Peter Mandelson helped to consign the socialist traditions of the Labour Party to the history books.

• he replaced the party’s red flag logo with the red rose
• he pioneered the use of rapid rebuttal units, radiopagers for MPs and the repetitive television soundbite
• he was always deeply unpopular with those who clung to traditional Labour values, they regarded him as a “champagne socialist”

Whether true or not – and I hope it is – the story that he once mistook mushy peas for “guacamole dip” at a fish and chip shop in Hartlepool says much about how he was viewed by some of his colleagues.

He’s a shady character who has been forced to resign ministerial positions on two previous occasions but continues to hold high office in Her Majesty’s government.

He lasted less than five months as Secretary of State for Trade & Industry in 1998 before word leaked out that he’d been given an interest free loan towards a new house to the value of £373k courtesy of his fellow “Socialist” minister , the millionaire Geoffrey Robinson – Socialism still pays well then chaps!

• he failed to mention the loan when he completed the paperwork at the Britannia Building Society
• he failed to mention the loan in the Commons Register of Interests
• he failed to mention the loan to his Permanent Secretary, even though Mr Robinson’s business links were at that time under investigation by Mr Mandelson’s own department.

Tony Blair arrived in Downing Street on an anti sleaze crusade and Mr Mandelson had to go – and took down Geoffrey Robinson with him. Mr Mandelson admitted being “technically” wrong in not telling his building society about the loan but, even though he resigned, insisted he had done nothing improper. You might call it technically wrong Mr Mandelson but the ordinary working man would call it tantamount to fraud.

He returned ten months later as Northern Ireland secretary and covered his tracks for over a year before the next scandal erupted relating to his time in charge of the Millennium Dome. In return for a £1m donation to the Dome’s Faith Zone, Indian billionaire businessman, Srichand Hinduja received “special” help in securing his British passport. Mr Mandleson sloped his shoulders and blamed his Private Secretary

This caused Blair’s spin doctor, Alastair Campbell, inadvertently misleading the media and the Culture Secretary Chris Smith doing the same with MPs in the Commons.

But Home Office records showed that Mr Mandelson had personally telephoned Home Office Minister Mike O’Brien. Mr Mandelson was then forced to resign as Northern Ireland Secretary but, once again, maintained he had done nothing wrong. He blamed his second departure on a “muddle” that led to himself and other senior figures giving conflicting accounts – what the ordinary working man would call lying!

A subsequent “independent” report into the so-called “cash for passports” affair by Sir Anthony Hammond QC found in Mr Mandelson’s favour, concluding that neither he, nor anyone else, had done anything improper in the affair.

In 2005 he was caught up in more controversy when his Brazilian boyfriend had his British citizenship “eased” through. Relations between the UK and Brazilian citizens have been mixed over the years. Best case, if you’re intimate with Mandelson’s waste disposal system you get fast tracked British citizenship but worst case, if you’re suspected of being a terrorist you get shot in the head.

There appeared little prospect of a resurrection for his twice foiled Cabinet career and a long walk into the political wilderness loomed.

Until October 2008 that is. Gordon Brown recalled him from his four year trip on the Brussels gravy train. He came back to a LifePeerage and a string of jobs that include First Secretary of State, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, President of the Board of Trade and Lord President of the Council. In 2004 Gordon Brown, together with John Prescott and Jack Straw tried to block Mr Mandelson’s appointment as European Commissioner by Tony Blair. Was this Blair’s opportunity to start preparations for the post of European President? Who cares now? He didn’t get the job!

So why did Mr Brown bring him back? What hold has Mr Mandelson got over him? Is it just for his spin and election management skills? I personally don’t trust him and think that the sooner him and his admirers are gone from positions of influence the better it will be for the UK.

I’m not a fan of Gordon Brown but I think that he’s a decent guy who’s struggling to do his dream job. He is definitely a big improvement on Blair who was more concerned with HIS place in history (ref: Claire Short) rather than the welfare of the UK. He was also the Prime Minister who introduced management rather than representation in Westminster.

The important question though that I think needs asking – is Gordon Brown helping himself by keeping counsel with Peter Mandelson?

Bedford Red

An open letter to Peter Mandelson regarding the newly announced Digital Economy Bill. Found this video on Twitter, hoping I help to make it viral.

Lyrics:

Dear Peter Mandelson,

I’ve been following your recent policy proposals, so now they’ve gone through, I thought I’d contribute some vocals. The focal point of my criticism’s the ridiculous decision to bring in a system where you flick a switch and disconnect the internet when it’s suspected that intellectual infringement has been detected, even if the relatives they live with definitely didn’t. I think it’s in your best interest to bin this, yes? ‘Cause isn’t it a respected institution that we’re considered innocent unless different is proven? Er, excuse me – how can you excuse exclusion when you’ve not pursued a definite conclusion?

You’re picking on the little man, the Lilliputian; now there’s a pain in my gulliver and it’s confusing. You’re swift to treat your citizens with such little human humour it’s no wonder that we’re disilliusioned. This resolution’s gonna end in revolution just like any other governance that doesn’t accept evolution. To be perfectly honest, m’lord, there’d be less intrusion if you curtly abolished the law and left us to it.

And why do games require safety ratings, but any age can see adult-aimed plays and paintings? It’s state censorship, the same as Beijing; but even China thinks a pirate isn’t worth the time of day for chasing. I think Chairman Mao would say the same thing – since you became secretary, it’s like the state’s your plaything. You made a massive sacrifice, invaded loads of privacy, but if I wanted to download, there’d be no hope of finding me. I could take my mobile phone to the local library, and utilise the free wireless to find the file I need. Then what are you going to try – to disconnect their ISP? You might as well just burn the books on rights to speech.

Dear Mandy, stay away from my family. Yours considerably angrily, Dan Bull. Dear Mandy, stay away from my family. Yours considerably angrily, Dan Bull.

Who’ll profit from the Digital Economy Bill? Not the public, but the profiteers probably will. Who’ll profit from the Digital Economy Bill? Not the public, but the puppeteers probably will. I’ve talked about how intellectual property kills and you’re still just concerned with who’s copping the bill. It’s quite obvious you’ve been lobbied until the copy holders got control, and you’re probably their shill. It’s not your problem when you’re positioned on top of the hill, in your property that probably cost a couple of mil. But wake up and smell the coffee, the milk is going off and you’re not bothered ’cause your coffers are filled.

Lord, it’s time you took an honesty pill, and acknowledged the majority aren’t horribly thrilled. So what if I watched a torrented comedy film? I don’t need to now my country’s just become a Brazil. You know the truth, Orwell spoke his views, your House broke the news and all Hell’s broken loose. The utopia we hoped for is overdue, so could you help out a little bit and don’t be stupid?

The onus is on you to show us you aren’t using your throne in a way the voters don’t approve. I know you’re very close to David Geffen, so maybe his interests have given you a hazed perception. Hey, do you reckon you’d win today’s election, considering you’re chasing this amidst a great recession? Deception’s the politician’s favourite weapon but we’re already jaded from one too many painful lessons.

Dear Mandy, stay away from my family. Yours considerably angrily, Dan Bull. Dear Mandy, stay away from my family.

Yours considerably angrily,
Dan Bull.

P.S. I love you, Mandy x

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Queen Of Shadows by Suz deMello

Liquid Silver Books

Janus is a planet which lacks both tilt and spin, and its Shadowlands are the pewter band of dusk dividing the violently hot Lightside of the planet from its Darkside, imprisoned by eternal night. Due to moderate temperatures, the Shadowlands are the most livable portion of Janus, the most heavily populated and wealthiest.

Because of the peculiar conformation of the planet, birthrates are low and indiscriminate sex is encouraged for everyone except the unmated Queen of Shadow, the most powerful person on Janus. She cannot fully indulge her lust; should she become pregnant, her baby’s father would become King of Shadow.

Audryn, Queen of Shadow, has reached that time in her life when she must choose a King to rule with her or fail to bear an heir, casting not only her realm but all of Janus into chaos. Despite her duty, she is reluctant to share power, even a bit distrustful. Certain Shadowland nobles vie for Audryn’s hand, and rival factions of DarkDwellersfight among themselves for the right to send candidates. The more organized Children of Light send their Prince-Scientist to woo Audryn. Although she enjoys trysting with all her suitors, none seize her heart. Then Storne, the warrior Prince of Darkness, arrives to claim her as his bride. Will his masterful ways allure or repel the willful Queen?

Queen of Shadow is a very simple storyline that is a very complex story. When I started to read it, I thought it was just about a queen picking out her husband who would be king. Little did I realize all the twist and turns that would happen in the course of this story.  Be forewarned that unless you are careful, you can believe that Audryn was only thirteen when she became sexually active in public but she was thirteen starturns which is twenty in our years. Also, this book contains an extreme amount of very hot sexual activity. All is in keeping with the storyline and I enjoyed it immensely.

Audryn is the Queen of Shadow, ruler of Shadowlands. She is nearing her seventeenth starturn, which is equivalent to our twenty-six years old and must chose a husband to have children with. Audryn was not born to rule but was thrust into the position when the rest of her family died just after her thirteenth starturn.  With the planet divided into three basic areas, Shadowlands being the prime area, she had the choice of the nobility in each land in which to pick a king. I enjoyed how Audryn found ways to have numerous sexual encounters with multiple partners without breaking the rules regarding procreation in regards to her position as queen. Though not born to be queen, I found Audryn to be very sharp in the ways of not only government but also of men and not easily swayed. I loved how she decided on a tour of the countries to make up her mind and also do a little spying.

There were three main male leads in the story. Frayn, Audryn’s cousin who took her virginity on Exhibition Day is the contender for the throne from Shadowlands. Prince-Scientist Kaldir is a Lightsider, of the Desert Dwellers, and Prince Storne is a Dark Dweller and Lord of Darkness. Each want to be king and it was fun watching how they tried to manipulate Audryn and each other in order to achieve their ends. Without revealing who is a favorite, I can say that one is a supposed known person, one is a physically beautiful looking male who seems familiar, and one is a ruggedly handsome man who seems rough around the edges. Watching how they tried to get Audryn to pick them buy giving her gifts, each one trying to top the other, and sexual favors was so funny.

While touring the respective countries, many secrets are revealed. Audryn, with the help of her servant Maia, ferrets out all the plots and soon realizes who she will choose.

Promiscuity, cloning, fratricide, and lots and lots of hot and heavy sexual active had me on the edge of my chair through this entire story. I enjoy stories that are more than just a simple tale and Queen of Shadow fulfilled my every desire.

Miliband brothers were talk of the weekend.

Following Lord High Almighty Everything’s visit to South Shields on Friday evening, our MP and Foreign Secretary David Miliband, along with his younger brother Ed have been the talk of the weekend. Various newspapers and commentators have jumped on the bandwagon that has started to roll towards Brussels with David Miliband on board, yet despite his denial in being interested – don’t politicians always deny interest? – the world and his dog now firmly believe that Miliband the Elder will be heading for the EU as it’s Foreign Minister (sorry High Representative of the Commission) as Labour gets turfed out of office at the next election.

If the intense speculation all turns out to be true, then one could perhaps then understand David Miliband’s recent attacks on the Conservatives, painting them out to be almost anti-semitic Jew hating baby killing Nazi types, after all he may as well try and cosy up to the remnants of the EPP, he may need support in other parts of Europe to bolster a bid for the big job. As Dan Hannan points out:

No wonder David Miliband has been waging his jejune campaign against the ECR, a campaign so malicious and misleading that the Latvian Government has called in our ambassador to protest. Suddenly, it all makes sense: what the Foreign Secretary is really after is a promotion. If that means sacrificing British interests in order to cosy up to the EPP, so be it.

In the current climate, with all parties proposing ministerial pay cuts, what national politician wouldn’t gladly slither to a new post in Brussels, complete with housing allowance, personal chauffeur, entertainment allowance, tax-free salary and all the rest? Especially when he expects his party to be voted out of office within a few months.

Yes, quite, the opportunity must have an awful lot of appeal.

Curly, like others, is gradually coming round to the view that Gordon Brown will not be allowed to lead Labour to an electoral disaster, and that sometime in the early part of 2010 he will be forced to admit to his Cabinet colleagues that he is an electoral liability and that his health has deteriorated to the point where it would be wise to allow someone else to carry the flag for Labour. Paul Linford in his column for The Journal suspects the same scenario:

I wrote several months ago now that I did not believe Mr Brown would lead Labour into the General Election if it became clear that the only consequence of that would be a catastrophic defeat.

The recent drip-drip-drip of information about the Prime Minister’s health, some of it emanating from within Downing Street itself, seems to confirm that an exit strategy is being carefully devised.

One slogan heard doing the rounds this week was “New Year, New Leader” – and once again, the name of Miliband seems to be in the frame.

The question of course is which Miliband?

The two sons of Ralph have done exceptionally well for themselves, weaned into the political class in the roles of advisors, researchers, and bag carriers as the NuLabour project was formed under Blair and Brown, given patronage and moved into safe Labour seats in South Shields and Doncaster North, neither of the brothers has had a job outside of politics (which is all too common in all parties these days). Both now of Cabinet rank in a government facing the agony of watching it’s own death. If Lord Mandelson had used his time profitably in the EU, and there is no reason to believe that he hasn’t networked extensively, then he ought to know exactly which ears to drip poison advice into, to further the prospects of one David Miliband succeeding to a highly paid position the High Representative for the EU, just in case EU leaders lean away from appointing Tony Blair as their President.

Should Mandelson win that battle then perhaps, seeing defeat awaiting Labour, he will gently suggest to the one eyed son of the manse that it’s time to play the health card and make way for Ed Miliband to lead the party in the next election and in Opposition. Such a move may rescue Labour’s position in the polls as a young new leader goes head to head with a young new leader of the Conservatives, ultimately of course, it will be the record of twelve years in government and a wrecked economy that will lose it all for Labour.

But, no need to be feeling negative, if all of this speculation materialises then both Miliband brothers will be sitting pretty in much better paid employment than they have at present.

As far as South Shields is concerned, David Miliband would have to give up this seat and the Labour Party would need to find a new candidate to fight the general election, in something of a hurry. Now image, just imagine, that South Tyneside Council Leader Iain Malcolm got the call (he has wanted to represent his home town in the Commons for some years), then the Conservative’s Karen Allen and others would need to have a “plan B” prepared and ready to use. Because, if Labour’s candidate was to be Iain Malcolm, we can be virtually guaranteed that an Independent candidate would enter the fray, giving electors a further choice and creating further electoral confusion with the possible permutations in the anti-Labour split.

Positive outcomes for the Milibands may end up leaving negative thoughts in South Shields, and also at Westminster where David Cameron would also need a “plan B” to deal with the possible prospect of Europe’s top two positions being occupied by the leading architects of NuLabour.

Update

A “Stop Miliband” campaign has already started.

:: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: ::

Labour stalwarts stayed away

Whilst South Shields MP and Foreign Secretary David Miliband hosted the Business Secretary Lord High Almighty Everything Mandelson at Harton Technology College in South Shields, for the Labour party’s annual “lecture”. Curly couldn’t make his mind up whether or not it would be worthwhile to attend and realised he would give Scott Duffy a major headache by making a late request for tickets, in any case Watford vs Sheffield Wednesday was probably more entertaining. Anyway, it was interesting to note, from those that I bumped into last night, that some Labour councillors deliberately and quite happily snubbed them both by staying away, yet it seems the meeting was infiltrated by some local Conservatives.

Perhaps they are fed up to the back teeth of the MP’s expenses scandal, or the failure of the government to make inroads with the recession, or Mandy’s attempts to sell off Royal Mail, or maybe they feel sore for the loss of 350 South Tyneside Council jobs as the likes of Miliband and Mandelson sit in a Cabinet which has overspent so much that it can no longer afford to finance local government.

Or maybe they are just fed up with softy southerners making such a big deal over fish and chips!

Moving slightly off topic Mike Smithson at Political Betting seems to suggest that yesterday’s meeting may have provided an opportunity for a tete a tete between David Miliband and “kingmaker” Mandelson, after a piece by The Mole supporting the notion that Gordon Brown could be replaced by one of the Miliband brothers. One to keep an eye on, he suggests.

:: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: ::

The best of the Prince of Darkness

Source:
http://tv.ign.com/articles/103/1037094p1.html

Further speculation over South Shields’ MP’s future.

Remember I posted this a few days ago?

Well it seems that Jon Snow at Channel 4 is thinking the same way, as is David Charter in The Times:

At the same time, there is increasing talk that the best candidate for the other job on offer, that of high representative for foreign affairs – a potentially more important job than the presidency itself – could be offered to Britain’s foreign secretary, David Miliband, whose ratings in Europe have been in the ascendancy for the past six months.

All the while Mike Smithson is almost asserting that the “Prince of Darkness”, Lord Mandelson, (who is due in South Shields on Friday to give the annual lecture to the Labour Party this week) is gradually moving his support away from Gordon Brown over to David Miliband. We will need to pin our lugs back for any coded words at Harton Technology College! (That is if Mandy can be heard above the noise of a gaggle of demonstrators from the anti war groups and the keep the Metro out of private hands red/green group.)

No doubt if David Miliband decides to entertain Mandelson at Coleman’s fish and chip restaurant in Ocean Road this Friday, he’ll not be mentioning the urban myth about guacamole when the mushy peas make an appearance!

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A very quick post as I’ve just discovered that in addition to their profile of Ken Clarke the Guardian have also produced a short film about the roller-coaster career of Peter Mandelson, which deserves much more than 56 views:

Enjoy. I won’t tweet this post, and those who expected me to underestimated me as I am a writer and not a twitter!

I recently got in touch with Michael Marshall Smith (author of Spares, Only Forward, Straw Men and more – check out my interview with the man himself) to see if he wanted to contribute to the 31 Days of Horror. He was more than happy to so passed me along this wonderful review he did for the classic John Carpenter film, Halloween. Before you ask MMS has not seen the Rob Zombie remake.

Director: John Carpenter
Starring: Jamie Lee Curtis, Donald Pleasence, Tony Moran

“Is the theme from Halloween inherently scary, or is all music that sounds like it now scary just because it reminds us of Halloween?” Discuss.
Da da-da da da-da da-da da-da…

There’s just something about those American horror movies of the 1970s, something warped and implacable and insane. They’re stained with a nervy cultural nihilism neatly captured in Adam Simon’s subtle documentary American Nightmare: a sense that the dream is over and all bets are off. You realise you are in the hands of storytellers who do not have your best interests at heart, who — like a drunk driver or rogue cancer cell — have no idea of what a happy ending is, never mind how to safely guide you there. Films like Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Last House On The Left and George Romero’s zombie trilogy share something else (as did the work of literary running mates Ira Levin and Stephen King) – the eschewing of horror’s traditionally gothic trappings for the unsettlingly domestic and mundane. They brought hell to the doorsteps of people like us, to where we lived in both physical and emotional terms: they showed us that horror happens to people who wear jeans. The greatest of all these films, and the platonic ideal of horror movies, is John Carpenter’s Halloween.

Released in 1978 and co-written with Debra Hill, Halloween was Carpenter’s third feature-length film, following the stoner sf spoof Dark Star (co-written with film school buddy Dan O’Bannon, who went on to script Alien) and the seminal urban paranoia-fest Assault on Precinct 13. Though Carpenter has produced other classic horror — his remake of The Thing (a snatch of the original features in the background in Halloween), The Fog and Prince of Darkness — Halloween knocks the nail most firmly on the head.

The story is brutally simple. The script that became Halloween was titled ‘The Babysitter Murders’, and that’s what it’s about. Weird kid kills, is locked away for years, and escapes to kill again. He murders babysitters.

That’s all s/he wrote. There’s no big mystery, no interlocking set of puppet suspects. There’s just a sociopath who kills, and kills again.

You never quite know why he does this, thank god: over-explanation kills horror stone dead. You don’t know why some people get fatally mugged, either, or slip off the curb in front of a oncoming car. Death isn’t plotted or rationalised in real life — it just comes and gets you, and then goes and gets someone else. Horror movies succeed best when they reflect the negligent whims of our trickster gods, rather than playing faux-intellectual games with audience expectation. Whenever I watch a new horror movie, I’m hoping it will be something like Halloween. I’m hoping it will not start with yet another slow pan down the front of a high school, and feature only the kind of teenagers to whom you hope something very nasty will happen, and soon. I’m hoping the chills will be real, rather than ironic, and that the director will not substitute gore for visceral resonance.

I’m hoping most of all that it will make use of silence, rather than filling every minute with thrash metal in the hope the soundtrack will push the budget into the black. Which brings me back to my original question:

Da da-da da da-da da-da da-da…

When is the world at its most scary? When it’s dark. Since the forerunner of our species hoisted itself out of the oceans and decided to have a crack at surviving on this new-fangled dry land, we’ve been locked into a fundamentally diurnal existence. Day is our time, not night. At night we can’t see stuff, and this freaks us out. When deprived of the effective use of vision, we are forced to fall back on hearing. Our ability to interpret noises. Sound is key to effective horror, and in Halloween Carpenter demonstrates a genius in using the natural textures and sounds of real life. He doesn’t resort to hectic cutting or self-conscious dolly shots, trying to bludgeon or wheedle a response out of his audience. When Carpenter’s soundtrack is silent, it’s not the sign-posted tension of a-boo-is-coming: it’s just quiet, like the world often is. Movies in the 1970s were often more spacious in their soundscapes — watch Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid again sometime, and notice how eerily and effectively quiet it is – and so Carpenter can’t claim sole credit for use of aural white space.

But he does get the credit for this:

Da da-da da da-da da-da da-da…

Personally, I think you could have played that music to a caveman thirty thousand years ago, and he’d have decided now might be a good time to go back to the cave. I have it as the ringtone on my mobile phone. Always have, from as soon as I could dictate how the bloody thing rang. When people hear it, they always look up. Sometimes with a smile, sometimes with a sideways frown that is not quite one of irritation. It could be simple recognition, of course. It must be, after all, the most memorable spooky soundtrack of all time: only The Exorcist can compete, and it shares a very similar structure — though Tubular Bells’ fugue-like roll is more like something you’d hear from a gothic music box, and less redolent of pure anxiety. Maybe I’m being fanciful — chances are onlookers are just wishing the fucker with the bleating mobile would hurry up and answer it — but I believe they look up because they understand that this sound, that music, means that they should beware.

Inherently scary too, I believe, are Carpenter’s camera and editing choices in Halloween: the blank long shots and the eerie medium long shots, a point of view which seems laced with lack of affect.
Someone is watching this town but not comprehending it on anything more than a visual level.

He sees stuff, but just does not get it.
These are streets.
That is a house.
That girl is a thing I could kill.
More than this I do not understand.

The timings of these ponderous slices of incomprehension correlate exactly to the theme music’s structure, which progresses in marching measures rooted by a stately climbing bass, and is yet lent a persistent off-kilterness by the inner clusters of triplets, with their uneven and yet oddly compelling emphasis. The shrill hammering of the three basic pitches is unsettling in itself: it is also unsettlingly relentless in the way it is used. (This is something you’ve got to be careful with, however. Whoever scored Eyes Wide Shut evidently thought that merely repeating a piano motif confers a mesmeric quality. It doesn’t. It can also make you want to go round and slam the piano lid down on the composer’s fingers. More than once.)

When the Halloween theme kicks in again, you hear it with a kind of anticipatory dread, an arrhythmic dread.

Oh Christ. Here we go again, you think. That thing I was scared of earlier?

It’s back.

This is the essence of horror, of life and death. Show the audience something bad. Let it appear to go away. Bring it back. Don’t promise them it will go away again. Ever.

And then fade that scary music up.

Review first published in CINEMA MACABRE, ed. Mark Morris, PS Publishing 2006.

Previous 31 Days of Horror reviews: Friday the 13th Part 2, Martin, Fright Night, Zombieland

There are certain filmmakers from the 70’s and 80’s that contributed in raising me and turning me into the kind of movie nerd that I’ve become. And there were none more prolific than John Carpenter, whose films I literally grew up watching since my family first took me to see HALLOWEEN in ‘79. There was a new John Carpenter movie out pretty much every single year of my early childhood and teen years in the 1980’s and I would always be there on opening day. THE FOG, ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK, CHRISTINE, STARMAN, BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA, THEY LIVE and the two that I’m gonna talk about now, ruled that decade and have provided the creatively bankrupt movie industry of today with a whole bunch of original properties to remake and ruin.

This week the New Beverly Cinema programmed a great double feature of Carpenter’s all-time masterpiece THE THING (1982) along with the criminally underrated PRINCE OF DARKNESS (1987). I joined the rest of the “real” geek squad on Sunday night, but almost didn’t make it inside when I was attacked in line by Max Landis, who was wearing an original ROB BOTTIN mask mold from the movie!

Max Landis attempts to "assimilate" me!

I distracted him with my TROLL 2 shirt and ran inside to take a seat and watch one of my favorite horror films of all time…

The New Bev’s own Julia Marchese interviewed actor Joel Polis before the film and he talked about how THE THING failed at the box office when it was first released in 1982, because it was sandwhiched in between E.T. and POLTERGEIST.  I remember seeing all three of them, one after another, that summer. 1982 was definitely one of the greatest genre movie summers ever.

He also told us a few stories about the production, including an explanation of why the audience never gets to see the demise of his character Fuchs. Apparently, they actually shot an entire scene in which Fuchs is hung up on a door with an axe in his chest and all covered in blood. Carpenter decided that the Thing just wouldn’t kill someone this way and that it was way too slasher-ish, so they came up with what you see in the movie instead. I personally like that it’s ambiguous as to whether or not Fuchs burned himself up or if someone or some-THING else did.

The New Bev's Julia Marchese interviews actor Joel Polis about The Thing.

Then the film started and for 2 hours you couldn’t hear a pin drop, except for the screams. THE THING is a great film with a brilliant script, cast and direction. I love so many things about it and I really enjoy watching it with an audience and people that have never seen it before. It’s a testament to how effective the film still is when they continue to jump and scream like crazy at all those classic moments. Like the dog kennel scene. Or the scene where Copper gets his arms bitten off by Norris. Or my favorite scene with the blood test where Palmer goes berserk.

YIKES!

Kurt Russell in another badass iconic role for John Carpenter.

I want this!

Other things that are awesome about THE THING:

KURT RUSSELL coming off an iconic badass performance for John Carpenter as SNAKE PLISSKEN, creates another iconic badass performance with R.J. MacREADY!

ROB BOTTIN delivers a tour de force of the greatest makeup effects ever created and what he couldn’t finish, the late great STAN WINSTON contributed!

Carpenter has scored the music for every single one of his films (and a few he didn’t direct too), but didn’t have time to do it for THE THING. But that’s fine because he got the genius Italian composer ENNIO MORRICONE to do it! It’s also cool how the score is very much like Carpenter and very unlike Morricone.

The entirely male ensemble cast lends a lot to the intensity of the film with their performances. There is an increasing amount of hostility that comes out of the men as the paranoia begins to rise and it’s due to some superb acting that includes KEITH DAVID, WILFORD BRIMLEY and T.K. CARTER.

When the movie was over, there was a short break and then…

I saw PRINCE OF DARKNESS in the cineplex back in 1987. I think it is one of Carpenter’s most overlooked films and it was a great pairing with THE THING because even though they are very different in tone and pacing, they have a very similar set up and story.

PRINCE OF DARKNESS tells the tale of an old Catholic church in downtown Los Angeles that has been keeping a lid on Satan as he sleeps in a large container of swirling green energy. DONALD PLEASENCE is the priest in charge of keeping it a secret, but it has become apparent to him that the church’s unwanted guest is starting to awake and illicit others to do his bidding. He brings in a group of quantum physics students and their professor to help figure out a way to stop it, but they are slowly taken over by Satan’s will.

This is a horror movie about the coming of the Anti-Christ that has a heavier emphasis on science than religion. It is much more atmospheric than any of Carpenter’s other films and has a slower dreamlike pace that feels like it was influenced a lot by DARIO ARGENTO.

For me, one of the creepiest moments in the film is when everyone has that weird “dream” of the dark figure walking out of the church. It becomes even creepier to learn that these are actually video messages being sent back in time from the future to warn them that if they fail, the world will be taken over by the Devil. Every time we see one of them I always get goose bumps, never fail.

This image never ceases to scare the HELL out of me!

Alice Cooper as a homeless disciple of Satan.

This lady got a degree in demonology.

Before the film there was an intro and interview with script supervisor and wife of John Carpenter, Sandy King and actors, Anne Marie Howard and Peter Jason (who’s been in a lot of Carpenter and Walter Hill’s movies). The actors told us how they all had private “zombie” meetings with John Carpenter to discuss how their character would return from the dead. Actor David Warner suggested to Peter Jason to play the part like he was in constant pain and that’s what he did. Sandy King told us how the movie was made for about 3 million bucks and was a union shoot that was mostly shot in her living room. She also said that when Carpenter started writing it, he told her to go out and “get everything you can on quantum physics”, which she did. When someone asked her if POD will ever be remade she said that it was the only one that they haven’t been approached with a remake offer. Thank god! POD is it’s own unique little snow flake and nobody can provide as much fright on such a small budget as Carpenter could.

Sandy King, Anne Marie Howard and Peter Jason talk PRINCE OF DARKNESS.

This was another great double bill at the New Beverly Cinema. This Saturday at midnight they are showing SHOCKER and WES CRAVEN will be introducing it! See you there! And if you see some-THING that looks like Max Landis, RUN!

As I don’t have any video editing software, you’ve have to put a bit of work in yourself:

Step 1: Turn your computor volume up to Maximum.
Step 2: Fast Forward to the line at 8.20.
Step 3: Play
Step 4: Sing-a-long! (Lyrics: ‘Not for the first time, Boy George is sailing close to the wind.’)

Enjoy. I’m trying to workout how I can get this as my ringtone.

The crazy train has left the station…and either you were on it or you’ll have to wait until next year’s local trip.

The Sunset Strip, long a place where spandex covered dinosaurs crawled between the Rainbow and the Whiskey has had a resurgence, mostly due to Roxy owner Nic Adler’s social media make over experiment. His crazy communist manifesto of community based music and entertainment has created an alliance with the Viper Room, the Andaz Hotel, The Comedy Store and a few other hot spots. Their online presence,  from tweet crawls to ticket twofer giveaways, has lured hipsters back to the place where rock music once reigned. The fact that the Sunset Strip has gotten it’s own music festival, now in it’s second year, shows that the Strip’s death rattle has reversed course and the infamous piece of WeHo history begun a little rock renaissance. And this year’s renaissance faire got the go ahead to shut down the boulevard to honor the Prince of Darkness himself, Ozzy Osbourne.

The festival kicked off with a big tribute to Ozzy at the House of Blues, which funnily enough for a frenzy of social media mavens, seemed to be a twitter dead zone. The night was MC’ed by Billy Morrison who was most memorable for his cheekbones which could cut glass. There was a pre-taped congrats from Lemmy…uh, what, he couldn’t stumble from the Rainbow-only mere yards up the strip-to say it in person?

Brought up to roast/honor Ozzy were comedian Jim Norton, who showed a slide show of mainly photos of himself with famous people (yawn). Then followed a spirited anecdote from Henry Rollins about underestimating the roar of an Ozzy crowd. Next up was an unfathomable speech of nonsense from Tommy Lee about drinking his own urine (Ugh, Tommy). Nothing much interesting from Slash – just a tale of  listening to Iron Man on acid.  Slash, we really want you to lead us here. You are positioning yourself as a rock hero and guitar legend. Let’s work on the public speaking charisma, dude. If you’re going to wear the Monopoly top hat, then let’s act like the mayor of Guitarville, mkay?

And theeeeen what followed, what I was really curiously waiting for, a few quips from Billy Bob Thornton.

Now Billy Bob was an interesting choice for a few reasons…one: I was hoping he’d do the whole speech in his Sling Blade voice and then he and Ozzy could have an unintelligible-off.  Two: Now being known as a ‘musician’,  I am obsessed with him wanting to give any kind of speech after he completely melted down on a CBC radio show. If there was ever an awkward music interview, Billy Bob takes the cake. I have a sick, twisted desire to interview him and let the train derail and then sort through the wreckage. Oh please, pr gods.

Though I do have to give him credit for mentioning Sharon. He was the only one to say that if we were all honoring Ozzy, we also had to honor the woman who made Ozzy possible. Never would have pegged you for a feminist, Mr. Thornton, but kudos and a plate of french fried potaters to you, sir.

The plaque ceremony and photo op with a quick “I love you all!” from Ozzy, was followed by a performance from Camp Freddy.  I couldn’t help thinking that for Ozzy, this must be like watching a bunch of his friends do karaoke. Sober.

With a couple fun softball performances from Donovan Leitch and some hot rocking blasts from best Freddy member Franky Perez, they bring out Mark fucking McGrath from Sugar Ray. Yeah, the host of that cheeze wiz entertainment show. Either Mark is going grey, or he overdid it on the frosted tips just for this occasion. Doesn’t he have some McG beach blanket music video shoot to go host? He pointed up to Ozzy in the balcony and said “Ozzy, my brother, this goes out to you from Newport Beach!” And then he began to butcher ‘Cat Scratch Fever’. It’s at that point I had to leave. Come to think of it, the balcony seats emptied out pretty quickly too. CAMP FREDDY FAIL.

Friday was reserved for the big Andaz Hotel party and the House of Blues Rock N Roll wine tasting event. I was lucky enough to be staying at the Andaz, which is quite plush since it’s remake, but still underneath has a bit of that riot house/Hyatt house vibe.

With guests like Ozzy staying there too, it had to still have that edge under all the class. The Virgin America/Andaz party boasted a red carpet event up by the rooftop pool with the promise of a few performances, including one by Chris Cornell who had been strangely left off all the set list time announcements. (Was Cornell forced from the festival by the Osbourne train or did he bow out on his own accord?) Although Chris made an appearance to shake some hands and pose for pictures, he didn’t perform, which prompted me to put forth divorce proceedings. The gorgeous hotel view skyline and ample cocktails made for a fun evening, even when an Aussie actor ambushed my camera techniques and turned the tables on me…

The day of the festival was bright and sunny with everyone in hot anticipation for Ozzy’s big performance. The music kicked off with spirited performances from The Donnas and Fishbone.

credit: eric voake

As the afternoon wore on and clothes were stripped off, Shiny Toy Guns played a very low key quiet set…(did they think they were playing for KCRW?) and Korn played angry head banging anthems proving that they lost one too many games of dungeons and dragons when they were kids. I skipped festival favorites Nico Vega to catch Brooklyn’s best, Earl Greyhound, whose new material shows a maturity yet they still know how to kick out the jams.

At last, I settled with my VIP vetted friends on the Bank of America parking lot roof and awaited the crazy train. Ozzy took the stage in front of a mass of all ages – toddlers to senior citizens. And hie performance was pleasing to all. Despite lobbing the f word here and there and hosing people down with foam, it was essentially a good, clean, tame Ozzy (minus Harriet) show. As Thornton had said earlier “Who says the Prince of Darkness can’t be a nice guy?”.

credit: Eric Voake

Here’s some choice moments and interviews with The Donnas, Iglu & Hartly, Norwood of Fishbone and The Mashup Brothers:

It shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone – least of all, hardened horror fans – the studios’ home video departments love to unceremoniously dump genre fare onto DVD right around Halloween. So, I thought I’d make a quick, easy guide to the highlights of this fall’s horror releases … which is to say I’ve opted to omit the softcore flicks and the direct-to-video garbage.  And, instead of a quick, easy guide, it’s coming through in installments.  What can I say?

So, here’s part one of our guide to Halloween DVD releases, replete with my shining commentary.  Got any questions?  Want to tell me how much of a chump I am?  Leave me a comment, fools!

September 8th, 2009
- MAD MONSTER PARTY: Special Edition - It’s a stop-motion animation mash-up of THE MONSTER SQUAD and Rankin/Bass’ previous holiday-themed specials, e.g. THE YEAR WITHOUT A SANTA CLAUS, not to mention voicework by Boris Karloff and Phyllis Diller and a script penned by MAD magazine creator Harvey Kurtzman.  Strangely, MAD MONSTER PARTY was initially promoted – and indeed, the opening title sequence bears the punctuation in question – with a question mark affixed; that is, MAD MONSTER PARTY?  I’ve never been quite clear on exactly what is being asked, but considering the premise of the film is that all of the monsters gather at Baron von Frankenstein’s isolated castle to celebrate his apparent advances in splitting the atom, I’d say it probably isn’t all that important.

September 15th, 2009
- Universal Horror: Classic Movie Archive (THE BLACK CAT/HORROR ISLAND/MAN MADE MONSTER/NIGHT MONSTER/CAPTIVE WILD WOMAN) – Now here’s an odd but welcome assemblage of classic horror.  Correction: per the comments on this post, THE BLACK CAT featured in this boxed set is not the Edgar G. Ulmer directed 1934 version, but a ‘41 thriller featuring Bela Lugosi and Basil Rathbone.  Major props to Filmcans for the correction!   Supposedly, Universal churned out HORROR ISLAND with little cost to the studio, and they presumably saved on creative labor given the plot: a group of disparate treasure-seekers congregate on a lonely island only to become the prey of a methodic killer.  MAN MADE MONSTER sees Lon Chaney Jr. as an electricity-immune man whose powers grow exponentially with the unwanted assistance of mad scientist Lionel Atwill, who is intent on creating an army of electrified zombie soldiers.  Despite top billing, Lionel Atwill and Bela Lugosi have small roles in NIGHT MONSTER, the story of a mystic killer stalking a small, swampy town.  CAPTIVE WILD WOMAN is a totally awesome, semi-exploitation film about a gorilla who, upon receiving a human gland transplant, transforms into a human woman … but with all the appetites and savagery of a gorilla.  The title character is played by Acquanetta, nicknamed “The Venezuelan Volcano” – if that doesn’t sell you on CAPTIVE WILD WOMAN, I don’t know what will. 

- The Wes Craven Collection (THE SERPENT AND THE RAINBOW/SHOCKER/THE PEOPLE UNDER THE STAIRS) – Building a collection of Wes Craven films is pretty much ignoring the elephant in the room that is the NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET series, to say nothing of the cult classic SWAMP THING.  These are three wildly different films; the first is a very loose adaptation of anthropologist Wade Davis’ journey to Haiti in search of what would eventually be known as tetradotoxin, the second a Mitch Pileggi vehicle about a serial killer endowed with fantastic abilities thanks to the electric chair and the involvement of Satan, and lastly, a twisted fairy tale of Reaganomics and incest featuring a young Ving Rhames.  For my money, Craven’s best film to date remains the original THE HILLS HAVE EYES, but at least this collection doesn’t including the middling VAMPIRE IN BROOKLYN.

- The John Carpenter Collection (THEY LIVE/THE THING/PRINCE OF DARKNESS/THE VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED) – Now here’s a damn fine collection of horror films.  Sure, I’m not a fan of Carpenter’s THE VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED remake, but Carpenter’s work doesn’t get much better than THEY LIVE, THE THING, and PRINCE OF DARKNESS.  I know it’s something like heresy to say, but as good as THE THING is, I still think THEY LIVE is the better film simply for the absolutely ham-handed, on-the-nose delivery of Carpenter’s message of distrust and distaste for an increasingly corporatized, bottom line-driven hyper-Capitalist culture driven by a wealth-obsessed elite … even if Carpenter’s elite is a consortium of skinless aliens from a far-flung galaxy parading as humans.  You can’t beat the priceless “Rowdy” Roddy Piper bellowing “I came here to chew gum and kick ass … and I’m all out of gum.”  THE THING is one of the finest remakes ever undertaken, a film that absolutely endures on atmosphere and Rob Bottin’s gruesome special effects; the film had an unfortunate theatrical shelf life given the fact it was released against another alien film, E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL.  And PRINCE OF DARKNESS is just a weird, at times incomprehensible stew of quantum physics, religion, and Alice Cooper as a homeless puppet of Satan.  If they had only replaced THE VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED with Carpenter’s superbly dark love letter to H.P. Lovecraft, IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS, this collection would be the DVD equivalent of the Triforce.

- Monster Force, Volume One - Does no one else remember this short-lived cartoon of the mid-’90s?  Admittedly, it wasn’t around for all that long; “Monster Force” lasted thirteen episodes, seven of which are on this first volume, but nonetheless, it’s about a team of do-gooders in the year 2020 who use advanced weaponry and technology to protect the world from Count Dracula and his marauding henchmen.  Hell, this cartoon warranted an equally short-lived toy line, too.  Well, here’s hoping for the second volume sometime in the months to come, yeah?

- Dark Shadows: The Vampire Curse - ”Dark Shadows” may be a soap opera, but I give it something of a de facto pass considering it was a highly popular day time show that featured mincing, growling vampires, time travel, ghosts, werewolves, the living dead, and a parallel dimension.  Ostensibly, “Dark Shadows” will be returning to the limelight via a major motion picture remake with director Tim Burton at the helm and Johnny Depp taking up the mantle of Barnabus Collins, the grandiose vampire whose story lies at the center of this collection of episodes.

- Dark Shadows: The Haunting of Collinwood - Another collection of the “Dark Shadows” soap opera, this time an arc detailing a spirit haunting the comely estate of Collinwood.  Nowadays, “Dark Shadows” tends to play a bit like dinner theatre, somewhat boorish and too self-serious, but the sensibilities of the Hammer horror films actually combine a little too well with the melodrama of typical afternoon pablum like “All My Children.”  After all, I’d pay to see Susan Lucci to be attacked by a horde of the undying dead … wouldn’t you?

- GRACE - Yikes.  This Anchor Bay release focuses on a stillborn child that strangely “comes to life” with an appetite for blood.  Between this and the IT’S ALIVE Collection, if you don’t get your fill of nefarious newborns, you might consider therapy!

- The IT’S ALIVE Collection (IT’S ALIVE, IT LIVES AGAIN, IT’S ALIVE III: ISLAND OF THE ALIVE) – Hey, if you love one movie about a bloodthirsty mutant baby run amok, you’re gonna love three.  Besides, you owe it to yourself to see Larry Cohen’s cult classic follow-up to HELL UP IN HARLEM, right?

- KING KONG ESCAPES - Toho introduced their King of the apes to the silver screen not from Universal’s classic film, but an animated series popular in both the States and Japan.  Kong battles his arch-nemsis, a mad scientist named Doctor Who (presumably of no relation to the TARDIS-inhabiting Brit), and grapples with his most fearsome foe, an enormous metal doppleganger called Mechani-Kong.  Folks, I’m prepared to say, here and now, that if I ever get a tattoo, it will definitely be of Mechani-K0ng.  He’s a towering robotic monkey able to shoot lasers from his eyes.  It’s a good thing I didn’t know about Mechani-Kong when I was six, because I probably would have just jumped off a building, content that I would never again know anything in this life as inconceivably awesome as Mechani-Kong.

- KING KONG VERSUS GODZILLA - Clash of the Titans!  And, of course, by “Titans,” I mean “Asian men in ill-fitting, smelly, hot rubber suits stumbling into one another on a soundstage.”  I kid, though; KING KONG VERSUS GODZILLA is to Japanese giant monster movies (or, if you’re Japanese, kaiju) what the Golden Corral is to the morbidly obese: an opportunity to glut yourself to near-sickness heights on all of your favorite things!  You’ve not only got the two title characters battling it out, but you get to see Kong punch a giant octopus, get drunk and pass out like a freshman Sigma Chi, Kong get shocked with electricity more often than an unsupervised toddler in a power station, and Kong suffer the abject disrespect of being forcibly intoxicated, bound, and transported via giant balloons.  The film’s end leaves the victor somewhat ambiguous, but an inarguable truth is that history has been kinder to Godzilla than his primate nemsis, and this film might very well have been the reason for that … Peter Jackson notwithstanding.

- Universal Legacy Series: THE WOLFMAN - This special edition of the 1941 horror classic – preceeded by special editions of Browning’s DRACULA and Whale’s FRANKENSTEIN as part of their 75th anniversary – arrives to herald the February theatrical release of the remake.  This special edition features a host of features including a Kenneth Branagh-narrated documentary, featurettes on Lon Chaney Jr. and make-up legend Jack Pierce, and more.  There seems to be some confusion as to when this DVD will be released; although scheduled for September, there’s scuttlebutt Universal will push back the release to February.  Until all of that confusion is ironed out, you can say your prayers at night and hope to get this chance to see Lon Chaney Jr. (an Oklahoma City native!) beaten to death with a cane by his father.  Uh, and I mean Claude Raines, not Lon Chaney Sr.  That would be weird.

South Shields visit sparks action

I understand that when Lord Mandelson arrives in South Shields for the Labour Party’s annual “lecture” at Harton Technology College on 23rd October with the Foreign Secretary David Miliband, he will be met and greeted with a protest from the Stop the War Coalition.

Whilst not sympathising with their broad politics I am getting increasingly concerned at the loss of British lives in the two campaigns we are involved in. We still seem to have no exit strategy for Iraq and the recent campaign in Helmand province, Afghanistan, to secure a free and fair election does not appear to have achieved it’s aims. Karzai appears to be on the verge of being elected in a ballot as rigged as that recently held in Iran!

William Hague the Conservative Shadow Foreign Secretary has said:

“Britain, the U.S. and other Nato allies provided security so that the election could take place. Britain increased its troops in Afghanistan specifically to help ensure that Afghan people could cast their votes fearlessly. For this, our troops have paid a price in blood.”

If the next Afghan government is compromised and built on corrupt electoral practices, there will be little support for us, too. Given the widespread reports of irregularities, we believe that Nato governments, including the U.S. and Britain, cannot remain on the sidelines.”

If this election is proved to have been won with widespread fraudulent methods then we must commit to a re-run, then commit to a timetable leading to a withdrawal to allow the Afghan people to run their own affairs and provide for their own security. I cannot accept that we must keep spilling British blood because the Prime Minister tells us that our streets will be safer, I happen to believe our home security will improve immensely once we have negotiated the difficult path of withdrawal.

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Perhaps Mandelson is right, they are missing the spin doctors of old.

Darling says he will carry on spending the money he hasn’t got – Brown says he will cut spending.

Mr Brown will deny he is redrawing his favourite “dividing line” – contrasting “Labour investment versus Tory cuts”. However, he has come under pressure from Cabinet ministers, led by the Chancellor, Alistair Darling, to change his language on public spending amid fears that Labour could lose the argument.

Looks and sounds like a Labour government without any clear direction.

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Virgin Experience days for lightweights

Seems the Prince of Darkness thinks that Labour do not have any heavyweights with political experience to fight the next election, with too many SPADS culled over the last year or so. Is this why we are seeing so much of our MP in South Shields right now?

A party official echoed Mandelson’s concerns. “This is almost a virgin team,” he said. “It is the first election since before 1997 that will not be fought by a combined Blair/ Brown team . . . Nobody knows how it’s going to work.”

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Hello, hello there.

Curly, calling Tom Harris, Curly calling Tom Harris.

WELL, of course it wasn’t — what a bloody stupid question!

The conspiracy theories go something like this: senior members of the government (the PM and Mandelson) give a nod and a wink to various members of the Gaddafi clan that they’ll guarantee Al-Megrahi’s release provided some lucrative Libyan contracts come in the UK’s direction. Then Brown phones Salmond and/or MacAskill and gives them their orders. In response, the First Minister and his justice minister tug their forelocks and tell Gordon and Peter: “Of course, boss — anything you say.”

But maybe I’m wrong. In which case: come on, Kenny, fess up! Did you genuinely take this decision on your own or are you merely doing what your Labour Party masters tell you?

I think we should be told.

Well now, does this answer your question?

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I’m starting to worry for one of them

Daniel Finkelstein seems to have taken Mandelson’s bait, and swallowed it hook, line, and sinker. I’m beginning to worry about the poor boy. Commenting on Conservative MEP Dan Hannan’s interview with Reason TV given about a month or so ago (before the NHS intervention in the USA) he says:

Dan uses his internet audience to lionise Powell, so let me use mine to disagree vigorously.

Enoch Powell’s most significant intervention into the public debate was wrong – the violence he foresaw did not happen – and grossly offensive – he cited with something close to approval, and certainly without demur, dreadful stereotypes of immigrants and their behaviour.

I think many immigrant families would find Dan’s endorsement of Powell threatening and unpleasant, even though I am sure that was not his intent.

Da Fink only needs to refer to Guido’s posts this morning to unravel the truth of the matter, instead of barking out the customary knee jerk reactions whenever the name Enoch Powell is mentioned, this is exactly the sort of “dog whistle” politics that Mandelson and the Labour Party is looking for. Dan Hannan has a far more liberal view on immigration than Powell or Mandelson could ever have combined!

Mandelson must be feeling pretty disappointed with his own words:

“Yet again, we are seeing the two faces of the Conservative Party. The one they want to present to the public and the one which attacks the NHS and praises Enoch Powell.”

now that Guido has added an additional rejoinder:

When Enoch Powell died Tony Blair led the tributes:

“He was one of the great figures of 20th-century British politics, gifted with a brilliant mind.”

I wonder if Finkelstein is about to eat humble pie too, and will Sunny Hundai at Liberal Conspiracy be joining him at the table?

Hannan’s interview (for the record)

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Provides great comfort to terrorists around the world.

Will it answer any of the questions though? Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague has more questions here.

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The conservative journalist Robert Novak died on Tuesday morning after a battle with brain cancer, according to The Chicago Sun-Times. He was 78. He created his column, the six-times-a-week Evans-Novak Political Report, with Rowland Evans in 1963. Most re

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