The ThunderDragon

Extermineiren!

ThunderDragon — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 08:38:00 +0000

German Daleks!!! from Doctor Who, Series 4, Episode 13: “Journey’s End” Even though the actual German word for “exterminate” is “ausrotten“. So, despite being geniuses, language doesn’t appear to be the dalek’s forte… Of course, hearing daleks saying AUSROTTEN! just wouldn’t have been understood by the vast majority of viewers (including me) and would have removed the hilarity.

The World Makes No Sense

ThunderDragon — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 10:44:47 +0000

XKCD

MPs On The Roll of Shame

ThunderDragon — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 09:33:00 +0000

Sam Coates at the Times‘ Red Box blog asks “is your MP on the roll of shame?” He is, of course, referring to the list of MPs who voted to keep their exploitative and expensive [to us] expense system. That list of MPs can be seen here, containing 146 (of 172) Labour MPs, of which 33 [...]

Political Ideology Meme

ThunderDragon — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 15:38:00 +0000

Yet another one of these things is making the rounds… What is your political ideology? Your Result: Libertarian This quiz has defined you as a Libertarian. Keep in mind, this ideology can be applied to the right or left in the social sense. You believe in a minimal role of the government in solving problems and believe [...]

Petrol Price and Taxes: Graph Of The Day

ThunderDragon — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 08:24:00 +0000

As the “rumble of hauliers’ discontent gets louder with warning of strikes ” I thought I’d take a quick look at what makes petrol so expensive: When we pay for petrol and other oil products, we look at the price and then blame the garage for making it so expensive. But where does the money we [...]

MPs Financial Hypocrisy

ThunderDragon — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 19:31:00 +0000

Even as they vote to restrict their salaries to a below-inflation rise [and send the blogosphere into shock] - presumably to get some good headlines - they are refusing to overhaul their expenses system: MPs threw out plans to overhaul their expenses, insisting on their right to buy kitchens, televisions and sofas on the taxpayer. Plans for [...]

MPs Vote For Below Inflaton Pay Rise - Blogosphere In Shock

ThunderDragon — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 19:25:13 +0000

It’s amazing. MPs have voted against awarding themselves an above-inflation pay rise. And yet I haven’t seen a single blog post on this piece of news by any non-journalist come through my RSS reader. The blogosphere must be in shock.

Screw Your Vote!

ThunderDragon — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 16:38:00 +0000

This is not the sort of thing that MPs should say: Labour’s fight to regain the support of the electorate took a less conventional turn this week as David Clelland began an epistolary battle with one dissatisfied voter. Mr Clelland, who has represented the people of Tyne Bridge in Newcastle for 23 years, has written to one [...]

The West Lothian Answer

ThunderDragon — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 08:59:00 +0000

The West Lothian Answer is not this: Mr Clarke’s committee suggests there should be voting restrictions when MPs look at the “committee stage” of a bill - when most in-depth amendments are discussed. For matters relating solely to England, only English MPs should vote, while English and Welsh MPs alone should vote on issues only affecting those [...]

Selecting Their Own Remuneration

ThunderDragon — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 15:29:00 +0000

Stating the bloody obvious: The proposed changes to the way MPs claim expenses may fail to allay public concern about misconduct, Whitehall’s standards watchdog has warned. (The Guardian) Seriously, what prize idiot would think that MPs deciding their own expenses arrangements and salary would be a good idea? All it does is entrench corruption - or the [...]