Monday
The ferret is not the easiest of animals to train. A dog will do tricks for you, a parrot might talk, and there is even an Olympic discipline that centres on getting horses to walk sideways to order. But put a few ferrets on stage in a theatre, in front of a couple of thousand noisy fun-seekers, and the result is likely to be chaos.
The excellent Jim White. The article is actually about the mayoral elections. Like most elections, I frankly do not really want any of the candidates to win, although Boris Johnson, whom I have met a few times, would be entertaining. What is clear though is that eight years of Ken Livingstone is quite long enough.
But back to Mr White: I think he is being most unkind to ferrets. They never seem to get much of a break.
Apologies for the problems with the link. Now fixed.
Please, oh please, won't somebody think of the ferrets!
Posted by Brendan Halfweeg at April 21, 2008 11:48 AM
Odd - I see nothing from Jim White there, no comments from others either. Though there is a reference to a review being deleted...
By the by, I once new a ferret who would come when called. He answered to Ferrety Boy. Mind you, I once learned how to hypnotise chickens.
Posted by the other rob at April 21, 2008 12:57 PM
Ladies and gentlemen, uh, we've just lost the picture, but what we've seen speaks for itself. London has apparently been taken over -- 'conquered' if you will -- by a master race of ferrets. It's difficult to tell from this vantage point whether they will consume the captive Londoners or merely enslave them. One thing is for certain: there is no stopping them; the ferrets will soon be here. And I for one welcome our new weasel overlords. I'd like to remind them that as a blog commenter, I can be helpful in rounding up others to toil in government jobs.
Posted by Gib at April 21, 2008 01:39 PM
Well, what do you know, new weasel overlords? Just when everyone had got used to the old ones.
Seriously though, I've been out of the loop a while. Is there any prospect that Boris or the other guy will be able to (or even want to) do anything to unbreak the Unholy Mess that is London?
Posted by Bod at April 21, 2008 04:50 PM
Bod, it is unlikely. Boris Johnson is not really going to slash all the spending that has gone on under Livingstone; at most, we might get a check on the cronyism, the silly globe-trotting, the hanging out with dictators, supporters of radical islam, etc.
I am one of those heretics who wonders whether we need a mayor at all.
Posted by Johnathan Pearce at April 21, 2008 05:08 PM
I think a Ferret would make an excellent Mayor. Boris would be a reasonable second.
Posted by Steve at April 21, 2008 06:18 PM
I want Boris, but my disdain for Ken is tempered because when it really mattered (on 20/7/05) he responded well. This was by no means obvious given the cretinous nonsense he's spouted every other day of his life.
Posted by manuel II paleologos at April 21, 2008 06:26 PM
Meet the new rodents! Same as the old rodents!
I won't be fooled again!
Posted by Sunfish at April 21, 2008 09:03 PM
Ferrets ain't rodents;they're related weasel or polecats.
Posted by renminbi at April 21, 2008 11:31 PM
For those who ferret about in the financial pages, I'll just comment that last weekend (19-20 April, 2008) was a good one for the Stock Markets- the Dow Jones almost reached 13000, from a 12300 base on Monday last week! That's about a 5% rise, and I told you what Astrology predicted about that weekend!
How did your Moon-cycles go, allan?
Now let's see if the markets collapse after the trine is past!
Posted by nick g. at April 22, 2008 01:39 AM
Nick,
I actually remembered to look for you today. Hope you are doing well.
I, too, was able to profit from our little astrology based wager. Most of my investments weren't succesful, but the ferret farm is doing great !
Posted by Allen in Fort Worth at April 22, 2008 03:05 AM
Never mind the Ferrets- how did the cat-killing go? Did your curse get reversed? How many cats did it take?
Posted by nick g. at April 22, 2008 06:44 AM
I want Boris, but my disdain for Ken is tempered because when it really mattered (on 20/7/05) he responded well.
The enemy of your enemy is your friend.
Posted by liminal at April 22, 2008 12:16 PM
Johnathan wrote:
I am one of those heretics who wonders whether we need a mayor at all.
I'm pretty certain we don't need yet another layer of parasites. As far as I can work out, tax money makes its way to the mayor and he decides what to use it for. Why not get rid of all the schemes and plans and jollies and let Londoners keep the money?
I'm probably going to write a terse phrase to that effect on my ballot paper, if only to make myself feel a bit better. I certainly can't get excited about any of the candidates.
Posted by Rob Fisher at April 22, 2008 01:52 PM
