[blogfocus marathon] pre-hiatus bumper issue

Vale, Tin Drummer. Sadly missed and exhorted to reappear and grace us again with his frustrations and Dr. Who and cricket musings - maybe he'll post here next week, maybe not.

Blogfocus this evening is a bit different.

As you know and as I've been telling people ad nauseam, from Monday, June 18th to Friday June 29th, the blogger known as Higham has a hiatus but the long-suffering blog itself does not.

The Debonaire Baker's Dozen below have agreed to guest post when they're feeling creative and look what an august body of writers it is!

# The Last Ditch's erudite, if curmudgeonly Tom Paine, who, in his last post, wrote of the coming Blogpower extravaganza:

Ruthie Zaftig was there, practising transcendental meditation, as were Theo Spark, NotSaussure and Delicolor. After a long chat in my office (see pictures of us around my meeting table), Jeremy Jacobs finally arrived - providing a real psychological insight by his choice of avatar, a dark and brooding youth.

# The castigator of all that is rotten in the kingdom, Martin Kelly, who, in his last post, wrote:

And so Oleg Gordievsky, ex-KGB resident in London, one-time false wigs and beards model, all-round live rat and intimate of Boris Berezovsky who, along with the late Alexander Litvinenko, might have been up to good less than two years ago in making uncorroborated (and uncorroboratable) allegations against Romani Prodi, has been made a Companion of the Distinguished Order of St Michael and St George for "services to the security of the United Kingdom".

# The peerless "cross-me-at-your-peril" Trixy, who, in her 2nd last post, wrote:

Trixy is a bit miffed, so she's going to have a rant. Why am I so miffed? I hear you cry? Because of this greasy, orange, contemptible canker who has taken it upon himself to tell our defunct outgoing Prime Minister to 'ignore popular opinion in the UK'.

# The stunning Nobody Important's jmb, who, in her last post, gets into live blogging:

I had a lot of trouble coming up with something for this post ... I actually took my camera to the hairdresser's ... thinking I would take a photo of a wig in for service or the huge array of products for the beautification of hair. Still not inspired. Then this idea came into my mind ...

# One of the best and quirkiest writers going, Bryan Appleyard, who, in his 2nd last post, wrote:

Choosing the right - in every sense - breakfast cereal is a daily crisis for us all. Do we go for virtue - Kellogg's 190 per cent Vindaloo Bran with senna pods and plum concentrate - or vice - Nestle's Frosted Chocolate Bacon Nuggets with butter and beef dripping? I have, finally found the solution. John McCann's Steel Cut Irish Oatmeal is so much more than just food, it is an education.

# The inimitable [thank goodness] Devil's Kitchen, who, in his 2nd last post, wrote:

Look, government agencies are one of the very worst for encouraging the culture of "presenteeism"; if flexible working is such a very good idea then, instead of legislating, how about leading by example? I suggest that if this is such a wonderful idea, the state should introduce flexible working throughout all departments.

# The curmudgeonly and erudite Deogolwulf, who, in his last post, wrote yet another opaque fewtril:

Imagine, for a humble instance, being ideologically committed to the idea that there are in modern Britain millions of people living in poverty, and yet discovering that a third of such people are as fat as country-squires. One’s commitment demands that one still see them as poverty-stricken, whilst reality appears to mock the idea.

# That Lothario, Praguetory, who, in his last post, wrote:

Politics has such potential for humour as evidenced by Spitting Image, Yes Minister, The New Statesman and some of the gags over at Iain Dale's. Although making people laugh can be a huge political asset, being humourous involves taking risks and so it's not surprising that few politicians are known for their humour.

# The incomparably different Flying Rodent, who sometimes deigns to revisit earth with posts like this:

The nation is in shock this evening following the unexpected abdication of the Queens of The Stone Age. "It is with great sadness that I must announce that the Queens of The Stone Age have decided to step down," announced a Royal aide, reading from a prepared statement.

# Liam Murray, our ghost poster, who will return from the dead [but not at night].

# The Greek G-d, Mr Eugenides, who makes every word count, with typical Scottish expansiveness:

The new honours list is out, and to be honest it's a bit vanilla. I wonder whether the next one might not be a little more... lavender?

# The Croydonian, who, in a recent post, wrote, about Russia:

"The new provisions also forbid the use of weapons against visibly pregnant women, disabled people and minors unless they are armed and present a threat". So if one is none of these things and do not present a threat one's life is potentially forfeit? I would recommend that Tom Paine, James Higham and other bloggerati in the Rodina invest in walking sticks for when out and about.

# The always creatively designing Southern resident, Lord Nazh, who, commenting on the Blogpower Awards category where he polled remarkably well, wrote:

Unintentionally Humorous Post: This category should have been scrapped, people voted for who they wanted to win, regardless of humor [intentional or not] of said post).

Lord Nazh, incidentally, has started featuring a blog of the week [just under his banner] and it's live - I commented at Not Saussure through this facility today and will certainly think about this in terms of the Blogfocus in future.

Other blogging luminaries I have invited so far fell into these categories:

Agreed in principle but still thinking what to post

Chris Dillow

Invitations extended but yet to be taken up

Fabian Tassano, Zaftig, Reactionary Snob, L'Ombre, The Select, Imagined Community, Mutleythedogsdayout, Not Saussure and Westminster Wisdom

So, dear reader, if this is not enough to whet the appetite, then maybe the six or seven I'll add tomorrow will finally satisfy. If even half of these worthies post even once, what a bumper read is coming up in the next two weeks. Tom will have his hands full and I'll be missing a treat.

[republicans] an englishman's take

Vox Day makes the case for Ron Paul as the best of a poor lot:

But Thompson is merely a stylistic change. His policy stances are most similar to McCain, he's weak on personal liberty and abortion, and he supports the ongoing occupations. And if most Republicans realize that Thompson is not the next Reagan, most Republican commentators don't seem to have gotten that memo yet.

I made the comment that Ron Paul p--sed the Republican honchos off with that war stance, he's too old and he lacks a base, e.g. governorship, Thompson is ex-CFR which should exclude him immediately, Romney's changed his abortion stance to suit the climate, Giuliani doesn't seem to be grabbing non-New Yorkers and you can forget the others.

Seems to me that Clinton could have grabbed the anti-war vote and the White House but fudged on this and other issues.

[paternity] what we'd all half suspected

If you were to visit The Croydonian, who had just posted on, say, "Flying to Russia any time soon? Be warned", you might be forgiven for missing a small reader contribution by "some guy", who said ... (off subject) "Juicy front cover of die Neue Post [Smith's, North End]":

Prinz Harry - Versoehnung mit seinem Vater James Hewitt. [V* = reconciliation]

[memed again] wade through this lot

From Lady Macleod

What were you doing ten years ago?

24/7 with new girlfriend

What were you doing one year ago?

Arguing with the atheistic Indecent Left on Stephen Pollard's site, leading to me start up a blog

Five snacks you enjoy

I'm an unreformed chocoholic. The rest don't matter.

Five songs to which you know all the lyrics

Zero

Five things you would do if you were a millionaire

Set up something like Grameen, build that trimaran I designed, improve the flat/car to a small extent, invest the rest around the world.

Five bad habits

Push too hard when I can see something needs doing, dislike socializing except for one on one, spend too much time on the blog, can't think of others

Five things you like doing

That's a bit personal, i'n it?

Five things you would never wear again

Drag, Jason King kaftan, wig, pink hotpants, artificial hair on the chest, platform boots [not that I ever have done but a man can dream]

Five favorite toys

That's a bit personal, i'n it?

Tagged: A Young Conservative, Corporate Presenter, Havering On, In Search of High Places, Looking For a Voice .

[british royalty] tony nominates posh and becks

I can't see the problem:

Although still speculation, the thought of a Sir David Beckham, not to mention a Lady Beckham, is too much for some.

I disagree. Sir David and Lady Posh have a nice ring to them, don't you think? And how about Lord Osbourne, the Earl of Doherty, the Earl of Townsend and Sir William Wyman, to make up the new aristocrapy?

We could import our aristocrapy too. If it's good enough for DB to move to the U.S. as a tax exile, shortly before his crowning by Tony Blair, why can't Lady Paris, the Duchess of Spears and the Viscount Brangelina also join us?

Why stop there?

Likewise, there is some bemusement over informal talk of putting Beckham on the £20 note, a spot historically reserved for people such as the British monarch, or the economist Adam Smith.

And why even stop there?

Augustus Caesar became a g-d so I can't see why DB can't also be so crowned. After all, to the vast majority of UK youth, he already plays that role.

Seriously, I think you're misinterpreting Tony. He simply realizes that, having helped reduce Britain to Eu-Serfdom and Third World status, an aristocracy of the peacocks is more than appropriate.

The Churchills, Rhodes, Drakes and Disraelis, the scientists and men and women of actual achievement - they are part of a bygone world, another life we fondly remember.

[corruption] time means money

Ben is not amused.

Where does one start? This story's not new but it sums up the question succinctly:

"According to at least six bloggers, Microsoft has been sending out free top-of-the-line laptops pre-loaded with Vista as a 'no strings attached gifts'. This 'reward' for their hard work on covering tech in general is coincidentally right before the launch of Vista to consumers. To be clear, these weren't loans, they were gifts, and they were top-of-the-line Acer Ferrari laptops. Microsoft blogger Long Zheng broke the silence over the source of the freebies."

The question of corruption at a micro level is an interesting one. Imagine a little country where corruption is rife at all levels and when one sets up a business, one sets aside 10% of the establishment costs to pay both the local mafia and the police, who are interwoven anyway.

Cranking it down to an everyday level, imagine the police stop you for going 20kph over the limit. Today we were discussing that. One of my friends was dead against paying bribes in any shape or form.

"The moment someone pays up, then there is created an expectation of payment for the future and finally a culture of automatic payment on the least pretext."

This may be true but there is another side too, put by my other friend:

A self-employed man, on $30 an hour, finds himself pulled over by the police. His time/cost ratios are as follows:

Scenario 1

1] Writing out of the chit [20 minutes/$10]

2] Driving to the payment centre, waiting in the queue, paying and driving back [2 hours/$60]

3] Cost of fine itself [$30]

TOTAL COST $100 [money goes to the State coffers]

Scenario 2

1] Conversation [10 minutes/$5]

2] $20 slipped in with the licence

TOTAL COST $25 [money goes to the man, his wife and family]

Which is better to do?