Wednesday, 29 February 2012

Stu Hall's Letters From Canada #2

Boris Johnson on Crack


Rob Greenback Ford
In May 2008, Londoners voted for Boris Johnson to become their mayor and in December 2010, the people of Toronto voted for Rob Ford to become their mayor. It seems that on both sides of the Atlantic, on the other side of a couple of fences, there was a hell of a lot of green grass.
There are similarities between the two mayors. They were both voted in because people were apathetic to their predecessors, but the main similarity is that they are both buffoons. In appearance, Toronto mayor Rob Ford shares a striking resemblance to both the arch nemesis of Danger Mouse, Baron Von Greenback, and to the James Bond Villian, Goldfinger.
Both mayors can be infantile, although in the childishness stakes, Rob Ford comes out on top. His brother, Doug Ford, also works in government and is not afraid of wading in with his massive mouth like he is auditioning for some angsty playground confrontation scene from Waterloo Road.
Everyone in Toronto would like subways. But, if they had the option, everyone in Toronto would also like to skip through Homer Simpson’s Chocolate Fantasy Land in place of their daily commute. Ever since someone lost all the money in the world, most people accept that both options are equally irresponsible. Except Rob Ford (and Doug). He wants subways, and he resists answering questions from the media. He literally stands at conferences and repeats “Tax-payers want subways, it’s what tax-payers want, it’s all about subways”. Jeremy Paxman would wring his fucking neck.
As a compromise, most TAX-PAYERS and the city council want a light railway like the London Docklands. But... Rob Ford repeats his mantra, “TAX-PAYERS WANT SUBWAYS, nah-nah-nah, I can’t hear you!

Rob Ford has been arrested for possession of marijuana
Accused of fighting a student American Football player
Accused twice of driving whilst using a mobile phone
Called three councillors “two steps left of Joe Stalin
Called an opponent a “gino” (an ethnic slur against Italian-Canadians)
Said “I don’t understand a transgender, I don’t understand, is it a guy dressed up like a girl or a girl dressed up like a guy? And we’re funding this for, I don’t know, what does it say here? We’re giving them $3,210?
Avoided attending Gay Pride
Was ejected from an Ice Hockey arena by security after swearing at a couple
Suggested that women get AIDS by having sex with bi-sexual men
When a TV presenter from a satirical news show tried to interview him in his drive, he called Police 3 times and swore at the operator when police were not forthcoming
Said that “Those Orientals work like dogs” (“orientals” is politically incorrect in North America and so is calling people dogs).
Said "my heart bleeds for them [cyclists] when one of them gets killed... but... it's their own fault"
Boris Johnson looks like a tit on his Have I Got News For You appearances, gets locked out of his home by his angry wife right in-front of the media as he returns home from a jog, misses several times when he shoots at a basketball hoop (again, before the press) and talks nonsense about bendy-busses. Basically, he is cuddly and cute even when he is patronising the people of Papua New Guinea for living lives of "bourgeois domesticity". Can we have him please?

Saturday, 25 February 2012

Stu Hall's Letters From Canada #1

Hello sir! Your regular host, Ian, has invited me to guest post on his blog. It didn’t take me long to accept his offer and begin writing about Canada, where I have been living since 2007. You see, before I moved here, I knew bugger all about Canada. The only Canadians I knew were Terrance and Phillip from South Park. I was genuinely surprised to learn that, when Canadians speak, the top halves of their heads don’t really flap around. While you might not be as ignorant as I was, I’m just going to go ahead and assume you are. British people seem to believe a number of stereotypes about Canada, but let me set them straight. It doesn’t snow all the time, just enough to raise the all-important suicide rate. Not all Canadians are nice people. For example, most Torontonians would kill you if it meant getting your seat on the bus. Canadians don’t go around saying “Eh?” as they emerge bleary-eyed from their igloos. No, they say it as they emerge bleary-eyed from the bar. Or the local coffee shop, for that matter.


 Coffee brings me on to things that are actually true about Canadians. They love coffee. Instead of a newsagent on every corner, Canadians have a coffee shop on every corner. Ok, that's kinda true of Britain, too. But in Britain, they are Italian-style places that require a credit check just to make a purchase. Canadian coffee shops require a few quarters and a liberal sprinkling of pocket lint. If you want to catch a Canadian, you could do far worse than by setting up a trap using coffee as bait, or better yet, microwavable macaroni and cheese (“Kraft Dinner”). They’re obsessed with that shit, and I’m yet to work out why. I suppose it’s the Pot Noodle equivalent: “It’s dirty, and you want it”. All Canadians apologise for Bryan Adams and Alanis Morissette. 


I hope you enjoyed dipping your toe into Canada, or at least my warped impression of it. It’s ironic that I have written about stereotypes, because if you choose to continue reading my posts, what will become apparent is that Canada is not that easy to pin down. The only constants about Canada are that it is a massive, massive place and Canadians.... really love coffee. I don’t want you to think I’m winging this, especially with Ian paying me so much to write here. It’s not like I don’t have any ideas (I have at least two more ideas for columns about Canada that came to me during a feverish dream), but if there’s a Canadiana based topic you would like to hear about, leave a comment and let me know. 


 @stuhall writes sporadically at http://www.stuhallwrites.com

Rupert Murdoch Ate My Soul

Tomorrow sees the launch of the Sunday edition of The Sun, Britain's biggest-selling right-wing scaremonger. Here, we have an exclusive preview of this historic, um, thing.


To avoid claims of right-wing bigotry, in the centre pages you'll find a copy of socialist newspaper The Morning Star. It's a bit like a politically unstable Whizzer & Chips. To add to the fun, contributors of the rival newspapers will 'raid' the other, just like Sid's Snake and Shiner used to do.

To help the smooth transition, old favourites are on hand. Sort of. For example, here's new resident astrologer, Mystic Beks:

Who is this mysterious woman?
And, of course, there's Hagar the Horrible. But, in a special clause, News International are given free reign to localise it to suit their British audience:


The Sun on Sunday: evil incarnate, now seven days a week.

(Seriously, please don't be fooled into thinking that tomorrow's newspaper is a collector's item, just as the News of the Screws's final issue wasn't. Yet people still bought it. Do not help this man and his vile rag succeed. I thank you.)

Saturday, 31 December 2011

2011 Ends With Dignity

I wish you all a fantastic 2012. Thanks for reading over the past year (even the quiet months, which I'll be telling you all about soon), and promise to be slightly less doom-laden in the coming year.

Except if those fucking Mayan prophecies are actually true.

Happy Nude Year, one and all!

Yes, even you.
x

Finally... Shit Britons 2011 Part 3!

Hi there. Welcome back from Xmas hell.

Here's the third and final part of the Shit Britons 2011 results video, where Skeletor has formed a coalition (of doom) with David Cameron...




If you missed them, here's parts 1 and 2. I might edit them into 1 video when I can be bothered.




Anyway, thanks for voting David Cameron as the worst person Britain has ever produced. We'll see who wins when we run the vote again during the summer of 2012. See you then!

Sunday, 25 December 2011

It's Chriiiiiiiiiiiiisssssstmaaaaaaaaaaas!

Sod the calendar. Time for this year's festive tale of misery and woe. With apologies (and two fingers up at) Dr Seuss...

The George Who Stole Christmas
Every Brit
Down in Brit-ville
Liked Christmas a lot...


But George Osborne,
Who lived in his ancestral pile,
Did NOT!


The prick hated people! No matter the season!
Now, please don't ask why. No one quite knows the reason.
It could be that his head wasn't screwed on quite right.
It could be, perhaps, that his arsehole’s too tight.
But I think that the most likely reason of all
May have been that his heart was two sizes too small.


But,
Whatever the reason,
His heart or his arse,
He stood there on Christmas, hating the lower class,
Staring down from his mansion with a sour, evil frown
At the warm lighted windows below in their town.
For he knew all the scum down outside of his gates
Were stinking and poor, the things that he hates.

"And they're hanging their stockings!" he snarled with a sneer.
"Poundland must be empty this time of the year!"

Then he growled, with his fat fingers nervously drumming,
"I MUST find a way to keep Christmas from coming!"
For, tomorrow, he knew...

...All the scummy girls and boys
Would wake up bright and early. They'd rush for their toys!
And then! Oh, the noise! Oh, the noise! Noise! Noise! Noise!
That's one thing he hated! The NOISE! NOISE! NOISE! NOISE!


Then the bastards, young and old, would sit down to a feast.
And they'd feast! And they'd feast!
And they'd FEAST! FEAST! FEAST! FEAST!

With shoplifted chickens, potatoes and ducks,
The Tesco Value devouring fucks!

And THEN
They'd do something he liked least of all!
Every one of the scumbags, the tall and the small,
Would stand close together, with Christmas bells ringing.
They'd stand hand-in-hand. And the oiks would start singing!

They'd sing! And they'd sing!
AND they'd SING! SING! SING! SING!

And when George thought of the disgust the penniless bring
The more the shit thought, "I must stop this whole thing!
"Why for forty-some years I've put up with it now!
I MUST stop Christmas from coming!
...But HOW?"


Then he got an idea!
An awful idea!
THE CHANCELLOR
GOT A WONDERFUL, AWFUL IDEA!


"I know just what to do!" The toff laughed in his throat.
And he made a quick Santy Claus hat and a coat.
And he chuckled, and clucked, "What a great posh trick!
"I’ll ruin their lives because they make me sick!"

"All I need is a reindeer..."
The twat looked around.
But since reindeer are scarce, there was none to be found.
Did that stop the old bastard...?
No! The evil Chancellor said,
"If I can't find a reindeer, I'll make one instead!"
So he stole Blunkett’s dog. Then he took some red thread
And he tied a big horn on top of his head.


THEN
He loaded some bags
With a huff and a tut
On a ramshakle sleigh
And he hitched up old the mutt.


Then the twat said, "Move it!"
And the sleigh started down
Toward the homes where the oiks
Lay a-snooze in their town.

All their windows were dark. Quiet snow filled the air.
All the oiks were all dreaming sweet dreams without care

When he came to the first house in the square.
"This is stop number one," The old fucker hissed
And he climbed to the roof, empty bags in his fist.

Then he slid down the chimney. It proved to be tight.
But he was determined to spread misery and blight.
He got stuck only once, for a moment or two.
Then he stuck his head out of the fireplace flue
Where the little oik stockings all hung in a row.
"These stockings," he grinned, "are the first things to go!"


Then he slithered and slunk, with a sneer most unpleasant,
Around the whole room, and he took every present!
Pokémon cards and a PSOne game!
Second-hand shit he stole without shame!
And he stuffed them in bags in a Christmassy farce,
Stuffed all the bags, the upper-class arse!

Then he slunk to the fridge. He took the oiks’ food!
Fish fingers and nuggets, how terribly rude!
He cleaned out that fridge as quick as a flash.
He didn’t want it or need it because of his cash!


Then he stuffed all the food up the chimney with glee.
"And NOW!" grinned the Chancellor, "I will stuff up the tree!"

And George grabbed the tree, and he started to shove
When he heard a small sound like the coo of a dove.
He turned around fast, and he saw a small brat!
A guttersnipe child in a Santy Claus hat.

George had been caught by this little oik child
And wondered if the police had been dialled.

She stared at the toff and said, "Santy Claus, why,
"Why are you taking our Christmas tree? WHY?"

But George did a thing he was good at, though sick,
He thought up a lie, and he thought it up quick!
"Why, my sweet little tot," the fake Santy Claus lied,
"There's a light on this tree that won't light on one side.
"So I'm taking it home to my workshop, my dear.
"I'll fix it up there. Then I'll bring it back here."


And his fib fooled the child. Then he patted her head
And he got her a drink and he sent her to bed.
And when the oik child went to bed with her cup,
HE went to the chimney and stuffed the tree up!

Then the last thing he took
Was the log for their fire.
Then he went up the chimney himself, the old liar.
On their walls he left nothing but hooks, and some wire.

And the one speck of food
That he left in the house
Was a crumb that was even too small for a mouse.


Then
He did the same thing
To the other oiks' houses

Leaving crumbs
Much too small
For the other Oiks' mouses!

It was quarter past dawn...
All the oiks, still a-bed
All the oiks, still a-snooze
When he packed up his sled,
Packed it up with their presents! The ribbons! The wrappings!
The tags! And the tinsel! The trimmings! The trappings!


He returned to his mansion, guffawing with glee!
“There’s no-one more evil or despicable than me!
"Fuck all the plebs!" he was poshly humming.
"They're finding out now that no Christmas is coming!
"They're just waking up! I know just what they'll do!
"Their mouths will hang open a minute or two
"They’ll weep at the theft and they’ll never know who!"

"That's a noise," grinned the cunt,
"That I simply must hear!"

So he paused. And Osborne put a hand to his ear.
And he did hear a sound rising over the snow.
It started in low. Then it started to grow...

It was the sound of a riot! The sound of looting!
The cost of the damage he was already computing!
He’d raise all their taxes! Then there was shooting!


He watched on the telly
The rioting folk!
Campaigning against Tories!
It wasn’t a joke!

Old London town burned, the houses, the slums,
The result of the folly of his banking chums!
More people were homeless, more shops were aflame!
He just didn’t care that he was to blame!


He sat in his armchair, drank his Bucks Fizz,
More jobs were now lost, but at least he had his!
He looked in his bags, and laughed at the fun,
The oiks’ horrid gifts, each and every one
Were lining the bottom, each worthless and shite!
A Gameboy Advance and a Mighty Max kite!
An Evel Knievel jigsaw! A Rainbow Brite!

The poor people’s presents were poor and dire,
Ugly and cheap and ripe for a pyre!
George threw them all on the fire!

Tucked up in bed, no tossing or turning,
George had the cash to never have yearning,
But now his old mansion was noisily burning!

The oiks had all gathered plenty of kindling
Placed ‘round his house, their patience was dwindling!
Sick of the poverty and having no money
And sick of old Osborne finding that funny!

His house now in flames and burning up fast,
Old Georgie was getting his comeuppance at last!
Everyone gathered with cocoa and beer!
And whisky! And rum! Such Christmas cheer!
The crowd grew and grew! It stretched back a mile!
Each of the people had a huge Christmas smile!

They chuckled with glee and couldn’t pretend
To be a-full of mirth that George had come to an end!

It’s a grim little story, but any excuse
To fuck around with Dr Seuss


MERRY CHRISTMAS!



Saturday, 24 December 2011

Advent Calendar Day 24

It's Christmas Eve! As ever, the advent calendar, which should end on day 24, has an extra one for the big day tomorrow. In the meantime, day 24 could only be one thing...


Day 24

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Britain.

With so much wrong in the world, we're in serious trouble because of a small number of greedy bastards, and their mates are in government. Corruption seeps from every pore of this sick land, and we've reached breaking point. The riots and looting from earlier this year are just the tip of the iceberg, the phone hacking scandal has yet to claim any scalps (Brooks and Murdoch remain unimprisoned, for example), television is falling prey to dumbed-down reality shows, end-of-the-pier talent shows hosted by people without any talent, dreadful comedians polluting the schedules with their safe light entertainment boredom, our prime minister has isolated us even further from the rest of Europe and the world economy is in tatters.

Still, it's Christmas, eh? Let's forget about the terror and the middling disappointment for a few days and enjoy time with our loved ones, get merry and enjoy Doctor Who on the telly.

Be back tomorrow for the annual Christmas story!