The Democracy That Jack's Built

Jack Straw really is a vile piece of work: Having first effectively robbed the prison officers of much of their pay award he then acted swiftly to neuter the Prison Officers Association by outlawing strike action on their part. Not content with impoverishing them and rendering them politically impotent he now proposes to make some of them homeless as well, turning over their accommodations to house those for whom there is no room in our dangerously overcrowded gaols. The scum of the earth will be living rent-free in some of the choicest parts of London, one of the most expensive cities on the planet. It doesn't take a great leap of the imagination to predict increased crime and falling property prices in those areas and huge repair and renovation bills for the properties blighted by this incomprehensibly crass and unacceptably autocratic decision.

The camel's back cannot be very far from breaking.

Gruff thanks to Theo Spark for the link.

When Art Can No Longer Imitate Life

The BBC is reportedly scrapping the absolutely dire 'Grange Hill' because, it is said, it no longer reflects the lives of children in contemporary Br*tain. Yahoo News quotes CBBC controller Anne Gilchrist as saying:

"Part of CBBC's reputation for reflecting contemporary Britain back to UK children has been built upon Phil Redmond's brilliantly realised idea and, of course, it's sad to say goodbye to such a much-loved institution.
"The lives of children have changed a great deal since Grange Hill began and we owe it to our audience to reflect this.
"We're actively seeking out new and exciting ways of bringing social realism to the CBBC audience through drama and other genres."

Whom do they think they are kidding? A plausible drama that accurately reflects the mindless depravity that is everyday life for the feral little bastards churned out by the contemporary state education system could not but provoke a prosecution for obscenity, should it be shown to its intended audience.

The days when 'social realism' could be instructively entertaining are long past.