There’s a horrible story doing the rounds today after a man tried to set himself alight outside a Birmingham job centre. The man apparently tied himself to the railings outside the building before dousing himself with flammable liquid and setting his legs alight. Given the price of petrol, this was obviously a well thought out plan.
The usual suspects, plus others who should know better, have been quick to scream that this is the consequence of “austerity”. A particularly unedifying spin. However there appears to be no reason to believe that this had anything to do with the lack of jobs available to this man. Instead, eyewitnesses report, that the man was shouting about a screw up in receiving his benefits.
If only Labour’s 5-point plan for jobs and growth had been in place, he would have been fine, right?
Wittiest comment wins…
Only a couple of weeks left to ask the government to stamp out this ridiculous idea.
LibDem President Tim Farron has been dodging questions about his culinary preferences over the last few days. A yellow source tells Guido that Farron is a closet vegetarian, terrified that the large meat-eating population of National Farmers’ Union members in his constituency will find out his deep, dark secret.
Farron’s office told Guido this morning that they have never tried to hide the fact their man prefers stuffed peppers to steak and chips, but that doesn’t explain why Farron has been refusing to answer questions put to him by multiple members of the Guy Newsroom. Guido would have thought nothing more of it if he had not been so cagey. Odd…
Chief money printer Mervyn King says:
“Something has gone very wrong with the UK banking industry.”
The Sun has been receiving much adulation this morning following its Pink Floyd-inspired headline lambasting Barclays boss Bob Diamond.
A classic of the genre…
However before they could take all the credit Twitter helpfully pointed out that the Sun had nicked it from Telegraph sketch-writer Michael Deacon, who tweeted yesterday:
If #Barclays boss Bob ends up on the dole, we could have Sign On, You Crazy Diamond #barclaysheadlines
— Michael Deacon (@MichaelPDeacon) June 28, 2012
Someone better tell Brian…
UPDATE: The baboon is crediting the Sun:
https://twitter.com/mgmediamonkey/status/218643144462446593
