I have just driven home from my Monday morning 'swim 'n' gym' and was forced to listen to a leading member of the 'Stupid party'. I say, 'forced' because I was in my usual catatonic state of utter exhaustion, which follows my every visit to the sports centre, and was thus unable to find the energy to hit the 'Off' button. Theresa May is the shadow minister of, er, well, I can't quite remember all the subjects her portfolio covers, but it's a sort of dustbin of activities, almost all of which any decent government would leave well alone. I do remember that 'culture' was one of her headings.
Anyway, she was rabbiting on about the fact that Jack Straw, our Foreign Secretary (please don't laugh, it's rude!), has written to the cricket authorities asking them to exclude Zimbabwe from international cricket. According to 'Maybe-maybe-not', this was all too feeble and too late. The interviewer said that if she was so keen to stop English cricketers providing Mugabe with a cloak of respectability, why was she not also calling for British Airways to stop their service into Harare? This stupid woman simply ignored the question despite it being repeated to her three times. It's fair enough for an opposition spokesman to tweak the tail of a government, but you would hope that they would have the intelligence to be ready to deal with the obvious riposte.
The end result of Theresa 'Maybe-maybe-not's excursion on to the airwaves was to convince me, at any rate, that she was brain-dead and unfit to run a Parish council. But this was, of course, the same woman whose peculiar approach to politcs is to go round speechifying in public that her party is made up of nasty, horrid, selfish people whilst simultaneously aspiring to lead it!
The other lesson that any sensible politician would learn from this nonsense is to keep out of things that don't concern them. If various "muddy-metalled rascals" wish to go off and play games with those of a similar bent, then, provided we are not actually at war, let them.
Indeed, we broadcast both on the air, and via the web! Go to www.apr.org. My classical music show airs Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. cantral time (I have no idea what time that is in England).
Posted by: David Duff | Monday, 22 August 2005 at 18:36
For the benefit of readers completely mystified by that comment, I should point out that it comes from 'the other David Duff', my name-sake, who runs a classical and jazz radio station in Tuscaloosa, Alabama ('don'cha' just lurve those American names?')
I have logged in and listened to the station and I can recommend it highly. Truly, the web is a wondrous thing!
Posted by: David Duff | Tuesday, 23 August 2005 at 09:55