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Thursday 16 June 2011

Today's show 16/06/11

10:40 and your web page is giving us a tantalising preview of what you are going to discuss today: Jeremy discusses government economic policy and tax cuts, Greece on the brink of collapse, inappropriate text messages and a man who shot his own finger off to remove a wart.

So, where is Ed Miliband?

While you droning on about streaming in schools yesterday I was watching Prime Minister's Questions. This was made all the more entertaining by Mr Miliband's attack on Mr Cameron concerning payments to cancer sufferers. Some would say that Miliband had a point, while others would say that it was a cheap "card" to play to gain attention. While Cameron's performance was not one of his best, the use of all six PMQs allocated to Miliband did nothing more than labour the point excessively according to some. I thought he was going to burst a blood vessel. What was puzzling though was Miliband's frequent references to Macmillan Cancer Research specifically, followed immediately after PMQs by the appearance of Mike Hobday from Macmillan on SkyTV within minutes. That'll be the Mike Hobday who used to work for the Labour Party and stood as a Labour candidate in the last election. It makes me wonder if Macmillan are happy with this blatant politicising of the fantastic work that they do, but apparently this is of no interest to you today.

Ed Miliband's day didn't get any better as he conducted a Twitter Q&A session from 5pm (http://edmiliband.org/2011/06/14/ed-miliband-webchat-on-twitter-wed-15th-may-5pm-askedm/
). This has been covered heavily in the Dead Tree Press today:
Telegraph:
Spectator:
The BBC's favourite, The Guardian:
And your favourite, the Daily Mail:
I monitored this and noted the way he managed to answer questions that had not been asked, and didn't answer the questions that had been asked, such as:
 - If you give a speech, but nobody cares, do you make a sound?
 - Was Brutus an Honourable Man? Discuss
 - Exactly what sort of socialist lives in a £1.6 million house?
 - If a train leaves Paddington at 11:36, carrying 200 commuters, what time will the RMT bring it to a standstill?
 - If Buzz Lightyear doesnt think he’s a toy then why doesn’t he speak when humans enter the room?
 - Do you feel bad about stabbing your brother in the back?
 - Will you be firing the person who suggested this?
As a former guest on your show, I continue to feel that you should give him some support. How much worse can it get? Again, apparently this is of no interest to you today.

So let's remind ourselves of what is...

1) PUBLIC SECTOR STRIKE - With hundreds of thousands of teachers, civil servants and public sector workers set to strike over pay and pension conditions. Do strikes still work in the 21st Century and when was the last time you supported a strike? : In answer to your questions: As a self-employed sole-trader I have given this some considerable thought and have concluded that, unfortunately, going on strike would not actually benefit me. I think I honked my car horn once during the 1978 fireman's strike. Does that count as support? Next...

2) ECONOMIC POLICY - Labour Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls says the government economic policy isn't working. What we need are tax cuts to kick-start the economy : Oooohhh.... "Ed Balls is coming in", you said. Some questions for Ed:
 - How does the abolition of the 10p National Insurance rate relate to his suggested tax cuts?
 - How does he explain the fall in unemployment announced yesterday?
 - When is he going to knife Ed Miliband in the back?
Not that I'll be listening, of course. Next...
 
3) CONGRESSMAN ANTHONY WEINER - An American Congressman is at the centre of a scandal, which involved sending inappropriate text and email messages to several women. We look at why the 'affair that doesn't involve sex' can be just as devastating to the injured party : Just to be clear, is this the same story that first appeared on or around the 7th June? That was OVER A WEEK AGO. Not exactly "first with the news" stuff, is it Jeremy? Next...
 
4) WART REMOVED BY SHOTGUN - Finally, Shaun Murphy from Doncaster used a shotgun to remove an irritating wart on his finger. He took off his finger and was found guilty of possessing an illegal firearm. Outside the court, he said he was happy with the verdict and "The best thing is, the wart has gone." Find out more in this Telegraph article : Yeah, whatever. And he didn't even qualify for a Darwin Award. Shame.

Hang on ... what happened to "Greece on the brink of collapse"? I can only assume that they have solved their problems as a man with a wart is more important.

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