Celebrity Big Brother – Well done Carphone Warehouse!

Yesterday afternoon I wrote to the Chief Executive of the Carphone Warehouse, asking him to cease financing Celebrity Big Brother. I am sure many other people also complained to him. No doubt, he was also mindful of the 30,000 (and counting) people who have complained to Ofcom about the programme (a record).

Anyway, Carphone Warehouse have now suspended their sponsorship from the programme, and withdrawn the use of their logo. Good for them!

“I think she should *** off home.” – Daniela. That’s racist, before talking about the other remarks. And the whole unedifying spectacle of four people ganging up on Shilpa is detestable.

Having said that, I see that Shilpa is getting good support from Jermaine Jackson and some of the other men. And she is coming out of this very well. She laughed off Jade’s rant about the Oxo cubes.

Jade on the other hand, is unlikely to find much celebrity work in future. Her fragrance has been withdrawn from the shelves. When you see her brooding and arguing she looks…..not pretty, let’s leave it at that.

Jade is the bookies favourite to be thrown out this Friday. Shilpa is the favourite to win.

So I think things will resolve themselves, but I applaud the Carphone Warehouse for taking a stand.

There is an excellent collection of clips of the programme here.

Hutton kicks off a firestorm about Mao

The Tory blogosphere has been thrown a piece of red meat by Will Hutton.

He’s written a Guardian article called: “Mao was cruel – but also laid the ground for today’s China”.

As usual, it is a thoughtful piece. But I always wonder with Will Hutton. Sometimes I have a suspicion that he has a tendency to conceivably disappear up his own exhaust-pipe when he writes some articles. He certainly provokes thought and debate, that’s for sure.

At first glance, it is a balanced article. It is quite clear that he condemns Mao’s murder and mayhem while seeking to draw some lessons from his reign:

The best option is (for China) to embrace democratic institutions – and the path to doing that is not to repudiate Mao but to see him for what he was. Wrong and cruel, but part of China’s groping to find a way to cross the river.

There has been quite a lot of hostile comment below Hutton’s article:

More waffle from Hutton, trying to hide his lack of knowledge of China behind big words and big claims in a desperate bid to shift a few copies of his book. – Angusbeefcake.

Mr Hutton says:
‘Nobody wants to be an apologist for Mao.’
But then as others have pointed out, goes on to do precisely that. – Bitethehand.

I used to assume that Will Hutton was a sophisticated commentator and I now recognise the error of my ways. He seems more a “man in the pub” type with simple views of the world and large gaps in his knowledge. – Quisling.

But I was particularly interested by comments on some Tory blogs.

Istanbul Tory screams:

Will Hutton has gone insane. The man has an article in today’s Guardian that almost defies rational analysis. His demented argument (if indeed it can be represented as a line of argument at all) appears to be that Chairman Mao, despite his “monstrous crimes”, wasn’t all bad.

Blue Crab Boulevard calls it “Defending the indefensible”

In a remarkably thorough piece (indeed, what could perhaps be described as a “fisking“), Matthew Sinclair concludes:

I continue to be amazed by the extent to which left wing academics are willing to attempt the most incredible intellectual acrobatics to cover for the Chinese Communist party’s enormous abuse of its own people.

Celebrity Big Brother – Well done Carphone Warehouse!

Yesterday afternoon I wrote to the Chief Executive of the Carphone Warehouse, asking him to cease financing Celebrity Big Brother. I am sure many other people also complained to him. No doubt, he was also mindful of the 30,000 (and counting) people who have complained to Ofcom about the programme (a record).

Anyway, Carphone Warehouse have now suspended their sponsorship from the programme, and withdrawn the use of their logo. Good for them!

“I think she should *** off home.” – Daniela. That’s racist, before talking about the other remarks. And the whole unedifying spectacle of four people ganging up on Shilpa is detestable.

Having said that, I see that Shilpa is getting good support from Jermaine Jackson and some of the other men. And she is coming out of this very well. She laughed off Jade’s rant about the Oxo cubes.

Jade on the other hand, is unlikely to find much celebrity work in future. Her fragrance has been withdrawn from the shelves. When you see her brooding and arguing she looks…..not pretty, let’s leave it at that.

Jade is the bookies favourite to be thrown out this Friday. Shilpa is the favourite to win.

So I think things will resolve themselves, but I applaud the Carphone Warehouse for taking a stand.

There is an excellent collection of clips of the programme here.

Hutton kicks off a firestorm about Mao

The Tory blogosphere has been thrown a piece of red meat by Will Hutton.

He’s written a Guardian article called: “Mao was cruel – but also laid the ground for today’s China”.

As usual, it is a thoughtful piece. But I always wonder with Will Hutton. Sometimes I have a suspicion that he has a tendency to conceivably disappear up his own exhaust-pipe when he writes some articles. He certainly provokes thought and debate, that’s for sure.

At first glance, it is a balanced article. It is quite clear that he condemns Mao’s murder and mayhem while seeking to draw some lessons from his reign:

The best option is (for China) to embrace democratic institutions – and the path to doing that is not to repudiate Mao but to see him for what he was. Wrong and cruel, but part of China’s groping to find a way to cross the river.

There has been quite a lot of hostile comment below Hutton’s article:

More waffle from Hutton, trying to hide his lack of knowledge of China behind big words and big claims in a desperate bid to shift a few copies of his book. – Angusbeefcake.

Mr Hutton says:
‘Nobody wants to be an apologist for Mao.’
But then as others have pointed out, goes on to do precisely that. – Bitethehand.

I used to assume that Will Hutton was a sophisticated commentator and I now recognise the error of my ways. He seems more a “man in the pub” type with simple views of the world and large gaps in his knowledge. – Quisling.

But I was particularly interested by comments on some Tory blogs.

Istanbul Tory screams:

Will Hutton has gone insane. The man has an article in today’s Guardian that almost defies rational analysis. His demented argument (if indeed it can be represented as a line of argument at all) appears to be that Chairman Mao, despite his “monstrous crimes”, wasn’t all bad.

Blue Crab Boulevard calls it “Defending the indefensible”

In a remarkably thorough piece (indeed, what could perhaps be described as a “fisking“), Matthew Sinclair concludes:

I continue to be amazed by the extent to which left wing academics are willing to attempt the most incredible intellectual acrobatics to cover for the Chinese Communist party’s enormous abuse of its own people.

Shetty to Jade: "You need elocution lessons"

Contrary to a report in the Guardian, which featured in my post earlier called “Jade to Shetty: ‘You need elocution lessons'”, I have watched the “CBB catch-up” programme and it is clear that it was the other way round, according to Jade. This is confirmed by the Manchester Evening News.

I have left the comments from the earlier posting below.

Belsize LibDems hit the jackpot!

Alexis Rowell of Belsize LibDems has hit the jackpot! A mention in the Guardian Diary today for his passion for recycling:

We are, we confess, quite hopelessly smitten by Camden’s Belsize ward Lib Dems and their thrilling young blogger Alexis Rowell. “We really need to install far more on-street recycling bins,” enthuses the dashing councillor in a typically inspirational recent post. “Swiss bins tend to come in groups of 10: 2 x paper + cardboard; 1 x PET plastic; 1 x aluminium + tin; 1 x green glass; 1 x clear glass; 1 x brown glass; 1 x bio-waste; 2 x ordinary rubbish; and a small battery recycling bin thrown in for good measure. Crucially, they do not use commingled collection boxes. And their on-street recycling bins are attractive!” Stop, Alexis, lest we swoon: who would have thought politics could inspire such passion?