Tribes

Sat in the garden of the homestead and it's just like being on holiday in France. The sun shining, the trees offering a bit of respite when the heat gets a bit too much and a jug of fresh iced juice on hand to slake the thirst.

But we're not in France, we've just got back from a walk around Ullswater and we think it must be Wearside wakes week, the place was full of people in Sunderland FC shirts, t-shirts and tattoos. They were everywere.

Now, I love hot weather, even when it does trigger my hayfever, which is due around now. But there is one thing I do dislike intensely, and it seems to be a very British thing. Why is it when the sun pops out so do the big, bare red beer bellies, the horrible chav tattoos and the bouncy sunburnt thighs? And as for the men? It makes me ill! So today we've witnessed tribal culture, manifested in the football tribe from Wearside.

On Thursday we will witness it from the political tribes. Being a European election it will be the real hardcore tribal members who bother. The ones who, regardless of their representatives putting expense claims in for buying a cornet at the pictures one Saturday night in 2007, will still vote for their tribe.

One of your candidates being investigated for firearms offences? Earns a crust making gallows for countries that still hang 'em high? Bet muppets will still vote for that particular tribe.

Had one of your MEPs imprisoned for benefit fraud? Well, he was thrown out of the party. What about the other one then, the one on bail for alleged fraud and money laundering. Well, he was weak and if you want out of the EU, well, 'we're the only show in town'.

It sometimes seems that politics is the middle class, or more likely 'pseudo-intellectual' eqivalent of football. They are both tribal, both prepared to forgive their team/party for almost anything and regard sticking with their team/party whatever they have done as a badge of honour, however dishonestly they may have behaved.

Blind allegiance to a football team is one thing. Blind allegiance to a political doctrine, or party, leads to conflict or even war. So, if you blindly follow a corrupt party on Thursday or, more importantly, in the general election that will come soon enough, don't whinge about dodgy politicians if you vote for the ones we all know to be on the make.

Maybe some of the blame lies with the political tribes, maybe more blame lies with the electorate, for either not giving a toss or not getting angry enough.

Jonathan Richman and The Modern Lovers

Michael Moore-Prat!

It's been ages since I gratuitously abused Michael Moore so here goes.

Fat, pompous, prat. He should chew on a phial of cyanide. He's a right patronising, self-righteous git and a complete arsehole to boot.

That's better, going some way to coping with the concert being cancelled tomorrow now.

By the way the little rodent on the right is Hazel Blears. Don't start me on that little bitch!

And Another One Bites The Dust

Piggy Boy Morley bites on the political phial. I love the word 'phial'. Perhaps the more scientific reader may wish to confirm whether or not it is ever used in a context other than cyanide and suicide. Looks like a piggy doesn't he?

Bill's Cashing in too. Geddit?

Former environment minister Elliot Morley is expected to become the 13th MP to step down in the wake of expenses revelations.

Mr Morley, who claimed £16,000 over 18 months for a mortgage that did not exist, has already been suspended by the Labour Party.

Scotland Yard is also considering whether to launch a criminal probe.

The Scunthorpe MP said he is arranging a meeting with his local party association, but refused to confirm he will inform activists he is standing aside at the next general election.

"I will release a statement after I have spoken to them," he added.

Meanwhile, it has emerged that senior Tory MP Bill Cash claimed more than £15,000 of public money to pay the rent on his daughter's London flat.

The MP designated a west London flat owned by his daughter Laetitia as his "second home" for Commons allowances during 2004 and 2005 - even though he owned a home closer to Westminster.

Mr Cash, whose main home is a country house in Shropshire, said he did not live at his own Pimlico flat or rent it out at the time.

The Daily Telegraph reported that Miss Cash, who is hoping to become a Conservative MP, sold her flat for a £48,000 profit soon after her father stopped claiming money for it. She had owned her home for less than a year and a half, and for more than 12 months of that period her father had paid her £1,200 a month in rent from public funds.

Mr Cash, MP for Stone and a prominent Eurosceptic, then reportedly nominated two private members' clubs as his "second home" for three months.

Come on Blears you little runt, fill that phial! That's just me being gratuitous.

Friday Funday

OK I'm really pissed off that Morrissey is "Still Ill". So here is King Crimson. Why? Because they are good, and gave us Roxy Music.



This is tomorrow calling:



Can't be there this weekend, because Morrissey isn't. See you soon Jules and Barry, when Moz rearranges:



We may have called him a 'poof' in my day (caricature Northern accent, a la the awful Jane Horrocks). But there you go, I can't:

Morrissey-Brixton Academy

Will Morrissey have recovered from a dodgy throat by Saturday night? He had to cancel the Troxy on Tuesday and Brixton tonight. Will he be OK for Saturday, when we are there, or will he be "still ill"?



Shit! 21.45 the concert's off.

Another One Bites The Dust

Well two actually. Magic!

Julie Kirkbride and the old slapper in Luton South, Margaret 'Moron', are standing down at the next election.

Thank God the slapper in Luton is on her bike, it saves us the agony of the excrutiating Esther Rantzen flouncing around on the stump, which she'd promised to do if 'Moron' didn't stand down.

Read all about it.

Come on Hazel 'Snout in Trough' Blears make it a hat-trick please.

EU Election-Irish Perspective On The Sham/Scam

The heading for this post includes the words sham and scam for a reason. Nobody, even those fighting tooth and nail to get on the gravy train, seems able to justify the existence of MEPs. Far too many taking part are in it to get their snouts in the trough.

Even withdrawalist parties accept that electing any number of MEPs will not bring withdrawal one step closer, the EU doesn't work like that. One former colleague in UKIP, well intentioned but misguided in my view, claims that in 2005 UKIP's general election vote went up 50% on the vote in 2001 because of having MEPs. Maybe the number of votes did rise, but only because they had more candidates than in 2001. The actual percentage vote for UKIP was still only around 2%, similar to the percentage votes it was achieving pre-1999.

The problem is the public still don't care or know enough about the EU to be really bothered. Despite having MEPs since 1999 UKIP still haven't fulfilled their pledge of using MEPs to launch themselves into the UK parliament. Partly because they don't bother very seriously, partly because most people don't care about the EU, they vote on issues they regard as more important, and UKIP is still seen as irrelevant. The following quote from the Irish Times says it all really:

The European elections in Ireland, as in many other EU states, tend to be used as a mid-term review of the government by voters. The opposition also try to score political points against the Government rather than open an ideological debate about Europe or policy issues associated with the EU.

The full Irish Times article is here.

Let's face it the whole EU election is a sham. I have advocated abstention before but couldn't bring myself to do it when the ballot paper arrived. So I voted for a party that advocates withdrawal but I am certain will not get anybody elected. At least that way I know my vote hasn't helped directly put another snout in the trough.

Manchester United FC

Well United lost to Barcelona tonight, and deservedly so sadly. So there's only one place to retreat to, music:



Just praying Morrissey recovers to play at the Brixton Academy on Saturday night. That being cancelled would be too much.

That BNP Election Broadcast

European elections are essentially a wasted exercise in sham democracy, but it produces desperate attempts to jump on the gravy train. After all, five years as an MEP can make a person pretty well off for doing bugger all.

This year I was saddened that the BNP and UKIP should stoop to using images of Winston Churchill, a cheap shot in my view that smacks of desperation. But tonight's BNP election broadcast was something else.

The BNP really should get some basic history lessons. They showed war memorials in the UK claiming that the names were English, Scottish, Irish and Welsh, thus 'proving' that it was British people (not Johnny Foreigner) who saved us in the two world wars. What crap!

Yes the demography of the UK has changed and war memorials in Lancashire and elsewhere will represent the names that inhabited the UK in the first half of the last century. They do not represent the various nationalities and races that fought throughout Europe and the world from all corners of the Empire to preserve our, and their freedoms.

If anybody cares to visit war graves anywhere in Europe you will see the graves of people from Africa, the Indian Sub-continent, China and everywhere else the British flag flew at the time. Visit the Menin Gate Memorial in Ieper and see the names there that commemorate those who fell but have no known grave. The names are not only 'British', far from it.

What about the Gurkhas? Perhaps, according to BNP history books they don't count, or even exist.

I did't intend blogging tonight but their ignorance really pissed me off. Prats!

MP Expenses

The BBC website has a full list of all the MPs involved in dodgy expenses claims. You can find each MP and a breakdown of what they claimed for here.

Sadly MEPs are only just coming under scrutiny.

Proud To Be English?

An excellent article in the Times online today by Melanie Reid about Englishness. I've always been happy that English patriotism is cooly understated and I particularly liked the following paragraph:

For me, Englishness resides in character, not anything physical. It is an indefinable stew of tolerance, decency, resourcefulness and humour that only manifests itself when called upon. Englishness means being determinedly unshowy; modest to the point, often, of crashing dullness. Englishness means possessing a deep sense of fairness, usually completely inarticulated, and a prize-winning ability for a good moan. Englishness may be vulgar: whether it be shell suits and pitbulls; or monogrammed initials on your well cover - God bless you, Sir Peter Viggers - but on the whole it would rather do you a good turn than a bad.

I tend to make my point when having to complete a ridiculous 'equality form'. They usually contain 'White British', White Irish' etc., etc. So I usually tick 'White Other' and, if given the option, add 'English'.

Nations that obsess about their identities and are overtly patriotic tend to be proportionately nasty and unpleasant. Just look at the sectarian murder this weekend in Northern Ireland. It seems to me that Northern Ireland is about one group of 'patriots' versus another. Look at the fascist regimes of the 1930s and beyond, highly patriotic, highly destructive.

Welsh and Scottish nationalism tend to be corny and vulgarly contrived, often based on anti-English sentiment. I would hate England to make a conscious decision to become more overtly patriotic, that is a very dangerous path. I like our understated patriotism thank you.

Burnley FC

Congratulations to Burnley FC. Another Lancashire club in the Premiership bringing the total to eight.

Lancashire, the true hotbed of English football.

If you're wondering about the eight many of us still include Manchester and Liverpool in Lancashire, as well as Furness across Morecambe Bay.

More Data Losses

The RAF an the NHS are at it now. Please, if you don't already, support the excellent No2ID.

The personal medical records of tens of thousands of people have been lost by the NHS, the Department of Health has confirmed.

A total of 140 security breaches were reported within the NHS between January and April this year.

These included computers containing medical records stolen and left by skips and stolen and passwords taped on encrypted discs with sensitive information, The Independent newspaper said.

Over the last six months, the Information Commissioner has been forced to take action against 14 NHS bodies for breaching data regulations.

In an interview with the newspaper, Commissioner Richard Thomas, said the watchdog had ordered an urgent review of data security in the health service.

Mr Thomas has written to the Department of Health calling for immediate improvements to the lax treatment of personal data within the NHS.

The Independent reported that Mr Thomas plans to send in a "crack team" of inspectors to examine how data is protected by hospitals and medical workers across Britain.

One GP downloaded a complete patient database, including the medical histories of 10,000 people, on to an unsecured laptop, the newspaper reported. The laptop was then said to have been stolen from his home and never retrieved.

In another alleged breach, a memory stick containing the medical histories of 6,360 prison patients and ex-inmates of Preston prison was lost. Though the data was encrypted, the password was written on a note that was attached to the device.

Mick Gorrill, assistant information commissioner, warned of a "complete disconnect" between procedures laid down by managers and practice "on the ground".

Senior RAF staff could be at risk of blackmail after files detailing alleged drug abuse, extra-marital affairs and use of prostitutes were stolen, it has been reported.

Computer disc drives taken from RAF Innsworth in Gloucestershire contained details gathered while vetting staff for security clearance, the Guardian has claimed.

At the time of the theft in September last year, the Ministry of Defence said that personal data such as bank details and addresses could have been lost.

But an internal memo obtained under the Freedom of Information Act and published in the Guardian appears to confirm that "vetting" information also disappeared.

The memo states: "This information included details of criminal convictions, investigations, precise details of debt, medical conditions, drug abuse, use of prostitutes, extra-marital affairs including the names of third parties."

It adds that the data is not "routine vetting information" but cases referred to the RAF because of their "serious vulnerabilities."

"This data provides an excellent target list for foreign intelligence services, investigative journalists and blackmailers. Moreover, if the information relating to the private lives of RAF personnel, especially of some very senior officers, enters the public domain, the reputation of the service will be tarnished."

Details of the memo form part of BBC2 programme Who's Watching You which will be broadcast on Monday night.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Defence could not confirm the nature of the lost data but said: "All individuals identified as being at risk received personal one-on-one interviews to alert them to the loss of data, to discuss potential threats and to provide them with advice on mitigating action.

"There is no evidence to suggest that the information held on the hard drive believed to have been stolen from the secure SPVA site at MoD Innsworth has been targeted by criminal or hostile elements."

Newcastle United

How good to see the fat lardy boys relegated.

I remember going up to Newcastle a few years back to find a half empty, dilapidated stadium where Manchester United fans nearly outnumbered Geordies.

The modern age, of televised football, had to hype a 'North East Giant', but what did they achieve? They gave us fat, whining 'footy' fans who sobbed when things went wrong. 3-0 at Wembley?

Went to watch United there again in about 2004 with me dad, and Geordies were still gobby bastards with no class. All piss and wind.

The first 'fans' I saw sobbing were Geordies in ninety-something. I saw Geordies sobbing today too, when they were relegated. If sport makes you wail, and show fat blubbery flesh, then you deserve to be relegated.

Sad, Geordie bastards, gone but never missed.

Well maybe by Sky TV!

EU Election

We received our ballot papers yesterday for the joke election on June 4th. There is something very unpleasant about voting in an election to a parliament that has no influence or power, and thankfully that is the case with the EU parliament.

What is really sickening though, is knowing that all your vote will do is help somebody become quite wealthy over the next five years from your taxes. That is what really rankles. But I couldn't bring myself to abstain.

So I would suggest that people vote for the party that has the closest domestic agenda to the one you would like to see in the British parliament. That's what I did.

And there are eleven parties and one independent to choose from. The ballot paper was about 2ft long. Getting on the gravy train is very popular it seems.

Voting Idiots

Don't assume that the great British public will do the right thing come a general election. In a council by-election in Salford, in Hazel Blears' constituency, Labour has just been re-elected.

It really is quite frightening.

Labour Win

Friday Funday

Wizzard, King's Hall, Belle Vue about 1973. I know why! But this will have to do:



Then John Cooper Clarke, the Salford Bard:



For T Bishop Finger, Iggy at the Apollo, Ardwick:

Oh Manchester, So Much To Answer For.

The Times reports on Islamist terror groups' use of fake colleges to smuggle terrorists into the country. That's a strange departure as, up until now, they've always used British lads from Luton or Bradford. But there you go, our security services must be right, they did assure us that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction didn't they?

What particularly struck me was that much of the report centres on East Manchester, where I grew up. Roughly speaking that means Gorton, Levenshulme, Openshaw and out to Tameside which includes Hyde and Hattersley. I can't help imagining the high dudgeon of the local citizens, indignant that Al Qaeda should lower the tone of East Manchester in such a terrible way.

Of course they are forgetting that Openshaw saw one of the first IRA murders on the mainland in the 1970s, outside my local as it happens. That Gorton, Hattersley, Hyde and Ashton-under-Lyne were where the Moors Murderers did their evil deeds. That Hyde was where Harold Shipman had his surgery. I'm bloody sure that he, and the previous events, did a great deal more to lower the tone of the neighbourhood than a few more terrorist raids that will probably lead to nowt but a few illegals, as also happened recently in North Manchester.

My parents always harp back, bless 'em, to the golden days when you could leave your front door open, not like theses days. I always have to check with them if by that they mean the 1950s, the decade when they suffered their only ever burglary and one grim night heard the screams of a woman being murdered in a nearby alley.

I suppose we all have our coping mechanisms. Mine is Morrissey and The Smiths so here we go:

August General Election?

It seems, according to the Times Online, that government Chief Whip Nick Brown let slip on Twitter that there will be a general election in August. The entry has now gone but The Times confirms that it did indeed appear then was removed.

Which goes to show that politicians should have their own version called, perhaps, Twatter!

Meanwhile if you follow this link you will see Hazel 'Snout in Trough' Blears, with her permanently plastered on patronising, smug, arrogant, false and puke inducing grin, claiming that all is well and that Gordon Brown actually loves her.

No Blears you lying little runt, I saw the press conference when Brown replied to a question about your expenses calling them "totally unacceptable". On yer bike you little misfit!

Speaker, And Scapegoat?

Here is the good news.

The Speaker, "Gorbals Mick", is to stand down on June 21. Shame he didn't do it eight years ago the fat, stinking, sponging, inverted snob.

But be very careful. Knowing MPs he will now be used as a scapegoat to try and get themselves off the hook.

Or maybe he's a sacrificial pig, an attempt to divert public attention away from the other culprits with their snouts in the trough.

Sign Of The Times

The Chief Constable of Avon and Somerset is considering defying the High Court according to this report from the BBC news website.

It seems that hard drives were confiscated in raids in a suspected paedophile case. The High Court have instructed Avon and Somerset police to return the hard drives immediately without, it seems, inspecting them.

The owner of the hard drives is a known paedophile. The police are considering refusing to return them because they think that they probably contain porn.This creates a real dilemma.

Are the police, like us, becoming so disillusioned with the legal process that they are prepared to take the law into their own hands?

Are the police now so seemingly all-powerful that they think they can do what the hell they like?

My view is that they should abide by the decision of the High Court but that we need a healthy debate about the current laws around pornography. Ideally without mass hysteria.

Politically Correct Fascism

Here is a superb article from Minette Marin in yesterday's Sunday Times.

The intolerant and totalitarian nature of political correctness never ceases to amaze me, but worse, it never ceases to amaze me that people don't fight back.

To me no right thinking person could support gay adoption.It is wrong. If I had a child about to be adopted, I would never, ever give him up for adoption if I thought it would be a gay couple. So for me the following paragraph says it all, and, most importantly shows why I'm right:

Just as astonishing was a comment made in a guide to adoption published by a state-funded national agency, the British Association for Adoption and Fostering. Its new booklet, the Pink Guide to Adoption for Lesbians and Gay Men, describes people who oppose gay adoption as “retarded homophobes”. The association repeated this choice phrase on its Be My Parent website, although it has since been removed. This again was a shocking glimpse of the unmasked teeth of vicious bigotry, made even worse by unselfconscious hypocrisy.

Imagine shouting 'daddy' and both your 'parents' look round! No, it's just wrong. but then I'm just a "retarded homophobe".

UKIP-Lies and Hypocrisy.

There comes a time when enough is enough. I came home today to find the UKIP EU election leaflet behind the door. In these days of sleaze and excess by politicians it was as bad as they come. It stated:

"UKIP CANDIDATES ARE REAL PEOPLE, NOT CAREER POLITICIANS!"

Their lead candidate was a Tory until after the 2004 Euro elections, then he saw a chance. He has been a student for many years, only putting his PhD studies on hold to become a UKIP/Independence and Democracy Group researcher in the European Parliament. His 'work' as a lecturer was part of his PhD studies. Hardly a brickie or a postie.

Has he done any other work? Not that I know of, and I have known him since he joined UKIP in 2004.

No 2 candidate Michael McManus is described in the UKIP leaflet as "a former charity fundraiser". Well Michael, you certainly worked as a researcher for the Directory of Social Change in Liverpool briefly after your studies, but how much money did you raise? And who for? As far as I'm aware the DoSC doesn't raise any funds.

I understood Michael worked as a "researcher" for the Directory of Social Change in Liverpool. Before, guess what? Yes, he became a researcher for the UKIP/Independence and Democracy Group in the European Parliament. Hardly a brickie or a postie.

But then again, MEPs are worthless costly parasites. Politicos go from school to university, to Westminster/Brussels gravy train. They are all sponging parasites-unless they are UKIP.

Then that's different!

Friday Funday-UKIP

There now follows a party election broadcast, I'm sure Nigel Farage will love the stockings and jackboots:


Then here's some Lou Reed, which is pure class. I'm sure Lou forgives me for heckling a few years back at the then Hammersmith Odeon. I forgive him for telling me to get out, which I did. Here's Pale Blue Eyes :

Jonathan Ross-Again!

Poor old Jonathan Ross is being attacked again, it's perhaps a symptom of the creeping fascism of political correctness. Dare to make a joke about an imaginary gay teenage son and up pop the PC brigade full of (im)moral outrage. Here's one report of the latest fuss concerning 'Wossy':

Jonathan Ross is under fire again after suggesting parents should put their sons up for adoption if they wanted a Hannah Montana MP3 player.

A number of listeners complained to the broadcasting watchdog, claiming the comments on his Radio 2 show on Saturday were homophobic.

Ross, 48, was involved in a light-hearted discussion about prizes in a competition themed around the fictional teen pop star when he joked: "If your son asks for a Hannah Montana MP3 player, you might want to already think about putting him down for adoption before he brings his...erm...partner home."

A spokeswoman for Ofcom was unable to say how many people had complained but said: "We have had complaints. We are assessing those complaints against the broadcasting code."

Listener Karen Mills told Pink News: "How can these people earn such huge sums of public money to come out with this discriminatory rubbish?

"What would be the message to a young gay man listening to this? Worse still, how might such comments reinforce and support homophobic bullying in the playground?"

Ross has not been far from controversy in the past year, only returning to the airwaves in January after being involved in the Andrew Sachs lewd phone calls row.

The BBC suspended him for 12 weeks without pay in October after he and fellow DJ Russell Brand left obscene messages on Sachs' answerphone, which were broadcast on Radio 2. The two presenters said Brand had slept with the Fawlty Towers actor's granddaughter, Georgina Baillie, and joked that Sachs might kill himself.

Ross walked straight back into controversy on his radio show after his suspension was lifted, by joking about having sex with an elderly woman.

A BBC spokeswoman said: "The BBC has received four complaints about Jonathan's comments on Saturday's show. However, these off-the-cuff remarks were made purely in jest and were not intended to be offensive. Jonathan is not homophobic in any sense and never meant for his comments to be taken seriously."

I think the last paragraph says it all really. The miltant gay lobby needs to practice some of the tolerance it ignorantly accuses the rest of the population of lacking.

I don't think many people have a problem with homosexuality these days. What people do tend to have a problem with is anybody, gay or straight, lacking a sense of humour, such as Karen Mills.

They also dislike the constant harping on about their sexuality of militant gays whose lives seem to centre exclusively on their sexuality. A truly rounded person wouldn't whine on constantly about their homosexuality and certainly wouldn't be offended by humorous remarks such as those made by Jonathan Ross.

Forsooth, the ladies do protest too much!

Grovelling Bastards!

Here is a link to the Times Online.

You can hear and see Lady Mandy, and others, trying to talk their way out of being caught in the trough. There is also another list of who claimed how much and for what.

Just wait until the brown stuff hits the fan about MEPs, which it is bound to do in the next three weeks. Only that will not just be about creaming expenses, oh no, these stories will make the Westminster crowd look like beginners. And no party will be spared, especially those that are 'holier than thou' but appear to have gone native.

Greedy Bastards!

Here is a link to the BBC website. Here you can find the details of Labour's greediest trufflers for taxpayers' cash.

Even better it gives some of the bloody ludicrous things they have claimed for, such as Andy Burnham's £19.99 towelling bath robe from Ikea. Wonder what my boss would say if I tried to claim for that?

And the useless pillock ultimately in charge, 'Gorbals Mick' aka The Speaker, is only interested in finding the source of the leak for 'security reasons'. He's the worst of the lot.

Sometimes bringing back hanging does seem like a good idea!

Friday Funday

Off to Aberdeen for the weekend. Can't wait to visit that distillery so here is another flavour of Scotland:

Balls To The Government

The government's deep in the doodies. Hated, it has screwed the econmomy, it spies on us and loses the data, it has shafted education the NHS, etc., etc.

So is it busy fixing what it has broken? No it looks around for a British, rather English, success story to cock up. Yes, we've just had three English clubs in the semi-finals of the European Champions League, so the government want to interfere.

All in the interests of equality!

Now I'm no fan of top flight football, having given up my United season ticket when the Glazers took over,but God help us if Burnham starts tinkering. But then again, the government has cocked everything else up, why not football?

Get A Grip Cameron-Or a Decent Lock!

If a man can't be trusted to look after his bike, an "old friend" in his words, then who would be daft enough to trust him to run the country?

Yes, he's had it nicked again!

How embarrassing when the British PM, if that's what he ends up, has to report the Isle of Wight stolen. Then when it turns up he loses it again.

Full story if you can be bothered.

Libertas And The EU Elections June 4th 2009

Libertas appear to be running an extremely slick and effective EU election campaign. They seem to have the backing and professionalism so lacking in other smaller parties and who knows, their reformist message could possibly, maybe, just about, have some impact as it is EU wide. Anyway, I received the following messsage from Libertas yesterday, the kind of thing I have not received, either via the internet or the letterbox, from any other party yet:

Gregg,

In an incredible display of arrogance and disrespect for the will of the people, members of the European Parliament will have a lengthy debate tonight on the implementation of the Lisbon Treaty. That’s right, the Lisbon Treaty, the same Treaty that Libertas defeated in Ireland and - according to the EU's own rules - is now dead.

Apparently, the bureaucrats in Brussels don’t care what the people think. And the truth is, they don’t need to. Because, right now there is no one to hold them to account.

That’s why the movement you are building right now is so important. It’s up to you whether or not Europe will be accountable to its people. Libertas is our last chance - our only chance - to make sure we have democracy at the heart of the European Union.

The European Elections are only 29 days away. Please email everyone in your contact book. Ask your friends. And get ONE more person to join the movement today.

http://www.libertas.eu/spread-the-word

The MEPs will debate a total of five different reports for this anti-democratic debate, including the Parliament’s new role and responsibilities in implementing the Lisbon Treaty. This discussion is a perfect example of the inherent disrespect the EU has for the democratic views of European citizens, and the lack of accountability to which we are strongly opposed.

This morning Libertas Chairman, and leader of the winning “No” campaign in the 2008 Irish referendum, Declan Ganley said, “Members of the European Parliament are completely out of touch with reality. Instead of debating real issues like how to solve the economic crisis, they are spending resources on something which does not exist because it has been rejected by the people who were allowed a vote on it.

This displays their arrogance, their disrespect for democracy and their waste of taxpayers’ money".

No wonder multiple newspapers across Europe have now confirmed that Brussels is living in fear of our movement, the Libertas movement. What those bureaucrats fear most is a movement of the people. Because they know that if millions of us act together, as Europeans, we will create a new hope for the future – a Europe where Brussels is efficient, focused on creating jobs and restoring our economy, and is overseen by the people.

Please email everyone in your contact list. Ask your friends. And get one more person to join the movement today.

http://www.libertas.eu/spread-the-word

The Libertas movement is gaining tremendous momentum across Europe. We have united the leading figures of the “No” campaigns in France, Ireland and the Netherlands (Declan Ganley, Philippe de Villiers and Eline van den Broek) who worked tirelessly to make sure that the people in their countries were given a vote.

But, now, we need YOU. Our movement is in your hands. You are it. The new hope for Europe will live or die based on what you do now.

So, if you want a strong Europe, a democratic Europe where only elected leaders make the law; if you want a referendum on any Constitution; if you want a real solution to the economic crisis; if you want to hold Brussels to account; if you want to renew the hope that we all had for Europe, then help build the first true party of Europe. A party dedicated to openness, accountability, transparency and democracy.

There are millions of others like you who want a new Europe – they are your friends, your work colleagues, your family members, your neighbours, and members of your community and now we need you to get them to join our cause.

Kind regards,

Libertas

Like thousands of people who supported UKIP in 2004, indeed I was a candidate back then and subsequently worked for their North West MEP, I have realised that having MEPs will not bring British withdrawal from the EU any closer. What I saw, over the last couple of years I was involved, was a small group of people who had hijacked a party whose membership is 99% decent and honourable, in order to use them to get themselves elected to a nice little earner. So withdrawalist MEPs will achieve nothing by getting elected. They will merely be joining the ranks of those they accuse of being useless, having no influence or power but making a great living at the taxpayers' expense. So if you join them, you are surely one of them.

So the EU elections won't bring British withdrawal any closer. Can a reformist party make it more democratic until a party in Westminster can extricate us? Maybe, but I suggest that history says no. If Margaret Thatcher failed when in government I very much doubt that Declan Ganley has any chance with however many MEPs he gets elected.

So UKIP have gone native and Libertas have given themselves an impossible task. My view is that if Libertas do get MEPs elected, in five years time we will be asking them the same question we are today asking of UKIP. Well, what have you achieved? The answer will again be nothing.

There are other fringe parties involved such as No2EU which is a motley crew of lefties, trade unionists and 'equality' obsessives. There are the Greens, but please? There will also be the Jury Team, a real bunch of misfits, but idealistic and, I believe, in it for the right reasons if misguided. OK, perhaps thirty years in politics has made me cynical .

I suspect that thousands of people who deserted the Tories in 2004 to vote for UKIP as a protest, will return to the fold in June 2009 in order to administer one more kick in the gut to Gordon Brown, as will many others. Libertas will garner a hardcore Eurosceptic vote from the rest, especially hardline Tories and disillusioned ex-UKIP voters who realise that any number of MEPs will not bring about withdrawal.

One thing for sure is that for once, we may have an interesting election to the European parliament. I can't believe I just wrote that!

Prat Of The Month

It's only May 6th but this idiot must be the prat of the month:

A Preston-based policeman has refused to get on his bike - for fear of breaching health and safety rules.

PC Tony Cobban refused to climb into the saddle to pose for a photo after receiving a new bike from Halfords.

The officer said: "It was basically a health and safety thing. I was just being cautious as I haven't passed the Cycling Proficiency Test."

The only thing I can't fathom is how the idiot ever got into the police in the first place. What I resent is that a chunk of my council tax helps pay the pillock's wages.

So, if you are being attacked, mugged or whatever in Preston and you see PC Cobban (pictured) coming to your aid don't get too excited, be afraid, be very afraid.

Manchester Must Be Punished

Last year Manchester told Her Majesty's Government to bugger off, in a quite spectacular way too. They voted against the imposition of a congestion charge. The government were very pissed off not to say angry.

How dare people see that their arguments about the environment were crap.

How dare people see that their argument, that if Mancunians said 'No' the government would not fund the new metrolink to the airport, was blackmail.

How dare people see that it was just yet another tax on motorists.

So Mancunians are now being punished by being given the chance to have a voluntary ID card before anybody else in the country. Well thanks for nothing. It's time all Mancunians had their nails done so they look good when they wave two fingers, or a single middle finger, at the government yet again. Don't fall for it!!

And good luck to the airline pilots fighting against the sneaking in of governemnt ID cards.
Full Story Here

Arsenal Stadium Mystery-2009 Re-Make

5 May 2009, thirty minutes left in a European Champions League semi-final and they are 3 goals down against Manchester United. 55,000 Arsenal fans mysteriously disappear (above).

Where are they now? Buying Chelsea shirts?

Certinly not heading for Rome!

Wikipedia article on original 1939 film Arsenal Stadium Mystery

No Visit To Prison Island For Michael Savage

The fuss over the list of people banned from the UK for their contrary views has been rumbling on for some time and now Michael Savage, a US conservative radio broadcaster, is threatening to sue Home Secretary Jacqui Smith (pictured left) after he appeared on a list of people baned from entering the UK. I couldn't help wondering why the hell anybody would want to visit this country while New Labour are daily flushing more of our freedoms and liberties down the toilet but that's fredom, or it used to be. Pretty soon we will have the North Koreans putting motions condemning the civil rights abuses of our government before the UN!

Call me old fashioned but I still believe in free speech, and I don't mean as long as you agree with me, I mean free speech even if I find what you say deeply offensive. Mr Savage has called the Koran "a book of hate". Big deal! I'm a Roman Catholic and have heard the Pope savaged in much worse language, then I have either defended him and my faith or just turned the other cheek and walked away. That's life, get on with it for God's sake, oops, is that blasphemy? Ban me! Here is a quote from Mr Savage off the BBC news website:

"To link me up with skinheads who are killing people in Russia, to put me in league with Hamas murderers who kill people on buses is defamation," he said.

In an article posted on his website, he said he did not advocate violence but "traditional values".

He wrote: "What does that say about the government of England? It says more about them than it says about me."

I may be running the risk of deportation now but here is a second tidbit about Mr Savage that I also agree with:

He also angered the parents of children with autism by saying most cases were "a brat who hasn't been told to cut the act out", the Associated Press reported.

I actually do believe that there is an element of using certain conditions today, such as autism and dyslexia, to cover up for bad behaviour, bad parenting or poor teaching. After all in these pc days you can't actually be judgemental can you? Not nice. But even if he is totally wrong so was Blair about Iraq and WMDs. Who is worse?

So if you were one of those who thought that banning a few Muslims was fine and dandy, look at who else this fascist state has banned from entering our green and pleasant land. You may find, as with all totalitarian systems, they've actually thrown the baby out with the bathwater.

I'd rather have a few mad clercis and assorted nutters preaching hate than a government that so obviously hates its own people.

And before they seriously start controlling the internet,why not find out about Michael Savage yourself:

Michael Savage's website

He's Knackered

Poor old Gordon Brown, now Jacqui Smith says she supports him. Now that truly is the kiss of death, she can't get anything right so, if genuine, he is doomed.

More than likely she will be helping the backstabbers such as Harman and Blears to oust him. Then God help us if that coven gets their hands on the levers of power.

But who the hell in his entourage didn't warn him about the background to the photograph above?!

Political Tribes

With the Tory Party launching their campaigns for the June 4th EU and local elections, and Labour politicians preparing to knife their inglorious leader in the back, I started thinking about the tribal nature of politics. And it isn't actually very edifying. In fact it isn't at all edifying.

One thing the politicians at all levels have in common is their criticism of the general public for not seeing that they are right, and voting for them. That's fair enough I suppose, but they invariably include the statement: "If you put a red rosette on a pig they'd still vote for it". Just replace red with blue for the other lot. They find loyalty in the electorate, loyalty to the wrong side that is, distateful and incomprehensible. But look at the methods of keeping party members 'loyal'.

In parliament and local councils there is the whipping system. This disciplines disloyalty or freedom of thought, depending on how you look at it. Dare vote against your own party and you could have your membership suspended or even be expelled. This means that if you happen to hold any kind of position, be it at national or local level, you will likely lose that position which will also deprive you of power and probably, money in allowances or other payments.

Among members of political parties there is a frightening level of tribalism. Many people seem to gain some kind of justification for their existence from membership of a party. To many it is social, they get a warm glow from being able to tell people they are in a particular party. Others feel it shows their neighbours and friends what conscientious and active citizens they are. There often develops, in a frighteningly high proportion, an almost umbilical link to that party that nothing would seem able to cut. Remember how the Tory members worshipped at the feet of Margaret Thatcher, then immediately switched allegiance to John Major and Lord knows who since? Likewise Labour members went from Callaghan to Foot to Kinnock then......but let's not go further with that one, we're still suffering because of it.

Then there are the people who dare decide that the party they joined has changed beyond acceptability and leave. Many who dare show such disloyalty, or independence of thought, are then treated like lepers by those who previously respected and worked with them. The scorned party often begins a smear campaign in an attempt to blacken the name of the disloyal one. After all, they have to prove that the individual is wrong, it is never the tribe that is wrong.

Over recent months I have looked back at my time with the UK Independence Party, inevitable when you have spent nearly ten years in a party then find it has changed for the worse. They oppose membership of the European Union but are desperate to get MEPs elected in June. When I was involved I believe that the only useful thing about this position was that the resources that came with MEPs would be used to fight elections where it counts, in the United Kingdom.

But that hasn't happened. With a couple of honourable exceptions UKIP MEPs have 'gone native'. Election results are no better than pre-1999 when they had no MEPs. Now the party has launched its EU election campaign asking supporters of other parties to 'lend UKIP your vote just for the EU election'. With a general election no more than a year away UKIP have given up on our parliament. They are only interested in joining the gravy train and making a pile of cash.

But, just like members of the other parties, UKIP supporters still kid themselves into believing that voting UKIP will make a difference, they have to feel they are doing something, no matter how misguided. In one sentence they cry that the EU parliament is a complete sham, that MEPs have no influence or power and are only in it for finacial gain. In the next sentence they tell you that UKIP must get as many MEPs as possible. I wonder how many of them would try to close down the local brothel by putting their wives to work in it?

Well I'm afraid I do believe that the parliament is a sham, that MEPs have no influence or power and are only in it for finacial gain. But I'm not tribal enough, or stupid enough, to pretend UKIP MEPs are any different, they are not.

That's why I will be abstaining on June 4th.

More Class From Manchester

Eric Cantona

Release date 12 June.

Harman Begins Leadership Bid

'I don't want to be PM'

Says Harman.

Poor old Gordon must be feeling like the football manager who has just received the backing of the board.

But what role will there be for weasel-like runt of the litter Hazel Blears post-Gordon Brown? Hazel 'the weasel' Blears attacked senior figures in the Labour Party for failing to communicate properly. Then realising that she had communicated rather too honestly for a Labour politician she backtracked, claiming it wasn't a criticism of the leadership.

God help us if we end up with these two trying to run the country. And you thought things couldn't get any worse!!

Friday Funday-Mayday Special

There are still some muppets who believe in socialism. To them I say compare this:


to this:



and answer this: Who won the Cold War?

This man grew up in Chapel-en-le-Frith. Don't it make you smile?

Don't it tell you God is a Northerner? Maybe the North includes Scotland Cat!
Then this: I'll move you, then I'll confuse you: