Sunday 30 November 2008

In the office

I would like people to know that I am in the Westminster office at the moment, working. This shows what a dedicated public servant/ sad person [delete as you see fit] I am.

Will be out of here in an hour or so; I'm doing the Westminster Hour on Radio 4 tonight.

20 comments:

Old Holborn said...

I would also like everyone to know that I am also at my desk, yet unlike Kerry, I cost you all not a single penny.

Kerry said...

Presumably you regard me responding to your comments as a waste of taxpapers' money?

Old Holborn said...

We haven't exactly had value for money on the comments front yet have we?

Any Old Bill sniffing around the Strangers Bar?

Dick the Prick said...

Pesumably it's gonna be Mumbai, Green and agenda for next session. Maybe a bit of poll analysis.

Am watching the Branagh thang on Beeb - bit techy with edits and such but as pistol saiys 'I love the lad'.

Break a leg. Is Lynne Featherstone doing it too? Girl's on fire - rightly so.

Odyssey said...

Old Holborn said: "I would also like everyone to know that I am also at my desk, yet unlike Kerry, I cost you all not a single penny."

To be fair, I think MPs - like the rest of the working population - are only paid for the work they do on weekdays. I'm sure Kerry's salary does not rise with extra weekend hours working in the office.

It's good to know that some people, like Kerry, take their duty of public service seriously and work on Sundays when necessary.

Btw Old Holborn, do you really class sitting at your desk and writing on this blog as "work"?

Or maybe, being in "consulting", you're just taking a break from making people redundant and ruining lives?

Maybe you should put your money where your mouth is and run for office yourself. Or maybe being a "libetarian" you don't believe in democracy and would rather let everyone fend for themselves?

Old Holborn said...

Odyssey,

I do the exact opposite of making people redundant, interestingly.

As a member of the Libertarian Party I am considering standing as a PPC.

On the other hand, who the hell am I to tell people how to live their lives?

This comment has been issued to you free of charge.

(PS Kerry travelled up from Bristol 1st Class and is using her full £ allowance for a good nights kip after she's read the Guardian all evening. By the way, it ain't easy writing a proper blog that gets 100,000 readers a month , as you can testify (current profile views 2)

Where would you like you refund sent?

John Pickworth said...

Pleased to hear you're safe and well at Westminster Kerry. Must be comforting to know you have the Met's finest patrolling the corridors of power?

Odyssey said...

Sorry mate, haven't got time to write a proper blog. I actually have a job. Just thought I'd sign up to reply to your comments, which you seem to have a lot of free time on your hands to write. Is "consultancy" a real job or just a way of bosses of companies passing the buck for introducing redundancies? Either way, it seems to give you a lot of free time to write on this blog. Are you value for money to your clients?

Good on you for standing as a PPC. Then we can question the Libertarian Party on their rather interesting definition of liberty, which seems to involve even more government controls on crime, defence and immigration. Presumably in your state these would regulate themselves? George Orwell would be turning in his grave.

Out of interest, if you get elected will you carry on writing your blog, or will you stop on the grounds that its a waste of taxpayers money to use your time to communicate with the people who elected you?

Btw, how do you know Kerry travelled 1st class? Were you in the same carriage?

And btw, what's wrong with an MP reading a newspaper on a Sunday evening? Surely that makes her more well informed in order to represent her constituents over the course of the week?

Odyssey said...

That post was directed towards Old Holborn btw, not John Pickworth! I don't believe you're a potential PPC for the Libertarian Party?!

Please correct me if I'm wrong...

John Pickworth said...


Odyssey said...


That post was directed towards Old Holborn btw, not John Pickworth! I don't believe you're a potential PPC for the Libertarian Party?!

Please correct me if I'm wrong...


You are correct, I'm not. But I am curious why you don't believe I have the potential to be a PPC. Is it something I've said or am I just reading your comment wrong?

Ms Humphrey Cushion said...

"OH On the other hand, who the hell am I to tell people how to live their lives?"

Best point you have ever made OH, well done!!

Odyssey said...

John Pickworth,

You are reading my comment wrong.
I'm sure you'd make a great PPC. As long as its not for the Libertarian Party, aka Tories in denial.

Snowman said...

This place is like cyber-panto. Booo, it's Old Holborn. Yaaay, it's some plucky lefties shouting him down.

Northern Lights, Odyssey: you'd be a lot more convincing if you actually read opposing viewpoints and responded thoughtfully. To a casual viewer (hello), it's obvious that you blank out anything you don't already agree with, ascribe comments and assertions to contributors that they didn't make, and recite some tenuously-related lines from the Standard Liberal Playbook to close the deal.

Odyssey said...

Sorry cornyborny,

You're talking absolute nonsense, unless you're actually Old Holborn under a new name which would explain it.

These are my first posts on this blog. If you actually read them you'll see that I listen to what people say and respond constructively. I don't believe I've specified what any of my beliefs are yet!

In the words of the great man himself:

"who the hell am I to tell people how to live their lives?"
(Old Holborn, Sun Nov 30 2008).

I merely highlight the inconsistencies in his arguments.

P.S. Notice how OH hasn't responded to my perfectly reasonable questions in my last posts.

Old Holborn said...

Odd,

I'm a nobody.

Now tell us what qualifications the 646 who rule over 60,000,000 of us have other than a burning desire to tell us what to do. Constantly.

For every one of them, there are 92,500 of us.

Something I'm sure they often forget.

Odyssey said...

I think the fact that they are elected by a majority of their constituents is a good enough qualification.

And judging by the fact that this MP chooses to communicate with her constituents at all hours of the day on a blog proves that they can't forget it!

She even replies to most of your posts!

Though I do concede, in response to your penultimate point ("For every one of them, there are 92,500 of us"), that there isn't enough local government in this country. Far too much is done from the centre. Local democracy should be strengthened.

Is that tone conciliatory enough for you cornyborny?

LDN said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
LDN said...

Old Holborn - MP's are elected. Although I would love to see OH stand as a PPC

In response to the earlier post - that's an unfair comment. I do not blank out things I don't agree with (see the numerous posts where I've tried to engage with Old Holborn and ask questions of his viewpoint) apart from the most recent thread comparing Gordon Brown to Robert Mugabe - which I consider to be too childish to merit a response.

In contrast OH never reponds or engages with other people - he resorts to childish and meaningless phrases which contradict each other and highlight the inherent flaws in his argument.

Care to join the debate?

John Pickworth said...


Odyssey said...


.... As long as its not for the Libertarian Party, aka Tories in denial.

I wonder what it is about the Libertarian movement that seems to scare Labour and their supporters so much? On the whole we're a pretty tame bunch, come from diverse backgrounds and happily accomodate both the liberal and the conservative instinct.

I don't personally have any ambitions to stand for, or even join, the Libertarian Party - although the caveat 'never say never' applies here.

Currently I indentify as a tory and prefer at this moment to encourage the Conservatives to trust their libertarian leanings. I believe the whole issue of civil liberties is a huge vote winner because our freedoms have taken such a massive battering over the past few years. As the Conservatives will almost certainly form the next Government; I choose to devote my energies there and to seek a sucessful overturning of the illiberal weapons of oppression that the State has aquired for itself.

However, I am pleased the Libertarian Party has come into existence. I believe they will have a hugely influential role to play in the future political landscape of this country. They may not achieve a critical mass in terms of becoming a large Westminster party - not least because they won't attract the patronage of the powerful and wealthy vested interests. But even this has its appeal with many of us regular folks sick of watching the self-interested shafting the rest of us.

The Libertarian Party will always have a natural claim to speak for the people... and they do, and for millions of us. I'm happy to lend them my voice and my support.

I'm NOT a tory in denial and I know none who are... I'm a realist, a pragmatic, street-wise individual that recognises the very VERY dangerous position we find ourselves in.

Warsteiner said...

I'm in the pub and paying your wages via the tax I'm paying in my overpriced pint - hope you find a nice job flipping burger in McDonalds after the next election.

Oh and by the way I smoke as well - so please have some overtime.