Friday, June 3, 2011

Foulkes : the answers

The wait is over - here are the nineteen words, names and phrases you were looking for in Wednesday's long-overdue George Foulkes word-search puzzle...

Baron : That's what George is.

Cumnock : That's where George is Baron of.

Lothians : The region George used to represent in the Scottish Parliament.

Belize : According to Wikipedia, George is chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for this hot Caribbean country.

The Dominican Republic : According to Wikipedia, George is chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for this hot Caribbean country.

Trinidad and Tobago : According to Wikipedia, George is vice-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for this hot Caribbean country. Please don't be cynical - George simply takes a keen interest in Caribbean affairs.

Cybernats : For George, it's a love thing.

Oswestry : The town in Shropshire where George was born. No wonder Richard Briers and Penelope Wilton moved there in the final episode of Ever Decreasing Circles.

Iain Macwhirter : In what I can only assume was the worst case of vote-rigging since Glenrothes, Macwhirter "defeated" George to become Rector of Edinburgh University in 2009.

ID Cards : George is a fan. He has nothing to hide, and therefore nothing to fear. Can you say the same?

Disorderly : George resigned as Shadow Defence Minister in 1993 following a conviction for being drunk and disorderly. Quite clearly a fit-up.

Xenophobic : George famously called Alex Salmond xenophobic on an edition of Question Time. This controversial outburst appeared spontaneous at the time, but of course a master tactician leaves nothing to chance. It was revealed in Michael Portillo's recent documentary that this key moment in the Foulkes Story was meticulously pre-planned, and rehearsed the night before in the bath.

Hearts : George was the chairman of this football club.

Vladimir Romanov : The reason George is no longer the chairman of the aforementioned football club.

Clare Short : George's boss at the Department of International Development. They got on like a house on fire until George realised she had some weird problem with Tony Blair's illegal wars.

Senior Labour MSP : This is George's official name. "George" is a nickname that stuck, but the Scotsman and the Herald generally favoured formalities.

But is it wise? : At a 1990s meeting of the Scottish Grand Committee, George assured us that if Scotland became independent, he'd do his best to make it work. He then paused, and asked in hushed tones "but is it wise?". The subsequent hysterical laughter from the SNP benches remains a source of bafflement to this day.

Arrogant little : In the early 90s, George stood up in the Commons and referred to Tory cabinet minister Douglas Hogg as "that arrogant little s**t". The Speaker Bernard Weatherill immediately demanded that he withdraw "that word", to which George replied "which word - arrogant, little or...?". "Don't say it again!" screamed Weatherill at the top of his voice, in an apparent attempt to re-enact the stoning scene in Life of Brian.

Deliberately : As we know, George simply says it as it is. And in one celebrated BBC interview, he spoke a truth that most would have shirked from - that there is nothing wrong with the SNP government making Scotland's public services better than England's, but the problem is that they are doing it deliberately...

So there we are. My heartiest congratulations to anyone who found all nineteen. You are indeed a Foulkesian worthy of the name.

3 comments:

  1. LOL...

    Very amusing.

    So, it was pure coincidence then that words like "bar", "nut", "nit" and "sot" leapt out at me?

    Damn, and I thought I was well on the way to solving it!

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  2. The Weatherill incident sounds too good to be true.

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  3. Honestly, it happened, I've seen the tape! Weatherill went on to say "the last one", and Foulkes said something like "OK, I'll withdraw the last one".

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