a pot boiler plot line

There was this Scotsman, who got advice about his ascendant future from a selection of cauldron stirrers. Along the way someone decided to have a pop at him, but he somehow got the upper hand and covered his tracks in the ensuing aftermath.

So his advisor comes up with another scheme. Amidst further carnage, the advisor also finally gives up the ghost but a few days later retribution is served.

I agree that the signonnow email plot has some holes

I'm intrigued that the plan to write the letter about Labour leadership seems to revolve around an email account. Using an example account such as signonnow@hotmail.co.uk would be a way to anonymise the letter ownership, but raises all kinds of other questions.

If the email address were to escape into the public domain {ahem}, it may need to be changed to prevent all manner of people sending things to it and perhaps getting back messages like this:

SMTP error from remote server after RCPT command:
host mx4.hotmail.xx.xx(xx.55.37.xxx]:
550 Requested action not taken: mailbox unavailable

ESMTP (Nemesis) id 0Mxx-1MC5rZ3rxP-111dLY;
Thu, 04 Jun 2009 06:02:54 +01:00

Of course, a more determined person might try other approaches, but just as likely are the people with technology to 'mute' or 'spam' the account.

So my guess is that there would be at least a couple of dummy accounts to attract all the unwanted attention, so that the real account or other record where people could write 'I agree' or send in copies of the pre-written letter was somehow unmolested.

This also assumes capabilities of MPs to send from a suitable recognisable email account to avoid ambiguity. Otherwise anyone with technical knowledge could send in mail header revised emails purporting to be from the relevant people.

I'll be interested to see the side commentary about Denial of Service attacks, Password Reset attempts and log searches for the chosen account over the next day or two, plus any thoughts of e-monitoring (by anyone from the State to the simply curious) or simply running google searches to see what turns up.

And come to think of it, "I agree" as a header is a fairly easy thing to filter.

In other news, Labour supporter Sir Alan Sugar visits 10 Downing Street today, amongst speculation that Gordon is seeking extra advisors to support the Cabinet...what is that Apprentice catchphrase?

brown election latest rumours

I should really be writing about something else today, but I can't help noticing that even the Scottish singing lady has been overshadowed by the Scottish talking man.

I see his current line is that we need to avoid chaos and keep the show on the road.

I may have a different view of chaos, so I suppose the small number of items I list below (last few weeks only), next to our illustrious leader (old photo, I'm afraid) officially do not constitute chaos.

Oh no.

economy deep in recession
factory closures
banking crisis
lawmakers' expense claims
tax money to pay MP accountants
snap resignations
individual Lords suspended
Royalty not invited to D-Day event
Cabinet resignations (Blears, Smith) before euro elections
Lords dosh for law change
bumper pensions for errant bankers
full salary and pension rights for ‘mistaken’ MPs
flipping houses to maximise expense claims
Speaker busted
lowest trust index ever for MPs
secret signonnow@hotmail.com plot to oust
meltdown(Telegraph), disarray(Independent), carnage(FT)

Feel free to reshuffle the deckchairs at will.

ejector seat parliament - who will be left?

Artwork time - rashbre 2009.
CAPTION: Parliament stretches and stresses against a June summer's day. Externally recognisable, but inner tension as a self-appointed leader fails to make appropriate decisions. Coverups continue but the pressure must release.

The ejector beckons escape and some salvage courage with the red button.

His strange smile feigns control but we are left to decide between substance or nothingness.

flipping chancellors? new balls, please...

News story generator. Use these words to make a political story. No special skill required.

flipping chancellor expenses
livid electorate buys political mascara
culpability
gordon's desperate measures
ed balls replaces darling
although unpopular
mandy goes foreign
after waiting 25 years
debacle
brown slurry
queen intervenes
?

sitting in the sunshine is good for chatter

Sometimes its fun to just sit in the sunshine and chat.

That was the basis of our Sunday after Jo & Andrew's occasion on Saturday.

Breakfast at the hotel. As an aside, I should count how many days away from home I've had this year so far. I noticed I was up to 28 flights since January the last time I looked on the BA site.

Then a leisurely pack and checkout from the hotel before heading to walk along the canal side and finally to arrive at the Rising Sun for a late lunch - sitting outside in the sunshine whilst various from the previous day's wedding party came and departed towards their various homes.

We stayed until late afternoon, chatting and occasionally watching a pair of buzzards swoop across the valley with the Mendip hills in the distance. Then a winding B road route back towards London where, for much of the route, we were the only car on the road.

Jo and Andrew's wedding pix

The main reason for the Cheltenham weekend!
Congratulations to Jo and Andrew - and these are my snaps from the occasion.

one for analysis

My work phone/blackberry accompanies me most of the time when I'm away from home, although I have a separate iPhone for 'social use'.

Of course with my two day escape for a short vacation, the work phone has been buzzing like a swarm of wasps. The problem with onesy-twosy holidays is that no-one else really cottons on that you're away and so all the work just stacks for return. I mainly resisted the temptation to answer the calls although the BLOCK CAPITAL SMS messages seemed to grab my attention.

In addition to the two phones, like many, I also attempt to keep some separation and filtering with the blog.

I've written ages ago about my own little rules when blogging about what can and can't make it into 'publication'. I'm also sure that anyone who reads a blog for a while could start to piece together aspects of a blogger's life and interest, which I'm sure is acceptable and in many cases encouraged.

Its like a Venn diagram of Work, Social and Self and a set of decisions about how much to disclose. It shouldn't really be a worry, because it assumes that any passing readership really has the time or inclination to join the dots - which mainly they don't.

So back to the phones...Next week, we are all being issued with new gadgets at work because the phone contract provider is changing and the old ones won't work. I had a choice of a replacement Blackberry or iPhone. My current 'personal' phone is already an iPhone, so I could theoretically simplify my life with a single device for both business and social.

But I've resisted.

I'm keeping the work phone separate.

I justify the easier typing of emails on a blackberry keyboard, but at the same time I know it is easier to keep a gap between business - world and rashbre central.

strozzi palace

Another interesting apartment for Thursday and Friday, as we travelled to Cheltenham prior to Jo and Andrew's wedding at the weekend.

Stupendous weather to help us enjoy the cafe society of central Cheltenham. Some last minute shopping before the weekend and a move to yet another hotel which was the base for the occasion.

In the meantime I was able to drift off towards Montpelier although the run of events has successfully prevented me from any other blog posts.

accidental and spontaneous profiterole consumption

I had to crawl out of bed extra early on this Bank Holiday morning and once more make my way to LHR T5 for another quick flit abroad. The roads were clear and I whisked through the check-in/security in about five minutes. I even stopped by the lounge to drink some Executive Coffee.

But I couldn't help thinking that I was all bizzed up on a day when everyone else was in their recreational garb. Of course, by the time I got to my destination, it was back to normal.

By this evening the thought that UK was having a day of stupendous sofa sales and blockbuster television talent show semi finals is just a distant concept.

So Bart and I headed off to a nearby open air bistro, where we cracked open some Cote du Rhone, dined and enjoyed some accidental profiteroles.

spinning through a sale dvd

Impossible to miss the 'Sale' signs spread across London yesterday, along with the nostalgic advertisements for just about everything.

I briefly succumbed, buying the DVD of "the Thick of It" upon which the current movie "In the Loop" is based. Spin doctored macho politics, describing a fictional Ministry of Social Affairs. Remarkable how many currently topical events get referenced, even MP expenses.

I missed the original series on telly, but it was a worthy £5 purchase for all six episodes of the original.

Apparently the makers were given enough money to make a single pilot episode but reasoned that if they filmed it very quickly they could get three episodes made within the original budget; slightly at odds with most real government situations.

If anything, current truths are proving stranger than the fiction.

i am welcomed back with tube, bus and road closures

Saturday's early morning cocktails supported overwhelming logic to stay at the Sanderson rather than crosstowning with limited direction finding faculties. The room was all a bit Philipe Starck, white box, stainless steel, electric voile curtains, deliberately offset bed and strange workout devices augmented with a ceiling landscape picture.

By proper morning the inadvertent jaunt to Berners Street seemed entirely logical, as did the very late breakfast considerately served until 11:30.

Then outside into everchanging London streets. Nearby Oxford Circus tube's big gates were pulled shut. Oxford Street had its usual roadworks. The easy 137 bus route to Sloane Square was cancelled because "A Night at The Museum 2" was sponsoring a pedestrian only day for the entire length of the shopping area.

Our simple resourcefulness found another route, but I feel sorry for the confused tourists arguing with the shouty man in the yellow jacket at the myriad non functioning bus stops.

I smiled to myself about this place called London.

hotel lobby