Sunday 11 July 2010

64748 - The Number of the Boast

Private Eye's 'Rotten Boroughs' column has been having some fun alleging that sycophantic Newham council staff down at Building 1000 by the Royal Albert Docks have been busy thinking up ways to celebrate the 64, 748 votes the Great Helmsman received in May's elections.

Ideas apparently include t-shirts with "64 748" printed on them, the inclusion of the number on the Mayor's headed notepaper and "having the figure engraved on a pair of cuff links for the great man to wear". But none of these ideas seems substantial enough for a man of Sir Robin Wales' enormous importance and so I'm starting a competition for better suggestions.

To get the ball rolling, here's one initial idea: what about twinning Newham with Golden City, Missouri (population: 884), whose United States Postal Service zip code is 64748? Perhaps Building 1000 could be renamed 'Golden City' as a tribute?

Or perhaps this: surely there must be somewhere in the borough where D_C_X_LM_VDCCXLVIII (64748 in Roman numerals) could be carved for posterity and the enjoyment of future generations?

Or as the hexadecimal for dirty grey is #064748, perhaps Newham should abandon its use of imperial purple in the council logo and use this colour instead?

Anyway, enough nonsense from me. Competition entries by the end of August. Judge's decision is final.

UPDATE

An offline suggestion - and trust a member of the local Labour Party to offer something this harsh. Their idea is for a full-length jacket for both of Newham's MPs with the number 64748 embroidered along the bottom, as a tribute to their coat-tails that dragged up the Mayor's vote as constituents worried about the prospect of a Tory government. Ouch!

3 Comments:

Joe said...

maybe he could have £64748 as his salary? and all the councillers could be paid their vote in pounds too? Budget slashed in two overnight

Anonymous said...

This is easy:

64 = the number of hand picked Newham Labour members allowed to attend party meetings to select council candidates that get the comedy mayor’s approval.

7 = the number of days per week I get stopped by Newham residents who moan about the comedy mayor.

4 = the inner circle (Corbett, Crawford, Baikie and Hudson).

8 = the number of terms the comedy mayor plans to do before he stands down.

Anonymous said...

Random search gives some possibilities?


http://www.jamlegend.com/user/acbb

gives us user acbb who has 0 friends and 0 followers (although sadly there are a number of overpaid local councillors who might negate the latter)

OR
http://www.middlesbrough.gov.uk/public/Transports%20&%20streets/Bus%20Time%20Tables/Nov%2009%20updates/Middlesbrough%20Area%20-%20(Index%20to%20Places%20Served).pdf

Places served by public transport in Middlesborough = Dormanstown South Avenue 64 748

This emphasises both that Lord Wales (it's only a matter of time) exists only to serve, and also that we would love him to go and serve the good people of the north east (or anywhere else)

OR

http://pmj.bmj.com/content/64/748.toc

Post Graduate Medical Journal, Volume 64, Issue 748

First article listed =
Recent advances in the understanding of dementia.
P. Tyrrell, M. Rossor

Could this explain something we all suspect?


Or even

"64.748 mq: La feroce battaglia per la ricostruzione di Ground Zero"
By Philip Nobel, R. Fiore (Translator)

A new book in Italian, which I think can literaly be translated as "The Fierce Battle for the Reconstruction of Building 1000"

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