Wednesday, April 11, 2007

"Romping" in the Isles

What is it about the Scottish islands? Must be the climate. It seems the SNP MP Angus MacNeil enjoyed a 3-in-a-bed "romp" with two teenage girls (17 and 18 at the time) a couple of years ago. Iain Dale detects Labour dirty tricks behind the story and my guess is that he is probably right (McNeil kick-started the police inquiry into “loans-for-peerages”); Bob Piper appears to be arguing “so what, the Tories have their dirty tricks too” which is also true. Rough old game, politics. Decoding the euphemisms used to describe what actually happened in Angus's hotel room – how the hours fly – I am suddenly reminded of similar "rompings" by one Lady Orkney (I know, Orkney is a north-eastern isle, as it were, but still…). In Capital Volume 1 Chapter 24 “Primary Accumulation” Marx recounts that the “glorious revolution” installed in power not only William of Orange but also “the territorial and capitalist appropriators of surplus value”. As evidence of “the private character of this bourgeois hero” (i.e. William III) Marx – rather priggishly - quotes a 17th century manuscript to the effect that: “The large grants of lands in Ireland to Lady Orkney, in 1695, is a public instance of the King’s affection, and the Lady’s influence…Lady Orkney’s endearing offices are supposed to have been – foeda labiorum ministerial…”. Angus was more frugal; all he offered was a few free drinks. Lucky bastard.

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