:: GussetBLOG ::

:: Thursday, February 26, 2004 ::

Whip removed from Tory MP over race joke. This seems a lame punishment considering Ann Winterton seems to have graduated from the Duke of Edinburgh School of Diplomacy. Three years ago Iain Duncan Smith dismissed Ms Winterton from her shadow agriculture post after she told a joke about an Englishman throwing a Pakistani out of a train that ended with the line: "They are 10 a penny in my country."
Labour MP Peter Bradley commented, "Michael Howard does not need to go to Burnley to take on racists - he should stay at Westminster to fight racists in his own ranks. Ms Winterton is now a serial offender. One racist joke might be crass, two is bigotry. If the Tories want to reproject their party as a caring party, they should consider whether they really want someone like her representing their party."
It took some searching to actually find out what the "joke" was, turns out is was the horrendous shark related one I lowered myself to posting here a couple of weeks ago (umm, in the interest of reporting the social-political climate following the tragic incident).
Ms Winterton has refused to apologise or take back her comments but I am not so high and mighty and apologise now for any offence I may have caused and regret making the comment in the first place. There, I said it. I'm not proud.

The first ceremony for immigrants granted British citizenship is to be held on today. (nice diagram)
Here are the Home Office's notes to editors. Grammatical errors have been preserved for humour value. Number four seems to be the source of the accusations that this is just a publicity stunt.
1. The Home Office announced the date of the first citizenship ceremony and its plans for pilot classes of English and citizenship on 2 February 2004 (Home Office PN 048/2004).
2. The Life in the United Kingdom Advisory Group was set up to advise the Government on the best way of implementing the provisions of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 which requires prospective citizens to demonstrate knowledge of English, Welsh or Scottish Gaelic and of life in the United Kingdom.
3. The citizens will stand to swear or affirm the oath of allegiance to the Queen followed by the new pledge to uphold democratic values before processing onto the stage to meet His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, Mr Blunkett and Mr Lemmon. The Deputy Lieutenant Sir Neil Thorne will also be present.
4. His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales will present each new citizen with a certificate and a commemorative medal from the Borough of Brent before giving a welcoming speech. The citizens and audience will then invited to join in the singing of the national anthem by children from the Brent Youth Choir. The new citizens then joined dignitaries for a drinks reception.
5. The oath is - I, [name], [swear by Almighty God] [do solemnly and truly declare and affirm] that, on becoming a British citizen, I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second, Her Heirs and Successors according to law.
6. The pledge is - I will give my loyalty to the United Kingdom and respect its rights and freedoms. I will uphold its democratic values. I will observe its laws faithfully and fulfil my duties and obligations as a British citizen.
I like the fact you get the choice of either swearing by Almighty God or solemnly and truly declaring. Shame about all of the Royal waffle. Shouldn’t allegiance to a nice cup of tea be an alternative?

What the World Thinks of God. Ironically 71% of Americans questioned said they we’re willing to die for their God. Perhaps this is something they should stop and think about.
The UK is among most secular nations. Only 67% of Britons believe in God or a higher power and only 21% regularly attended a religious service. Are we even a Christian country still? How long before we have to take the step of declaring ourselves either a mixed faith or an atheist nation? This is one step in that direction: UK school kids to be taught atheism in religious classes. Nice.

Other stuff:

Microsoft's Tokyo offices raided

BBC Oscar quiz. I scored 9 out of 12 which isn't bad considering there were two audio questions I couldn't actually listen to.

:: Dan 26.2.04 [Arc]    ::
...