Is the Queen racist?

The Queen doing a Hitler salute?

WHY WHY WHY has the Queen invited Nick Griffin to her Garden Party, when she refused to host Robert 'Slasher' Mugabe the other year? (If you want to see the link, click HERE or if you are too lazy, I've pasted it below).

Just because Mr Griffin is an MEP does not mean that the Queen has to extend the royal glove of welcome to a notorious fascist whose respect for the Commonwealth only barely extends to a grudging tolerance of Canadian and Australian bartenders (provided that they don't have Aboriginal blood and that they leave these shores after a few years).

It also irritated me that Margaret Hodge (Labour) who was quoted in the BBC story said that it was sickening that Griffin had accepted the invitation! GROW SOME BALLS Hodge!!!! You can't blame the man for accepting an invitation - blame the Queen! After all, she invited him! As our monarch she is meant to be on the side of the people and of the Commonwealth. If Griffin were in number 10, there wouldn't be any Commonwealth nations represented in England. Say what you should say, Hodge, not indulge in Establilshment suck-upism. It's pathetic. And so is the invitation to a man whose historic links with Combat-18 have been well documented.

One would hope that Prince Phillip would be rude to Griffin, but one also suspects he would find much in common, not least a lack of respect for fat kids and 'slitty eyed' students (cf Prince Phil's best Verbal Gaffes

No doubt Prince Harry will don his famous party costume to give the man a warm welcome. No wonder we can't blame the kid for his lack of taste/respect when his own grandparents seem to forget the war. King George VI would be rolling in his grave.

So what can we hope for? That the Queen will give him the cold shoulder as she refuses to pass the ham sandwiches? Or that Prince Charles will throw an organic turkey at his head? I am hoping that Princess Anne will kick him in the gluteus maximus with one of her hooves.

ENDS

Read The BBC Story Here:

British National Party leader Nick Griffin has been invited to attend a garden party at Buckingham Palace this summer, royal officials have confirmed.

He received the invitation in his capacity as a member of the European Parliament (MEP) - all UK MEPs are asked as a matter of course.

Mr Griffin was set to attend a similar party last year but pulled out after an outcry over his possible appearance.

A Labour MP has described the idea of Mr Griffin attending as "sickening"

Mr Griffin failed in his attempt to win a seat at Westminster in last month's general election and the party's share of the vote fell sharply compared with its performance in European elections a year earlier.
'Stunt'

British MEPs get tickets to one of three royal garden parties held every summer. Buckingham Palace confirmed that Mr Griffin had been invited but did not say to which of the events.

It is understood the BNP leader asked for three additional tickets for guests which he has been granted.

Labour MP Margaret Hodge, who defeated Mr Griffin at the election, said she was dismayed at the prospect.

"It sickens me that Nick Griffin has used his position as an elected representative to secure an invitation to Buckingham Palace," she said.

"The best way to deal with the BNP is the way we dealt with them in Barking & Dagenham, which is to beat them at the ballot box."

Although Mr Griffin was not an MEP at the time, he was invited last year as a guest of BNP colleague and London Assembly member Richard Barnbrook.

The possibility of him being present prompted widespread criticism, with London Mayor Boris Johnson saying the BNP leader would use the event as a "political stunt".

Mr Griffin said he could have secured a "great deal of publicity" by attending but had decided against it - although he described political reaction to the issue as "hysterical".

The BNP, which has two MEPs, is accused of stirring up racial hatred but the party says it is standing up for Britain's "indigenous population".

It has campaigned for an end to all future immigration and for the "voluntary resettlement" of non-white British citizens to their country of ethnic origin.

BP oil spill: Don't sell shares in a panic

BP oil spill - cleaning up pelicans

A dying seagull off the Gulf of Mexico

BP oil spill, dead pelicans, fat Floridans unable to swim. Yes it's awful and should have been cleaned up by now.

The ecological price that the planet is paying for the price of BP being unprepared is enormous. I'm not decrying that, before some left-wing eco-warriors start hunting me down and throwing organic fava beans at me.

I know that, together with that Icelandic volcano still chunking out ash, we're having a grand old time of cleaning up the water and the atmosphere and it looks like we're fighting a losing battle - the more we clean up the Gulf Oil spill and the ash cloud, the fact remains that China and India are blowing out carbon and polluting the Yellow River until it runs green with toxic waste.


Gulf of Mexico seen from the air


But I'm not here to preach a green message - go to The Ecologist for that. This is mostly a financial blog. So pay heed: despite worries of a slide in the FTSE on the back of uncertainty over BP, there is no need to panic.

Don't be a nancy and start fire-selling your shares in petroleum. Take out some options or covered warrants in BP to provide yourself a cushion on the downside, and ride out the storm. Remember - long-term prospects for oil:

Lack of supply (even less, now) = more demand.
More demand = higher share prices.

Woman changes name over Thomas Cook dispute

From the news today, courtesy of Associated Press:

An angry holidaymaker has changed her name by deed poll because of a dispute with the travel agent Thomas Cook.

Austin Kettle from Ipswich changed her name to 'Mrs Lorraine Darla I Hate Thomas Cook And Its Associates Big Shot Company Treading On The Little Guy Leeks' after a row with the company.

The 26-year-old bride-to-be took the drastic action after being told that she would have to pay a fee to change her surname on the booking for her honeymoon.

Austin had made the booking under her future married name - Mrs Leeks - and was later told it would have to be changed because it did not match the maiden name on her passport.

When Thomas Cook told her she would have to pay a fee to make the amendment, she decided to change her name in protest.

Speaking about the name change, she said: "At first I was a bit upset but it was just a bit of a crazy moment and I decided to do it. I think my fiance thinks I'm crazy. The amusing thing is my fiance will have to say my new name during the wedding ceremony."

A spokesperson for Thomas Cook said: "All customers are advised that the name on their booking must match the name on their passport."

Mermaid comment:

Numpty. Austin Kettle? Should have changed that by deed poll many, many years ago.

Oranges and lemons

So the government is removing child trust funds, proposing high CGT penalties on investors and failing to keep inflation at target levels while interest rates remain subbornly low.

And yet it still tells us that it is committed to protecting and encouraging the 24 million savers in this country?

If it weren't so laughable, this Janus-faced, double-handed political backtracking would send me so crazy I'd have to emigrate to a more sensible country to calm down.

Such as Canada, where interest rates are rising, quality of life is, on average, improving, and there are natural gold and oil resources. Admittedly, the beer is pretty noxious and there are some dodgy neighbours to the south, but there always has to be a thorn on every rose.