Ealing Comedy

You're about as likely to find Michael Jackson presenting a UNICEF press conference as you are to find a decent Labour MP these days.
My pal Tom Lennon recently emailed me details of a motion tabled in the Commons by Stephen Pound, MP for Ealing North. And it was this:

"That this house notes with sadness the 10th anniversary of the death of Bill Hicks, on February 26th 1994, at the age of 33; recalls his assertion that his words would be a bullet in the heart of consumerism, capitalism and the American Dream; and mourns the passing of one of the few people who may be mentioned as being worthy of inclusion with Lenny Bruce in any list of unflinching and painfully honest political philosophers."

Surely he should be PM. But there's more...

Radio 4 ran a competition at the end of last year whereby the noble Mr Pound would look at introducing a bill as voted for by the listeners. The BBC described it as a "unique chance to rewrite the law of the land".
Of course, most listeners to R4's Today programme are awful Tory kneejerk reactionaries, so what did they want? A law to authorise homeowners to use any means whatsover to defend their homes from intruders....
And Mr Pound's reaction? "The people have spoken....the bastards!".

You can listen to his quote via the Today website.