Scoville Units Unite » Private Eye http://agraham.org/blog reviews, rants and random chilli ratings Thu, 26 Aug 2010 17:37:36 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc Private Eye – ooh err missus http://agraham.org/blog/2010/01/25/private-eye-ooh-err-missus/ http://agraham.org/blog/2010/01/25/private-eye-ooh-err-missus/#comments Mon, 25 Jan 2010 17:38:28 +0000 Alan G http://agraham.org/blog/?p=587 This fortnights edition of Private Eye is quite good.

The two stand-outs for me though were the ingenuously fuelled letter about classical music with the quote the capital is positively stiff with magnificent organs.

The second is the large column with outrage that a comedian has been dumped from a festival, the comedian in question being Paul Merton, he who co-stars with Eye editor Ian Hislop on Have I Got News For You. This got as much disclosure as they look for when the Sun gives 5 star ratings to Fox films though which made me chuckle.

]]> http://agraham.org/blog/2010/01/25/private-eye-ooh-err-missus/feed/ 0 Private Eye errata http://agraham.org/blog/2009/04/02/private-eye-errata/ http://agraham.org/blog/2009/04/02/private-eye-errata/#comments Thu, 02 Apr 2009 19:40:13 +0000 Alan G http://agraham.org/blog/?p=336 Private Eye is a great magazine but they are famed for getting facts wrong.

The latest issue has x years since monarch succession law Brown wants to change, 14 years, time Brown waited before becoming prime minister unelected.

Now whilst strictly true, it is certainly misleading. Gordon Brown was not elected as Prime Minister, the implication is that this is unusual. But neither was any other Prime Minister. Ever.

The most recent example of a situation identical to Brown is John Major. After Thatcher was ousted, he was made Prime Minister on 28 November 1990 and did not call a general election until 9 April 1992.

Unsurprisingly the Tory rags ranting about Brown being unelected did not make the same argument back then!

After a General election the monarch asks the leader of the party with the most MPs to form their government.

Should the accept, as they generally do, they go on to form a government and a cabinet.

It is therefore possible that Labour can have the most MPs elected. Their leader, who is not an MP becomes Prime Minister and then forms his Cabinet out of a load of Lords and Bishops on the Privy Council – none of whom were elected either.

So, the premise is made: this Prime Minister is not elected so that is not democratic.

The other one: no Prime Minister is elected so that is not democratic, is not made.

The conclusion: we don’t live in a democracy, but an oligarchy, is not drawn either.

]]> http://agraham.org/blog/2009/04/02/private-eye-errata/feed/ 0 Link: spEak You’re bRanes http://agraham.org/blog/2008/11/27/link-speak-you%e2%80%99re-branes/ http://agraham.org/blog/2008/11/27/link-speak-you%e2%80%99re-branes/#comments Thu, 27 Nov 2008 20:59:34 +0000 Alan G http://agraham.org/blog/?p=69 process->output diagram with Daily Mail as the input this is your best bet. My favourite has to be the EUrophobe [...]]]> spEak You’re bRanes is the excellent site which pokes fun at the paranoid, dangerous, delusional and the daft who inhabit the BBC Have your say comment section.

If ever you need to complete the input-> process->output diagram with Daily Mail as the input this is your best bet.

My favourite has to be the EUrophobe who rants about the metric temperature measures. The other excellent parody of this section is the From the message boards section in Private Eye

]]> http://agraham.org/blog/2008/11/27/link-speak-you%e2%80%99re-branes/feed/ 0