A weekend menu

a) 2020 vision: Andrew calls this one about right.

b) Mr Osler on China.

c) Hak on an anti-imperialist joke

d) More Ken.

I picked a good moment for the inaugural Popinjay post here, in which I argue (in summary)....

• Ken is, in so many ways, the nearest thing that any British politician has come to perfection
• ... but it would not be defensible for a democratic socialist to vote for him because of his fatal flaw
• This illustrates an important point about democracy. It's not just about effective administration

Subsequently, Ken has attacked the saintly Mr Tatchell. He's received a dusty response here, including a claim that comments that are simply critical of Quadawi have been deleted - presumably by Ken's staff.

An interesting question arises from the thread though. If you won't vote for Ken, who will you vote for? One commenter offers Tatchell as a (Green) candidate. And while I think he is a great man, I would no more vote for him than I would for Ken. Ken is a capable political manager of a city. His stained soul, however, leads him to advocate policies that are damaging to the whole of society.

Tatchell is, as far as I can see, the opposite of Ken in both regards (and I expect that PT would agree with me on this point).

e) Cameron is the Tories' Kinnock.

f) The end of an era.

And finally....

g) Fuck it. If no-one else will link to this Donkey / Hotel Room / Galway story, I will.


Now take the rest of the weekend off. I've got Huddersfield at home to look forward to. I think I'll watch it on Teletext.

(Donkey story - hat tip: Will)