H Boggart Abroad

Boggart Abroad

A humourous way of looking at events around the world. Happenings both momentous and trivial are given the Thorpe treatment which can range from subtle satire to zany surrealism. All Ian's posts have one thing in common, they cut through the b.s. of mainstream media coverage to expose hypocrisy and cant.

Name: Ian Thorpe
Location: Accrington, Lancashire, United Kingdom

An ageing roue who is not afraid to admit he dyes his hair.

Monday, June 29, 2009

Michael Jackson's Death Was Faked - We Reveal All

Boggart Blog Exclusive: Jacko’s Death Faked, We Reveal Why. by ianrthorpe @ 2009-06-27 – 17:17:07

It was inevitable that people would quickly start to claim Michael Jackson is not really dead. It happened with Buddy Holly, Elvis, Marilyn Monroe, Jim Morrison and Janis Joplin who all found it possible to be dead, dead famous and at the same time evade the all seeing eye of the media. But at Boggart Blog we like to go a step further and so we will reveal why Whacko Jacko and his handlers decided death was the only way left to salvage the singer’s stalled career.

For many of the superstars who have become more successful when dead, embarrassing revelations about their private lives that would have damaged them in life only enhanced their reputation in death. Did we care that Elvis liked to eat fried banana sandwiches while sitting on the lav? Did the knowledge that Marilyn did not change her knickers every day diminish her sex appeal. In death and in the fantasies of millions Elvis was always the slim, hip swivelling teenager and MM’s panties were always pristine. Jim Morrison; in reality fat dead guy in a bath: in public perception always the slender, beautiful rebel. See what we mean.

Most of the evidence we have to back up our allegation is circumstantial of course but just apply logical reasoning and you will understand why Jackson’s death had to be announced now. We are not saying the hospital where he was treated or the Los Angeles coroners office were complicit in the deception, there were people in Jackson’s entourage who were so skilled in administering medication they had managed to drug up the star enough to have him declared clinically sane on several occasions. The drug that put him into a deep coma and slowed his heart rate to one beat per minute was administered by a member of the entourage and the authorities had no way of knowing what had really happened.

Why was this done now, in the days leading up to what meeja talking heads predicted would be a triumphant comeback with a season of 50 gigs at London’s O2 arena? The clue is in the venue. O2, Oxygen – the Oxygen of publicity was what was needed to kick start record and DVD sales and make some money for the parasites and hangers on who had lived off Jacko for so long. To die would be sad but to die on the verge of a comeback would be tragedy worthy of Grand Opera.

And why would the singer agree to such a course. Consider the dichotomy of Michael Jackson. Certain aspects of his lifestyle forced him to become a virtual recluse, he spent weeks on end closeted in Neverland with only little boys, cartoon characters and Jesus Juice for company and yet this was a man lived for acclaim, craved adoration, fed on the adoring attentions of his fans. He even liked to cast himself as Jesus, an unfortunate habit which led to that infamous Jarvis Cocker moment. So how was it possible to earn a living, be adored and indulge in certainly lifestyle options that do not bear close scrutiny?

Be dead of course?

Yes Michael had for more to gain from being dead than either Elvis or Jim Morrison before him. Once dead he could be a publicity shunning control freak and a publicity seeking fame junkie simultaneously. And whatever he was getting up to in his secret hideaway, in the public perception he would ever be that cute squeaky voiced kid with a normal nose.

It was not in Michael’s make up to slip away quietly, to have an empty plane flown into a mountain, pay a fat tramp to sit in a bath eating speed, to have six burly henchmen and a crane lift him off a golden toilet. No, Jacko had to go out big. A million tickets sold for the O2 gigs, a million people wailing and gnashing their teeth at news of his death (most because they were worried about not getting their money back) would appeal to Jacko’s sense of occasion.

There was no way the concerts could ever go ahead of course. Apart from what abuse of prescription drugs had done to Michael’s heart there was the question of dancing. While the fans would be expecting to see the old dance moves that resembled a spazza on speed the weird one’s body had deteriorated to such an extent due to excessive surgery bits would drop off if he stood up too quickly.

We understand the original plan was for a lot of headline grabbing showboating, concerts cancelled, postponed, will he, won’t he rumours flying around, pre publicity shots of Michael looking frail but bravely insisting the shows would go on. Then the dramatic collapse twenty minutes into the first concert. Shock, horror. Tsunami of sympathy. Diana moment, spontaneous outpourings of grief, mega record and DVD sales, the posthumous autobiography dictated to a psychic, the Bubbles the Chimp reveals all expose syndicated to Murdoch owned publications around the world.

Unfortunately something happened that made it all go pear shaped. While many of Michael Jackson tickets languished unsold in the safes of agencies that had snapped them up and other were being given away as competition prizes news started to filter through that the Take That tour had shifted a million and a half tickets and the boys were playing to packed houses and rapturous reviews. And furthermore Take That’s clown faces were only painted on.

Michael Jackson could just not face the fact that he was not as popular as four has beens from Manchester. In a fit of pique he brought his death scene forward to try and steal attention from the boy band.


More Great Humour (in the worst possible taste) from Greenteeth Multi Media

Strewth! The Wallabis Have Been At The Opium.
The Australian Island of Tasmania is the largest grower of legally licenced opium poppies in the world. But strange things have been happening, crop circles have appeared in the poppy fields. And this has produced a new theory of how crop circles are made.

The World Will End Soon So Check Your Insurance Cover.
It's a few months since Boggart Blog posted an article on the prediction that the world will end much sooner than expected. As usual the blog post carried our warning tht Boggart Blog should never be taken seriously. Even so a comment spammer turned up today to advise our readers to upgrade their insurance cover. But how do you claim for end of the world damage?

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Thursday, June 25, 2009

All Architects Are Twats

In school we used to have our own version of that old northern favourite On Ilkley Moor Baht ‘At. The refrain went “All Yorkshiremen are twats, all Yorkshiremen are twats…” There is no truth in that of course, Yorkshire is full of very nice people, no more twats per thousand head of population than anywhere else. I still sing the schoolyard version, with a slightly changed lyric whenever I visit a redeveloped area in one of our major cities:

All architects are twats, all architects are twats, all architects are twats…”

That is not true either and would have remained a little private amusement had it not become necessary to write about one modernist architect whose outstanding twattery taints all other members of his profession. Just recently a row of epic proportions has erupted between HRH The Prince of Wales, defender of all that is traditional and worthy and fuddy duddy, patron of The Village Green Preservation Society and talker to trees and Prince of Architectural Darkness, Richard Rogers...

CLICK HERE to read All Architects Are Twats full text

Friday, May 15, 2009

UK Politicians Expenses Scandal

The most hilarious political scandal in years is the Expenses scandal currently responsible for meltdown of the British political system with the Government in total disarray and the opposition parties not much better.

Read the funniest reportin, opinion and comment by following links below.

From A Bag O’Shite To A Chandelier And Back. by ianrthorpe @ 2009-05-12 – 16:57:01
Yesterday’s report on the Bag O’Shite MPs’ expenses scandal concluded with the promise we would bring you further and even more astounding revelations about the bizarre expenses claims made by Members of Parliament.

Today we honour our promise.

Sir Michael Spicer (Con, Rawtenborough South) successfully claimed the cost of having a chandelier hung at his Manor House which he insists is his second home despite its having been in the family...
CLICK HERE to read full post From A Bag O’Shite To A Chandelier And Back



UK Politicians Expenses Scandal Gives Glimpse Of What's To Come
Democracy is being strangled, it seems, by self interest and misplaced loyalties. Only months after the Blagojevic pay-for-power scandal and President Obama's own difficulty in finding people who were not crooks to fill various cabinet positions and other offices in his administration, we now have in Britain the budding scandal of Members of Parliament fiddling...
CLICK HERE to read full post UK Politicians Expenses Scandal




Lib Dems Expenses Claims Fail To Impress.

The fervid anticipation preceding the release of Liberal Democrats dodgy expenses claims turned into a sense of disappointment today as the embarrassing items we had hoped to see were absent. Where, for example, were the invoices for 5000 gallon tankers of Vodka delivered to Charlie Kennedy’s second home or the bill for supply of intravenous drip equipment so the former leaders could stay topped up while paralytic?
CLICK HERE to read full post Lib Dems Expenses Claims Fail To Impress.


Senior Conservative Claims Dog Food On Expenses. by ianrthorpe @ 2009-05-11 – 18:15:50
The details of MP’s dodgy expenses claims continue to land on the Boggart Blog News Desk 24 hours a day. Our reporters are on round the clock alert to bring you up to the minute information. The latest expose we hear...
CLICK HERE to read full post Senior Conservative Claims Dog Food On Expenses.


Forget Pork Barrels, this is bag o’shite politics. by ianrthorpe @ 2009-05-11 – 16:59:45
While we all sit back to watch the news and enjoy the witch hunt of Labour ministers over their eccies, from Jaqui Smith’s 89p bath plug to Barbara Follet’s £25k of security, we should not overlook some of the bizarre items that are turning up in Conservative MP’s claims...
CLICK HERE to read full post Forget Pork Barrels, this is bag o’shite politics.


Also check out these Greeneeth Multi Media pages:
The Daily Stirrer Hard hitting opinion and comment from the people who brought you Little Nicky Machiavelli.

Boggart Blog Central The main clearing house for Boggart Blog articles from the UK and world editions of what is probably the web's funniest satirical blog/

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Sunday, April 26, 2009

The Daily Stirrer

The Greenteeth Multi Media Empire has moved on a lot since I was last here. Check out our newest feature The Daily Stirrer a page for the most controversial opinion on the web.

Also look in on the Greenteeth portal for comedy, fiction, articles, verse and more.

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Olympic Humour at Boggart Blog - Britain's top comedy blog

Boggart Blog's best posts so far on the Olympic insanity.


The news from The Olympic Games as been provinding the Boggart Bloggers with most of their material for the past few days. Check out our main blog, greenteeth.blog.co.uk for all the posts. Here are a few links to the stuff we found most amusing.

Britain won its first medal in the cycling road race, an event not lacking comic potential as it was held in a torrential downpour.

Controversy raged in the swimming arena over full length super slick body suits made of low friction material to reduce swimmer's drag effect through the water. We wanted to know what is wrong with the old back, crack and sack wax and what the official view on gimp masks was. Not quite in the Olympic spirit but there you go. We never suggested we are a politically correct publication.

Disaster for Britain's medal hopes in the water. After double triumph, in the cycling and thewomen's 400meters freestyle in the main pool our synchronised diving team blew... no - not each other, settle down at the back; blew their chance of a medal by having a row just before their final dive. 14 y.o. prodigy Thomas Daley threw a hissy fit when his 26 year old diving partner took a call from his Mum, poolside, on his cellphone. They boy apparently said, "How can you talk to your Mother? Parents never understand anything. What we want to know though is WTF is Synchronised Diving doing as an Olympic sport.

Biggest controversy of the Olympic pageant so far (well the drug test results have not started coming in yet) was the lip synching scandal at the opening ceremony.Seems like a lot of fuss about nothing, we say if its good enough for Madonna and The Spice Gilrs its good enough for the Olympic Games

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Thursday, May 22, 2008

Denying Lesbian Couples IVF Treatment Will Lead To More Pub Closures

All this week the issues surrounding human fertility and embryos, including stem cell research and abortion have been debated by out elected representatives. This has thrown up more potential for humour than any other topic I can remember. Take this clause on the availability of IVF treatment for lesbian couples.

Former conservative leader and front runner in the race to be the baldest politician in Britain, Ian Duncan Smith who is perhaps even better known because his initials are almost the same as an embarrassing medical problem has put himself back in the news. He thinks children need fathers and so has tabled an amendment to the Human Embryo and Fertilisation Bill requiring that fertility clinics be prevented from offering IVF treatment to lesbian couples who want to have a baby.

"Girls brought up by a traditional heterosexual couple are less likely to become pregnant in their teens because they learn from their fathers it is possible to have a loving relationship with a man without sex being involved," IDS said while speaking in support of his amendment. poor chap, e has never really been in touch with what is going on in the world and has obviously not heard about the bloke with the cellar in Austria.

Enough of poking fun at the ineptitude of former Tory leaders though. You want to hear about pub closures.

Another Conservative, John Bercow, who does not belong to the part’s Not In My Back Yard tendency probably because he spends most of his time at his second home in the country and so does not care what is going on in his backyard, had this to say:
"I know of a lesbian couple who went to a clinic to ask about IVF and were told to go to a pub and find a man."

This demonstrates how important it is to grant lesbian couples access to IVF treatment as once in order to save the livelihoods of many pub landlords. What man in his right mind would want to drink in a pub if he was in constant fear of being molested by rampant lesbians intent on extracting a sperm sample.

More humour every day at Boggart Blog

Recommended reads:

MPs wrestle with embryology bill
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/news/2008/05/embryology_bill.html

They think its all over - well Obama does anyway
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/michael_tomasky/2008/05/they_think_its_all_over.html

Would you credit it? (credit crunch)http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/edward_pearce/2008/05/would_you_credit_it.html

The uses of unreason:
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/andrew_brown/2008/05/the_uses_of_unreason.htmlAndrew
Andrew Brown argues that logic and reason are not enough to save the planet, we need a quasi religious sense of community.

Creationism in US High Schoolshttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/05/21/creationism-in-us-high-sc_n_102853.html

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Cheaper Drugs Now

In this hilariously surrealm post Boggart Blog argues for cheaper drugs now. A plea many will sympathise with we're sure.

Meanwhile you might also like to check out What happened Before Big Bang at gather.com - comedy writer Ian Thorpe takes a semi serious look at the flaws in the Big Bang theory.

TODAY the boggarts commeted on:
Can soldiers be immunised against PTSD
Shocking news from Sheryl O at Gather.com of a plan to use psychological conditioning to make soldiers immune to the Post Traumatic Stress the experience after prologed exposure to the horrors of war.

First Post: Sweet and Sour, The Miracle Berry
Way back in the 1970s in Africa a berry was discovered that while having little food value in itself had a property that fooled the taste buds into interpreting bitter or bland tastes as sweet. The berry was tested, found to be safe, economical to farm and it did what it said on the box. The active ingredient was isolated, extracted and was all set to be launched as a product. Then a number of very strange things happened culminating in the withdrawal of licenses granted by the U.S. food and drug administration (FDA).
In the light of the current obesity pandemic the berry would be of enormous value. So why can we find out little about it, in whose interests is it to keep this potential life savers out of the public domain. We don't think you will need three guesses.


The Education of an Oil Reporter
Oil industry pundits are expressing shock at the seemingly unstoppable rise in the price of oil. Buy why should anybody be surprised?Chief Boggart Ian Thorpe
predicted this sequence of events five years ago. The link following takes you to his archive article: How Saddam May Yet Win The War

Eating The Amazon
How much harm is the destruction of the rainforest in order to grow food for cloned beff cattle doing to the planet. And how crazy is the intensive farming that is driving this policy?

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Friday, September 21, 2007

Osama Loves Bush - True

Osama Bin Laden and George W Bush deeply in love? It may be hard to swallow (oops, pardon!) but if this item from Scottish bloger nultygoestopartick is accurate - and the camera does not lie, it is true. Let's hope we are heading for an era of peace and cooperation.

For the best in humour on the web visit boggartblog

Thursday, August 16, 2007

God's Shock Jock?

Those of you who read my articles might be surprised to learn that earlier today I was guesting on a Chistian Radio show for London's Premier Radio station.
Even more strage, the producer Justin Brierley contacted me after following comment threads on some of my jousts with fundies here at Gather.
Well Justin's show "Unbelieveable" is a British production with a more moderate tone than U.S. evangelical Christianity, so after some discussion I decided the programme would be fun to do and managed to get my friend Jenni Hutchinson invited as my opponent, the Christian speaker. Did you know that satan is the Aramaic (ancient assyrian language) word for opponent or adversary. Ha! Jenni is a little devil - she will love that.
Anyway we put together a really good programme, covering topics such as how the church may fulfil a role in modern society, the nature of faith, building bridges (we bridged the religious divide, the generation gap - Jenni is 24 I'm...not. OK, I'm yibblety-yibble. the geographical divide between north and south and the soccer supporters gap, Jenni follows high flying Arsenal, one of the big guns of European soccer - my loyalties are to lowly Accrington Stanley (the team that came back from the dead - reluctantly apparently.)
All in all we proved there can be dialogue between Christians and non believers.
It will be difficult to get the show on the air in America but there is an internet feed. ?Here are the details:
The programme airs at 2pm this Saturday here are the ways to listen "Live"
1305, 1332, 1413 MW (Greater London) Sky Digital 0123 Virgin Media 968 Freeview 725 London DAB or online at http://www.premier.org.uk/
From (Usually) Monday you can listen to the archive edition of the programme online http://www.premier.org.uk/engine.cfm?i=680
Not of great spiritual interest to many of my gather friends maybe, as most share my attitude to organised religion, but a worthwhile demonstration of constructive dialogue between faith and non-faith, with some good points made on both sides.

OK, that's just a cynical ploy to bost the show in search engine listings of course. But you will excuse me one shameless self promotion item I'm sure. I promise to get back to more humour and controversy next time.

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Monday, July 02, 2007

Blair's Last Audience

Have you wondered what was said between Blair and The Queen last week? Do you find those stiffly formal official press releases unconvincing. Click the LINK to read an unofficial transcript of what was really said.