Spot the difference...

Kryten from Red Dwarf

William Hague MP

The AmbassadEUrs

I don't know if anybody's still there but, sorry for the long absence. I guess I just got somewhat 'cheesed off' with spending interminable hours drawing cartoons which weren't particularly funny or as well drawn as I'd like them to be. Plus, this blog feels so lightweight and pointless when there are so many talented bloggers out there who have been hammering away for years, dissecting the news and posting well-informed comment (or, sometimes, simply saying **** a lot - and who can blame them?) regarding our increasingly remote and unrepresentative political overlords, and who, yet, have so little to show for it.

However, despite all that, due to my continuing frustration with the political situation in the UK, I thought I'd have another go and try a different tack on this lowly blog by mixing up the posts a bit with some attempts at photoshopping to see if, by speeding things up, I can post a bit more regularly. So, having made that statement, don't be too surprised if there isn't another post until sometime in March...

The above picture is based on the magnificent 'The Ambassadors' by Hans Holbein the Younger. The original has the image of a distorted skull across the bottom, which appears normal if viewed from the bottom left or the centre right of the picture, for instance when traversing a flight of stairs. This version contains a distorted image, too...

Ministry of Deference...

Prompted by the picture of Liam Fox and Sir Jock Stirrup in this article regarding the current defence cuts.

I don't suppose anyone will remember it, but 'stickety stick, bangety bang' is a reference to an old, old (old...) joke which can be found at the bottom of this page here.

Remember, remember 'our' fifth columnist Member...

Special Bonfire Night 'cut out and...*ahem*... keep' souvenir in celebration of the night when we remember what happened to the last 'guy' that tried to destroy parliament.

EU, Brute?

Witterings from Witney, in response to Daniel Hannan's post about Tea Partiers, blogs that those of us who are concerned about the current state and future direction of the UK are actively looking for a leader to rally behind and he goes on to seek an answer to the tongue-in-cheek question as to whether DH is a man or a mouse.

Sadly, my own view, formed some time ago is that Mr Hannan is an aspiring ac-tor*, as evidenced by his unfailing adulation of all things Bardic on his blog. DH's powerfully worded, well rehearsed and convincingly performed soliloquies regarding the failings of the EU appear calculated to assuage the fears of us euro sceptics in the 'audience' and to deceive us into thinking that, whilst he speaks and does not act**, there must still be time... there must still be time... and yet all the while the UK is irresistibly jostled, bullied, ignored and dragged towards ever closer union. I just wish we could work out who is writing his scripts.

* Please imagine, if you will, the word 'actor' being pronounced by a suitable luvvy - Donald Sinden springs to mind - with the stress on the first syllable, and a rolled 'r' at the end...

** 'Act' as in 'action' as opposed to 'performance' (Direct Democracy & The Pledge notwithstanding, although there's got to be a 'Direct Democracy inaction' joke in there somewhere)

Mother Goosed...

This attempt is extremely tenuous I know (in fact I'm not even sure how I ended up here now), but two stories caught my attention recently; that of a lady being accosted by a character in Disneyland, and the news that the new EU ambassador to Washington is claiming to speak for Britain. What on Earth will it take to wake the people of this country from their/our Pop Idol induced slumber? If the EU is allowed to get away with this continual accretion of our sovereignty unchecked by (or even with the tacit approval of) our unrepresentative politicians, then we really will be well and truly Donald Ducked.

Oops, duck...

On a point of clarity this is supposed to be David Cameron as Groucho Marx*, not John Cleese in the Ministry of Silly Walks sketch... :0(

(* ...who once sent a telegram to the Friar's Club of Beverly Hills, stating "Please accept my resignation. I don’t care to belong to any club that will have me as a member".)