I don't have many claims to fame, but inventing the phrase "plastic poll tax" as a description for ID cards is one of them - back in 2005. I see it has become Chris Huhne's phrase du jour. Royalty cheques should be sent to...
PS Did I tell you I also invented blogging? :)
UPDATE Fri: When I was typing this entry, I did think to myself 'I bet someone comes up with an instance of someone else using it'. And they have. Anthony King in 2003. OK, hands up. I really am Al Gore in disguise.
Congratulations! no one seems to have picked up My own One-stop identity theft shop.
ReplyDeleteNU-Lab.....Now where did that phrase come from?
ReplyDelete"Did I Ever Tell You..."
ReplyDeleteYes. You may have mentioned it ;-)
By the way, anyone notice that the ID Card Jacqui Smith was pictured with today didn't belong to her? That's actually a crime; someone should tell the Police.
Whilst we're going back into history, I quite like this one :
ReplyDeleteBrown unveils global crisis plan
"We will not let high-risk hedge fund speculation by the few translate into a wider risk for the many and destabilise the financial system on which we all depend for prosperity," Gordon Brown said.
The date? 2 November 1998 - there's some other choice quotes in there.
Thinking aloud - I wonder if articles that old come up on the BBC "most read" or "most emailed" lists if they get a lot of hits? I've certainly seen ones from 2005 on those lists, but they're on the new format site.
El Sid
ReplyDeleteInteresting piece that!
Sounds to me as though Brown has his grubby little fingers all over the present failures!
That's political longevity for you! (Crikey he looked almost human then!) Insted of now he not only has the poll rating of Neville Chamberlain but the grey aura of him as well!
Interestingly, I wonder if the "stressed" occupants of that job always turn grey: Gordon Brown, John Major et al?
Maybe Brown should have a good physical consulatation by a doctor?
ReplyDeleteAnon 2.21 - I think you mean a proctologist...
ReplyDeleteWell I invented the inflatable IDS, but apparently there wasn't a market for blow-up bald Tories.
ReplyDeleteNah Iain it was Gordon Brown who invented blogging, and also I hear he's single-handed going to save the international/global/universal economic system.
ReplyDeleteIain did you also invent the phrase 'My Little chipmunk ?' I saw Hazel Blears ( on good form) positively blushing when Fraser Nelson brought it up on QT ?
ReplyDelete( Fraser Nelson is on fire at the moment by the way his attacks on Brown over debt and deceit and superb)
As any fool knows, Iain Dale has invented many many glorious things. To save his blushes, I only list a handful below
ReplyDelete1. The phrase "plastic poll tax"
2. Blogging
3. The iPhone
4. The internet
5. Audi
6. The phrase "did I ever tell you"
7. The Big Mac
8. Lists
I propose we elevate him to National Treasure status and I hereby declare that from this day, 26th September shall become Dame Dale Day...
PS: What else did Dame Dale invent?
Leftitst claim they invent everything. Did you know Al Bore invented the Internet?
ReplyDeleteObviously we know you invented blogging Iain. But "plastic poll tax"? First used at factory gates all over the Buckinghamshire polystyrene foam industry in the 1970s when every item of foam, however small, had to have the same fire retardents applied to it.
ReplyDelete"A horrendous plastic poll tax on our jobs, our families"
Bucks Free Press headline, 15 September 1976
Sorry not available on the internet.
Out of interest Iain when are you claiming "first use"? Link please.
ReplyDeleteInvented blogging? Oh dear Iain, that's a red rag to a bull. It'll make a certain 'Celtic' chappy very mad indeed.
ReplyDeleteI think the phrase "Brown Wrapping" could have a whole new meaning....
ReplyDelete......Gordo wraps "in 1997 nulab came to heaven I made the coutry great I spents lots of money....."
Oh God I'm making myself feel ill thinking about it.
No No we don't want Brown Wrapping forget it!
That is a good line Iain, I wish I'd thought of it.. [Cue Oscar Wilde line..]
ReplyDeleteBy the way, good to see that Robert Peston is man enough to admit he did not coin the phrase 'septic bank' to describe Paulson's 'hoover up the crap' arrangement to bailout the banks..
David Davis' speech was on 28 June (not July iain) 2005. But it is still not the first use. BBC had it two weeks before, everyone was using it immeidately before Davis "coined it" and I've found Cllr Steve Radford using it on or before 1 June 2005, when its use was reported in the Liverpool Daily Post. DD quoted work at LSE which very likely referenced that phrase. Their archive certainly does.
ReplyDeleteDon't worry it's only being introduced for foreign nationals, which neutralises a lot of ill-feeling towards it. It adds weight to the impression of getting tough on immigration.
ReplyDeleteAnd then they came for the airport workers. And then they...
BTW I notice CP has misspelt a word. This happens to us all, of course. It was ironic though, that the word begins with retard.
Jacqi Smith smirking as she held the instrument of oppression.
ReplyDeleteIs this why NuLabour are going on about 'personal accounts' in the NHS and elsewhere?
Since the Tories lost David Davies from the Shadow Cabinet, civil rights, such as freedom from snooping, seem to have fallen down the priority list. A shame.
Iain...
ReplyDeleteID cards may be Blair's 'plastic poll tax'
Analysis: A large majority think they are a good idea, but a small group of passionate opponents could prove to be politically lethal, reports Anthony King
By Anthony King
Last Updated: 9:35PM BST 07 Sep 2003
Any attempt to introduce a system of national identity cards could land the Government in deep trouble, according to YouGov's survey for The Telegraph.
The survey's headline figures showing a large majority in favour of such a system conceals depths of potentially lethal opposition. Identity cards have already been dubbed "the Poll Tax in plastic". They could turn out to be just that...
http://tinyurl.com/3fcbq6
chris paul, if I claim to have invented the magnetic screwdriver in 1976, do you think you would waste some time proving me wrong?
ReplyDeleteThink about it... another 15 minutes that you sit in front of your screen and not bothering the citizenry...
Iain,
ReplyDeleteFrankly I don't understand how you can manage to live with yourself.
@ Chris Paul
ReplyDelete"everyone was using it immeidately before Davis "coined it"
Spelling apart, I certainly wasn't, and I ain't going to start now.
Then again, who is 'everyone' in your world?
Martin Day said...
ReplyDelete"Interestingly, I wonder if the "stressed" occupants of that job always turn grey: Gordon Brown, John Major et al?"
It's called 'ageing'.
I'd like to know which arsehole in the sphere of politics first used the term "Obviously, there are lessons to be learnt..."
ReplyDeleteMy take on it is that, every time a politician uses that phrase they are admitting that they have overseen a situation the likes of which they have absolutely no knowledge or understanding - namely, anything that goes on in the real world.
DAILY TELEGRAPH(LONDON)
ReplyDeleteSeptember 08, 2003, Monday
ID cards may be Blair's 'plastic poll tax' A large majority regards them as a good idea, but a small group of passionate opponents could prove to be politically lethal.
BYLINE: By Anthony King
Anthony King in 2003 is a good spot. It came up in my first search but I missed the date on it having spotted a May 2005.
ReplyDeleteBut the c 20 separate instances I found in the four weeks before you thought you'd come up with it may be more relevant to your fantasy. It was obvious that it was wrong and took a minute on google to prove it to be so.
Earlier today I composed a very catchy rural nursery song. The working title is:
Old Macdonald Had a Farm
Bit of a mouthful? Think it could catch on?
Congratulations still Iain on inventing blogging. No-one can take that away from you.
Now there's a line I could shine up a bit too. Brilliant.
15 minutes Pinfield? 15 seconds. And Iain has been claiming this phrase for two years now. You know I'll never believe another word he says.
ReplyDeleteI invented the interweb thingy.
ReplyDeleteAl Goremless-Prescott.
ID card is the most important element of your visual identity. It's the first thing people see when they meet you.
ReplyDeletePlastic Business Cards
Plastic Card printing