Well the tub of lard** lasted a lot longer than the lettuce, but now Roy Hattersley's gone.
Over the years he's come to our attention before, and BTL on the previous post one of our Anon's gave us two of Roy's fine pieces of cheery hypocrisy, both from the Grauniad. Another gem worth recalling is something he wrote in his long-running Diary in the same newspaper:
I do not believe that there are young women who get themselves pregnant to qualify for a council house. And even if I am wrong about this, it it to my credit that I don't believe it.
He knew he was in the wrong, but unlike most of these left-ish rogues, he didn't mind admitting it. Refreshing, in its own way, I suppose.
ND
___________
** Oddly, that episode of HIGNFY seems to have been expunged from the www
13 comments:
He appeared a few times on the excellent BBC* R4 program UK Confidential programme looking at cabinet papers from the late '70s and early Ä80s and claims at least once that they knew what needed doing but didn't have the political capital.
I find it very hard to believe having lived through that period and remember the vitriol from him and the rest of old Labour when it came to the Tories of that time.
*I don't say that very often, in fact not at al now as I don't watch ar listen to anything except More of Less.
Got the feeling that that episode was pushing it legally at the time it was broadcast - intended to provoke him into action.
(Did he agree to appear and then pull out at the last minute? That'd certainly wind the production team up.)
Somewhat sure it's been repeated, broadcast, but my memory is correct, that may be the reason it's not available via the intertubes.
Up until now.
But an awful lot of HIGNFY is so specific to the time of broadcast. Then again, there must be more than a few episodes poking at Mandy.
I'd forgotten that he was a big defender of the Williams sisters (12/14/16), three schoolgirls who had babies at remarkably tender ages.
"The Williamses are victims of what we once called the cycle of deprivation. The daughters of a twice-divorced single mother have given birth to three babies who, although not yet weaned, are already destined to slip further down into the pit to disadvantage."
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2005/may/30/socialexclusion.economy
But be fair, it was on Boris's watch that the baby of a murderess (at 14!) was handed to a homosexual couple for adoption, who killed him when as the Mail puts it, he "suffocated during sexual abuse".
It was something like the fourth time he'd let down HIGNFY late in the day, I suspect few others did after that one went out.
OT, but did the Daily Mail kill 8 B52 crew?
PUBLISHED: 16:37, 15 June 2026
https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-15901371/Fresh-humiliation-Putin-nuke-capable-supersonic-bomber-crashes-fireball.html
Hypocrisy is an excellent thing, it lubricates the wheels. Why should royalty and our elites have all of it, spread it around more, encourage more hypocrisy and let it been seen. Hats off to Hattersley.
Everywhere you look there is some sort of hypocrisy. Things rarely work as our legislators say they intended them to work. But of course our legislators knew all along the thing legislated would not work as the shiny label said it would. That is their skill. A very necessary thing hypocrisy.
My comments about hypocrisy were a bit tongue-in-cheek. But Bruce Schneier's blog has an article 'AI use by the US government' which points to direct citizen-impacting decisions to be made by AI. But but most (all?) our human citizen-impacting systems have some sort of 'discretion' or 'public interest' built in. The other side of that coin is built in prejudices or policies - which is where hypocrisy comes in.
Something to consider when 'computer says no' or 'take 6 months detention Mr Drew', 'thank you Sir, Mr Palantir Sir'. Meanwhile we shall see how Mr Burnham gets on. Personally I didn't think he would do so well - but look at the opposition!
Looks like Starmer is dead in the water and just waiting to be towed away...
He's going home, he's going home
Starmer's heading home
Three lines on his whip
His Premiership's last gleaming
Two years of seeing power slip
And ambitious Andy's beaming
CH
Anthony Seldon
“Firstly, he never worked out what the job was – what does the prime minister do? "
His #1 job was to get pro-Palestinian Corbyn out of the Labour Party, and make the UK govt approve of no electricity of water for Gaza, just bombs. In this he's been successful.
He's getting tributes from von der Lugen and Albanese... one for banging the war drums and one for being a lousy Labour PM
No one in the UK outside a circle jerk bunch of Leftists and Islamists gives a shit about Gaza
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