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Arise Dame Tessa and Sir Tony

June 16, 2012 10:27 am

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Congratulations to Tessa Jowell and Tony Cunningham, both of whom have been awarded honours.

Tessa Jowell (now Dame Tessa) receives her title just a matter of weeks before the start of the Olympics – an event that might never have happened without her energy and enthusiasm.

Tony Cunningham (now Sir Tony), is a longstanding campaigner on human rights and international development.

Congratulations to them both.

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  • Daniel Speight

    Lazy cut & paste from Wikipedia again.

    On 17 February 2009, an Italian court sentenced David Mills to four years and six months in jail for accepting a bribe from Silvio Berlusconi to give false evidence on his behalf in corruption trials in 1997 and 1998. His defence counsel said that the sentence went “against the logic and dynamic of the evidence presented.” The judgement was appealed by David Mills. On 27 October 2009, the Italian Appeal Court upheld his conviction and his sentence of 4½ years prison. He confirmed that he would initiate a second and final appeal to the Cassation Court.

    On 25 February 2010, the Italian Cassation Court (the second and last court of appeal under Italian law) ruled a sentence of not guilty because the statute of limitations expired. The supreme court judges ruled that he received the money in 1999, and not 2000 as prosecutors had previously argued. He was ordered to pay €250,000 compensation to the office of the Italian prime minister for “damaging its reputation”. Ms Jowell said “although we are separated I have never doubted his innocence.”

    So just a few questions Tessa. How does being saved by a statue of limitations prove innocence? Since when does separation mean spending weekends together? What happened to the rest of the money? Wasn’t there a million Euros in that bag, or has it all gone on lawyers? Oh, and who on earth recommends these honours? Is it our leadership or the Tories taking the pee?

    • AlanGiles

      ”
      Tessa Jowell (now Dame Tessa) receives her title just a matter of weeks before the start of the Olympics – an event that might never have happened without her energy and enthusiasm.”

      I am sure all the small businessmen –  all sorts of businesses including small engineering workshops – are immensley grateful to Mrs Mills for them having to leave their businesses – many of them long established, and being so poorly compensated under the Compulsory Purchase Orders – in some cases unable to find alternative premises at modest rents, and therefore having to close down after 40 or 50 years of trading.  The real distress caused to people in the path of the Olympics in East London and the Lee Valley losing homes and businesses just for the sake of this otiose 3 week vanity project, is well worth it to see Tessa so overjoyed.

      I am sure they will be raising a glass to the good fortune to this woman, if perhaps not to her “colourful” husband.
      Only goes to show if you keep signing remortgage applications, or come to that,  deliberately giving false information like Mandy did on an  original, it doesn’t preclude you from ermine a few years down the road.

      • treborc1

         And to day we are hearing a problem with the selling of  tickets by people working for the Olympics committee.

        You could not make it up could you.

  • LordElpus

    “Congratulations to Tessa Jowell and Tony Cunningham, both of whom have been awarded honours.”

    For doing what??? Oh yes their jobs.

    Surely then every working person should be knighted?!

    “We’re all in this together” in another light.

    • Dave Postles

       From your response, I take it that you are opposed to the honours system then?  That criterion seems to apply to a large number of them.  There will soon be two sorts of university: those with a knighted VC and those without.  It all just illustrates the absurdity. 

  • Todger

    There is nothing like a Dame… particularly one that tried to hide the fact that the Olympics faced an extra £1 billion pound VAT bill not included in the original calculation because Tessa and her little helpers “forgot” to factor it into their sums! And that’s just the tip of the iceberg far as folly and failure in Jowell’s very much less than illustrious career is concerned. Just goes to show how utterly ridiculous the honours system is when a useless careerist politician gets made a Dame of an Empire that no longer exists. Pathetic. 

  • Quiet_Sceptic

    Whilst I’m sure Tessa Jowell’s “energy and enthusiasm” is of immense value, I think the £11bn of public funding was somewhat more critical in delivering the Olympics.

    And probably could have been put to better use, but that is another issue…..

    • AlanGiles

      I think they are probably trying to spare her blushes. Though I cannot abide them, Blair and Coe did more for the Olympics than she did.

      I suspect that the honour is for services to remorgaging :-)

  • Losange

    As far as bullsh*t goes I think Tessa’s finest hour was when she was trying to sell super-casinos to the British public as a good way to help people suffering from gambling addiction! Hopefully she’ll now be put out to pasture. Oh, God! I hope so!!!

    • treborc1

       She’s the next leader of labour, the Thatcher principle comes into effect, labour has never had a women and this lady is a women

    • Martin

      Has Blackpool benefited from not getting the super-casino? It still looks deprived and under-developed to me.

      We already have hundreds of casinos in this country. One more wouldn’t have made a blind bit of difference to people’s addictions. But what it would have brought was investment, jobs, a new conference centre. Sounds sensible to me, especially in the current economic climate.

      • Losange

        Same thing could be said about the red light district and coffee houses of Amsterdam by any Dutchman. To me gambling, prostitution and drug taking are all undesirable things that shouldn’t be encouraged by any half-decent government.

        • Martin

          Prostitution goes on in every town and city in this country anyway. Best thing to do is legalise it and regulate it.

          • Losange

            Not in my opinion.

  • GKar

    Anybody that has been to some kind of a party overseen by Tessa Jowell will know that she is both a hostess and schmoozer par excellence. She’s air-kissed enough flabby cheeks of enough faces and backsides to earn some kind of recognition for ingratiation above and beyond the call of duty. Pity that the woman is otherwise so talentless and undeserving.

  • Joss

    I find it one third laughable, one third tragic, and one third predictable when Labour politicians accept honours like this from the Crown  at the end of their careers after supposedly fighting against privilege and inequality throughout their political lives. The only difference between professional politicians these days it seems is the colour of the rosette they wear once in a while on election day.   

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