dealers but not on users. He supports the London congestion charge (applied more sensibly), wants to power the underground with renewable energy and he wants to provide a better environment for business without interfering with them. All very environmental and libertarian.

I'll have to keep an eye on his campaign before I really make my decision, but I've always been very sympathetic towards him, especially after the Daily Mail fiasco (if the Daily Mail doesn't like you, I'm bound to!).



EDIT: Hey look... I'm consistent!

Three More Days...

...until I'm off for a week and a bit, starting Friday. I can't wait!!

Heaven Sent

Today I received a cheque for £1000. My family came to visit and were passing on a bit of good fortune on their part. So sure... £1000 might not be a lot of money, especially to Londoners, but to me it's more money than I could ever have dreamed of. I can't quite begin to describe how poor I've been these last two months and when my family bought me and Jim a meal as well... I nearly died and went to heaven. Yeah... it's got really bad when you find food that appealing!



So... maybe Christmas won't be that bad after all. Fingers crossed!

In The News

Well I'm glad I wasn't the only person to find the verdict in the bike sex case way over the top. See here.

Is there some legal reason that the media aren't mentioning (as far as I can see!) that the Peter Tobin arrested with regards to the recent bodies discovered in Kent is the same Peter Tobin already found guilty of the murder of Angelika Kluk? That murder was all over the news when it occured and during the trial so it seems strange that no one is mentioning it.

**EDIT** Well actually I suppose that'd kind of prejudice any jury wouldn't it? Oh well... The BBC news reports just fudged out his face and said it couldn't be shown for legal reasons. Well I'm very sorry to say... as a confirmed murderer from his last trial his face is all over the internet. I think they really need to look again at these laws and update them for the internet age.. and also, dearest BBC, if you can't show his face for legal reasons why do you continue to show it here?

A minke whale has traveled over a 1000 km up the Amazon river. The locals were worried it might be a giant cobra! Jesus... a snake that big would be fairly worrying indeed!

Children in Need was on last night and for the third year in a row I wasn't manning the phones (praise the Lord!). Instead I sat home and forced Jim to watch it... and of course I was dead excited about the Doctor Who sketch! It was brilliant... the Fifth Doctor used to be my second favourite Doctor until David Tennant moved him down to third, and it was amazing to see them both together, and obviously having so much fun.

Now next year can we have Sylvester McCoy please? ;)

Only In Kent

So. You live on Plannit Fannit. You discover that your former next door neighbour is probably a serial killer. The media appear in the street outside your house, all desperate for the best story and picture. Do you:

1) ponder the sad situation and thank heaven that it's not one of your own family buried next door

or

2) callously charge the reporters £10 a time to come into your back bedroom and get a birdseye view of the excavations?

Hmm... I wonder which one they chose...

The Annual (Pre Christmas) Begging Post

It wouldn't be come back to what you know without keeping with tradition! It's only twice a year I beg so don't complain, you know you love it! ;)

As I am completely without money until the 30th I've been amusing myself by glancing with deep longing at my Amazon Wishlist. So if you're thinking to yourself... "wow... I've got all this spare cash lying around, I wonder if there is a needy person out there who could use a gift to cheer him up in the deep cold of a British winter" then look no further than my wishlist...

And... here's my chance to send a big shout out to all those who have bought me presents in the past... I love you all loads...

And put up your wishlists too!

Some People Have No Morals

So some Clinton aids asked some people at an event to ask Hillary certain questions. Very immoral and not a little bit cheeky.

AND THESE PEOPLE ACTUALLY WENT ALONG WITH IT! And one of them even admits that in public!

And then said person says

"Personally I want to know that I have someone who's honest representing me."

Well here's an idea: why not try being honest yourself before expecting those who represent you to be honest???

Some people have no shame.

Story yoinked from i am bossy

A Silly Story... But Maybe Not So Silly

A guy has been found guilty of a crime. What crime I hear you ask? Murder? Rape? Theft?

Nope... he tried to have sex with his bicycle.

Jesus Christ, I hear you exclaim after you finished laughing, why would someone do that, especially in public?

Well actually he was in a locked hostel room. The cleaners used a master key to get into the room and then the manager of the hostel called the police when they reported what they had seen to him.

My first thought was... why on Earth would someone call the police over an incident like this? Sure I'd have thought the manager might have thrown the guy out for upsetting his staff. But the police? If I encountered someone privately having sex with an inanimate object, calling the police wouldn't even cross my mind, unless they were doing it in a public place with no respect for those who might see them. Would the manager have called the police if it was a woman in bed with a vibrator?

And then my second thought... why did the police arrest him rather than simply move him along with an embarrassed smirk? Surely they have better things to do than protect a mans bike from inappropriate sexual attention.

And then I saw the punishment... three years on the sex offenders register! Why?? Are they scared he might start making love to other peoples bicycles? Perhaps they are worried this is an entry level sexual crime... next thing you know he might be doing cars! BUSES! Don't let this guy near one of those vacuuming street cleaners.

All in all an embarrassing, if quite amusing, incident has come to cost us, the taxpayer, money for the arrest and prosecution of a man whose actions, while stupid and bizarre, weren't going to harm anyone else.

Trust me if doing stupid and bizarre stuff that might embarrass (but not significantly harm) others is now illegal then I've got a whole list of customers I'd love to turn in to the law. And it's a very long list. I may need a whole courtroom set aside for the prosecutions for the next few years.

Phwoah

Yoinked from Stunning Sexy Guys

Oh the arms! Oh the humanity!!

As everyone knows I am absolutely NOT obsessed with mens arms... not one bit... *slobber*

Off work today and yesterday, but trying to work from home. I did just write a moany post about how dumb and stupid humans are... but then I remembered the Darwin Awards proves that... time and time again. And then I got distracted by some big arms, hey... I never said I was a complicated person!

Flock

A couple of years back I downloaded Flock. And I was very unimpressed with it. I uninstalled it after a while as it seemed to be just a grey version of Firefox.

Then a week or so ago I downloaded it again as it's finally out of beta. And the changes over the last couple of years have certainly been good.

Not only does it look good, I love it's toolbars, and the fact I've merged it with Facebook, Twitter, Blogger, Flickr, Youtube... the list goes on... it's now my browser of choice... Love it.

I wish this Writers strike in America would finish soon. I'm seriously suffering from a The Daily Show cold turkey. I even watched Fox News today and made up (lame) jokes in my head. I might watch the O'Reilly Factor and pretend O'Reilly is really doing his show ironically, just to get my Colbert fix.

Fire!

At work. Jesus it's massive

EDIT: It looks like it's only an empty building in Stratford on fire (an old bus depot if my sources are correct) and no one has been hurt.

The Things People Say!!

Remembrance Sunday Commentator (paraphrased as I can't remember the direct quote properly!): "These young people marching past remind us that not all young people are out mugging".

What a wonderfully warped view of the world he has...

Dulce et Decorum Est

As is traditional for this blog on Remembrance Day, below is Wilfred Owen's "Dulce et Decorum Est"

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind.

Gas! Gas! Quick, boys! – An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling,
And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime...

Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie; Dulce et Decorum est
Pro patria mori

Things To Look Forward To

Wow. I've just been watching the trailers for the new Stephen King movie "The Mist" and not only does it look bloody faithful to the story but it also looks bloody good. I've been obsessed with Stephen King books since I was about 12 and The Mist has always been one of my favourite stories, so I'm looking forward to this movie with great anticipation.

Another movie coming out soon (gosh, January is already "soon"...) is Aliens Vs. Predator: Requiem. I'll admit that even though I didn't mind AVP, it was way too mild and nice to be a proper Alien or Predator movie. I'm looking forward to this movie sorting that out with plenty of gore!

I wouldn't say I'm looking forward to Beowulf... more like mildly interested. But it doesn't look too bad! Enchanted also might be worth a look.

I am also looking forward to getting the latest few issues of Buffy Season 8. I've been a very bad (and very, very poor) comic reader of late. Shame on me!

Living In Fear

Well I'm glad to see that I'm not the only person who remembers Gypsy Tart! And today... I'm gonna make one. Mmmm.....

I'm sitting here on a Saturday morning, trying to find something light hearted or interesting to watch. But no matter what channel I turn to all I get is depressing stuff...

BBC One has BBC Breakfast, which is discussing the problems of online shopping and how you should complain about not receiving goods. This depressed me for obvious reasons, especially after yesterday when I was shouted at by idiotic morons all day (one of whom even made one of my colleagues cry. Bastard).

Then I scanned through the channels... through obesity and drug problems and ended up on Animal Planet on a show about the "end of nature".

Now I remember why I don't watch television very much.

One Question

Has anyone ever heard of a Gypsy Tart?

Brown... What Is He Good For?

It was the Queens Speech today and the Prime Minister set out his agenda for the next year. And what a crap agenda it is...

Terrorism - Post-charge questioning and possible extension of pre-charge detention beyond 28 days

Wonderful... let's lock all these people who might be dangerous up without trial...

Education - Raises age of youngsters in education or training to 18

Why give people a choice? That'd be crazy...

Energy - Bill paving the way for new generation of nuclear power plants

Well, let's be honest... it won't be Mr Brown who has to clear up the nuclear waste. You know... that stuff which will be around probably longer than us humans, to reap death and destruction on the unwary for eons to come.

Climate change - New powers to meet target of cutting CO2 by 60% by 2050

Fingers crossed for this one Gordon.

Constitutional reform - Give MPs formal say over going to war

Can't argue with that one.

Health - New regulator with power to fine hospitals which fail to meet hygiene standards

I bet the regulator decides we need more private investment...

Work: Consider extending flexible working to parents of older children

Why not bloody give flexible working for everyone. Having a child isn't exactly that amazing.

Trapped

Darn it. I am my own worst enemy sometimes. My overdraft is still at exactly (exactly!) the same amount it was 2 and half years ago when I moved to London and a far higher paying job. I have not improved my situation by one penny and, thanks to a credit card, I have made it ever so slightly worse.

Now my debts aren't huge, it's not like I need to radically ulter my lifestyle to fix the problem. In fact I spent my time off a couple of weeks ago setting myself a strict budget which should, by February, allow me to be able to live it up and yet continue to make progress in defeating my debts.

However... I really am unhappy at work at the moment and I'd give me two front teeth for a chance at a new job somewhere else, NOT IN CUSTOMER SERVICE (oops.. sorry did that just slip out...). I really want to hand in my resignation and just go off searching for new work. But I can't, because I really cannot afford it (thanks to my debts) and I don't think I have the qualifications to get out of the customer service sector (which I foolishly got myself into, believing most humans to be reasonable, intelligent people... What an idiotic idealist I was).

And so I sit here, dying a little every day, wondering why I didn't listen to that tramp in Brighton...

I've just taken a look at the websites of the two contenders for leadership of the Lib Dems and I have to say I'm already forming opinions over who I will support. Chris Huhne is the man for me, and I'll go into more details over style and policies some other time but to start of with...

Nick Cleggs campaign site seems very professional. Which makes me like it not a lot. It's all a bit too stylised, very Blairite/Cameronite marketing shite. I don't want to insult Nick Clegg there, I was refering to the site, not him! It just seems too polished. It has no soul.

Chris Huhne on the other hand, has a busier layout... it feels more like the work of a campaigner than a marketing professional. It feels less like someone's gone "Hmm... I wonder if this shading will appeal to that demographic" and more like someones gone "Videos! That'll be fun... let's stick one over here..." Gotta love that.

Remember, Remember

Remember, remember the Fifth of November,

The Gunpowder Treason and Plot,

I know of no reason why Gunpowder Treason should ever be forgot.

Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, t'was his intent to blow up King and Parliament.

Three-score barrels of powder below to prove old England's overthrow;

By God's providence he was catch'd with a dark lantern and burning match.

Holloa boys, holloa boys, let the bells ring.

Holloa boys, holloa boys, God save the King!

A penny loaf to feed the Pope

A farthing o' cheese to choke him.

A pint of beer to rinse it down.

A faggot of sticks to burn him.

Burn him in a tub of tar.

Burn him like a blazing star.

Burn his body from his head.

Then we'll say ol' Pope is dead.

Hip hip hoorah!

Hip hip hoorah hoorah!

I do so love that rhyme. I can't decide whether it's the fond memories of Guy Fawkes Night it evokes or the pain it suggests should occur to the Pope.

Some Things Never Change

I was checking out my old contributions to newsgroups (remember those...) and came across one that made me smile...

">Here in england, we have england in the middle of our maps.

Don't you mean here in the UNITED KINGDOM.
JKay "

That was posted 4 August 1999. I mean... 8 years later (Jesus Christ... time is slipping away from me sooo fast) and I still have that same obsession over the whole England/Britain debate.

It gives me a warm tingly feeling to know I've kept my beliefs that I had oh so long ago.

The latest new girl at work was sitting training with me last week when a guy from marketing came in and spoke with me. He mentioned something about "England" and started me off on my "Britain Not England" speech... and my entire team (and I mean the ENTIRE team) all went "Oh God, who mentioned England... Why would you do that around Jae?"

Maybe I should look into letting it go... Nah... My British Thing is defo one of the important parts of the Jae Experience.

P.S. I've made the cut on some dead blog links over on the right... I hate that. Will people PLEASE keep posting... :(

Can The Tories Not Talk Responsibly About Immigration?

Sometimes I really do wonder. As someone who has concerns about the growth in population of this country, I am concerned about immigration. I think there should be a reasonable debate about the implications of our growing population, within which immigration should also be looked at.

But the Tories... Jesus. They can't seem to think about immigration responsibly. They seem consumed by the racism of certain parts of our population. Just take a look at the latest from a Tory candidate, Nigel Hastilow, who says Enoch Powell was right!

Mr Powell spoke of "rivers of blood", something which I don't think has come to pass and I don't think will come to pass. Mr Hastilow seems not to like "foreigners". I hate this kind of stuff. It belittles a real problem, both for our country and for those seeking refuge from abroad here.

Scaremongering and pandering to the lowest common denominators in the electorate is what this is. But then... we shouldn't expect anything else from the Tories.

See Enoch Powell for more on this evil man. He wanted to bar Commonwealth immigration... and if there's anyone with rights to come to our country it was our Commonwealth friends.