The Times this morning headlines the fact that the CON DEM coalition plan to create over a hundred new peers to redress the party imbalance in the House of Lords. Those of tus who've been around a while will appreciate that in the years before 1999, the Lords had a massive inbuilt Conservative majority because of the presence of over 700 heriditary peers. Now that their number have been whittled down to 92 and because of the appointment of Tony's cronies the situation is now rather different.
Of course the logical conclusion to all this is that every govrnment will top up the House of Lords by appointing its political allies. What a crazy system, and of course adding further weight to the demand for a purely elected second chamber.
The other front pages and the back are dominated by Lord Triesman's resignation as Chairman of the FA and the 2018 World Cup bid. The allegations made by "the randy lord" (copyright The Sun) that Spain and Russia would try to bribe referees at the tournament thissummer are farfetched, and given that Russia didn't even qualify for the finals absurd. I genuinely believe that Australia has a better case to host the finals in 2018, but irrespective of that, two issues remain. Firstly the role of the Mail of Sunday in the matter, they obviously made for the story. Kiss and tell stories are not new, nd usually only harm the subject, here however England's bid has been placed in jeopardy by the desire for a few extra sales and the chance to expose a peer with his pants down. Here's hoping that football fans boycott what is a venomous rag.
On a different matter the whole Triesman affair exposes once again why late middle aged men believe that women twenty years younger are attracted to them. The women I assume are attracted by the presence of power, how else can you explain the "two jags to two shags" affair of John Prescott For the men involved I sense its best explained by Bill Clinton's "because I could."
Power and its abuses explain much. The tragedy is that the Triesman affair has managed to keep England's cricketing success off the main sports pages, which I find incredibly disappointing.
Oil still pours into the Gulf of Mexico, it's a major environmental disaster. I rarely buy BP petrol but I won't be returning anytime soon. Again the story is disappearing out of the media, so typical
Key Quotes
"Anyone who believes that exponential growth can go on forever in a finite world is either a madman or an economist."
(Kenneth Boulding)
"Down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid. "
(Raymond Chandler)
"Live simply so that others can simply live." (unknown)
"I cannot live without books" (Thomas Jefferson)
"Sport is war without the shooting" (George Orwell)
"New York is a great city to live in if you can afford to get out of it" (William Rossa Cole)
The secret of a happy ending is knowing when to roll the credits (Patterson Hood)
(Kenneth Boulding)
"Down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid. "
(Raymond Chandler)
"Live simply so that others can simply live." (unknown)
"I cannot live without books" (Thomas Jefferson)
"Sport is war without the shooting" (George Orwell)
"New York is a great city to live in if you can afford to get out of it" (William Rossa Cole)
The secret of a happy ending is knowing when to roll the credits (Patterson Hood)
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