Difficult week

Things have been difficult. The car died on the way home from work on Friday so I had to call out the recovery people. They were very ice and carried me home. I booked the car into the garage and tried to drive it there last night, but only made it about 200m. So I had to call the recovery service again. I thought they would tell me I wasn't covered because I was starting from home, but they didn't. Anyway, car is now in the workshop. Blasted thing is firing on about 2/3 cylinders.

I'm having to use the worst and most expensive train service in Christendom to get to the office. What's worse is the fact that I had a £9 voucher that I could have used to buy the ticket, but I forgot, doh!

There's been an outbreak of head lice at the boy's nursery, so we're looking forward to a family infestation. I bought some louse killer shampoo on the way home yesterday. The nice lady in Boots said that I should buy the newest brand on the market because the lice don't know about it yet.

I have a cold or flu or something, but it's just not quite bad enough to take time off work. I'm coughing and things ache.

On the plus side...

My knee is officially mended. I saw the consultant on Mondsay and we're all happy that the job is done.

The Labour party conference has gone badly and a recent poll actually put the government in third place behind the Lib Dems. Even the Sun has withdrawn support for Gordon and thrown its weight behind Mr Cameron. The Sun likes to think it can influence the result of general elections. In fact the paper really only switches allegiance in response to reader opinion. It is however a sign that the Labour party is indeed a sinking ship. There must be an election before the end on May.

***

In other news; the Irish vote again on Friday on the Lisbon Treaty. An awful lot rides on this vote. If they vote no again it will effectively kill the Lisbon Treaty. Not only that, but the Tories have guaranteed a referendum on the treaty if it hasn't been ratified by the time they get to power. That would put Europe in a very awkward position. If the Irish vote no again, the treaty simply won't be ratified before the next general election. That means that even if they do what they always do and offer the Irish a few concessions if they vote yes, the treaty will still get trashed when the British vote against it. Like I said, if the Irish vote no on Friday, it kills the treaty. On paper it looks like they will vote yes, but it is close, and last time they voted it also looked like a yes vote. So, it's interesting.

Cameron is under pressure to offer a British referendum even if the treaty is ratified, but he doesn't want to. To be fair, it would cause a lot of trouble to vote on a ratified treaty because Euro leaders would essentially claim it to be an in or out vote. He's so far refused to make any commitment, but he hinted yesterday that he would not put it to the vote if ratification had already been achieved. It's not as straightforward as it seems. The Germans, Czechs, and Poland still haven't signed. The Czechs may try and hold things up because they have a Euro sceptic in power.

If I had to guess I would say that the Irish will vote yes on Friday, the Czechs will ratify, Cameron will come to power, and there will be no UK referendum. There will have to be something though. Tony Blair is absolutely desperate for the Lisbon Treaty to be ratified because it creates a Euro President job and he would sacrifice his children for it. That in itself should be enough to get the Irish voting no and teh Czechs stalling if you ask me.

Roman Polanski has been arrested then. I can't believe the number of people who seem to be supporting the man. It would seem to me that anyone who ran like a coward after being found guilty of "unlawful sex with a minor" deserves very little support. As far as I can tell the original charge was rape, and he agreed to plead guilty to the lesser charge. Apparently he gave a 13-year-old girl drugs and booze before raping her in every orifice. I don't care how good he is at directing films, I think the world would be a better place without the scum bag.

Some of the celebrity quotes are astounding:

Whoopie Goldberg said, "I don't believe it was rape-rape". No, Whoopie, it was drug-fuelled, child arse-rape. Does that describe it any better?

Debra Winger said it was a, "three-decades-old case that is dead but for minor technicalities. We stand by him and await his release and his next masterpiece." And those minor technicalities would be what? The fact that he hasn't faced justice?

Movie Mogul Harvey Weinstein said Polanski had been the victim of a, "miscarriage of justice". Got that? The hyper-rich film director with the villa in the South of France is the victim. And here's me thinking it was the child he raped! Incidentally, how can you possibly call it a miscarriage of justice when he plead guilty?

Astounding, truly astounding ladies and gentlemen.