This whole anti-disability discrimination thing may be getting out of hand

I dislike using the ticket machine at our local tube station, because I practically have to bend over double to read the instructions on the chip-and-pin machine when topping up my Oyster card. This gives me back-ache. I presume it’s set so low to accomoodate kids, because it certainly isn't designed for tall adults. Same with the cash-point machines at my local bank and petrol station, which obviously aren't designed to be used by kids - but aren't designed to be used by POUGs (Persons of Unrestricted Growth) either.

The Dutch government owns 50,000 worthless paintings paid for by taxpayers - yet another socialist folly

In  1949, Holland’s Department of Social Affairs created a scheme to buy paintings from Dutch artists. The plan was to recoup some of the money by renting the artworks out to members of the public for a small monthly fee. The whole thing was loosely based on a pre-war scheme designed to help the families of struggling artists. Of course, like all feelgood socialist ideas, it turned into an enormously expensive scam, paid for by the taxpayer.

A “shared space” traffic experiment suggests we might not be as stupid and selfish as left-wingers assume

I’m willing to tolerate most minorities – but why the hell should I be expected to revere them?

There’s an amusing brouhaha about transsexuals in the pages of the left-wing press at right now. Guardian woman, Suzanne Moore, complained that women were now expected to have bodies like Brazilian transsexuals. Some members of the trangender "community" were so upset by this utterly innocuous comment they bullied her off Twitter.

Fellow leftist, Julie Burchill, was so incensed that she had a go at transsexuals in the Observer, pointing out the fact that men who have undergone SRS, or Sex Reassigment Surgery, are pretend-women.

Immigration: a Rastafarian comments

As my son left school today, having finished an A-level exam, he was approached by a Rastafarian gentleman (big woolly hat, dreadlocks etc.) who asked for directions to King Street.

"You're in it," my son said. "This is King Street."

"Thank God you're English!" said the Rastafarian. "I thought I was in fucking Poland!"

Why does the government need expensive branding?

I've just been over on the DMossEsq blog enjoying the item, "Reading the Riot Act at the Cabinet Office", which I strongly recommend: it's a terrifying critique of the delusional thinking behind the attempt to force us all to use online government services in the near future (when, as DMossEsq points out, ten million of us aren't even online yet). Following the link provided to the Government Digital Service website I discovered that the service's shoutline (strapline, logo, slogan, descriptor, proud boast, whatever) is: Putting the public first in delivering digital public services.

30 reasons to be cheerful – Chris Huhne's resignation, for a start!

I try not to delight in the misfortune of others (well, not more than three or four times a day), but Chris Huhne is evidently such an unmitigated shit, and his energy policies are doing such untold damage to this country, that it would have required a better man than I not to roar with approval on hearing that this utter blister has been forced to resign from the Cabinet. I will spend the rest of the day walking with the extra spring in one’s step that betokens cheefulness.

Christopher Biggins, David Cameron, Ed "Tourette's Syndrome" Balls and Captain Fuckbiscuit

I’m not sure I’ve ever met someone with Tourette’s Syndrome. The last time I saw a sufferer on TV was in Stephen Fry’s Planet Word series  The victim was a woman whose affliction caused her to shout out “Fuck! Biscuit!” every few seconds. I was inclined to be sympathetic until she dressed up as Captain Tourette’s and visited a state primary school to shout “Fuck! Biscuit!” at a class of five-year olds.

25 laws that would instantly improve London

Gavin McInnes recently wrote an article for Taki’s Magazine entitled “10 laws that would instantly improve New York”. Here’s my numerically inflated London version.

1. Tourists who think the top of the escalator during rush hour is the best time and place to consult a map to be instantly deported.

2. “Innit” speak to be outlawed – offenders to be sent to special classes to be taught how to speak cheery, old-fashioned, non-threatening cockney. Those using “innit” speak above a certain decibel level (usually groups of teenage girls trying to upset members of the public) to have their tongues surgically removed. Innit.

North Korean reaction to the UK's refusal to stump up for Euro bail-out

 

Froggy's in a right old bait - music to my ears!

I must say, there’s nothing more guaranteed to cheer a chap up than the sight of les rosbifs and the Frogs at each other’s throats. It just feels so right – as if the natural order has been restored, everyone’s behaving as they’re meant to, and all’s well with the world.

Why did political giants of the past - like Jefferson and Burke - often end up in debt?

Thomas Jefferson - skint!

Reading Bill Bryson’s excellent At Home: a short history of private life recently,   I was surprised to learn that the American president Thomas Jefferson died    heavily in debt, having spent lavishly on luxuries all his life, including fancy French wines and an enormous (for its time) library of books (which he had to  sell to Congress).

Most of his money went on building an enormous country house, Monticello, which was never finished. When he died, his goods had to be sold at public auction to satisfy his creditors.