Am I talking balls?

[Paul Rigby]

Blimey, this is one straight to the knackers, courtesy of an old clipping I came across rooting through a chaotic drawer:

There were less saintly sides to that personality. He may have been, as New York's liberal mayor Bill de Blasio said after Cuomo died, "a man of unwavering principle". But no one ever said he did not know how to look after himself. The bachelor politician Ed Koch never forgave the posters in a New York mayoral primary campaign in 1977, proclaiming "Vote for Cuomo, Not the Homo", though Cuomo always denied responsibility

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http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/...ario-cuomo

Any one in any doubt as to the utterly synthetic nature of Cameroon's populism? Here is old plastic head, the destroyer of Libya, on the subject of his favourite football team:

David Cameron blames 'brain fade' for getting his football team wrong

Sports stars, politicians and football fans react with amused disbelief after PM says he supports West Ham United when he is in fact an Aston Villa fan

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015...team-wrong

In footballing parlance, which David Cameron may not be that familiar with, mixing up your favourite team is quite a considerable own goal. But it seems that any claret-and-blue team will do for the prime minister after he said he supported West Ham United when he is supposedly an Aston Villa fan.

Cameron blamed the gaffe, made during a speech in south London, on "brain fade".

The campaign pressure may be on, the polls are tight and election day is less than two weeks away, but sports stars, fellow politicians and football fans around the country have reacted with amused disbelief.

In a speech outlining his vision for ethnic minority communities, Cameron said: "We are a shining example of a country where multiple identities work.

"Where you can be Welsh and Hindu and British, Northern Irish and Jewish and British, where you can wear a kilt and a turban, where you can wear a hijab covered in poppies. Where you can support Man Utd, the Windies and Team GB all at the same time.

"Of course, I'd rather you supported West Ham."

Attempting to explain what many on Twitter have judged to be the inexplicable, Cameron later clarified: "I had what Natalie Bennett described as a brain fade.

"I'm a Villa fan ... I must have been overcome by something ... this morning. But there we are, these things sometimes happen when you are on the stump."

It was not an explanation likely to satisfy many, no matter the attempts by Cameron supporters to excuse away the mishap on the basis that the teams share the same colours of claret and sky blue.

Famous sporting and political names were quick to react. Gary Lineker was one of the first to respond on social media, noting that the prime minister had been keen last week to use the official prime ministerial Twitter feed to congratulate Aston Villa on their recent FA cup triumph over Liverpool.

As Daily Blackshirt reader "norwichelectrician" observed:

Dave's for ever blowing bubbles, bubbles appearing everwhere. They fly so high, they reach the sky and like our Dave they're one big lie.