I have arrived!

[Kaliayev]

Hi everyone.

So, uh, I really kind of suck at introducing myself, so I'll keep it short and sweet.  I'm 23, live in the UK, a currently unemployed international politics grad and I like stuff.  Lots of stuff. I've looked around yesterday and today ad I'm sure we'll all get on like a house on fire.  Screaming, emergency phone calls, damaged buildings, explosions...

Also, blame Scriblerus for my presence here.

[Bluenose]

Ok, duly blamed.

Welcome aboard BTW.  Don't eat the fish head stew.

[Griffin NoName]

Hi.

Best to fill you in straight away. We have an ardent Daily Telegraph fan here (I just read your blog)...... I'm sure he'll be along to say hello in a while.

Thanks Scribs !

[Scriblerus the Philosophe]

I does what I can.   
Good to see you around Kaliavey, though I won't be around here very much for a while.

[ivor]

Hi Kaliayev!

[anthrobabe]

Hello there! and welcome to you.

[beagle]

Hi.

Best to fill you in straight away. We have an ardent Daily Telegraph fan here (I just read your blog)...... I'm sure he'll be along to say hello in a while.

Thanks Scribs !

You stirrer you...
Just because our resident Marxist hasn't been around for a while.

Anyway, welcome Kaliayev.  As the site's token right winger (by U.K. standards) I'll avoid taking the coach for a while.

[Kaliayev]

I used to make fun of Labour more...but nowadays that's like kicking someone when they're down.  Way down.  Doesn't stop me, every time Martin Kettle or Polly Toynbee or Jack Straw pens an article I reflexively punch my screen, but I do it a lot less.  If I didn't get my kicks in on the incoming government and their friends in the media, well, I wouldn't be me.

I'm sure we can all, as sensible and adult people, regardless of political opinion, unite around the principle that New Labour is made up of unmitigated cocks.

I'm like what you USAian people call bi-partisan, or something.

Also hi to Bluenose, Griffin, Mentalblock, anthrobabe and of course beagle.  Thanks for the welcome.

[Griffin NoName]

Some of us prefer to unite around the sawdust on the pub floor (http://toadfishmonastery.com/forum/index.php?board=89.0) but untiing around cocks is fine by me !       (can't speak for Beagle)

[Darlica]

Hi Kaliayev, and welcome!

As you might have noticed our dear Griffin here isn't much for beating around the bush...
But that pretty much goes for everybody here.

[Opsa]

Merry welcomes to you, Kaliayev! Love the photo.

I'm sure you'll be just fine around here. We're all over the place.

[The Meromorph]

A belated welcome, my dear chap!
I get the distinct impression that discussions with you involved are likely to be lively and informative. 
You may not yet realize it, but our beloved Sibling Chatty has kinda given you an initial 'Seal of Approval' with one of her responses to of you your other posts. Sibling Chatty is a fount of 'inside' information on some areas of American Politics/History and may well be the smartest person here (as well as the most loved).
I'm an expat Brit myself, and know rather more than I'm prepared to admit about British politics in the seventies. (Some of what I don't admit to knowing was influential in my moving over here in '79 - I was, in fact, wrong in my private predictions at the time, I'm happy to say.)

And if that hasn't piqued your interest, you may not be as knowledgeable as I think you are.

[beagle]

Some of us prefer to unite around the sawdust on the pub floor (http://toadfishmonastery.com/forum/index.php?board=89.0) but untiing around cocks is fine by me !       (can't speak for Beagle)

I refer you to the old college crest.

[Kaliayev]

A belated welcome, my dear chap!
I get the distinct impression that discussions with you involved are likely to be lively and informative. 
You may not yet realize it, but our beloved Sibling Chatty has kinda given you an initial 'Seal of Approval' with one of her responses to of you your other posts. Sibling Chatty is a fount of 'inside' information on some areas of American Politics/History and may well be the smartest person here (as well as the most loved).
I'm an expat Brit myself, and know rather more than I'm prepared to admit about British politics in the seventies. (Some of what I don't admit to knowing was influential in my moving over here in '79 - I was, in fact, wrong in my private predictions at the time, I'm happy to say.)

And if that hasn't piqued your interest, you may not be as knowledgeable as I think you are.

Thank you, and to those above as well.

Inside knowledge eh?  Interesting...oh dear, this mean's I'll have to do something intelligent soon.  Things always go wrong when that happens.

The late 70s?  So was it Thatcher or Callaghan who convinced you to bail ship?  Not that I can blame you, both of them were utterly useless in so many ways.  Callaghan's record speaks for itself, and that the Thatcher years inspired V for Vendetta is revealing...even if the author is a drug-taking, spell-casting fake Snake-God worshipping loon.

I should probably point out I'm actually Australian at this juncture, as well.  I live here, and have done for a long time, but my detached approach to UK politics does indeed partly come from the fact I'm an outsider and so all parties are fair game.

[Griffin NoName]

I've never been sure why parties are called parties. Parties to me are where one goes home with a goody bag full of treats

Beagle, that college crest looks like a load of bull to me.