Dale bowls a Chinaman*…
Nice to see Iain Dale keeping up with local politics…
Today I had a letter from the People’s Republic of Camden telling me that my appeal against a parking ticket had been successful. You can have no idea what pleasure that letter has given me.
People’s Republic of Camden?
Let’s see, the Leader of the Council is Keith Moffat, who happens to be a Liberal Democrat, as are five other members of Camden’s Executive, John Bryant, Janet Grauberg, Chris Naylor, Benjamin Rawlings, and Flick Rea.
The remaining four members of the Executive, Martin Davies, Mike Green, Andrew Marshall and Andrew Mennear are all Tories, and perhaps even more embarrassingly, it’s Mike Green who holds the Environment portfolio, which includes transport and, therefore, is presumably responsible for Camden’s policy vis-a-vis parking tickets.
So the ‘People’s Republic of Camden’ is, in fact, run by a Lib Dem/Tory coalition with a present composition is:
Conservative: 14 councillors
Green: 2 councillors
Labour: 17 councillors
Liberal Democrats: 21 councillors
Anyone else up for sending Iain a blue-bound of the ‘Thoughts of Chairman Maggie’?
*In case anyone’s wondering about the title, ‘Chinaman’ in this context is a cricketing-term for left-arm leg spin bowling. The most widely accepted version of the and the origins of the term is that it is believed to relate to former West Indian spin bowler Ellis “Puss” Achong.
In the 1933 Old Trafford Test match, Achong, a left-arm orthodox spinner and the first Test cricketer of Chinese ancestry, bowled an unexpected wrist-spin delivery turning from off to leg - what Aussies would call a “wrong ‘un” as it span the ‘wrong ” way - and had the English batsman Walter Robins stumped by Ivan Barrow as a result. Legend has it that Robins, as he walked back to the pavilion, remarked “Fancy being done by a bloody Chinaman”, hence the name.
Posted by Unity on 15 Feb 2007 at 14:03 pm
on 15 Feb 2007 at 2:47 pm 1.Tim Ireland said …
Tch. How typical of you to deny the existence of the great socialist conspiracy. They hand out parking tickets because they want everyone to ride bicycles, you know…
on 15 Feb 2007 at 3:58 pm 2.Garry said …
Does this explain the Great Firewall of a certain Tory blogger?
on 15 Feb 2007 at 4:34 pm 3.tyger said …
I could have swore when I first read that title, it said:
Dale blows a Chinaman*…
Jeez I thought, now that’s a scoop. I’m not being deliberately facetious, I swear, I genuinely had to check again. Of course that will not matter, PragueTory will be run a story about how I’m a racist and a homophobe, and the whole thing will get out of hand, and I’ll regret posting this comment. Of course I could just not post it, and move on with my life, but something’s you just gotta do
on 15 Feb 2007 at 5:19 pm 4.Unity said …
>>> Dale blows a Chinaman*…
I do have this phone number for a guy named Guido who might interested 8oD
on 15 Feb 2007 at 7:08 pm 5.Iain Dale said …
Ah, you see, that’s what you get with these LibDem/Tory coalitions - mix blue and yellow and you get a deep red. Or not. Nurse, medication please…
on 15 Feb 2007 at 10:25 pm 6.Gregg said …
Dale blows a Chinaman*…
Now that’s the sort of thing that would get me watching 18 Doughty Street. They could do it in front of a picture of Ken Livingstone with horns and fangs or something, to get the political content in there.
on 15 Feb 2007 at 10:37 pm 7.Anon said …
new reader to the blog and im offended that in ur description bar u say no queer´s yids or darkie´s. aren´t lefties suppose to be PC
on 15 Feb 2007 at 11:00 pm 8.leon said …
Anon, I’m offended by your insane level of bad grammar. This isn’t a texting conversation you know!
on 16 Feb 2007 at 11:13 am 9.Billy said …
Anon isn’t an Alan Moore fan then.
And mixing blue and yellow gets green.