The Alan Bown Set Before and Beyond
I’m still far too busy to blog for myself properly, but this week I have mostly been reading the entertaining and informative Free Market Fairy Tales.
First of all, Mr. FM brought my attention to the delightful Martin family:
They all live in a three-bedroomed council house and pull in a relatively modest £23,000 a year in benefits. It will come as no surprise to you to learn that Mrs Martin, a heavy smoker, claims that something called Chronic Fatigue Syndrome stops her from getting a job. Mr Martin, formerly a postman, has not worked for two years so he can “help with the kids”.
What elevates the Martins into our Top Ten Scrotes of 2005 is their ambitions for the house next door. They want it, free of charge, to knock through to create a seven-bedroomed superhouse to accommodate the ten of them. At our expense, of course. Predictably, they are supported in this cause by their local councillor, a NuLabour apparatchik called Elio Gomez.
“It’s not as if we’re living the high life,” says Mr Martin. “We just want what we feel is right for our family.”
They are the new Bardsleys.
Then there’s the link to an article in The Times by Tim Luckhurst about why the BBC is biased:
These political prejudices are innate because too few BBC employees have ever experienced life in the free market and those who have are often refugees from it. The corporation grows its own managers in preference to recruiting from outside and advertises for staff in left-wing newspapers.
Finally, there’s this whole business of gnomes for self defense. Paul Jacob, writing for townhall.com, reports that after an old woman helped them catch a burglar, the police had these words of gratitude and encourangement:
Our usual advice would be not to get involved, but to contact the police straight away.
Posted by Rob Fisher as General at 6:55 AM EDT