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Gordfellas - Is the Labour Goverment really like Goodfellas (strong language)
Stories coming from Downing Street accusing Labour Prime Miniter of bullying and being tempramentally unstable should worry us all. We know little of what goes on inside the seat of government and what we hear makes it sound like the movie Goodfellas.

Best Of Boggart Blog (8)

A Seasonal Miracle?


by ianrthorpe,
2006-11-30

South African Mr. (got that, Mr.) Charles Sibindana has been fined ZA$140 for making a fraudulent claim for sick pay. Mr. Sibindana submitted a certificate from his wife's gynaecologist to back up his claim that he took a week's sick leave because he was pregnant.

Now in my book that beats virgin birth by a distance.

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Christmas Menu

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A Couple of Smiles Before It Gets Even More Painful

by ianrthorpe,
2006-11-29

Almost at the end of a month of bad and sad news; Iraq, Afghanistan, the Financial Markets, the environment and the death of Desert Orchid being just a few topics, its nice to hear something jolly.

So I enjoyed the story of the Surrey lady who while visiting the North East went into a hairdressers in Newcastle and asked "Could you do me a perm please."

"Why aye pet," came the reply, "I wandered lernley as a clerd..."

All in all its like the story of the northerner who took holy orders and was appointed vicar of an Anglican parish in Surrey. When he arrived at his church the verger said "I'm sorry about the state of the place, we have a problem with the myrrh." "The myrrh?" said the new vicar, "I didn't know you were high church."

"We're not," the verger said, "but what has that to do with cutting the grass?"

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Killjoy's Christmas Decorations

by ianrthorpe,
2006-11-28
Following on from last weeks revelations in Machiavelli blog about the Health and Safety Executive's plan to make sure all trees with the potential to fall over in high winds are properly managed with public safety the foremost consideration we bring you more news of Health and Safety fascism from the uber - jobsworths of Tower Hamlets Borough Council.

Last year these halfwit bureaucrats earned ridicule for banning all Merry Christmas type messages lest they offend the delicate sensibilities on non - Christians.

This year, with the complicity of Health and Safety Inspectors they have banned all wall and ceiling mounted decorations in all council premises because staff could be seriously injured while putting them up.

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"Jesus Is Not The Messiah"

by ianrthorpe
2006-11-27

The problem with protesters in other countries is they do not have a British sense of humour (to be fair neither do the police in other countries - and they tend to be a tad trigger happy into the bargain)

On last night's news I saw a shot of a protest against the visit of Pope Benedict to Turkey.

A woman in traditional muslim dress which made her look for all the world like Terry Jones in a famous scene in "The Life of Brian" brandished a placard that read "Jesus is not The Messiah, he is a Prophet of Islam."

"Oh why aren't you English dear," I thought. Had she been she might have had the wit to replace "he is a Prophet of Islam" with the words "he's a very naughty boy."

SCENE FROM LIFE OF BRIAN:
CROWD (in chorus) we want to see Brian, he is the Messiah.
T. Jones (as a woman): He's not the Messiah, he's a very naughty boy.

I include that for the benefit of the very young or those who have led sheltered lives and have not yet seen the funniest film ever made.

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Who Put That Gobshite On Television?

by ianrthorpe
2006-11-26

There's a wonderful scene in an episode of Father Ted where Dougal appears on T.V.

This arouses Father Jack from his drunken stupor. "Who put that gobshite on television?" he roars, hurling an empty whiskey bottle at the TV.

I have a similar moment every week when a certain contestant in X - Factor appears on screen. Its the one who is getting the "Granny" vote. Guess who (and I meant that most sincerely, friends.)

Meanwhile as Simon Cowell eliminated the most talented (the only talented?) contestant again I say GO PROCLAIMERS TRIBUTE BAND!

Oh I would vote five hundred times
if the voting lines were free,
yes I would vote five hundred times
to see Simon Cowell's misery...

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We Need Another Crackdown - suggestions please

by ianrthorpe
2006-11-25

Are Wee Johnny Reid's leadership ambitions distracting him from doing his job as Home Secretary? It must be all of a week since he announced a crackdown.

It is not so long ago the tartan terrier was announcing a dozen new crackdowns a day. There were crackdowns on anti social behaviour, binge drinking, illegal immigrants, truancy, exploding orange juice, obesity, beards, staying up late, harmless nutters, bullies, Clare Short, paedophiles, silly hats and the wrong kind of shite.

Then suddenly silence.

There are only two possibilities, that Dr. Reid is preoccupied with more important business or he has run out of things to crack down on.

Either way, to get wee Johnny back on the rails may we suggest crackdowns on the the following:

Farting in lifts,
Christmas albums,
Christmas books,
Christmas special offers
, Christmas,
Russell Brand,
Celebrity chefs,
Celebrities,
Delusional folk who go off to the jungle thinking they are celebrities,
Delusional folk who come back still unaware that everybody hates them, Panto Boy on the X - factor,
Peter Kay,
Spin.

Any suggestions you wish to add to the list will be forwarded to The Home Office.

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,

Oo-er Missis, its the Tree Hugging Cannibals

by ianrthorpe
2006-11-23

In last night's episode of Torchwood (yes, I like Torchwood, after a dodgy first episode it has me suspending disbelief with great enthusiasm) the story was set around a remote farm in the Brecon Beacons. The tree - hugging locals had a very quaint tradition. Every ten years they would round up strangers in the area and eat them (shades if I'm the only cannibal in the village there I thought.) When the Torchwood statutory pretty girl asked the chief cannibal why they did this he replied "because it makes me happy." A chilling reminder there that among all the humandroids, shapeshifters, pan dimensional fart creatures and orgasm - eating aliens that pass through Cardiff's rip in the time - space continuum, good old human evil still has a lot to answer for.

Well that was how I saw it last night...

In this morning's paper I read that the nation's most famous tree hugger, Prince Charles, has just bought a run down farm in the Brecon Beacons.

Oo-er missis, is that coincidence or are sinister forces at work here?

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Blair's Super Nanny State

by ianrthorpe
2006-11-21

In an article for the Currant Bun Tony Blair announced the launch of The Super Nanny State.

As part of a crackdown on anti social behaviour teams of Super Nanny State Stormtroopers will swoop on areas where "poor parenting" is rife. "Poor parenting", according to Blair, is the cause of anti social behaviour and does incalculable harm to children.

People found guilty of "poor parenting" will be sent on parenting courses, to be run we guess by Ruth Kelly and a newly appointed parenting Csar rumoured to be Cilla from Coronation Street.

But, you might well ask, is the problem "poor parenting" or simply parenting? Boggart Blog thinks people with children should forget about parenting and go back to being Mums and Dads.

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Dolphins Don't Drink

by ianrthorpe
2006-11-20

You learn something every day. Yesterday, tucked up in bed with my cold and daytime TV I learned that Dolphins don't drink. Not "don't drink" in the sense of avoiding alcohol but don't drink full stop.

There are various theories as to why. Some zoologists say it is because aquatic mammals get their fluids from what they eat while others contend that as their kidneys cannot process sea water evolution has adapted them to get by without taking in water. While high on industrial strength lem-sips I have one of those moments of insight we get when our brains are addled. Dolphins don't drink because flippers are useless for holding a cup, glass or bottle.

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Government Warning - Trees Can Damage Your Health

by ianrthorpe
2006-11-19

URGENT HEALTH WARNING FROM H.M. GOVERNMENT - Standing under or near tress can seriously damage your health and lead may kill.

Our old friends at the Health and Safety Executive featured in our last blog (BTW apologies to readers who were expecting this post yesterday, there's a nasty bug going round the nether world and your favourite Boggart needed to take a sickie) when we highlighted Bozza Johnson's rantings at the ludicrous nannying of this bunch of hard - hatted, toetector - wearing fascists who seem intent on eliminating any kind of risk from our lives by making us prisoners of rules and regulations.

Now Boggart Blog pick up the standard itself and leads the resistance against the mindless bureaucracy of the clipboard wielding killjoys. Two years ago in Dunham Massey Park, Cheshire, a family were enjoying a winter outing in woodland of the 250 year old plantation when a freak gust of wind caused a Beech to fall. In falling the tree brought down its neighbour which, tragically, killed an eight year old boy.

It was an accident and nobody tried to pretend otherwise. Al least until The Health and Safety Executive got wind of it. As far as the Hard - Hatted, toetector wearing clipboard wielding box tickers are concerned there is no such thing as an act of God, there are only failures of management. If enough boxes had been ticked that freak gust of wind could have been managed.

The HSE Inspectorate demanded that the police arrest the park manager for criminal negligence.

A year later the police dropped the case due to lack of evidence. Presumably all the witnesses, being trees, declined to be interviewed. But the clipboard wielders could not accept a healthy tree simply falling down as healthy trees do from time to time.

The hard - hatted toetector wearers (who, we imagine, all have those anally retentive moustaches that are never allowed to grow more than a quarter of an inch long) were determined that in order to prevent any future tree - related incidents they would ensure procedures were put in place to identify any trees posing a danger to public safety because of their likelihood of falling over in high winds. Also the HSE are determined that the owners of potentially unstable trees are aware of their duty to manage woodland properly.

Whether this results in the National Trust having to cut down all the millions of trees under their management or in those tracts of ancient woodland the weirdie beardies have fought so long and hard to protect from building firms being destroyed because of public safety issues remains to be seen.

If this all seems a bit over the top to you, remember the motto of the HSE is "You Can't Be Too Paranoid.

Here is a facsimilie of a leaflet you will shortly be receiving through the post which details the HSE's advice for tree safety. Never go near trees when it is windy or it may become windy while you are there.

Do not let your dog worry trees, remember a frightened tree is a dangerous tree.

Do not try to feed trees, they may bite.

Do not catch trees or encourage them to follow you home, they make very bad domestic pets.

Always view trees from a safe distance, they can fall surprisingly quickly.

Do not consume fruit or nuts near trees. Seeing their offspring being eaten alive can upset them.

and finally
Always be wary of leaving the safety of your home to look for fun. Fun is dangerous and should be left to properly trained experts with adequate safety equipment.

Safety first second and third, fun nowhere,

The Health and Safety Executive.

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Bozza's Tree Crusade

by ianrthorpe
2006-11-17

I was snooping around the Blog of Bozza (or Boris Johnson M.P or Bo - Jo to his fans) the other day. You might think this strange behaviour for an unrepentant old Liberal like me, but I always find Bozza good value). On that occasion I enjoyed his fulminations against the Health and Safety Executive (H.S.E.)

"There are now 3621 pages of Health and Safety legislation, that's 76* times the length of War and Peace" the Blonde One thundered, ending with the question that mustn't be on everyone's lips "is this good for the country?"

Well it is certainly not good for trees. Which is perhaps why the arboreal population of this sceptred isle is coming in for some attention from the HSE which is worried about the safety risks posed by uncontrolled trees.

But we will be returning to that issue tomorrow.

*probably an exaggeration. If it was my blog it would be for comic effect but as its Bozza we're talking about, who knows?

Pissed as a Moose

by ianrthorpe
@ 2006-11-14

I am always interested to get news from Sweden, having worked in that delighgtful country for a while. The trouble is Sweden is too nice, no terrorists want to blow things up, there is no religious right tarring and feathering people for having fun and even the corporations display a praiseworthy degree os social responsibility. In other words there just isn't enough news in Sweden. Which makes little gems like this more enjoyable.

The Goteborgs - Posten newspaper has been reporting stoeies concerning a moose that is terrorising the city's children. The local police chief blames apples. It turns out the moose is eating windfall apples which have fermented naturally to produce an alcoholic subsatance similar to the Scrumpy Cider know to all who have visited the English West Country (and particularly those who frequent jazz festivals in that part of the world.)

"We are dealing with an ELK - o - holic here," a spokesperson for the police department said (allegedly.)

Drunken Elk In The Orchard

Cornish Pasty Wars

by ianrthorpe
2006-11-13

There be grumblings down in the west country, ooh - arrr. They ig'rant Dev'ners is trying to say they'm inventing t' Corrrrnish Pasty an' Corrrrnwall stoleded it of'n un."

The controversy arises from a discovery made in the audit book of a 16th century Devonian housekeeper who had written on one of the pages her recipe for pasties.

The first written record of a Cornish pasty dates from 1746.

The important word here is "written." As Terry Pratchett says, "never take any notice of things written down on paper. A thing cannot be of the least importance if somebody had time to write it down." Quite. Empirical evidence is needed and over in Cornwall they claim the recipe for pasties has been handed down through the oral tradition since 8000 B.C.

Nobody knows the true origins of pastry of course and therefore we can be certain of nothing, but I am with Cornwall on this one. And furthermore I am willing to testify that in Motorway services restaurants on many occasions I have eaten 10,000 year old pasties.

I Just Met A Girl Named Maria

. by ianrthorpe
2006-11-12

From time to time something happens that makes me feel I am once more young and attractive to the opposite sex. Such an instance was the e-mail I received this week from Maria. She wrote:

"Hello Mr. Thorp. I am dark hair Russian, age 26, attractive professional lady and working in marketing structure selling cosmetic (ooh that accent sends chills up and down my spine.).I read your details on world wide web and find you interesting, attractive man (Isn't she wonderful?) I am intelligent, mature woman who is ready for creating family with good man. (ah - erm, creating family? As in making babies? She obviously didn't read the bit about the vasectomy...) Even if this is not your searching for in the future it would be fine if we can meet and do friendship (friendship, bugger! I thought I'd scored) or maybe do more than just friendship (I have scored!)

Mail me,
yours with love and many kisses, (now hang on girl, we haven't been properly introduced)
Maria.

Needless to say I'm all of a flutter wondering does she have green eyes and those classic Russian cheekbones, is her accent really that cute and will the overdraft stretch to an hour of her time or just a quickie?

The Wages Of Sin

by ianrthorpe
2006-11-10

British Christian Fundamentalist minister George Hargreaves is known for his hard - line position on most issues concerning sex and drugs and rock & roll. His views on abortion, contraception (the only acceptable method it seems is the one where the woman holds a pocket bible between her knees) , stem cell research and same - sex partnerships are pretty much what you would expect from a founder member of an organisation called Christian Voice.

And George is a very active campaigner on all these issues.

But it has not always been so. In the 1980s George wrote a song that was a world wide hit for Sinitta and has since become a gay anthem in clubs on every continent. Here is a sample of the lyric:

So macho,
he's gotta be so macho,
gotta be big and strong,
enough to turn me on.

Well I suppose its OK to dance to the song so long as you don't act on its advice.

Nice though to see the wages of sin, estimated at £10,000 a year, providing us with such a wonderful iron.

Now I have a link to a searchable Bible somewhere, let's see what it says about hypocrisy.

And I though it was just my wife

by ianrthorpe
2006-11-09

British women aged over 40 own an average of 19 pairs of shooes but it is not uncommon to have more than 100. Woman and Home polled more than 1,500 women over 40 on their attitudes and found that handbags are also popular, with 11 being the average. Some women said they owned more than 200 and a third said they lied about the cost of their shopping sprees.

Shrink wrapped criminal

by ianrthorpe
2006-11-07

A Bosnian burglar escaped from jail in Austria by having himself shrink-wrapped in plastic and taken out with parts for street lamps hade by inmates. The lorry driver noticed a rip in one of his pallets soon after leaving the jail, but Muradif H, 36, show was serving a seven-year term in Graz, had fled. He remains at large.

I hope he didn't need a wee while he was in the wrapping. The only way I can ever get stuff out of shrink wrapping is by stabbing the stuff with a knife or screwdriver.

The Buzz About The X Factor

by ianrthorpe
2006-11-05

On last saturday's X - Factor show Sharon Osbourne criticised the prettiest and most talented girl singer remaining, saying the sound of her vibrato had ruined her performance.

I had to agree with La Donna O. Back when I was staging rock concerts I always used to remind female performers to switch their vibratos off before they wen't onstage. The Microphones can pick up the buzz.

,

Who Makes All The Pies?

by ianrthorpe
2006-11-03

During environment question time yesterday, amid all the weighty queries about global warming, deforestation, drought, famine etc. Mary Creagh, MP for Wakefield, demanded that the Minister congratulate a butcher in her constituency for willing the Large Pork Pie category at the Great Yorkshire Pie Show as this, apparently, is the world cup of pie making.

Nice to see they have their pieorities (sorry, couldn't resist) sorted in Yorkshire

Proud To Be Pissed - A New Year Message for readers. by ianrthorpe @ 2006-12-31 – 17:03:32 Boggart Blog's New Year Message to our readers is "be proud of your heritage, get bladdered." Despite repeated Government warnings of the health hazards of binge drinking which suggest it is a recent phemonnonomonxxx phnemnioxxxxx pfemonionxxxxx trend (sorry we've had a couple in the editorial office)binge drinking is a longstanding British tradition. Hazel Blears who is minister for saying very silly things issued a statement to the effect that the British are not ready to adopt continental drinking patterns. Too Bloody Right we're not. We enjoy getting rat - arsed. The Roman historian Tacitus, writing in the first century AD said, "The Britons have a tendency when feasting to drink ale or wine until they fall into a stupor." Julius Caesar had first noted the trend a hundred years earlier. "They are formidable fighters but unreliable due to their habit of drinking heavily before battle," he noted. So forget the shame attached to drunkenness, that is just an invention of the nanny state. Let's welcome the New Year by proclaiming to the world that we the British people are Proud To Be Pissed. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Options: Leave a comment | Recommend / Bookmark Facebook Twitter Email | Edit | Tags:binge [x], drink [x], new year [x], Add tags… , Its Just Criminal by ianrthorpe @ 2006-12-29 – 16:49:09 There's bugger all happens between Christmas and New Year so its time to dig out the old Armitasge Shanks joke book (in my days as an occasional stand up I was Armitage Shanks, The Man Who Puts The BIZ in Showbiz,) and try to raise a smile. Over the holiday theives broke into a greenhouse at Kew Gardens and stole many rare trees and shubs. Earlier today police arrested two men who were driving in a truck loaded with exotic vegitation. A the men denied involvement in the theft and said the evidence was planted. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Options: Comments (3) | Recommend / Bookmark Facebook Twitter Email | Edit | Tags:Add tags… , A Bizarre Story From Derby by ianrthorpe @ 2006-12-28 – 17:20:11 Derbyshire County Council have ordered their webmasters to use content filtering to prevent the Ramblers' Association Derby Dales Group web page being accessed from library internet cafes in the county. The Derby ramblers' web content falls within the county councils' definition of a sex website the press release reveals. No surprise then that Derby ramblers "love to go a - wandering along the mountain track" then but just what the hell does rambling involve in the Derby Dales we wonder? I must ask Mike St. Mark if he has experienced any interesting variations from the norm while walking in the Peak district. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Options: Comments (8) | Recommend / Bookmark Facebook Twitter Email | Edit | Tags:derby [x], rambling [x], sex [x], Add tags… , Christmas is Bollocks by ianrthorpe @ 2006-12-27 – 17:54:06 Its over! What a relief! Don't you hate Christmas? Oh come on, be honest. Don't call me Scrooge. Christmas is bollocks. Christmas things are bollocks. Christmas specials on tele are bollocks. Christmas food is bollocks. Everything about the whole over-hyped, over commercialised, overadvertised, overcelebrated mess of modern excess is bollocks. Food. Nuts? Why do we buy nuts in their shells at Christmas? The rest of the year we (those of us who like to eat healthy anyway) get nice convenient ... CLICK HERE To read all Christmas Is Bollocks -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Options: Comments (14) | Recommend / Bookmark Facebook Twitter Email | Edit | Tags:christmas [x], drinks [x], ignorance [x], presents [x], Add tags… , Belated Greetings by ianrthorpe @ 2006-12-26 – 16:52:09 Boggart Blog took unscheduled downtime a couple of days before the offiocial break started. This was due to (1) visitors, (2) server problems and (3) a totally silly wild adventure in Christmas shopping... "oh yeah love, I'll be fine walking the half mile back to the car through this hilly town, you just whack the shopping in my wheelchair." (well I couldn't let Teri do the trip twice. Now half a mile is a tad over my limit even on level ground. I made the trip but with several large back muscles totally wrecked and needing a few days. Still, if you can't do something idiotic at this time of year when can you do something idiotic? Belated seasons greetings to all regular readers and visitors. Back tomorrow. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Options: Comments (2) | Recommend / Bookmark Facebook Twitter Email | Edit | Tags:Add tags… , A blog post about sweeet FA by ianrthorpe @ 2006-12-22 – 17:29:41 Nice to see the Freedom Association* getting involved in the London mayoral election campaign with an attack on Ken Livingstone's anti - semitism. The appearance of a new political body promotiong libertarian values is always welcome. Unfortunately their chance of winning any seats on the London Assembly are as described on their logo. F.A. *I am assuming this F.A. is nothing to do with the 1970s F.A. a group of Express, Mail and Telegraph readers that campaigned for freedoms such as the right to enslave unmarried mothers and the right to put black babies in casseroles. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Options: Comments (2) | Recommend / Bookmark Facebook Twitter Email | Edit | Tags:Add tags… , A quick roundup by ianrthorpe @ 2006-12-21 – 18:26:38 Boggart Blog has always prided itself on bringing you the news that is not worth reading from around the world: here is a roundup of the last few days... Starting In Sweden After enduring years of ridicule, the inhabitants of the Swedish village of Fjuckby have handed in an application to Swedish authorities to have the hamlet's name changed to Fjukeby. Meanwhile in the USA Border patrol officers found a four foot long alligator in a suitcase during a routine traffic stop in south-west Arizona. Lloyd Easterling, a spokesman, said it was discovered when agents detained a driver in Yuma after drug sniffing dogs singled out the car where the case was. Marijuana was also found. ...its the art of it that matters in France... Pierre Herme, the so-called 'Picasso of patisserie' won the annual award presented by the newspaper Le Figaro for the best croissant in Paris. He said the test of a perfect croissant should be more than how it tasted, looked or smelt. "The noise of the croissant is also very important," he said. "I can almost hear them shout when people tear them apart." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Options: Comments (3) | Recommend / Bookmark Facebook Twitter Email | Edit | Tags:Add tags… , The Durex List by ianrthorpe @ 2006-12-20 – 17:29:21 Every year the makers of Durex condoms conduct a worldwide survey of sexual behaviour in adults. One of the facts this reveals is the average number of partners per person by nationality. Out of idle curiosity I looked at the list and.... (blushes) I've been a very naughty boy. Here are a selection of national scores: Turkey - 14.5 Australia - 13.3 Italy - 11.8 Switzerland - 11.1 U.S.A. - 10.7 (Not top? that will shut them right up!) Japan - 10.2 U.K. - 9.8 Austria - 9.7 France - 8.1 Singapore - 7.2 Surprisingly China and India are way down the list with 3.1 and 3.0 respectively. Makes you wonder how there are so many of them. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Options: Comments (2) | Recommend / Bookmark Facebook Twitter Email | Edit | Tags:condoms [x], durex [x], humour [x], sex [x], Add tags… , Posh Spice becoming an Alien? Strange but possibly true. by ianrthorpe @ 2006-12-19 – 19:58:11 If you have seen recent pictures of Victoria Beckham nee Posh Spice you may have thought there was something not quite human about them. Well you could be right. The whisper over at Salon.com is that with the help of the ArchThetan Tom Cruise (4'6"), Professional celebrity Posh is to become an alien bride. Well that should give us more entertainment than her singing ever has. Read it for yourself here -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Options: Comments (2) | Recommend / Bookmark Facebook Twitter Email | Edit | Tags:alien [x], celebrity [x], entertainment [x], Add tags… , Leading By Bad Example by ianrthorpe @ 2006-12-19 – 17:22:58 A new survey out today reveals that a quarter of all 16 - 24 year olds have committed a crime in the past year. This is a disgraceful indictment of the celebrity culture. The young should be encouraged to find better role models. Instead of idolising people like Pete Doherty the younger generation ought to be following the example of politicians, captains of industry and senior clergymen. Then they would learn that if you have committed a crime you do not ever admit to it. Absolutely never, EVER! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Options: Comments (2) | Recommend / Bookmark Facebook Twitter Email | Edit | Tags:crime [x], young [x], Add tags… , Pissed As A Camel by ianrthorpe @ 2006-12-17 – 18:07:58 Staff at an Irish riding school had to postpone a Christmas party after Gus the camel chomped his way through 200 mince pies and several cans of Guinness meant for their festivities. Gus, starring in the riding school's Santa's Magical Animal Kingdon show, filled up while staff were changing for their party. Camels store liquids in their humps of course. Which means there is a camel with a hump full of guinness on the loose in Ireland. I don't give much for his chances of making it through the next two weeks. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Options: Comments (4) | Recommend / Bookmark Facebook Twitter Email | Edit | Tags:camel [x], christmas [x], drink [x], Add tags… , AIDS Message Rammed Home by ianrthorpe @ 2006-12-16 – 17:20:19 Now it is very naughty and not at all politically correct to make fun of serious subjects. But has that ever stopped Boggart Blog before? Right! So it would be remiss of us not to comment on the World Health Organisation's report on the spread of AIDS in Africa. Now the WHO is a very serious body that does not deal in puns, double entendres and smutty jokes. So when the report of findings that male circumcision reduces the chances of contracting HIV infection by 50%, a document of considerable gravitas, who the hell decided the launch presentation would be given by Mr. Kevin de Cock. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Options: Comments (3) | Recommend / Bookmark Facebook Twitter Email | Edit | Tags:Add tags… , Those Whom The Gods Would Destroy... #1 by ianrthorpe @ 2006-12-15 – 17:20:55 Those whom the gods would destroy they first make ridiculous. Dare we hope then that the forces of natural justice have something spectacularly nasty planned for the Labour politicians who have surpassed in arrogance the last days of John Major's tory government. Because events atre certainly making the dark lords of the New Labour project look a right bunch of twats. Let us all rejoice then at the news that in this season of merriment an official Labour Party DVD containing Blair's last speech to conference as leader and a film record of Labour's years in office titled Labour Achievement Film (interesting acronym there BTW) has been reduced to £5 per copy to clear stocks. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Options: Leave a comment | Recommend / Bookmark Facebook Twitter Email | Edit | Tags:Add tags… , Golden Globes by ianrthorpe @ 2006-12-14 – 17:20:49 A headline on teletext informed me Helen Mirren is nominated for "three globes." Now I can't see why she needs three, I remember from when she was an up and coming young actress the two very attractive ones she grew herself. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Options: Comments (2) | Recommend / Bookmark Facebook Twitter Email | Edit | Tags:golden globes [x], helen mirren [x], humour [x], Add tags… , Boggart Abroad by ianrthorpe @ 2006-12-13 – 17:54:49 Read this at Huffington Post yesterday Not surprisingly, the Bush administration is already backing away from most of the 79 proposals put forth by the Iraq Study Group. But while Bush isn't ready to follow the group's recommendations, he's ready to adopt its slogan, "New Way Forward." The president may not be into things like facts, truth, or reality, but he loves a good slogan. Of course, that's been the problem during this entire fiasco -- the substitution of rhetoric for policy -- the belief, even at this late date, that reality can be changed simply by changing the language used to describe it. Bush makes a big show of his religious faith, but what's truly impressive is his incredible faith in the power of PR, and, accordingly, his lack of faith in the American people. I think the slogan is a missed opportunity. As we know Bush and Blair are desperately seeking a way to get out without losing face could we suggest the new slogan be amended to read Backwards is the new way forward. While we're on American military matters we also read while blogging abroad yeaterday that an independant watchdog has revealed senior US officers are coercing soldiers into converting fundamentalist christianity. People who refuse to be "born again" are left in no doubt their careers will hit a dead end. This is good news for the anti war movement. The fubnies are so paranoid that all the Afghans and Iraqis will have to do is dress in halloween costumes and the Americans will think the Devil has come to get them and run away. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Options: Comments (3) | Recommend / Bookmark Facebook Twitter Email | Edit | Tags:america [x], bush [x], christian [x], fundamentalist [x], iraq [x], military [x], Add tags… , Fun Bloggers Should Stick Together by ianrthorpe @ 2006-12-12 – 18:45:17 Little controversy going on in the UK blogosphere. Apparently some group of neo - con commentators are trying to get humour excluded from the UK blogger of the year poll. Girl With A One Track Mind knows all about it so if you want to get involved in the shouting visit her by clicking the link. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Options: Comments (9) | Recommend / Bookmark Facebook Twitter Email | Edit | Tags:Add tags… , Farewell Augusto - you inspired so many by ianrthorpe @ 2006-12-12 – 17:32:27 New Labour Blogger Bob Piper yesterday made a jibe at the "warm tributes" being paid to Pinochet and recalled that the Blessed Maggie's was best buddies the dead dictator. http://www.bobpiper.co.uk/2006/12/warm_tributes_paid_to_pinochet Our best buddy Little Nicky Machiavelli commented: Yeah, Thatcher being best buddies with a murdering tyrant was a terrible disgrace to this country. A bit like Blair being best buddies with the tyrant, torturer and war criminal Bush. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Options: Comments (4) | Recommend / Bookmark Facebook Twitter Email | Edit | Tags:Add tags… , A Very Boggart Christmas. by ianrthorpe @ 2006-12-11 – 17:26:29 Working for Jenny Greenteeth has its perks. Boggarts such as Jenny live outside the normal time / space continuum and can move events around at random. So yesterday we celebrated our family Christmas. The reason for this eccentric behaviour is that Darling Daughter is off to France to work as a sports masseur & physiotherapist through the not skiing season (no snow if France this year it seems) It has been a hectic few days since Gabby twice arrived on the saner side of the Pennines bringing all her stuff from the apartment she has just vacated. David is also in residence having rendered himself homeless. Disregarding parental warnings he took up a tenancy in which rent books and contracts did not figure - and naturally landed back in the parental home several months ago. Now I neither know nor want to know what kind of altered consciousness my offspring inhabit but they both seem unaware that it is six years since we moved from the TARDIS-like Thorpe Towers (an elegant old terrace with attic and cellar) to a bijou and compact three bedroomed bungalow. Things are a bit cramped to say the least. But its amazing what good dining stools David's professional speakers make. And that is why we took a Christmas break early. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Options: Leave a comment | Recommend / Bookmark Facebook Twitter Email | Edit | Tags:christmas [x], family. [x], Add tags… , The New Redneck Sport - Animal Throwing by ianrthorpe @ 2006-12-09 – 18:28:57 You may not have heard of the sport of pig throwing yet but I predict it is going to be the next big thing, surpassing pie - eating, dwarf - bowling and even cesspit snorkelling in popularity. In West Point Mississippi a man named Kevin Pugh has become the first to be convicted of pig throwing. Pugh was fined $249 for throwing a pig at a hotel receptionist. Its a strange amount to be fined but I suppose it was the maximum $150 for assaulting the receptionist but only $124 for throwing a pig as the creature only weighed 60 pounds. It is not clear why Pugh threw a pig at the victim. Hotel receptionists are usually polite and helpful but occasional mutants have been mistaken for members of genus Jobsworth due to their infuriating refusal to listen to reason. Any fault on the part of the receptionist involved in the case seems unlikely however as the Pugh pig-throw was one of a spate of check-shirt-wearing-pickup-truck-driving-lard-arse related animal throwing incidents in the West Point area that night. A police spokesman said, "It must be some new redneck thing because no similar incidents have ever been reported before. Pugh has pleaded not guilty to a further charge of throwing a possum at fast food restaurant counter hand. On grounds of diminished responsibility we assume. The psychiatric report will make interesting reading. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Options: Comments (2) | Recommend / Bookmark Facebook Twitter Email | Edit | Tags:redneck [x], Add tags… , Getting The Clap by ianrthorpe @ 2006-12-08 – 17:53:04 Don't we all love it when the most pompous celebrities get their come uppance. I heard a wonderful story yesterday, it happened a whiole ago so maybe some of you already know of it. During a gig in Glasgow Saint Bono stood frontstage, held up his hands for silence and then started clapping slowly. "Do you realise," he said, "every time I clap my hands a child dies in Africa. And from the audience a Glaswegian voice called out "well stop fucking clapping Jimmy." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Options: Leave a comment | Recommend / Bookmark Facebook Twitter Email | Edit | Tags:bono [x], humor [x], humour [x], satire [x], Add tags… , Farts of Mass Destruction by ianrthorpe @ 2006-12-07 – 16:05:22 A story picked up from Yahoo News yesterday makes us wonder if the Turrrists and People of Evelyn Tent are getting more subtle and cunning or if the security forces are getting more stupid and paranoid. An Aircraft bound for Dallas on a U,S. internal flight was forced to land in Nashville when passengers complained of the smell of burning sulphur. The authorities immediately went on teror alert Later a woman admitted to FBI agents she had struck several matches to conceal the stink of her rancid farts. Were this a serious blog we might well ask how, when it is impossible to get a bottle of springwater on a 'plane Mrs Fartybottom managed to sneak matches past airport security. Instead we will simply promise never ever to use the phrase "about as dangerous as a smelly fart" in an ironic way again. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Options: Comments (8) | Recommend / Bookmark Facebook Twitter Email | Edit | Tags:air [x], fart [x], security [x], terror [x], travel [x], Add tags… , That Was No Lady, That Was The Countess by ianrthorpe @ 2006-12-06 – 17:13:57 Quintessential posh bloke Stephen Fry is currently earning a crust by advertising tea bags. Nothing wrong with that of course, meaningful work stimulates the brain and even posh blokes need to eat so bearing in mind the price of caviar and truffles these days we say "go for it Stevie - boy." It would be nice however if Stephen, even while sullying himself with tawdry commerce, would demand the same exacting standards as he requires from his lower class panellists on QI. The latest ad in the series is pushing a new, girlified version of Earl Grey tea branded as Lady Grey. Surely somebody born into society of the haughtiest particularity know that Earl Grey's spouse should properly be addressed as Countess Grey. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Options: Comments (1) | Recommend / Bookmark Facebook Twitter Email | Edit | Tags:earl grey [x], humor [x], humour [x], lady grey [x], stephen fry [x], tea [x], twinings [x], Add tags… , Trident: a grim warning from the past. by ianrthorpe @ 2006-12-05 – 17:17:03 Fifty years ago the as debate raged over whether Britain should maintain an independent nuclear deterrent the great Labour politician Nye. Bevan warned it would be folly to "send the British Foreign Secretary naked into the debating chambers of Europe." As the debate rages again Bevan's warning takes on a grim new significance when we remember the Foreign Secretary is Margaret Becket. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Options: Comments (5) | Recommend / Bookmark Facebook Twitter Email | Edit | Tags:defence [x], deterrent [x], humor [x], humour [x], nuclear [x], trident [x], Add tags… , Reality Withdrawal by ianrthorpe @ 2006-12-04 – 17:23:59 Now that Celebrity-Strictly-Come-Dancing-Out-Of-The-Jungle-To-Love-Island is almost finished its increasingly surreal - yes, surreal; think Peter Schmichel dancing the Tango, Robbie from East Enders actually being popular, Jan Leeming deluding herself she is a sex bomb and Smiley Smiley Carol Smillie almost looking sexy (not to mention Myleen's boobies) - and the altered state of Christmas still three weeks away how will we ever cope. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Options: Comments (5) | Recommend / Bookmark Facebook Twitter Email | Edit | Tags:humor [x], humour [x], reality [x], tv [x], Add tags… , Blair Style Apology by ianrthorpe @ 2006-12-03 – 16:58:51 I want to say I'm very very sorry, not for slavery or the Irish Potato Famine, Blair has already done them; not even for The Dissolution of the Monatries or for Santa Claus The Movie even, although all of these were terrible crimes against humanity. No, I have to apologise for something much worse. Last week, in commenting on The X - Factor I said The MacDonald Bros. were a Proclaimers Tribute Band. Well to prove me wrong last night they showed their versatility by covering Shang - A - Lang by the Bay City Rollers, complete with a tartan-scarf-waving section in the audience. I have to say it wasn't half bad (not 'arf - farewell Fluff, thanks for all the music.) If fact its sounded just like... .................... .......................... .................................. .......................................... .................................. ........................... ..................... it would if The Proclaimers sang it. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Options: Leave a comment | Recommend / Bookmark Facebook Twitter Email | Edit | Tags:humor [x], humour [x], proclaimers [x], x factor [x], Add tags… , Jelly Fish dish takes the biscuit. by ianrthorpe @ 2006-12-02 – 18:24:37 Japan is beseiged by two metre cwide, four hundred pound alien jelly fish (OK, I lied about the alien bit.) But in a twist worthy of Tim Burton's sci - fi spoof movie Mars Attacks in which the seemingly indestructibe aliens explode when Slim Whitman's record of Indian Love Call is played, the fearless and brilliant students of Obama Fisheries High School in Fukui Province (sorry, no pronunciation guide available) have developed a technique for making the giant invertibrates into biscuits (or cookies if you are American.) A Japanese food writer comments "the biscuits have a superbly textured sweetness nicely complemented by the bitter, salty taste normally associated with jellyfish. Yeah, right. I think I'll stick with my Hob Nobs -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Options: Comments (1) | Recommend / Bookmark Facebook Twitter Email | Edit | Tags:biscuits [x], cookies [x], humor [x], humour [x], japan [x], jellyfish [x], satire [x], Add tags… , The Man With The Pollonium Gun by ianrthorpe @ 2006-12-01 – 17:37:20 The murdered Russian Spy story rumbles on and the trail of suspicion which has pointed to a London Hotel, a Sushi bar, The Kremlin and Muswell Hill now shifts once more. A new figure has emerged in the form of Professor Scaramella of Naples. Professor who? Somebody is having a laugh. Was this new twist by any chance reported by a correspondent named Ffion Lemming? And is the Professor a bald, weasel faced man who carries a Persian cat everywhere and rides round in a nuclear powered wheelchair that shoots jets of scalding hot minestrone soup at enemies. I think the only way this case will ever be solved is if, for information leading to the capture of the criminals a substantial reward is offered. ONE MILLION DOLLARS ought to do the trick

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BBC Comedy

BBC Comedy Blog
Updated : Tue, 21 Feb 2012 08:00:00 +0000

Blandings is coming!

The celebrated stories of PG Wodehouse will be coming to life on BBC One as Timothy Spall and Jennifer Saunders star in Blandings, a new comedy series written by Guy Andrews and based on Wodehouse's work.

PG Wodehouse is hailed as one of the greatest comic writers in the English Language, and Controller of BBC One, Danny Cohen is very excited about bringing the tales to a new generation of TV viewers.

Describing the series Guy Andrews said: "Blandings Castle is dysfunction junction, the home of a chaotic family struggling to keep itself in order. Clarence Emsworth, ninth earl and master of Blandings Castle, yearns with all his soul to be left in peace; preferably in the company of his beloved pig, The Empress. But he never is. There is always someone who wants him to do something. Presiding over the blitzkrieg on his equilibrium is the baleful figure of his sister Connie, with whom he shares the house; at her shoulder is Clarence's brainless younger son Freddie and a panoply of friends, enemies, servants, spongers, private detectives, bookies and confidence tricksters.

"Only Beach, his loyal and long-suffering butler, provides consolation. Storm-battered Clarence, somehow never vanquished, occasionally makes everything right through an inspired or accidental intervention.

"For any writer, it is the rarest privilege imaginable to have Wodehouse legitimately available as source material. Instead of just stealing from him as we usually do.'

The six self-contained episodes will be set 1929, and will be filmed on location in Northern Ireland with the support of Northern Ireland Screen. Timothy Spall will play the amiable and befuddled Lord Emsworth (Clarence to his friends), with Jennifer Saunders as his indomitable sister Connie.

The series will be produced by Spencer Campbell (Cold Feet, Mad Dogs) and directed by Paul Seed (BAFTA winning Just William). The show is a co-production with Mammoth Screen and the BBC.


Publ.Date : Thu, 02 Feb 2012 10:50:00 +0000

Mongrels live chat

Nelson, Marion, Destiny, Kali and Vince returned last week with a double bill of Mongrels! Check it out on iPlayer if you missed it.

We've managed to coax Nelson and Marion out of their East London pub garden to join us for a live web chat after the show TONIGHT at 11pm. All they asked for was a copy of Ben Fogle's autobiography and a big bag of catnip - you can decide for yourself who asked for which item!

 

They'll be here to answer your questions, so if there's anything you wanted to know from an urbane fox or a homeless tomcat, then be sure to join us on tonight at 11pm.

Mongrels is on BBC Three every Monday at 10.30pm.

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Publ.Date : Mon, 14 Nov 2011 16:51:07 +0000

Life's Too Short, Comedy And Controversy

Stephen Merchant, Warwick Davis and Ricky Gervais

Another "cruel" and "controversial" comedy from Ricky Gervais.

Yes, just a couple of the words some people are using to describe a show they haven't seen yet.

In the many interviews I have done over the past few weeks to promote Life's Too Short, the same few questions always seem to come up.

The first one is, not surprisingly, "What's it about?"

Life's Too Short is a fake documentary about a showbiz dwarf who has agreed to let the cameras into his life to turn his fortunes around.

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Warwick Davis plays a twisted version of himself. He has a massive tax bill, he is going through a messy divorce and the phone has stopped ringing with job offers.

It's not a sitcom about being short at all. It's a sitcom about a man with a small man complex. He is angry, arrogant, manipulative, selfish, and above all, fame hungry.

It was a thrill for me returning to the fake doc format because I find realism quite addictive. But if The Office reflected those quaint docu-soaps of the 1990s that followed ordinary people in ordinary jobs getting their 15 minutes in the limelight, Life's Too Short reflects the docs of today. Desperate, ruthless monsters living their lives like an open wound in search of another 15 minutes at any cost to dignity and decency.

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After I've answered this first question they've usually only digested the fact that it's "about dwarves." The second question is usually, "Are you worried that people will be offended?"

I don't know why anyone would ask that question? Is it because the central character is a dwarf? Or is it because they buy into this myth that I am a shock comedian?

Anyway, I'll answer the question.

I always expect some people to be offended. I know I ruffle feathers but some people's feathers need a little ruffling. And remember: just because someone is offended doesn't mean they're in the right. Some people are offended by multi-culturalism, homosexuality, abortion, atheism... what should we do? Ban all those things?

You have the right to be offended, and I have the right to offend you. But no one has the right to never be offended.

I never actively try to offend though. That's churlish, pointless and frankly too easy. But I believe you should say what you mean. Be honest. No one should ever be offended by truth. As a comedian I think my job isn't just to make people laugh but also make them think.

 

As a famous comedian I also want a strict door policy on my club. Not everyone will like what I say or find it funny. And I wouldn't have it any other way. There are enough comedians who try to please everyone as it is. Good luck to them, but that's not my game I'm afraid.

This is not a democracy. No art form is. I love the creative process and I love being a complete dictator when it comes to my work. It's my way or no way at all.

I'm quite Darwinian about it. I do my thing and I survive or I don't.

The next question is nearly always, "So where do you draw the line in your comedy?"

I'm not one of those people who think that comedy is your conscience taking a day off. My conscience never takes a day off and I can justify everything I do.

There's no line to be drawn in comedy in the sense that there are things you should never joke about. There's nothing that you should never joke about but it depends what that joke is.

Comedy comes from a good or a bad place. The subject of a joke isn't necessarily the target of the joke. You can make jokes about race without any race being the butt of the joke. Racism itself can be the butt for example. When dealing with a so-called taboo subject the angst and discomfort of the audience is what's under the microscope. Our own preconceptions and prejudices are often what are being challenged.

It comes back to honesty again. I don't like racist jokes. Not because they are offensive. I don't like them because they're not funny. And they're not funny because they're not true.

They are almost always based on a falsehood somewhere along the way, which ruins the gag for me. Comedy is an intellectual pursuit. Not a platform.

Usually when someone says I crossed the line, they mean the line they drew, not me.

Ricky Gervais wrote and directed Life's Too Short, alongside Stephen Merchant.

Life's Too Short begins on Thursday 10 November at 9.30pm on BBC Two.

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Publ.Date : Wed, 09 Nov 2011 12:17:40 +0000

Episode Zero & The Mice

Roger and Val Have Just Got In returned to our screens on Wednesday 8th February. Beth Kilcoyne co-wrote the show with her sister Emma, and stopped by to talk to us series two:

Beginning to write a second series of Roger & Val was like trying to get a swing-boat started: hard, which is why the man on the swing-boats gives you a push and you catch the rhythm with the rope. But there was no one outside: just me & Emma, not swinging, with 2 ropes. We began. It's a series about distraction: what do you do to get through? We decided to look at Roger being at home all day and focus his neurosis on the washing: "Val? I've got that stain out of your purple blouse" one unmemorable line I remember, as the Tribunal was pointedly ignored. We wrote and wrote, hour after hour, and got to the end, where the stain had come out of the blouse, but, hanging up to dry like a headless person, it gave Val a shock.

It was awful. Dreary. Dull. The characters didn't even sound like Roger & Val; they sounded like people doing an imitation of Roger & Val. I tried to be hopeful it had "just come out wrong", excusing myself with the fact that you can't CUT in R&V, and I'd forgotten the difficulty. But the next draft was even worse; they were now sounding labored, eg. Roger droning on that mozzarella cheese in a packet feels like a ganglion. Over-thought, turgid, flat-footed drivel, leading up to Val's decision to actually apply for the Deputy Headship and Roger opening his Tribunal mail. I couldn't understand why all of a sudden the show said nothing, apart from Roger thought the dirty clothes is an ideal environment for growing mushrooms.

At about this time my house got infested with mice; I saw one in the bathroom, which next day got caught in a trap, so I was hopeful it had been acting alone. No one would believe this if you put it in a script, but the day we handed in the first draft about the washing, I opened my own washer. There was a... thing on the rubber rim. All its fur had been hideously washed off but the tail was still on, grey, shiny, dead but for once clean, tufts of black fur skidded round it and no doubt in among my clothes, which I couldn't throw out because they were all my best ones. Aaaurrgh - visceral - on me. I didn't dare look for its eyes. I retched, and started hopping from foot to foot, stating the obvious but in a weird chant: "There is a mouse in the washer, mouse in the washer, a MOUSE!" to which my partner unwisely replied, "What's the matter? It's dead."

We really now had taken far too much time on this now-laboured Episode 1. On its final night I went to get fish & chips, in panic. When I sat down to eat, there was an alive mouse at the bottom of the stairs. It didn't even bother to run away and I didn't bother to react, because I knew what it had come to tell me: the script was awful. I just sat there, fish and chips slopping out of my exhausted, not-screaming mouth: rock bottom.

We started Episode 2 the next day, when Dave the fantastic Mouseman called to say he had solved the problem. This script wrote like a dream - zinging out from all over the place, free and alive, both characters wholly themselves, ideas toppling over each other to get in, and Val got shortlisted for the interview. Plus we introduced the over-arching story. "What a pity this can't be Episode 1 instead of that boring one about the washing" said my Mum. Of course, it was Episode 1; we had been writing Episode 0 - the characters before we got them going again. So I am grateful to that awful script now, dreadful as it was, because it was the push outside the swing-boat for Series 2. And I never saw a mouse again.


Publ.Date : Tue, 14 Feb 2012 13:30:00 +0000

Vexed is Back in Production

How about a bit of good news for the middle of the week? Yes? OK then - detective comedy Vexed has begun shooting the next series with stars Toby Stephens (Jane Eyre, Robin Hood, Cambridge Spies) playing D.I. Jack Armstrong, and Miranda Raison (Spooks, Merlin, Married Single Other) playing new character D.I. Georgina Dixon.

The show is being filmed in Dublin and will air six episodes later this year on BBC Two. This series is definitely one to watch with creator Howard Overman (Misfits) at the helm & episodes written by Chris Bucknall, James Wood, Steve Coombes and Harry & Jack Williams.

So, what's going on in series two I hear you ask? Well, D.I. Jack Armstrong has a new partner in the shape of D.I. Georgina Dixon. Armstrong is charming, disorganised and prone to laziness so it comes as no surprise that sparks fly when he's partnered with the ambitious and highly efficient Dixon. Jack's best friend, café-owner and ex-cop Tony (Roger Griffiths) and colleague Naz (Ronny Jhutti) complete the crime solving team. Episode one sees the duo tackle the murder of a cocky car salesman, but things are not quite as they seem.

Chris Sussman, Executive Producer for the BBC, said: 'We're very much looking forward to the return of Vexed. The second series promises to be just as much fun as the first, and with Miranda Raison joining Toby Stephens as new partner D.I. Dixon, we're hoping it's going to be all guns blazing.'

Jill Green, Executive Producer, Eleventh Hour Films added "In a recession we need shows that make us laugh, and that's where Vexed fits in - a perfectly distinctive 'yin yang' take on modern day life."

If you just can't wait for the next series to air, here's a clip from the last episode of series one:

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Publ.Date : Wed, 18 Jan 2012 12:00:00 +0000

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Updated : Thu, 23 Feb 2012 04:22:59 +0100

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Romantic Nappies of Love.
Publ.Date : Sat, 18 Feb 2012 09:49:07 +0100

Vulnerable man lauds volunteers who 'keep him going'
PHILIP Clarke, who has poor eyesight, has issued a heartfelt thanks to big-hearted volunteers who help him live his life.
Publ.Date : Tue, 21 Feb 2012 07:36:07 +0100

Baby born to male mother still of absolutely no interest to anyone except family
A MAN has given birth to a baby, forcing his friends to pretend to be interested purely out of politeness.
Publ.Date : Mon, 20 Feb 2012 09:59:42 +0100

Drought 'could make Mancunians take off anoraks'
BRITAIN'S impending drought could force Mancunians to remove their anoraks for the first time since 1990.
Publ.Date : Tue, 21 Feb 2012 08:40:51 +0100

Warren to launch pay-per-view press conferences
FRANK Warren is to charge home audiences £12 for all future boxing interviews.
Publ.Date : Mon, 20 Feb 2012 08:14:48 +0100

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It is, is it not, a scientific fact hat smoking causes lung cancer. Apparently not and once again we se there is no such thing as the science is settled. In a ruling that exposes the scientific method as simply building ad case that provides the amswer you wanted, a court judgement in Scotland shows that smoking cannot be identified as the cause of a case of cancer. This is a victory for smoking and the rights of smokers, a blow to the nanny state ...

Apprentice Speak
Talking bollocks is what Alan Sugar's wannabe apprentice has to be able to do. Here's a guide to talking bollocks for aspiring apprentices ...

Equal Rights Campaigners Not Christians Are Imposing Their Belief On Others

When head of the Euality and Human Rights Commission Trevor Phillips speaks we should termble. This nasty little race hustler is the de facto head of the thought police and sees his job as to stamp on racism, sexism, homophobia and anything else he and his cronies decide they are not going to tolerate. It is all in the name of tolerance of course, or divesity as Phillips would say. But how does telling people what they can and cannot think promote diversity?

115 European banks Face Downgrade As Germany And Greece Threaten Eurozone

Germany’s Wolfgang Schäuble is entering into ever more dangerous waters.

His outrageous demand that Greece should put off elections scheduled for April, and impose a junta of EU appointed bureaucrats and academics for another year without the involvement of Greek political paries PASOK and New Democracy, is gobsmacking in its arrgonce. Is this really

Older workers sidelined as jobs crisis deepens
It will not surprise many who read The Daily Stirrer to learn that official figures now acknowledge almost half of unemployed people aged 50 or over have been out of work for a year or more. This disturbing trend of marginalising older members of the potential workforce has been going on since the 1980s when Margaret Thatcher's government started to advise doctors to find trivial reasons to ...

Another Hollywood Actor Bids For Biggest Twat Oscar
Hollywood ac - tor and professional fuckwit Sean Penn has joined the attack-of-the Obama-felchers on Britain over the Falkland Islands. Penn called the Duke of Cambridge's deployment "unthinkable". The Daily Stirrer says the only unthinkable thing here is ...

UK Unemployment Rises Again as part time jobs increase.
Unemployment in the UK rose by 48,000 in the quarter to December 2011. The figure of people without jobs now stands at 2.67 million, a jobless rate of 8.4 per cent, the worst figure since the end of 1995. The number of people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance rose by ...

Greece Steps Closer To EU Exit The likelihood of Greece defaulting on its debt obligations a traumatic ejection from the European Monetary System ( Euro ) moved a step closer last yesterday as eurozone finance ministers called off a crucial meeting that was intended to negotiate the terms of the next bailout to the bankrupt nation. The Brussels (B)euro(c)rats accused Athens of failing to ... Eurocrats Are The New Bond Villains Where would you expect to find the latest generation of evil criminal masterminds intent on world domination? The Magma chamber of an extinct volcano, a floating island in a remote part of the Pacific Ocean, on an orbiting space station that thanks to a secret technology developed by mad scientists is invisible to radar, in and ancient temple hidden in the jungles of Borneo? All of these have been featured in thrillers written since World War 2. The plots of such stories don't have to be entirely believable so long as their milieu is feasible. If the novel ...

Government Intelligence A Contradiction In Terms
We learned today that HMRC is to target electricians for unpaid tax.Our sources in Whitehall say the taxman is using "a variety of intelligence sources" to target electricians who have not declared their full income. Now bearing in mind that HMRC (Her Majesty's Rrevenue and Customs are the same people who recently spent £8 million trying to recover ...

Why Secularists Will Not Admit Nobody Is Forced To Pray
When I posted a deliberately over the top rant about last wek's court case in which a leftie judge who knows less about law than he does about agenda driven politics ruled it was illegal to say ...

World Domination Club Slips Up
Looks like Greece, the cradle of democracy is about to throw the Euro - Nazi superstate baby out with the bathwater. There's a kind of poetic justice?…

Science, Certanties and Stereotypes

The left are always quick to accuse their opponents of stereotyping but when it comes to embracing certainties and applying stereotypes there is no political group worse than the left, which includes the supporters of politicised science and the miolitant atheists for stereotyping their opponents as a way to suppress views opposed to their own. ...

Will Government Defy Euro Nazis and Labour - sctivist judges and throw hate monger Abu Qatada out of Britain? The Government is still looking for ways to sidestep the ruling of the European Court of Human Rights and remove Muslim cleric from Britain Abu Qatada, the hatemongrering preacher whose sermons frequently incite hatred and call for terrorist attacks against British civilians. The possibilities being considered by coalition ministers include defying the legal ban imposed by ...

Greece Burns As Parliament Chooses EU bailout over democracy. The Greek parliament yesterday approved a austerity bill to secure a second $130bn (£110bn) bailout and avoid a messy default despite almost universal hostility to the measures that will be required by the EU. After a day of rioting and street battles between police and protesters which left Athens in flames the bill was passed by 199 votes to 74. The news triggered some of ...

Former Archbishop Of Canterbury George Carey says its time to remind ourselves Christians have rights too George Carey, former Archbishop of Canterbury, has warned there are 'dark forces at work in Western society' that are degrading the values of Christianity after a High Court ruling banned public prayers from council meetings ...

West Ham Sign A Thouand Tons Of Racial, Homophobic, Mother-beating, Football Trouble
We only learned yesterday (sports desk sleeping on the job again) that London club West Ham, almost on the deadline for transfer dealings signed one man crime wave Ravel Morrison from ...

Fascist Judge Should Be Taken Outside And Shot. In one of the most gobsmackingly biased politically motivated ruling ever to come from a leftie judge, a left wing piolitoical activist judge who should not even be on the bench because of his political bias ruled that ...

Greek debt deal, Greek taxpayers must stump up for Euro folly - Little Nicky Machiavelli
It seems the Euro has been saved at the expense of democracy and inndividual freedom again.
from The Daily Beast: Greek leaders on Thursday reached a deal for deep austerity cuts, a government official has confirmed. By enacting austerity cuts, Greece is now eligible to receive ...

More Climate Science Fraud Exposed: Himalyan Glaciers Are Not Melting
The Himalayas has lost no significant ice over the past decade, according to a new study, that found melting ice from glaciers is having a much smaller effect on sea levels than previously thought. Previous studies relied on physical measurements of ice caps and glaciers on the ground. It's ironic that people who have relied on high tech modelling techniques to conceal the reality of what is going on are now exposed (again) as crooks and liars by new high tech methods of measuring glaciers ...

Bank Of England To Print Money To Avoid Recession
Monetary policy policy-makers at Bank of England have unveiled plans to inject an extrat £50bn of stimulus money into the economy in an attempt to avert a second recession. Before we go on to look at how much harm this wil;l do there are one or two things that must be understood. When we talk about printing money in a modern economy it is not simply a question of buying paper and printing ink and setting up the presses ...

Greek trump card fails as stronger Europe shrugs off break-up threat
The European Union's strongest economies and institutions for the first time gave a clue that they are willing to risk a Greek default and the departure from the European Monetary System (EMS aka The Euro) if Athens refuses to comply with austerity demands. The governments and central banks calculate that the eurozone is now ...
Lay Off Our Adele, Limpdick.
Here at the Accrington end of the Boggart Blog operation we love Adele. She is a talented and original songwriter, has a wonderful voice and comes across as a really fun person who is not up her own arse. OK she's not a bag of bones like ...

U.S. Drones target aid workers and mourners at funerals.
Another "We Told You So" moment for The Daily Stirrer. We have reported many times that the Obama administration is interfereing in places where it has no business interfereing all around the middle east and east Africa. "President" Obama announced with great fanfare and to rapurous cheering from his pseudo - liberal, crypto - Nazi supporters that in any conflict his administration would ...

Can The Euro Survive If Greece Leaves The Single Currency System?
Away with banners and air horns and out with batons and knuckleduster in Athens this afternoon as a wave of public protests agiants the EU imposed austerity measures and the hijack of Greeek democracy by European bureaucrats swept the country.. Greek police have been trying to disperse protesters with tear gas, leading to a few violent clashes outside parliament. Police say up to 8,000 people ...

Zombies Getting Back Together
Older punters may remember the Zombies, younger followers of Boggart Blog will perhps have heard their biggest hit "She's Not There" with singer Colin Blunstone straining his vocal cords to sing way above his natural range and behind him probably the greatest bassline in ...
Klondike 2: The Great Arctic Oil Rush
As the case for CO2 driven climate change continues to crumbe we start to look at how we can keep the wheels of our national economies going. Drilling for oil in the Arctic is a high risk activity but absolutely necessary

Shakespeare's Proud Loner and The Wisdom Of Crowds

Internet billionaires and trendy, fad following media pundits like to talk of the wisdon of crowds suggesting a mob can produce a better, more intelligent result that a small team of specialists. If we look at a few examples of the widom of cowds however we soon find things are not what they seen to be.

UN Veto On Military Action Against Syria Shames The West Says Hague
In yesterday's United Nations Secirity Council meeting Russia and China provoked international outrage for using the veto to block attempts to initiate military intervention by the west in Syria's internal affairs ostensibly to end the violence but really to bring about regime change. UK Foreign Secretary William Hague accused the two major military powers of ...[ War ]

Mrs Obama and the most expensive knickers in the world. The Currant Bun las week was full of news and comment about Mrs Obama going on a spending spreed in sexy undies shop Agent Provocateur that ended up with her spending £32,000 ($50,000) on sexy knickers. In one way this is hrad to believe. Why would the first lady lash out on ... [ more comedy and satire posts ]


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COMMENTS AND RECOMMENDED REA.DING AROUND THE WEB

In this section we do not necessarily support the views expressed in linked articles but try to give a coss section of interesting and well written articles that we think are likely to stir things up a bit.

COMMENT:
(A random and ecletic mix of what we thought was worth reading recently)

Obama's Budget Hints At More Wars By Proxy
Obama has laid out his priorities clearly in his 2013 federal budget – and defence is now at the bottom of America’s list. Of all federal agencies the Defense Department takes the biggest hit, even while Obama creates new government social programs and spends more on special interest payouts. In November Obama’s Defence Secretary ...

Government and Liberty
I was talking to a friend in California yesterday about the Obama administration’s latest assault on religious liberty — the “interim final rule” issued by the Department of Health and Human Services requiring all health plans, including those at Catholic institutions, to cover prescription contraceptives, sterilization, and ...

Barack Obama’s shameless Falklands betrayal will overshadow David Cameron’s Washington visit by Nile Gardiner, Daily Telegraph Does the Obama administration know the difference between Great Britain and Argentina? You wouldn’t think so, listening to the remarks of Roberta S. Jacobson, Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs. On a visit to Latin America, Jacobson was asked to comment on the growing tensions between Britain and Argentina over the sovereignty…

The Fiscal Multiplier Effect: Another useless economic theory Continuing my occasional series, another one which bugs me is the Multiplier Effect aka The Fiscal Multiplier or The Keynesian Multiplier. As the Wiki article says,: In general, the only thing that can be said with certainty is that "economists are in fact deeply divided about how well, or indeed whether, such stimulus ...

The High Tech Goldfish Bowl
We are living in a digital goldfish bowl and I can't quite bury my qualms says Deborah Orr. Ms Orr writes "I'd like to see a national, collective endeavour to protect individual privacy, because privacy confers a kind of freedom ..." Arab Spring: Islamic Militants Fooling The West
Since we can’t get good coverage of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood in the Western media, it’s necessary to turn to the Islamists’ intended victims — Arab liberals — to get a better picture. NowLebanon explains it all to you in an article on what it calls the “media blitz” of the Muslim Brotherhood and its politicians in the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP): ...

One Decent Jobs Report Does Not Make A Recovery
There are two reasons why President Obama rushed to the microphone on Friday shortly after the government’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released relatively good news (by recent standards) that the unemployment rate dropped to 8.3% in January, while the economy added 243,000 seasonally adjusted jobs. ...

Let's Learn From Libya Before We Get Involved In Syria
If we are not careful we are soon going to find ourselves getting into the same mess over Syria as we did in Libya. This time last year the clamour for a military intervention in Libya was gaining ground as forces loyal to Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi threatened to overrun the eastern city of Benghazi ...

India Disses UK Aid: 'More Importasnt To Donors Than Recipients'.
Congratulations to Rahul Bedi for putting into words what we all half-suspected: India neither needs nor wants UK aid. Such grants are outdated and patronising, he says, and encourage corruption. Indeed, Indians have ‘become so contemptuous of Britain’s contribution that they accept it merely to avoid causing the embarrassment’.

London Atheist And Secularist Societies Under Attack From Islamists
I know on occasions in the past I've asked you, dear readers and fellow bloggers to share something widely that needed wider exposure. Well this situation desperately requires that wider exposure and all the help we can provide, especially as the mass media are notably silent on the issue - very likely because of a self-censoring trend itself inspired by fear of what has befallen ...

Unemployment at 8.3% Still Leaves A Vast And Destructive Jobs Deficit Robert Reich, The Guardian
The most significant aspect of January's jobs report is political. The fact that America's labor market continues to improve is good news for the White House. But as a practical matter, the improvement is less significant for the American workforce.
President Obama's only chance for rebutting Republican claims that he's responsible for a bad economy is to point to a positive trend. Voters respond to economic trends as much as ...

Much Media Ado About Nothing What connects seemingly disparate works such as The Silence of the Lambs, Cape Fear, Mad Men, and Seinfeld? It is the philosophy of nihilism, first popularized by Friedrich Nietzsche in the late 19th century. But in the last few decades, how did it become the dominant worldview of Hollywood? Dawn Of The Ice Age Signals The End Of The Global Warming Scam Back then, the media and activists trumpeted the arrival of a new ice age, with the specter of ice sheets and glaciers covering half the northern hemisphere, and brutal winters in the remaining ice-free zones. The fact that the media and popular culture and academia have veered from one panic-inducing disaster scenario to another one which completely contradicts the first one is funny enough in its own right. But reading The Weather Conspiracy: The Coming of the New Ice Age opened my eyes to an even more significant aspect ...

Hundreds of Independent Bookshops Face Closure
Hundreds of independent bookshops could be forced to close unless local authorities do more to support them, a leading retail group has warned. The Booksellers Association (BA), which represents 3,500 independent bookshops across the UK, has written to almost 400 council chiefs urging them to do more to support their local high streets or risk ...

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