First two days of the week have been shite, largely thanks to problems on the Victoria Line (over-running engineering works, which means either Metronet couldn't get it subcontractors to do the required job in the time they should have, or they did the job and fucked off before clearing up after themselves. Again).
Not to be outdone by the travel infrastructure though, my fellow commuters were eager to add to the general level of unplesantness: bath or shower? Optional. Overcrowded carriage? Well, we all still need to read our newspapers, even if it means draping it over your head. No possible, earthly way of getting on that carriage? Well, let's still shove our way to the front and then push everyone backwards when we realise we're too close to the train and the other people we barged out of the way stopped where they did for a reason.
Yes Miss - I'm talking to you . . . the one who gave me a filthy look for suggesting that as you were already a foot behind the yellow line, you didn't need to keep shoving the people you'd queue-jumped, bitch. You will never know how much self-control it took not to give you an extra big push back just as the next train arrived. Instead you shoved past everyone getting off the train and nicked the seat that the poor old bloke had his eye on. May you wither and perish, you sanctimonious hag; may all your boyfriends be pestilent, flatulent and unfaithful; may all your bosses be lecherous and may all your children have small penises - including the girls.
Ahem. I notice on the news that Britain will step up their troop committment in Afghanistan due to the recent series of losses inflicted by the Taliban. One government weasel said that the "presence of the British had galvanised the Taliban in the region" which, if you have been following my comments on this, is utter bollocks. The Taliban, fresh from getting their arses kicked by the initial invasion, have re-trained and re-armed thanks to their militant friends in Al-Qaeda, and are now starting to act like a reasonably organised bunch.
Or is it simple a co-incidence that an "army" has now switched almost exclusively to terrorist tactics and the incidence of car bombs and IEDs has soared? You be the judge.
Anyway, this morning's Metro contains a peach - more troops are being sent over to "accelerate the reconstruction effort", according to Des Browne. This is "reconstruction" in the Afghanistan/Iraq sense of:
I.e. bombed flat. You'd think all these troops were being sent out with bags of cement and water pipes instead of machine guns and LAWs.
"reconstruction" - the New Labour Orwellian re-definition #57.
Meanwhile the body count in Iraq is spiralling into the near-hundred mark with militant checkpoints targetting Sunnis who are dragged out of their vehicles and shot; which prompts the Sunnis to carbomb some Shia Mosques. Not civil war, we clear on that? Iraq is now 4th on the list of "worst places to live if you're a child" (Afghanistan is #7 and Palestine is #8) . . . the number one spot being taken by Sudan, which has still seen a lack of intervention from the West, reconstructive or otherwise.
Another landmark for the Home Office - the police merger proposal has been scrapped after the only two forces who actually wanted to go through with it pulled out. The Constabularies felt "badly let down" as ministers couldn;t decide how to balance council tax. I'd imagine the other forces are breathing a sigh of relief. Still, shows that the Home Office, in light of recent fiascos, have really upped their game to churn out incompetence at a stagering rate of productivity.
Possibly because they're jealous they didn't get to go to the World Cup on taxpayer expense to the tune of 14 grand?