Reasons to be cheerful
THE RUMOURS OF MY DEATH HAVE BEEN SLIGHTLY EXAGERATED
Sorry I haven't been around for a while (about six months). Right after Christmas, Special Branch finally caught up with me. I was detained under the 1984 Anti Thought Crime Act, held for 28 days without charge while they forced me to watch Big Brother night and day, then handed over to CIA custody before being transferred to a secret prison somewhere in Eastern Europe. I was constantly tortured and subjected to brainwashing techniques for months before escaping, stealing a helicopter and making my way back home. I'm now writing this blog from my secret hideout in the basement of the Town Hall annex in Manchester. Actually, the above is a tissue of lies - a product of the over-heated imagination of a frustrated under-achiever. In actuality, I ran into some severe problems employmentwise which led to a series of financial dominoes toppling, which in turn led to a billing dispute with my ISP, which led to me losing internet access for a while. The good news is that the employment situation is now sorted, which means I can now pay my bills. Normal service will now be resumed - assuming I have any readers left at all, that is. ;-)
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Another one bites the dust!
There's been a bit of good news today. Abu Musab al-Zarqawi - jailbird, mass murderer and al-Qaeda leader in Iraq - has been flushed down the sewer of history, care of some HE justice delivered by the USAF, in what seems to have been a very well planned and executed operation. As a bonus, they seem to have got some of his henchmen, too. According to the BBC, there was a series of raids on al-Qaeda safehouses in the area at about the same time, which can't have been good news for the bad guys.
A bloodthirsty psychopath with a talent for attracting losers of a similar ilk, not only did Zarqawi dedicate his existence to the anti-life philosophy of radical Islam, but he gave every appearance of revelling in violence. I can't imagine that there will be a single right-thinking person anywhere in the world who will be glad to see him gone.
How will it affect the war? It'll go on, there's a long way to go yet, but the bad guys have just taken a serious blow. With a bit of luck it might even trigger off a power struggle among Zarqawi's surviving leuitenants - terrorist groups are usually prone to internal feuds, and if a few of these goons knock each other off that's all to the good. Even without that happening, it's good news for those of us who want a successful outcome to this war, and especially for the people of Iraq.
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Good Bye Blunkett!
Sometimes, just sometimes, life gives you a pleasant surprise just when you need it. Arriving home just after 6.00pm after a day of wasted journeys and ****ing Christmas shopping, I switched on the telly and heard the joyful news that Big Blunkett has resigned his job as Home Secretary! Just what I needed to brighten my day. It's a pity the issue he resigned over was relatively trivial (fast-tracking a visa application) as opposed to his various crimes againgst British freedom (including, but not limited to, the Civil Contingencies Act, the Brocock ban and ID cards) but I'll take what I can get. The important thing is he's out. I'm not saying he might not slither back into another ministerial job at some point in the future - he is, after all, a friend of Emperor Blair - but for the time being we don't have to put up with the sight of his ugly, bigotted face on the evening news.
Good riddance Blunkett, you were a terrible Home Secretary and you're a despicable human being. You won't be missed.
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Rejoice! Yasser Arafat is dead at last!
It's not all bad news in the papers. Today it was announced that after an illness lasting several days, the dictator and terrorist Yasser Arafat finally snuffed it.
This is an ex-terrorist. He has ceased to be.
The news says thousands of Palestinians have been gathering to mourn the departure of their "great leader". No doubt. I'm sure there will be a lot of other Palestinians celebrating in private - far too dangerous to do that in public, considering the sort of thugs that Arafat employed as a police force. He ruled his little statelet like a fudal baron and maybe - just maybe - the Palestinian people are now a small step closer to getting the sort of leadership who can offer that troubled country a free and peaceful future.
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