Bloggers at home pictured in handmade masks

Kek's inspired challenge, following Loki's original post, had me racing for the dressing-up box. Here I am in one of the Little effay's Halloween specials.

The lunchtime moral dilemma

I went down the pub at lunchtime to join in the witty and sophisticated discussions of my fellow Flatlanders. The main topic of conversation was 'would you sleep with John Prescott for two-hundred and fifty grand?' The general consensus ended up as 'yes, but not if I had to let everybody know about it in order to get my hands on the cash'.

Labour Meltdown?

You've got to laugh haven't you? Well, if you didn't you'd be sobbing in despair. Of course the conspiracy theorists are already arguing over this one: Was the Home Secretary's apology given out in order to bury the cash for peerages story? Was the Prescott affair something that had been kept on the back burner in order to bring out in an emergency to bury something even more embarassing such as a monumental Home Office faux pas? Can Patricia Hewitt really be such a prat?

Personally I think the whole thing goes deeper than that. It strikes me that we are witnessing a carefully managed campaign by disaffected elements within New Labour (no, of course I don't mean Socialists!) in order to make the results of the local elections spectacularly bad. Think of all the other clues: A toothless campaign against the Tories; 'Don't vote for the BNP because they have a real chance of winning'. I'm sure y'all can multiply the examples.

The only thing I can't work out is whether this is a campaign by the Brown-Noses to force Blair out, or a scorched earth campaign by Blairites to fuck the Brown-Noses over.

Definitive proof that New Labour have completely lost the plot

Check this out. What is the matter with these people? How better to get people to vote for your opponents than by turning their leader into an instantly memorable and lovable animated character? I passed our village hall this morning to see a large crowd camping outside it hardly able to wait until the Fourth of May to register their support for Dave. I would have joined them, but I prefer my lizards a bit more Burroughsy (W.S. or E.R.).

Not that I care who does better. People talk about Blair's legacy: In the Little House it consists of transforming Labour from a party that was always treated with suspicion, but seen as preferable to the Tories under any circumstances, to one regarded with equal hatred (not more: we have long memories in The Flatlands). Well done Tony!

Picture Time

Deauville, 1928 and these two fine fellows are obviously done up for a special occasion. Perhaps it's somebody's birthday party, or maybe they are just off for a big adventure in their parents' garden.

But wait. Just look at the one on the right with the thoughtful expression. There's a face which seems to be saying "Oh hurry up and get on with it! I want to get back to that interesting book by Monsieur Bergson, as I don't think I've quite got this business about the virtual off pat yet."

My thanks go to Infinite Thought for sending me a volume I would never have guessed would ever see the light of day: Deleuze, un album, a collection of photographs of our Gilles throughout his life. Bizarre or what? Coming next to a bookshop near you: Michel Foucault: The S&M Collection.