Scotland the Brave
The English are mildly ambivalent about Scotland at the moment, to put it mildly. With a Scottish PM, a Nationalist parliament, and a regular diet of stories about subsidies and sneering from north of the border, one could be forgiven for hoping Scotland would crash out of Europe. Actually, my feelings were entirely the opposite. I found myself rooting for Scotland, who against the odds in one of the most difficult groups, had a real chance of qualification. And I found myself intensly depressed when they failed. By contrast, I feel mildly ambivalent about England, with its hugely well-paid Premiership stars, and now finding itself in a nail-biting finale. If only England could be more like Scotland, at least as far as football is concerned!
canvas said on November 18th, 2007 at 7:44 pm:
England really do HAVE to qualify! It was bad luck for Scotland. They were so close!
But - the really important topic is…
What made Chris Huhne think that he could get away with a ’slur’ against Nick Clegg? I couldn’t believe what I saw on the Politics Show today. Nick Clegg will benefit from this. Chris Huhne is, I think, the type of politician that most people really dislike and distrust.
Go Nick Clegg. Huhne appears to be a real slime ball.
Tizzy said on November 18th, 2007 at 9:39 pm:
Handbags all round!
Ed - what’s the matter? Scotland got close because the overpaid and arrogant French and Italian teams screwed up. It would have served them right if one of them had failed but Scotland simply don’t have the population to develop sufficient footballing talent to actually win anything. They should concentrate on Rugby Union, but like Wales, they can’t agree amongst themselves at the moment.
I’ve been torn by wanting England to get through or losing and getting rid of McClaren, so the match agin Croatia will be a win situation, whatever the result. My nails will be fine, thanks, but don’t let yours look like Brown’s.
————-
Clegg and Huhne - and? They both looked like pillocks on Question Time last week. Having just had their autumn conference, where they democratically agree party policy, shouldn’t they be in total agreement with each other, or have I missed something?
Backstreeter said on November 21st, 2007 at 12:04 am:
I lived in Scotland, as an Englishman, when they qualified for the World Cup Finals in 1978 under Ally McCloed. They qualified again in 1982. Back then they could always run England close, so its good to see them back to near their best. Pity we can’t play each other more often. That was always an exciting game. They may also be doing a better job of governing their country than we do. Small is maybe better for some things.
canvas said on November 21st, 2007 at 10:09 am:
Hello , Ed? Are you there?? Earth to Ed Vaizey!
What about your promise to Iain Dale of ‘a post a day’?
What are your thoughts about Labours latest blunder?
canvas said on November 21st, 2007 at 1:37 pm:
Ed - Just saw you on BBC News 24 - you’re right about Brown taking refuge in ‘reviews’.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/10/14/it_tyranny/
(above) read about the systemic failure of Government IT projects - this was written over a year ago!
This is why Gordon Brown must resign.
Votedave said on November 21st, 2007 at 6:49 pm:
Perhaps Ed’s busy criticising the government for what they’ve got wrong in the House of Commons.
The way things are he could still be waiting to speak…
Votedave said on November 25th, 2007 at 9:54 pm:
Ed, old soul, please do post another thread. Give us something to gabble out, it would be much appreciated.
Sue said on November 25th, 2007 at 11:00 pm:
Yes, where are you? Come out, come out wherever you are, and give us something to comment on.
You didn’t move to Birmingham did you? After that glowing reference you gave it? Wouldn’t blame you, there’s not much going on here!!
Tizzy said on November 26th, 2007 at 4:59 pm:
Sue, we think he’s on a sponsored silence, much the same as he PROMISED a blog a day this month.
Sue said on November 26th, 2007 at 5:47 pm:
I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve checked this blog today - and gone away disappointed (sob)
(I know, I live a sad life, LOL)
Tizzy, his clock is still wrong on here; I think we need to hold him down and get him to sort out the basics (including the typos on his web page!!), before he goes back to the important job of working for his constituents and the country.
Come on Ed, it’s boring talking amongst ourselves (nothing personal guys!!)
Ed, what do you think about the last PMQ’s - great performance from David, and do you think we might see the back of Darling Alistair before very long?
Oh, and you’re still welcome to see the horrible state of my house 4 months after “the flood”. We’ve actually got a brand new 3-piece suite to replace the one ruined by the dirty waters, so you’ll have somewhere cosy to sit while we bore you with all our tales of woe. But we are no nearer to getting the repair work done. Though one of our neighbours is almost ready to move back into their home with all the work finished…..I don’t suppose you could put a rocket up the b***side of our insurance company, could you!!!??? I’m going to have to move out of the house with the kids when the repairs are carried out - anyone got a couple of spare rooms going free?!!!
Sue said on November 26th, 2007 at 6:21 pm:
I wish I could edit my last comment - it’s NOT boring chatting amongst ourselves. (sorry everyone!)
So, how’s the weather where you are?
Votedave said on November 26th, 2007 at 6:25 pm:
It’s been really cold up in Bradford Sue - even in my lunch hour I was shivering!
Sue said on November 26th, 2007 at 6:42 pm:
That’s a shame Dave, it’s been quite nice down here today. Um, excuse my asking, but why would you be interested in Ed when you don’t live in his constituency, or are you from here originally?
Votedave said on November 26th, 2007 at 7:06 pm:
I didn’t realise it was exclusively for people living in Wantage, Sue. Perhaps Ed would do better to go further afield, it might give this blog a boost. I admit I’ve never been to Wantage - I’d imagine it’s a nice area.
I heard about this site from canvas. Canvas, Tizzy and myself are friends on other forums - Webcameron and Webcameron Rejects. You’d be more than welcome if you dropped in.
Votedave said on November 26th, 2007 at 7:15 pm:
Also I think Ed would make a fantastic minister in a Cameron government. He’s one of the “new Tory” faces which the party needs more of.
Sue said on November 26th, 2007 at 7:22 pm:
Oh sorry Dave, I didn’t mean to imply that you weren’t welcome here, I was just curious why you’d be reading a blog that is “supposedly” relevant to an area so far away from you. (I really wish we could edit LOL) Though, of course, it’s a bugbear of mine that Ed rarely blogs about anything local, so I guess it really was a stupid question to ask
I agree that Ed would be great on Cameron’s front bench - at least then we’d get to see him at PMQ’s LOL Flipping camera zooms around so fast, can’t make out who anybody is apart from the main players.
Thanks for the invite to your other forums - I will definitely pop in, but am kept busy moderating on Google Earth - if you’re ever over in my neck of the woods ( http://bbs.keyhole.com ) come and say hi to me (I’m BeadieJay over there).
Tizzy said on November 26th, 2007 at 9:29 pm:
OK, shall we just talk about random stuff amongst ourselves, as suggested?
Is Sarkozy the new Maggie?
Who’ll be the new England coach?
Should the rest of the Labour party walk the plank with with Peter Watt? Please? Now? No, really.
What colour is your sofa?
Sue said on November 26th, 2007 at 10:14 pm:
“What colour is your sofa? ”
Couldn’t help but laugh about this. We got our new sofa and armchairs a week ago, replacement for those ruined in the flood. We’d ordered it off the internet, took ages deciding on the shape, size, colour etc. When it arrived, we all gasped, because the colour was wrong. Well, we thought it was wrong, we’d ordered terracotta, but we got orange :O Turns out it is terracotta, but it looked much darker and redder on the internet. So, now, we’re getting used to our horrible coloured but very comfy, cosy chairs, and are hoping that this new colour will go with the carpet we chose months ago!!
Tizzy said on November 27th, 2007 at 4:14 am:
I know it’s a bit late now, Sue, but a tip for the future - you should be able to get a swatch of the material from most reputable sites. I’m afraid I would have reurned the darned thing and insisted on a full refund - terracotta is not orange unless you go to B&Q.
Don’t know how long you’ve been on this earth but Cowley turned out a car (Morris Marina, I think) with a new colour called ‘burnt orange’, the colour of the imitation terracotta plastic knock-off’s. Equally memorable was ‘black tulip’, a sort of manky aubergine colour.
Later today, I’m sending my husband to get a piece framed, his first such solo mission. God knows what will come back since I’ve asked him to get it double-mounted, dark ivory on top of a medium-to-dark grey, with a light cherry wood 1940’s frame. Don’t care much though, since it’s the Christmas present to his mum
Sue said on November 27th, 2007 at 10:39 am:
Oh Tizzy, I would have loved to have sent it back, but we’d already gone for too long without anything comfy to sit on - the kids would have killed me if I’d sent the sofa back. Next time (hopefully not for a very long time) I’ll get some swatches first (thanks for the tip).
The only redeeming feature about the sofa is that it is very comfy, and it’s so lovely for the whole family to be able to sit together again. And the dog loves not having to sleep on a concrete floor any more. She made me laugh so much, we had one armchair that we kept after the flood till the new ones arrived, and whenever someone got up from it, the dog would leap on!!
What is your husband getting framed? Is is cross-stitch by any chance? I’m an addict! I get my husband to frame them for me (the last time we got one framed professionally we nearly fainted at the price, but it was a very large x-stitch). I hope your husband does a good job
Tizzy said on November 27th, 2007 at 4:06 pm:
Yes! How did you guess?
A couple of weeks ago I paid nearly £300 for the framer to sort out a very delicate, huge, copy of an old sampler that took me 4 years, on and off, to complete. The price really shot up with the UV filter glass.
Some years ago my husband was game at giving it a go. I gave him one that didn’t matter. I ended up with a very nice chopping board. I ought to have known better; he’s happy if there’s less than a one inch gap between joints. The very first bit of woodwork he did was to re-hang a door. I wet myself laughing when I saw it; one long side was about 3 inches shorter, top and bottom, than it’s opposite. He got a tad annoyed with me
I can still wind him up about it today.
We’ve got a dog who thinks she owns the place, too. Very expressive with her looks and sighs whenever we deign to sit on the sofa together (less space for her).
Sue said on November 27th, 2007 at 9:28 pm:
“Yes! How did you guess?” LOL, lucky guess, I guess
£300
O.M.G. 
My husband has framed 2 of my efforts so far, and not done too horrible a job, at those kind of prices I’ll go with botched amateur any time LOL