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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsJohn Cleese: Alerts to threats in 2012 Europe
The English are feeling the pinch in relation to recent events in Syria and have therefore raised their security level from "Miffed" to "Peeved." Soon, though, security levels may be raised yet again to "Irritated" or even "A Bit Cross." The English have not been "A Bit Cross" since the blitz in 1940 when tea supplies nearly ran out. Terrorists have been re-categorized from "Tiresome" to "A Bloody Nuisance." The last time the British issued a "Bloody Nuisance" warning level was in 1588, when threatened by the Spanish Armada.
The Scots have raised their threat level from "Pissed Off" to "Let's get the Bastards." They don't have any other levels. This is the reason they have been used on the front line of the British army for the last 300 years.
The French government announced yesterday that it has raised its terror alert level from "Run" to "Hide." The only two higher levels in France are "Collaborate" and "Surrender." The rise was precipitated by a recent fire that destroyed France 's white flag factory, effectively paralysing the country's military capability.
Italy has increased the alert level from "Shout Loudly and Excitedly" to "Elaborate Military Posturing." Two more levels remain: "Ineffective Combat Operations" and "Change Sides."
The Germans have increased their alert state from "Disdainful Arrogance" to "Dress in Uniform and Sing Marching Songs." They also have two higher levels: "Invade a Neighbour" and "Lose."
Belgians, on the other hand, are all on holiday as usual; the only threat they are worried about is NATO pulling out of Brussels.
The Spanish are all excited to see their new submarines ready to deploy. These beautifully designed subs have glass bottoms so the new Spanish navy can get a really good look at the old Spanish navy.
Australia, meanwhile, has raised its security level from "No worries" to "She'll be alright, Mate." Two more escalation levels remain: "Crikey! I think we'll need to cancel the barbie this weekend!" and "The barbie is cancelled." So far no situation has ever warranted use of the last final escalation level.
-- John Cleese - British writer, actor and tall person A final thought - Greece is collapsing, the Iranians are getting aggressive, and Rome is in disarray. Welcome back to 430 BC."
aquart
(69,014 posts)Fun with vitriol.
kentauros
(29,414 posts)Iwillnevergiveup
(9,298 posts)not always great news this week, I needed some comic relief.
olderlib
(16 posts)what's all this, then?
calimary
(81,265 posts)Iwillnevergiveup
(9,298 posts)Still in great form.
Kaleva
(36,301 posts)BadGimp
(4,015 posts)"The French government announced yesterday that it has raised its terror alert level from "Run" to "Hide." The only two higher levels in France are "Collaborate" and "Surrender." The rise was precipitated by a recent fire that destroyed France 's white flag factory, effectively paralysing the country's military capability. "
Ouch....
slampoet
(5,032 posts)catchnrelease
(1,945 posts)I love this man!
scarletwoman
(31,893 posts)I love John Cleese, I wanna know where he's writing this stuff!
Iwillnevergiveup
(9,298 posts)with no link. When I googled "John Cleese" many forums popped up and he does appear to have a website at http://www.johncleese.com, but it looks to be fairly inactive.
So, sorry, have no idea where it originated.
scarletwoman
(31,893 posts)I do wish people would include links in their emails.
Not blaming you - I'm delighted that you posted this. Thanks again!
pinboy3niner
(53,339 posts)That gives results showing it on FB, blogs, etc. I didn't search the sites to find a link, but one site did note that this was posted there "11 months ago."
scarletwoman
(31,893 posts)They all just had the text. Interesting thing, some of the sites had "Libya" in the text instead of "Syria" - the "11 months ago" you came across is probably accurate.
I love the writing quoted in the OP of this thread, but I really dislike not finding a clear source. There's simply no proof that John Cleese wrote it. It's possible that he did - and it's probably a year old or so - but without a link to the original, there's really no way to know.
muriel_volestrangler
(101,316 posts)I think the chances of John Cleese writing more than one phrase of it, if that, are very, very small.
On edit: The Snopes message board traced it back to March 2007, when a blogger said it was of unknown origin then: http://tartfromhell.com/2007/03
scarletwoman
(31,893 posts)While I do think the material is funny, it never ceases to amaze me how easily stuff with no proof of attribution gets passed around and taken at face value.
Norrin Radd
(4,959 posts)spanone
(135,832 posts)MichaelMcGuire
(1,684 posts)slampoet
(5,032 posts)I am willing to bet anyone here $100 that it is not.
I write comedy and have personally seen at least 300 pages of his material written out and this matches NONE OF IT.
Cleese never uses these kinds of cliche's. Also he is Brief with his humor.
Also there are at least two other fake letters going around that have a very similar list writing style as this.
http://www.snopes.com/politics/satire/revocation.asp
PLEASE be a responsible citizen and stop posting emails that have no source.
You really ought to know better by now.
I hope you didn't send all your money to Nigeria.
Assuming that Cleese was not posing as John Humberstone who posted this in 2007 ...
www.nlpconnections.com/chill-out-room/2318-security-alert-status.html