25 years ago the IRA blew up the Grand Hotel in Brighton, where the Tories were holding their annual conference. It was the first Tory conference in a few years that I hadn't attended but I had friends there, some actually in the hotel but none of them died thankfully.
The Labour Party have proved how thoroughly vile they are, despite their 'New Labour' makeover, by inviting Martin McGuiness to their conference, in Brighton this year. Overly polite people may call that insensitive, I think it is far worse and more sinister. McGuiness is totally unrepentant, he and his ilk have got away with murder and are rubbing our noses in it.
Remember too, that it was Labour MPS who, in the '80s and '90s consistently voted against the relatively mild anti-terror legislation of the day, when the IRA were committing atrocities here on a far more regular basis than Al Qaeda. Yet they are the ones now turning the UK into a huge prison island.
I've always believed that Labour, and socialists in general were scum, little has changed.
Daily Mail Report
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Gordon Brown Speech-Sit Down by James
I was shocked to see some bloggers claiming that Gordon Brown came onto the platform today to "Sit Down" by Manchester band James.
Last year Big Gordy did the same thing at their conference in Manchester, and got this verbal volley from lead singer Tim Booth.
Is Big Gordy even more stupid than we thought? Or are some bloggers not quite as smart as they think?
Last year Big Gordy did the same thing at their conference in Manchester, and got this verbal volley from lead singer Tim Booth.
Is Big Gordy even more stupid than we thought? Or are some bloggers not quite as smart as they think?
Monday, September 28, 2009
TUC-Trade Union Censorship
It seems that the dinosaurs of the trade union movement are still roaming parts of the earth, trying to tell you and me who we should be allowed to listen to on BBC Question Time.
Yes you've guessed it, Gerry Morrissey, of the TV technicians' union Bectu is urging his members to boycott and pull the plug on the BNP leader Nick Griffin's appearance on the current affairs show on 22 October.
General secretary Gerry Morrissey said: "We believe there should be no media coverage of the BNP and I have raised this issue with the director general, Mark Thompson.
"He said they have been invited on to the programme because they have won elections, but we strongly disagree.
"We will be arranging a demonstration and lobby outside the Question Time studios and we will be working with anti-fascist groups to ensure there is a significant turn out."
We all know that those 'anti-fascist groups' largely consist of people just as bad, thoroughly unpleasant and anti-freedom and democracy as the BNP. We need no pious lectures from those idiots about democracy, disagree with them and you're more than likely to get a brick in your face. Two sides of the same coin in my opinion.
When I don't vote BNP I want it to be because I have heard the arguments and used reason. I don't want to not vote BNP because some fascist/anti-fascist trade union zombie has had a word in the shell-like of Mark Thompson, and put another nail in the coffin of free speech and liberty.
Yes you've guessed it, Gerry Morrissey, of the TV technicians' union Bectu is urging his members to boycott and pull the plug on the BNP leader Nick Griffin's appearance on the current affairs show on 22 October.
General secretary Gerry Morrissey said: "We believe there should be no media coverage of the BNP and I have raised this issue with the director general, Mark Thompson.
"He said they have been invited on to the programme because they have won elections, but we strongly disagree.
"We will be arranging a demonstration and lobby outside the Question Time studios and we will be working with anti-fascist groups to ensure there is a significant turn out."
We all know that those 'anti-fascist groups' largely consist of people just as bad, thoroughly unpleasant and anti-freedom and democracy as the BNP. We need no pious lectures from those idiots about democracy, disagree with them and you're more than likely to get a brick in your face. Two sides of the same coin in my opinion.
When I don't vote BNP I want it to be because I have heard the arguments and used reason. I don't want to not vote BNP because some fascist/anti-fascist trade union zombie has had a word in the shell-like of Mark Thompson, and put another nail in the coffin of free speech and liberty.
Chilling Police Tactics at G20
More available at G20 Media
For a long time I have feared for the future of free speech and am still shocked at the lack of public outry when the tactics of the police state are deployed, be it here or in the USA.
Whether we agree with a group of people or not, we should allow them to demonstrate peacefully without being attacked by paramilitary police. That, surely, is the essence of democracy. When people resort to violence, be it state violence or groups attacking political opponents, it is because they have lost the argument.
When the state increasingly resorts to violence and oppressive legislation, we have a duty to fight back.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Confidentiality Trumps Transparency-Minette Marrin
Occasionally a writer sees a nail and hits it, full thwack on the head, Minette Marrin did it with this article in the Sunday Times:
I've long thought that 'confidentiality' has been used to counter openness and honesty, as Minette Marrin says, but could never put it as eloquently as Minette Marrin. Which is why she writes for The Times, and I blog.
The curious case of the dinner lady of Great Tey stands for everything that is worst about government in this country today. It demonstrates, in its small way, the disastrous rule of muddled dishonesty to which we are now subject, and how far-reaching are the consequences of the perversion of language we have seen for many years in all government agencies.
The Great Tey story has aroused a frenzy of indignation, understandably enough. Imagine that you as a parent were to discover at an after-school club that your seven-year-old daughter has been horribly bullied at school. Imagine that you find out about it only by accident, because a woman volunteer at the club, who is also a school dinner lady, happens to ask you how the child is feeling, on the assumption that you, the parents, know all about the incident.
Imagine that until that moment you had no idea anything serious had happened. The school has simply informed you of a “skipping rope accident”, and your daughter has said little, but the dinner lady now tells you your child was tied to a fence and whipped by older boys: she saw it herself, and went to the little girl’s rescue.
Then imagine that soon the friendly dinner lady is suspended from her job for breach of pupil confidentiality, and finally, at the age of 60, she is sacked. The school and its governors, including the local vicar, are silent. They merely hide behind repetitions of the word “confidentiality”.
If such a thing happened to my child and to the dinner lady who came to her rescue, I would be tempted to tie up the headmistress and the vicar myself and whip them senseless with a copy of Ofsted’s Safeguarding Children review 2008.
However, it is possible that this is not quite what happened in Great Tey, Essex. Such stories are not usually as simple as reports make them seem and small villages are often cesspits of intrigue. However, the school and its governors do not deny the dinner lady’s allegations. The fact that they haven’t is telling. If her story is untrue, the school would have had absolutely nothing to lose by saying so. In doing so it would have done much to reassure the parents and other children, instead of leaving the community in a limbo of demoralising gossip.
For years Labour has been promising us a new order of openness, transparency, accountability, consultation, empowerment and inclusion. But what do we get, in this case and countless others like it? The precise opposite. Transparency, accountability, consultation and empowerment do not exactly square, policywise, with shooting the messenger, as here.
The awful joke is that in the case of Great Tey all this is being justified by another big word — confidentiality. Yet this too has been turned into a weasel word — a word that has been almost drained of meaning. This government has neither the slightest interest in — nor perhaps the slightest understanding of — confidentiality.
How otherwise could it have imposed the astonishing children’s database, logging countless intimate details and anecdotes about every child onto sites where thousands of people can access them legally and countless others can hack into them? How otherwise could it seriously propose to have a unified NHS information base, with exactly the same grave threats to confidentiality? How else could it force innocent people to leave their DNA profiles on a police database without redress? How else could it have turned us into the most watched society in Europe? Confidentiality is something that Labour has been relentlessly destroying, ever since it came to power, in the interest of ever-greater control.
Yet in Great Tey, when a state-run school faces serious allegations that cry out for transparency and accountability, confidentiality suddenly becomes trumps. (The public may demand to know what happened to all the anti-bullying guidelines and the Keeping Children Safe recommendations that bureaucrats have been so busily imposing on all schools, but too bad.) The head teacher can, apparently, use “confidentiality” to keep things dark.
There is a great deal to be said in favour of confidentiality, of course, particularly where young children are concerned. But here it seems to apply in an odd way. According to the school, the dinner lady broke her duty of pupil confidentiality. Presumably this means she shouldn’t have talked about the bullying out of school. Rather than talk to the child’s own parents, as a teaching union trusty explained on BBC Radio 4, she should have followed proper procedures. That is daft, inhuman and unrealistic: real life in a real, close-knit community of responsible adults isn’t and can’t be and shouldn’t be like that.
In any case, there is no overriding principle in law that whatever happens in school must stay in school. Other principles may apply, such as the principle of public interest, or a duty of care. As for relying on “proper procedures”, it seems that the dinner lady may have had good reason to fear they were already being ignored by the school, in an attempt to cover up the whipping.
Leaving aside any question of the law, it is obvious that cases like this should be sorted out locally and openly, without excluding the proper interest of the wider community. If Carol Hill, a dinner lady of many years’ service, was excessively interfering or indiscreet, a reprimand would have been more than enough and would have been a great deal harsher than the punishment many incompetent teachers receive. It’s odd that it is extremely hard, if not impossible, to sack a useless teacher for good reason, yet it is easy to sack a good dinner lady for reasons most people would question.
That’s what is striking about this case. It seems daft to most people, as do many other gross inconsistencies and follies in the public sector. Think of the political survival of Baroness Scotland. And that’s because all public services and government agencies are now firmly in the grip of a mindset in which words mean what new Labour at the time chooses them to mean.
Befuddled by jargon, frightened by diktats, vaguely aware of a requirement to square circles and believe several impossible things at once, overburdened by unachievable targets — put an end to bullying in schools but never exclude bullies, for example — public servants are losing their common sense, in a toxic combination of fear and folly.
This corruption of sense leads directly to the desperate silliness of the case of the dinner lady of Great Tey, and to a much wider corruption as well.
I've long thought that 'confidentiality' has been used to counter openness and honesty, as Minette Marrin says, but could never put it as eloquently as Minette Marrin. Which is why she writes for The Times, and I blog.
Lady Mandy of Mandelson
So Lady Mandy declares himself happy to work for a Tory government. No surprise there, after all he is just a political prostitute.
What's more interesting is that he would probably be at home with the Tories, they are only New Labour Mk II after all, with Dave the new Tony.
Food for thought.
What's more interesting is that he would probably be at home with the Tories, they are only New Labour Mk II after all, with Dave the new Tony.
Food for thought.
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Penguin Cafe Orchestra
This is pure class. Had the joy of seeing the Penguin Cafe Orchestra live in Blackheath, London about 1993 or '94, certainly when Simon Jeffes was still alive:
Now don't you feel better for having listened to that?
Now don't you feel better for having listened to that?
Harriet Harman-Potty Old Slapper-The Stranglers
Here's one for the Bitchfinder General, determined to get old slags in positions of power regardless of how thick they are, yes Harriet Harperson:
Yes I've used it before, but I like it.
I like this one too, it's a true classic and I remember the girl I worked with at the Industrial Tribunal singing it while we worked, about '82 in Manchester. God, what was her name?
Yes I've used it before, but I like it.
I like this one too, it's a true classic and I remember the girl I worked with at the Industrial Tribunal singing it while we worked, about '82 in Manchester. God, what was her name?
Magic Mushrooms
This is a perfectly legal activity, unlike making soup with magic mushrooms. Try it:
Good isn't it?
Got it from Stephen Fry on Twitter That's not name dropping, 771 000 other people follow him on Twitter too.
Good isn't it?
Got it from Stephen Fry on Twitter That's not name dropping, 771 000 other people follow him on Twitter too.
Nanny State
This story, from The Times, shows what happens when a democracy is being dismantled. Wherever the overly powerful state sees people using their own initiative and commonsense, it intervenes and destroys:
Two women who work part-time for the same company have been told that they cannot care for each other’s child unless they register as childminders and undergo Ofsted inspections.
The women, who wish to remain anonymous, gave birth to girls at similar times. They set up a job share, with both working half a week in the same post. They are also close friends, so when one was at work the other cared for both children.
Ofsted, however, has put an end to the arrangement. It said that, according to legislation, caring for another person’s child “for reward” was classed as childminding. This means that both mothers will have to register with Ofsted and follow the same regulations as normal childminders. The financial “reward” they receive is free care for their daughters.
A protest petition on the Downing Street website had gathered almost 1,700 signatures by last night. The Open Eye group, which campaigns for fewer restrictions on childminders, wants the meaning of “reward” to be changed to money or gifts. Kim Simpson, one of the campaigners, said: “Something akin to a kind of anxiety-driven psychosis seems to have engulfed government policymaking in the realms of children and family life.”
Ofsted said: “The law sets out that childminding requires registration where a person cares for one or more children for reward, and at least one child attends for more than two hours in any one day.”
The Government indicated last night that Ofsted could be made to withdraw its opposition to the women’s childcare arrangements.
Vernon Coaker, the Children’s Minister, said: “We need to be sure that the legislation does not penalise hard-working families. My department is discussing with Ofsted the interpretation of the word ‘reward’.”
Signs You're Getting Old
Enjoying a pleasant glass of red before getting an early night (on a Friday!) to watch a Wallander, Mrs B and I were ruminating on how our lifestyle had changed since plighting the troth in '88. Below is our little list of ageing signs:
1-We used to go to the pub, then a club, then go for a curry. Then we dropped the club and went straight from pub to curry house. Now we have wine in the house and have a curry delivered.
2-Bed was for sex and sleep. Now we get an early night to watch a bit of telly before kipping.
3-You start sharing a portion of fish and chips.
4-When you're out for the day you're more likely to pop into a cafe for a brew than a pub for a pint.
5-The Sex Pistols make you all misty eyed and nostalgic.
6-You no longer have road rage, but your cautious driving causes it in others. (That's Mrs B I think).
7-When you go to see your favourite band the drummer has to be helped off the stage by a couple of roadies.
8-You take a photo at above concert and when developed (another sign of age) there is a sea of bald heads between you and the stage.
9-Rather than getting angered by prats, pillocks and arseholes you just think "life's too short", probably because it actually is!
10-People start exclaiming "God, you were alive when England won the World Cup?!"
11-You remember when Tetley were more famous for beer than tea bags.
12-You keep referring to last year as 1998 or even 1988. That one's a bit worrying actually.
13-Referring to friends other halves as 'boyfriend' or 'girlfriend' sounds absurd, verging on kinky.
1-We used to go to the pub, then a club, then go for a curry. Then we dropped the club and went straight from pub to curry house. Now we have wine in the house and have a curry delivered.
2-Bed was for sex and sleep. Now we get an early night to watch a bit of telly before kipping.
3-You start sharing a portion of fish and chips.
4-When you're out for the day you're more likely to pop into a cafe for a brew than a pub for a pint.
5-The Sex Pistols make you all misty eyed and nostalgic.
6-You no longer have road rage, but your cautious driving causes it in others. (That's Mrs B I think).
7-When you go to see your favourite band the drummer has to be helped off the stage by a couple of roadies.
8-You take a photo at above concert and when developed (another sign of age) there is a sea of bald heads between you and the stage.
9-Rather than getting angered by prats, pillocks and arseholes you just think "life's too short", probably because it actually is!
10-People start exclaiming "God, you were alive when England won the World Cup?!"
11-You remember when Tetley were more famous for beer than tea bags.
12-You keep referring to last year as 1998 or even 1988. That one's a bit worrying actually.
13-Referring to friends other halves as 'boyfriend' or 'girlfriend' sounds absurd, verging on kinky.
Friday, September 25, 2009
Carry On Colonel
The more I see of Gaddafi the more convinced I am that the man is just on one long piss take. It's like he's playing out Carry on Colonel on the world stage.
This week his interpreter passed out during an epic speech to the UN crying: "I can't take any more". Priceless. Aparently Gaddafi had brought the interpreter from Tripoli, rather than using a UN interpreter. I bet they planned it to give us all a giggle.
But it has to be Gaddafi's uniforms, hairstyle and Village Peoplemoustaches and general image that take the biscuit. What kind of fevered sexual imagination does he have when you see his female bodyguards and their 'uniforms'? Here they are in Kiev:
I almost expected Syd James to pop up at one point, with a quick phworr and a comment about her lovely pair of epaulettes.
Then you look at dreary old Gordon Brown.
This week his interpreter passed out during an epic speech to the UN crying: "I can't take any more". Priceless. Aparently Gaddafi had brought the interpreter from Tripoli, rather than using a UN interpreter. I bet they planned it to give us all a giggle.
But it has to be Gaddafi's uniforms, hairstyle and Village Peoplemoustaches and general image that take the biscuit. What kind of fevered sexual imagination does he have when you see his female bodyguards and their 'uniforms'? Here they are in Kiev:
I almost expected Syd James to pop up at one point, with a quick phworr and a comment about her lovely pair of epaulettes.
Then you look at dreary old Gordon Brown.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Home Office: Independent Safeguarding Authority
The Independent Safeguarding Authority is the government's latest tool in its imposition of a police state. It was set up in response to the Bichard inquiry into the Soham murders which means that the gullible will fall for it assuming it will protect children. It won't, but will further increase the surveillance/database state that is slowly imprisoning us.
To put it into some context here is an article in The Times by Chris Stevenson, a senior detective in the Soham investigation. He has a sense of perspective on the current paranoia that those of us fortunate enough to have never seen the things that he had to see, could learn a great deal from. Especially the 'nothing to hide nothing to fear' brigade.
It means that anybody wanting to work or volunteer with vulnerable people, children or adults, will have to be registered with the ISA as well as having a police check. Here is how the ISA website describes it:
This document is particularly worth looking at:
Guidance Notes for the Barring Decision Making Process
Even an acquittal in court can be ignored if the ISA decide they don't like the cut of your jib:
There is also a facility for people to report others to the ISA if they think they may be 'a bit dodgy' and it will be investigated.
The problem is that under the scheme almost everybody is classed as 'vulnerable'.
Under the scheme anybody not registered with the ISA will not be allowed to even apply to work with 'vulnerable people'. That means doctors, nurses, youth workers, social workers, charity workers etc., etc.
Even if a school has organised an exchange visit, the school will have to ensure that at least one parent hosting a foreign pupil is registered with the ISA.
I suggest, if you value your freedom, or what's left of it, you support No2ID.
No2ID is an excellent campaign but there is also a political party fighting to restore our freedoms, the Libertarian Party.
To put it into some context here is an article in The Times by Chris Stevenson, a senior detective in the Soham investigation. He has a sense of perspective on the current paranoia that those of us fortunate enough to have never seen the things that he had to see, could learn a great deal from. Especially the 'nothing to hide nothing to fear' brigade.
It means that anybody wanting to work or volunteer with vulnerable people, children or adults, will have to be registered with the ISA as well as having a police check. Here is how the ISA website describes it:
The new Vetting and Barring Scheme will operate under the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 and under Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups (Northern Ireland) Order 2007 in its application to Northern Ireland. It will replace the current List 99, PoCA, PoVA, POCVA, Unsuitable Persons and Disqualification Orders regimes.
Once the scheme is fully rolled out (there will be a phased introduction), it will be illegal to hire in regulated activity someone, who is not registered with the ISA. The new scheme will cover employees and volunteers in for example the education, care and health sectors who come into contact with children or vulnerable adults on a frequent or intensive basis and, when fully implemented, will affect some 11.3 million people.
This document is particularly worth looking at:
Guidance Notes for the Barring Decision Making Process
Even an acquittal in court can be ignored if the ISA decide they don't like the cut of your jib:
5.6. Acquittals
5.6.1.
There could be any number of reasons why a person charged with an offence is acquitted: perhaps the victim decided not to testify and the CPS (Public Prosecution Service (PPS) in Northern Ireland) had to withdraw the case; perhaps the acquittal was based on a technicality; and even where a jury has found someone not guilty of having done something, you must always remember that, at most, this means is that the court did not find that someone did something “beyond a reasonable doubt” (the criminal standard of proof). The test applied by the ISA in relation to barring considerations is ‘on the balance of probability’ (the civil standard of proof). Therefore, even if there has been an acquittal, the ISA must still consider the case for itself on the basis of the balance of probabilities. A barring decision can, therefore, be made, having regard to all the circumstances, if the ISA is satisfied that the events concerned happened, on the balance of probabilities, notwithstanding an acquittal at court. This could become even more relevant where the substance of the offence or the attendant circumstances give cause for concern.
There is also a facility for people to report others to the ISA if they think they may be 'a bit dodgy' and it will be investigated.
The problem is that under the scheme almost everybody is classed as 'vulnerable'.
Under the scheme anybody not registered with the ISA will not be allowed to even apply to work with 'vulnerable people'. That means doctors, nurses, youth workers, social workers, charity workers etc., etc.
Even if a school has organised an exchange visit, the school will have to ensure that at least one parent hosting a foreign pupil is registered with the ISA.
I suggest, if you value your freedom, or what's left of it, you support No2ID.
No2ID is an excellent campaign but there is also a political party fighting to restore our freedoms, the Libertarian Party.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Chris Davies MEP: Another Lib Dem Fraud
What a giggle yesterday hearing an MEP in a rage about politicians' expenses. Yes that's right, a Member of The European Parliament ranting, from the biggest gravy train in the world, about a few MEPs buying gear on expenses, allegedly. What a prat! So that you too can have a laugh at this conman here it is:
But bear in mind this is a man who will have received over £2m in expenses, sorry 'allowances' as if changing the word makes a difference, during his time as an MEP, on top of his salary. It makes me laugh when MEPs look all hurt and say: "No, not us, we receive allowances not expenses". Tell you what then chaps, try robbing a bank and in your defence state: "I wasn't robbing it your honour, it was merely an unauthorised loan". It's all playing with words.
Chris Davies is fond of these false outbursts of righteous indignation, known to people outside politics as stinking hypocrisy. If the expenses scandal had just broken as he was about to make his speech then fair enough, rage, which is spontaneous. But why didn't he expose it before the EU elections in June? Because he was protecting his tribe of politicos, first and foremost, against our tribe, the electorate.
It wasn't spontaneous, it is a smokescren,I can imagine this little toad spending the night before his speech in front of some pimply researcher asking: "Are my nostrils inflamed enough when I shout bastards?" Little researcher responding: "Fine Mr Davies, but could you make your neck bulge a little more?" He was play acting, if he'd been in that kind of rage all these months his heart would have conked out by now, or he'd be in a straightjacket, where he actually does belong.
Bear in mind this was the media whore who intentionally got himself arrested in Stockport by walking into a police station with a tiny piece of cannabis to publicise himself. The man is a misfit.
Also remember this is the man who resigned as leader of the Lib Dems in the EU Parliament prompting this article including the following:
The man is a complete lunatic and we should thank the Lib Dems for one thing, safely keeping him out of our way in Brussels. The time to worry is if the loony ever gets to become a commissioner, now they have real power.
But bear in mind this is a man who will have received over £2m in expenses, sorry 'allowances' as if changing the word makes a difference, during his time as an MEP, on top of his salary. It makes me laugh when MEPs look all hurt and say: "No, not us, we receive allowances not expenses". Tell you what then chaps, try robbing a bank and in your defence state: "I wasn't robbing it your honour, it was merely an unauthorised loan". It's all playing with words.
Chris Davies is fond of these false outbursts of righteous indignation, known to people outside politics as stinking hypocrisy. If the expenses scandal had just broken as he was about to make his speech then fair enough, rage, which is spontaneous. But why didn't he expose it before the EU elections in June? Because he was protecting his tribe of politicos, first and foremost, against our tribe, the electorate.
It wasn't spontaneous, it is a smokescren,I can imagine this little toad spending the night before his speech in front of some pimply researcher asking: "Are my nostrils inflamed enough when I shout bastards?" Little researcher responding: "Fine Mr Davies, but could you make your neck bulge a little more?" He was play acting, if he'd been in that kind of rage all these months his heart would have conked out by now, or he'd be in a straightjacket, where he actually does belong.
Bear in mind this was the media whore who intentionally got himself arrested in Stockport by walking into a police station with a tiny piece of cannabis to publicise himself. The man is a misfit.
Also remember this is the man who resigned as leader of the Lib Dems in the EU Parliament prompting this article including the following:
A reader of Jewish News sent him an angry e-mail criticising him for a remark that he made a couple of weeks ago (the whole correspondence is available here) in which he said that after a visit to Auschwitz, he found it difficult to understand why "those whose history is one of such terrible oppression", ie Jews, "appear not to care that they have themselves become oppressors". She criticized him for comparing current Israeli policy to the Holocaust. He replied with a one-line e-mail: "Sounds like racism to me. I hope you enjoying wallowing in your own filth."
The man is a complete lunatic and we should thank the Lib Dems for one thing, safely keeping him out of our way in Brussels. The time to worry is if the loony ever gets to become a commissioner, now they have real power.
The British Aristocracy and the Liberal Democrats. Oh yes, and Mandelson
The fact that the leader of the Liberal Democrats thinks Baroness Scotland should not resign, and at least part of his reasoning is because she is black, shows what a total irreleveance and illiberal shower the so-called Liberal Democrats really are. Racism is using a person's colour to treat them differently to people of another colour. The Lib Dem leader is a racist.
Not only is Ms Scotland senior law officer but she played a key part in framing the ludicrous legislation that is so barely workable that even she came a cropper through it. The fact that Clegg is so patronising in his defence of her shows exactly why the Lib Dems can never be trusted anywhere near the reigns of power.
It also indicates a far deeper malais than patronising faux liberals and traditional wreckers in the Labour Party. This government is now infested with the unelected. Brown's pals, appointed to the upper house, now literally lord it over you and me. And to think we have sent troops to fight and die in Iraq and Afghanistan to enforce democracy while at home the British government is returning us to a 21st century form of feudal serfdom. To top it all the Saxe Coburg Gothas sit atop the pile, watching our freedoms and liberties being destroyed while swanning around playing out some kind of scene from the 18th century as royals there by divine right. How bizarre after 12 years of New Labour arch modernisers, supposedly.
So on to Lady Mandy of Mandelson, 'Lord President of the Council, First Secretary of State, and Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills', the kind of title you would expect Peter Sellars to have bore in a film about some imaginary European despotism. But no, it's real, and if you doubt that the title gives Lady Mandy power, remember that he sits on 35 out of 43 cabinet committees, more than any other minister in Brown's government including the Chancellor and Home Secretary. He also has 11 ministers 'under him' (nudge, nudge, wink, wink), which is also more than any other cabinet member.
Including Lady Mandy there are 20 unelected members of Brown's government. So we have 646 elected MPs of which 349 are Labour, but Brown can't find, within their swollen ranks, enough people to man a government. I would suggest we could abolish the unelected House of Lords, reduce the number of MPs and still, with a proper system in place, have more than enough talent to run the whole shebang. Especially when swollen government and the bloated bureaucracy are shrunk to the size that the whole civil service can hold their Christmas party in Whitehall's Banqueting House, from where King Charles I was led out to his execution incidentally.
The unelected aristos riding roughshod over our democracy include the likes of Glenys (Mrs Kinnock), Alan (the crap computer fella) and such as Lord Adonis, Lord Drayson, Lord Carter, Lord Davies etc., etc. What an array of talent!
If you feel sympathetic you might like to visit this website: Republic
Monday, September 21, 2009
Piers Merchant
I've just arrived home from a dinner at Lancashire County Cricket Club to be told of the sad death of Piers Merchant.
I first met Piers in the '90s when he was MP for Beckenham and I was Deputy Director of Bromley Centre for Voluntary Service. I used to escort him around various charity events in his constituency, given the task largely because of my political sympathies I think.
Our paths crossed again in 2004 when he joined UKIP and stood in the North East in the EU elections and I stood in the North West. While working for UKIP I lobbied hard for Piers to be appointed General Secretary but to no avail, I'm not sure he ever ever actually wanted the job.
When I left UKIP last year I spoke regularly with Piers and greatly valued his wisdom and honesty at a very difficult time. He was honest, politically astute, a gentleman and a character. We never actually spent a great deal of time in each other's company, but it felt that way he was so easy to get along with and such good company when you did spend time with him.
He will be greatly missed, and my thoughts and prayers are with his family.
Vile Racism!
On the radio today I heard that a footballer is to be interviewed by police for allegedly making racist remarks to a ballboy at Goodison Park, home of Everton FC, yesterday. My immediate reaction was to wonder why, yet again, soft Everton fans have gone complaining to the police about something. They do seem to have a habit of it.
My feeling is that football should be a man's game, if you are so soft that you can't take a bit of verbal then don't go. Banter is part of the game and letting off steam after a hard week at work is one of the pluses of watching football. Of course Everton being a Liverpool club they probably don't have the pressure of work, but that's another thing.
Let's face it fans give players the most vile abuse at times so, when a player has had enough, let him have a go back and don't go whining about it. I was at Selhurst Park when Eric Cantona did his famous act of retribution. Instead of being rewarded the mardy lardheads at the FA banned him. Outrageous miscarriage of justice that one.
So what was this vile act of racism that so distraught the little Scouse ballboy? Apparently Blackburn's El Hadji Diouf is alleged to have said: "Fuck off white boy!"
Now my reaction would have been to reply: "Fuck off yourself you prick", or something similar. I would have then got on with the rest of my life. But then again Scousers do lack a sense of proportion, as the nation sees whenever a Scouser gets a cold and the whole place goes into grieving mode.
It's nice to know that Scouse plod has no real work to do though. Perhaps Scousers have collectively gone into a state of shock at this evil remark to such an extent that they can't even bring themselves to nick cars, stab any grannies or sell cocaine from an ice cream van any more, but I doubt it.
I've said it before and will say it again, bloody grow up!
My feeling is that football should be a man's game, if you are so soft that you can't take a bit of verbal then don't go. Banter is part of the game and letting off steam after a hard week at work is one of the pluses of watching football. Of course Everton being a Liverpool club they probably don't have the pressure of work, but that's another thing.
Let's face it fans give players the most vile abuse at times so, when a player has had enough, let him have a go back and don't go whining about it. I was at Selhurst Park when Eric Cantona did his famous act of retribution. Instead of being rewarded the mardy lardheads at the FA banned him. Outrageous miscarriage of justice that one.
So what was this vile act of racism that so distraught the little Scouse ballboy? Apparently Blackburn's El Hadji Diouf is alleged to have said: "Fuck off white boy!"
Now my reaction would have been to reply: "Fuck off yourself you prick", or something similar. I would have then got on with the rest of my life. But then again Scousers do lack a sense of proportion, as the nation sees whenever a Scouser gets a cold and the whole place goes into grieving mode.
It's nice to know that Scouse plod has no real work to do though. Perhaps Scousers have collectively gone into a state of shock at this evil remark to such an extent that they can't even bring themselves to nick cars, stab any grannies or sell cocaine from an ice cream van any more, but I doubt it.
I've said it before and will say it again, bloody grow up!
Fighting Politicians
Now if our politicians showed this kind of passion, they might, just might, garner a little respect from the electorate.
In fact it would be a much better way of settling international disputes. Blair could have saved thousands of lives by just contacting Sadam Hussein and asking him to send his 50 hardest politicians to, let's say Geneva. Blair sends his hardest 50 and they settle it that way. Don't tell me that is less civilised than British squaddies having to give their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The only problem we would have is finding 50 politicians with any bottle. You wouldn't immediately think "oh, I'll send Lady Mandy of Mandelson" would you? On second thoughts.....
In fact it would be a much better way of settling international disputes. Blair could have saved thousands of lives by just contacting Sadam Hussein and asking him to send his 50 hardest politicians to, let's say Geneva. Blair sends his hardest 50 and they settle it that way. Don't tell me that is less civilised than British squaddies having to give their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The only problem we would have is finding 50 politicians with any bottle. You wouldn't immediately think "oh, I'll send Lady Mandy of Mandelson" would you? On second thoughts.....
Manchester United-Michael Owen-Heaven!
Not bad for a free transfer:
Oh to have been back in Manchester last night. That would have been some party.
It's on my other blog too: This Sporting Life
Oh to have been back in Manchester last night. That would have been some party.
It's on my other blog too: This Sporting Life
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Fascist Britain!
I have the terribly British habit of having a full English cooked breakfast on a Sunday morning while reading the Sunday papers. Now if that sentence offends you, or you think the mention of breakfast, including bacon, might offend muslims then tough shit!
Mrs B and I nearly choked on our Lincolnshire sausage this morning when we read:
Home Office Tells Staff Not To Eat Near Muslims
Just after almost choking on our black pudding reading:
Christians Are Offensive-Prosecute Them
So now causing offence is prosecutable. In that case I'm off to see a solicitor about Gordon Brown, Lady Mandy of Mandelson, Tony Blair, Hazel Blears, Michael "Fat Pig" Moore, Miliband (x2), Margaret Beckett..............
But before you go off on one, assuming us to be Islamophobes, then read the following:
But the guide is now at the centre of a row with Islamic groups who said it was more likely to incite hatred of Muslims than promote understanding.
I do believe in "when in Rome", but suspect that these are two further examples of white, pinko-liberal bollocks rather than real muslims actually taking offence.
If they are muslims then I suggest they piss off to a muslim country and that we all fight to restore freedom of speech in this country, which includes the right to be offensive, and to be offended. But the white pinko-liberals should also clear off to live elsewhere rather than turning the UK into a fascist state.
To put it another way, bloody well grow up!
Manchester United
Since walking away from Manchester United in 2005, following the Glazer takeover, there have been a few days when I have pined for my old season ticket. Today is one of them.
Today United take on the biggest chav football club in the history of the game, the deluded prostitutes from 'Eastlands' via Moss Side, Manchester City. Oh to be there when those deluded muppets in blue get cut down to their real size. Perhaps I should show solidarity and get to Gorton to watch the game on TV with my dad.
Actually I'll stay here in sunny Carnforth but might have to get my FC United of Manchester fix on Wednesday night when they are away to Worksop.
Prediction: United 3 City 0
Today United take on the biggest chav football club in the history of the game, the deluded prostitutes from 'Eastlands' via Moss Side, Manchester City. Oh to be there when those deluded muppets in blue get cut down to their real size. Perhaps I should show solidarity and get to Gorton to watch the game on TV with my dad.
Actually I'll stay here in sunny Carnforth but might have to get my FC United of Manchester fix on Wednesday night when they are away to Worksop.
Prediction: United 3 City 0
Friday, September 18, 2009
Martin Bell
Martin Bell, the posing prat in a white suit, has shown his true colours:
I would say that Blears has done a lot worse than Hamilton, but Bell's mates in the media obviously haven't done as good a hatchet job on that little bitch. It seems the knight in a white suit legs it from a real fight.
I always thought he was a sanctimonious hypocritical turd, making him the ideal man to replace Blears I suppose.
Martin Bell, the former MP and BBC war correspondent, has confirmed he will not stand against Hazel Blears in her Salford constituency.
Mr Bell, who deposed Neil Hamilton in Knutsford in 1997, said it would not be easy to beat the ex-cabinet minister.
He made his announcement at a meeting of about 50 people who want Ms Blears replaced by an independent candidate.
I would say that Blears has done a lot worse than Hamilton, but Bell's mates in the media obviously haven't done as good a hatchet job on that little bitch. It seems the knight in a white suit legs it from a real fight.
I always thought he was a sanctimonious hypocritical turd, making him the ideal man to replace Blears I suppose.
Mohsen Namjoo
Iranian singer Mohsen Namjoo has been sentenced to five years, in his absence, by an Iranian court. Below is the song that dropped him in it. Some might say it deserves a five year stretch but he was sentenced not for the noise, but for insulting the Koran.
There you go, personally I don't mind it that much. Six months community service would have sufficed!
Don't you love those tolerant ayatollahs?
There you go, personally I don't mind it that much. Six months community service would have sufficed!
Don't you love those tolerant ayatollahs?
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Gordon Brown-Prime Minister-David Cameron Too
Here's one for Gordon Brown.
We've got less than a year now to put up with the git, but will Cameron be any better? In a word, no. So this one's for Dave too, in anticipation of the mess he'll make of it:
We've got less than a year now to put up with the git, but will Cameron be any better? In a word, no. So this one's for Dave too, in anticipation of the mess he'll make of it:
Recession, Recession, Recession
Now I'm no wizard when it comes to economics and government finance. I tend to think that like sociologists and others, economists are just making commonsense difficult at best, or are nothing but soothsayers at worst.
When Margaret Thatcher was around the country was also coming out of a Labour government created economic shambles and all the talk was of Monetarism. At first I thought Monetarism must be some deep and complex economic theory devised over decades by blokes in thinktanks and university economics departments. Then, to my relief I discovered it just meant you can't spend what you haven't got. We can't and the government can't. Well actually we can but we end up with a mountain of personal debt and have our homes reposessed, the government just taxes more and more, bleeding us all dry and borrowing from elsewhere on top until the people realise that socialism is a sham and will kill us all. Then they turn to the Tories. The Tories for God's sake! Now that is rotating dictatorship, frying pan and fire and any othe cliches you care to throw into the mix.
So after Blair's con trick in 1997 we have all, even the most deluded Labour zombie, seen the country slide towards economic disaster and a police state. As a layman I found this article in the Timesonline very intersting.
Talking of party conferences, why not run an office sweep on how many different words for 'cuts' the three old parties come up with at their conferences?
When Margaret Thatcher was around the country was also coming out of a Labour government created economic shambles and all the talk was of Monetarism. At first I thought Monetarism must be some deep and complex economic theory devised over decades by blokes in thinktanks and university economics departments. Then, to my relief I discovered it just meant you can't spend what you haven't got. We can't and the government can't. Well actually we can but we end up with a mountain of personal debt and have our homes reposessed, the government just taxes more and more, bleeding us all dry and borrowing from elsewhere on top until the people realise that socialism is a sham and will kill us all. Then they turn to the Tories. The Tories for God's sake! Now that is rotating dictatorship, frying pan and fire and any othe cliches you care to throw into the mix.
So after Blair's con trick in 1997 we have all, even the most deluded Labour zombie, seen the country slide towards economic disaster and a police state. As a layman I found this article in the Timesonline very intersting.
Talking of party conferences, why not run an office sweep on how many different words for 'cuts' the three old parties come up with at their conferences?
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
TUC and High Heels
I've always thought that trade unions were crammed full of self-important prats lacking a sense of humour but bloated on their sense of importance. The TUC seems to have gone out of their way to prove me right this week by trying to ban high heels at work.
Imagine you are sat in the office bored and lacking motivation. What would perk you up and set you back into work and productivity mode, the lady on the left, or a fat dyke in Doc Marten's?
Yes the attractive lady in feminine attire wins hands down.
So in these days of recession the TUC should be urging all women in the workplace to dress in an inspiring manner, if not for themselves, then to help free their country from recession. It's patriotic!
I stole the photo from a post by guthrum on looking for a voice, it's better than my original photo.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Libertarianism-An American View
As long as Libertarians breathe they will debate what Libertarianism actually is. There will also be Libertarians who claim that a Libertarian Party is a contradiction in terms. My view is that we need to be realistic Libertarians, aim for the ultimate, whatever that may be, but be realistic about your achievements and what you may achieve. Without using the system to fight we will forever wallow in isolation having idealogical arguments, while achieving nothing. I found this article an interesting little addition to the debate. C.S. Milsted Jr on Nolan Chart.com.
Why is the libertarian movement so small? Freedom is popular! Freedom is ingrained in the roots of our culture. Free spirits are everywhere. Why aren’t they in the Libertarian Party? OK, maybe the last question was a bad one. Libertarians can have many reasons for not joining the LP: the party is too radical, not radical enough, too ineffective, too bureaucratic, etc. But why aren’t these free spirits libertarians in the broader sense of the word? Why are so many of them liberals, advocates of bureaucracy and the nanny state? Why do some free spirits wear Capitalism Kills T-shirts?
Answer: capitalism does kill…the spirit, for many. If you work on an assembly line or in some other repetitive job, capitalism means regimentation, boredom, and a stifling of the spirit. Study the works of Fredrick Taylor. Yevgeny Zamyatin based his dystopian novel We on the management theories of Fredrick Taylor – who developed said theories for capitalists. When we libertarians think of young adults put in uniforms and under orders, we think of the military. But guess who else is putting thousands of young people into uniform? McDonalds! I leave it to the reader to decide which uniformed service is more regimented.
Libertarians call for liberty, or, in particular: freedom from the initiation of force by government. This is a freedom, and a very important freedom at that. But freedom is a bigger concept. Some years ago I wrote several chapters on "What is Freedom?" and came up with three broad categories of freedom: freedom from the government, freedom from the boss, and freedom from everyone else. Most libertarians focus on the first and downplay the other two, and lose the hearts of most freedom lovers in the process.
Freedom is about having options in life – good options. Who is more free: the single mom in a capitalist country who has to work double shifts at the barbecue restaurant in order to pay her childrens’ medical bills, or her well-cared-for counterpart in a European welfare state?
When young free spirits see libertarians celebrating capitalism, they see authoritarians celebrating wage serfdom. When they see libertarians call for selling off federal lands, they see more No Tresspassing signs and the Disneyfication of the nicer national parks. They see their world shrinking.
The Ron Paul Revolution attracted many more free spirited young adults than the explicit libertarian movement ever did. In part this is because Ron Paul was a proven anti-war politician at a time of unpopular war. But the other part is just as important: Ron Paul is part of the old conspiracy-oriented anti-capitalist Right. This Old Right looks back to smaller government and smaller private enterprises: family farms, locally owned businesses, smaller scale manufacturers where brand name equals the company producing the product. The Old Right’s conspiracy theories revolve around international bankers, robber barons, and super rich families weaving a web of wealth and power to centralize all.
I don’t buy these Bircher style conspiracy theories. Sure, some robber barons and their old money scions may conspire from time to time for special priviledges, as do all other societal factions. But the idea of a secret unified New World Order plot hatched behind closed doors by a hierarchical elite defies the data. Second generation money is not that disciplined! The Paris Hiltons of the world are not behind the growth of big government.
Government is secretly subsidizing the super rich , however. But it’s an open secret, a purloined letter . Keynesian economics is the economics of ensuring that investors have enough return on their investments so they don’t store extra money in the cookie jar. Keynesian economics is about subsidizing the rich! We who like our government small need to shout this from the rooftops. There is no need for a conspiracy backstory; in this enlightened age, such backstories dilute credibility and associate liberty with racism and anti-Semitism. Not good.
Once upon a time, freedom and liberty were tied together politically. The classical liberals worked for smaller government and a smaller wealth gap. Adam Smith called for higher wages and lower profits. If we want government small with democracy at the same time, we need to recreate the old alliance. Otherwise, the young free spirits will worship Obama and turn the U.S. into a European style welfare state.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
The Wonder of CCTV-Surveillance State
So a man is shot dead in Hackney, East London. I suppose he would have been OK had there been CCTV. Except there was CCTV and it did bugger all to save his life. I have heard so many people say that it may not prevent a crime, but it makes detection so much easier. Oh yes?
You don't have to be a genius to dress in a way that will mean you will be unidentifiable on CCTV. Just pull a hood up, maybe wrap a scarf around your face and there you go, incognito.
Tell you what, above is a still of the CCTV footage showing the two suspects doing a runner from the murder scene in Hackney. Would you be able to tell if one was your son? Try describing them to a friend who hasn't seen the still. Would your description help to catch them?
No wonder they now reckon only 1 crime is solved per 1,000 CCTV cameras in London. It's because, as most of us have known all along, they don't work. OK, for the pedants, they do work but are ineffectual.
The Police State
Now the government is to force even more people to submit themselves to police checks, if they want to walk past an empty school without being accused of being a pervert and so on, it might be as well to remember that many voluntary organisations are already doing the state's dirty work.
Charities used to be independent organisations providing invaluable services, funding research and valuing their freedom to campaign on behalf of the people they were established to support. No longer, many charities are now no more than nationalised industries funded and controlled by the government. For thirty pieces of silver they have sold their souls to the state. In return they have been castrated, they dare not criticise the government, after all who bites the hand that feeds them?
In return they have adopted politically correct policies and procedures, are obsessed with diversy and 'equality' and routinely police check anybody who wants to become a volunteer. Health and safety and reporting obsessions to satisfy their government funders, has driven many people away from volunteering. Who can blame them?
Until recently police checks were only allowed on volunteers working one-on-one with vulnerable people, now it is allowed to be done routinely. There are many organisations out there, not just government agencies, holding highly personal information on people just because they want to give their time freely to help people less fortunate. Volunteering has been nationalised.
Nobody kicks against the creeping police state more than I do, but the state of the voluntary sector is surely a truly frightening sign of the times.
Charities used to be independent organisations providing invaluable services, funding research and valuing their freedom to campaign on behalf of the people they were established to support. No longer, many charities are now no more than nationalised industries funded and controlled by the government. For thirty pieces of silver they have sold their souls to the state. In return they have been castrated, they dare not criticise the government, after all who bites the hand that feeds them?
In return they have adopted politically correct policies and procedures, are obsessed with diversy and 'equality' and routinely police check anybody who wants to become a volunteer. Health and safety and reporting obsessions to satisfy their government funders, has driven many people away from volunteering. Who can blame them?
Until recently police checks were only allowed on volunteers working one-on-one with vulnerable people, now it is allowed to be done routinely. There are many organisations out there, not just government agencies, holding highly personal information on people just because they want to give their time freely to help people less fortunate. Volunteering has been nationalised.
Nobody kicks against the creeping police state more than I do, but the state of the voluntary sector is surely a truly frightening sign of the times.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
The New Fascism
So John Denham claims that we are in danger from a new 1930s style fascism. Having seen the early news on TV I thought I could at last agree with him. It showed a small group of white men protesting against the building of another mosque. They may be of dubious political background, that wasn't clear, what I do know is that many people are concerened about militant Islam in the UK and elsewhere.
I then saw a huge group of Muslim men, many hiding their faces with the Pakistani flag, attacking the police and destroying property trying to attack the demonstrators who, by this stage, were being protected by the police.
Many people in this country are concerned at the growth of Islam and its intolerant outlook, not to mention its treatment of women and the dreaded Sharia law. The problem is that political correctness has snuffed out any debate claiming those who question current orthodoxy are 'racist'. Obviously that then leaves the door open to actual racists, such as the BNP.
So I do agree with John Denham. But the fascists currently killing debate and tolerance in this country were elected in 1997.
I then saw a huge group of Muslim men, many hiding their faces with the Pakistani flag, attacking the police and destroying property trying to attack the demonstrators who, by this stage, were being protected by the police.
Many people in this country are concerned at the growth of Islam and its intolerant outlook, not to mention its treatment of women and the dreaded Sharia law. The problem is that political correctness has snuffed out any debate claiming those who question current orthodoxy are 'racist'. Obviously that then leaves the door open to actual racists, such as the BNP.
So I do agree with John Denham. But the fascists currently killing debate and tolerance in this country were elected in 1997.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
The Tour of Britain
The Tour of Britain starts on Saturday (12th September) in Lincolnshire.
Tour of Britain Blog
Tour of Britain Website
Tour of Britain Blog
Tour of Britain Website
I'm Free-The Who, not Mr Humphries.
This one is dedicated to the chap in Swindon who has also now dashed to freedom.
Wednesday, September 09, 2009
The Problem with UKIP and the EU
Reading of the shenanigans and horse trading within the EU and it's institutions is quite interesting. Dan Hannan says this, Chris Davis (remember him?) says that. The Tories leave this group, UKIP form that group, admittedly with a bunch of embarrassing nutters. This fella in the new group that the Tories have joined/formed is desperately trying to shed his far-right image, he's a Pole, rather than pole dancer, and so it goes on.
But do real EU withdrawalists actually give a shit? No, I don't believe they do, at least not the real ones. I think UKIP, and others, have seduced many patriots into the 'political game'. By seeing MEPs swanning around, many people think that the cause is being furthered. No, it isn't. Those same MEPs claim that MEPs are pointless and have no influence within the EU and it's institutions, so why are they there? The answer is they shouldn't be.
I left the Anti-Federalist League in about 1993 or so when it became UKIP, because I didn't believe a single issue party could achieve. I was right. Where I was wrong was being seduced in 2000 into believing that UKIP's aim was to use MEPs funds to fight our national parliamentary elections, where the real fight lay. I was then an elected councillor, a real asset to an aspiring party. I was naive and and I am happy to accept that I was wrong. I met many genuine people in 2000 but I also met Nigel Farage, I instinctively knew he was bad news. Farage, and his coterie have controlled and destroyed UKIP. What I soon saw was that there was no real stomach for a domestic fight, our MEPs had gone native, and sadly the 2004 intake soon went the same way. Ashley Mote? Tom Wise?
The policies that members have been promised for years have never materialised. Working groups on various policies have met for years, to no avail. Where have UKIP been on the big issues of the last 10 years? Nowhere. Where were UKIP in the fight against the Lisbon Treaty? On the sidelines, Farage decided not to bother because UKIP couldn't gain by getting involved. Really?
So UKIP has become a self-perpetuating Eurosceptic soap opera. It is more likely to consume itself than it is the EU and, in the meantime, the EU rumbles on. UKIP is now the inward looking, self-absorbed outfit that EU fanatics claim the Eurosceptic movement to be, and most of us aren't but maybe UKIP always was. UKIP is more interested in personalities than the fight, and the gravy train more than the ideology. It is a sham.
Even though a majority would like to see us out of the EU today, only around 8% would put withdrawal at the top of their list in voting for their MPs. Let's face it, only 16% voted UKIP in the EU election. As I thought in 1993, a single issue protest party will not achieve, it can't achieve.
So my advice to those who oppose the EU, because you mistrust government, especially big government and support individual freedom and the rights of the individual and free speech, is to join the Libertarian Party, because a single issue party, without a cohesive set of policies, takes you down a cul-de-sac.
UKIP, Farage, Nuttall and Andreasen are a sideshow. Don't be sidetracked.
And don't even start me on the Tories' 'Euroscepticism', including Dan 'The Twat' Hannan.
But do real EU withdrawalists actually give a shit? No, I don't believe they do, at least not the real ones. I think UKIP, and others, have seduced many patriots into the 'political game'. By seeing MEPs swanning around, many people think that the cause is being furthered. No, it isn't. Those same MEPs claim that MEPs are pointless and have no influence within the EU and it's institutions, so why are they there? The answer is they shouldn't be.
I left the Anti-Federalist League in about 1993 or so when it became UKIP, because I didn't believe a single issue party could achieve. I was right. Where I was wrong was being seduced in 2000 into believing that UKIP's aim was to use MEPs funds to fight our national parliamentary elections, where the real fight lay. I was then an elected councillor, a real asset to an aspiring party. I was naive and and I am happy to accept that I was wrong. I met many genuine people in 2000 but I also met Nigel Farage, I instinctively knew he was bad news. Farage, and his coterie have controlled and destroyed UKIP. What I soon saw was that there was no real stomach for a domestic fight, our MEPs had gone native, and sadly the 2004 intake soon went the same way. Ashley Mote? Tom Wise?
The policies that members have been promised for years have never materialised. Working groups on various policies have met for years, to no avail. Where have UKIP been on the big issues of the last 10 years? Nowhere. Where were UKIP in the fight against the Lisbon Treaty? On the sidelines, Farage decided not to bother because UKIP couldn't gain by getting involved. Really?
So UKIP has become a self-perpetuating Eurosceptic soap opera. It is more likely to consume itself than it is the EU and, in the meantime, the EU rumbles on. UKIP is now the inward looking, self-absorbed outfit that EU fanatics claim the Eurosceptic movement to be, and most of us aren't but maybe UKIP always was. UKIP is more interested in personalities than the fight, and the gravy train more than the ideology. It is a sham.
Even though a majority would like to see us out of the EU today, only around 8% would put withdrawal at the top of their list in voting for their MPs. Let's face it, only 16% voted UKIP in the EU election. As I thought in 1993, a single issue protest party will not achieve, it can't achieve.
So my advice to those who oppose the EU, because you mistrust government, especially big government and support individual freedom and the rights of the individual and free speech, is to join the Libertarian Party, because a single issue party, without a cohesive set of policies, takes you down a cul-de-sac.
UKIP, Farage, Nuttall and Andreasen are a sideshow. Don't be sidetracked.
And don't even start me on the Tories' 'Euroscepticism', including Dan 'The Twat' Hannan.
Tuesday, September 08, 2009
UKIP: Farage, Nuttall and Marta Andreasen
It seems that UKIP's leadership cannot get their stories coordinated about Marta Andreasen's resignation as treasurer, so what chance organising a coherent campaigning political party? Nigel Farage now says:
That's according to this report on the BBC news website. Of course by 'here' he means tucked up in the splendour of Brussels and Strasbourg.
That does not coincide with Marta Andreasen's reason given to The Times:
I always checked my watch was still there if I was unfortunate enough to have to shake Farage's hand, so I know who I believe.
"....Marta has a big job here and in the UK and that's really why she's gone."
That's according to this report on the BBC news website. Of course by 'here' he means tucked up in the splendour of Brussels and Strasbourg.
That does not coincide with Marta Andreasen's reason given to The Times:
“I resigned because I disagree with how the party is being managed at the level of the chairmanship,”
I always checked my watch was still there if I was unfortunate enough to have to shake Farage's hand, so I know who I believe.
UKIP Implode-Again!
Poor old UKIP. Whenever they appear to have a little bit of success, which the June results were, just about, they implode. That's the problem when a party has no coherent philosophy and its leaders are only interested in 'the gravy train'.
Now Marta Andreasen, former EU accountant has walked:
No surprise there then!
If still a member, I would be asking for clarification of the following statement by Paul Nuttall:
But I suspect there is far worse yet to come out. In the meantime here is the full Times online article.
Now Marta Andreasen, former EU accountant has walked:
“I resigned because I disagree with how the party is being managed at the level of the chairmanship,”
No surprise there then!
If still a member, I would be asking for clarification of the following statement by Paul Nuttall:
"Let’s get one thing perfectly clear. I am the party chairman. I get paid to make decisions,” he said. “If those decisions do not work then it is my head on the chopping block.Does this mean, as he seems to be saying, that on top of his MEP salary he is also receiving a salary as party chairman? Or is it just poor use of the English language? And despite her statement above, he still claims that Marta Andreasen doesn't have a problem with him. Oh well.
“Marta and I have different methods of working, however I do not have a problem with Marta and Marta does not have a problem with me.”
But I suspect there is far worse yet to come out. In the meantime here is the full Times online article.
Monday, September 07, 2009
Those Loveable Scousers
They just can't behave can they?
Still, I suppose it's that or the dole.
From Teletext.
A group of 25 Britons who are all believed to be from Liverpool are being questioned by police in Spain after drug raids on the island of Ibiza.
They were held as part of Operation Trafalgar, which targets alleged drugs traffickers in San Antonio town.
Police reportedly seized 19,000 Ecstasy tablets, 1.5kg of ketamine and 500g of cocaine during the operation.
Still, I suppose it's that or the dole.
From Teletext.
Sunday, September 06, 2009
BNP Question Time
Labour seem to have gone into hyper totalitarian mode over the BNP leader apparently being approved by the BBC to appear on QT. They advocate free speech as long as they approve of what's beng said, as do many so called 'liberals' these days. Surprisingly the Lib Dems have said they would not boycott if Griffin appeared. Labour seem set to boycott.
Free speech actually means free speech. If you hate what somebody stands for then argue against them and win the argument, which you will if you are in the right. I want the right not to vote BNP because I know all about them and choose not to, not because they are banned. Free speech, as long as I approve of what you say, is actually censorship.
Having said that the MEPs from UKIP, Labour, Tory and Lib Dems in the North West, all refused to share a platform with Griffin after the count in June, stomping off the platform throwing hissy fits. Perhaps I should have headed this piece 'Hypocrites'.
Free speech actually means free speech. If you hate what somebody stands for then argue against them and win the argument, which you will if you are in the right. I want the right not to vote BNP because I know all about them and choose not to, not because they are banned. Free speech, as long as I approve of what you say, is actually censorship.
Having said that the MEPs from UKIP, Labour, Tory and Lib Dems in the North West, all refused to share a platform with Griffin after the count in June, stomping off the platform throwing hissy fits. Perhaps I should have headed this piece 'Hypocrites'.
Friday, September 04, 2009
Farewell Farage
He won't be missed but in true Farage style he is stepping down as UKIP's leader for purely selfish and unprincipled reasons.
He claims it is to break with tradition, and convention, to stand against John Bercow at the next general election. Serious parties do not stand against the Speaker of the House of Commons.
Of course it has nothing to do with the inumerable scandals about his private life, his huge expense claims, sorry EU allowances, and where they went. You see, UKIP MEPs won't publish their details when screaming for MPs to do so.
Nothing to do with him squandering UKIP's golden opportunity since the 2004 success in the EU elections.
No Farage is doing it for Farage, either because he genuinely wants to fight Bercow, a battle he will obviously lose, or because there is another pile of manure about to rain down on UKIP, manure around Farage and his antics.
I'd bet on the manure personally if I did bet.
Of course a cynic might say he has secured five more years on the gavy train, his third five year term, so he can have a really, really good time now and just enjoy the fruits of his labour.
He claims it is to break with tradition, and convention, to stand against John Bercow at the next general election. Serious parties do not stand against the Speaker of the House of Commons.
Of course it has nothing to do with the inumerable scandals about his private life, his huge expense claims, sorry EU allowances, and where they went. You see, UKIP MEPs won't publish their details when screaming for MPs to do so.
Nothing to do with him squandering UKIP's golden opportunity since the 2004 success in the EU elections.
No Farage is doing it for Farage, either because he genuinely wants to fight Bercow, a battle he will obviously lose, or because there is another pile of manure about to rain down on UKIP, manure around Farage and his antics.
I'd bet on the manure personally if I did bet.
Of course a cynic might say he has secured five more years on the gavy train, his third five year term, so he can have a really, really good time now and just enjoy the fruits of his labour.
Libertarian Alliance-Chris R. Tame Memorial Prize
Full details on the Libertarian Alliance website.
In honour of Dr Chris R. Tame (1949-2006), The Libertarian Alliance offers a yearly prize of £1,000 for an essay on a subject to be announced by Dr Sean Gabb, Director of the Libertarian Alliance. This year, the Prize has been most generously sponsored by Teresa Gorman, long-term conservative and libertarian activist and formerly Conservative Member of Parliament for Billericay.
By the 16th October 2009, contestants are invited to submit essays to Dr Sean Gabb, Director of the Libertarian Alliance.
Essay Title: "Can a Libertarian also be a Conservative?"
Essay Length: 3,000 words excluding notes and bibliography
Wednesday, September 02, 2009
Joe McCarthy and Communism
I've always respected Senator Joe McCarthy's crusade in the '50s against communism in the USA, and thoughts of him were rekindled today on Twitter.
Over the years he has been vilified by the 'liberal' press and intelligentsia as a paranoid extremist, but we owe him a huge debt of gratitude for sticking to his guns. Reluctantly, many in the mainstream have revised their views on Senator McCarthy as witnessed by the following:
Senator McCarthy had the guts to stand firm, in the face of particularly vile attacks, in his defence of freedom and liberty. This potted biography is well worth a quick look, especially if you are interested in an introduction to the story of Joe McCarthy's bravery and courage.
Over the years he has been vilified by the 'liberal' press and intelligentsia as a paranoid extremist, but we owe him a huge debt of gratitude for sticking to his guns. Reluctantly, many in the mainstream have revised their views on Senator McCarthy as witnessed by the following:
In 1953-54, McCarthy had been investigating lax security in the top secret facility at Ft. Monmouth, N.J. He was attacked by liberals and Communists on the grounds that there were no security problems at Ft. Monmouth. Years later, in addressing the reason why the U.S. Army's top-secret operations at Fort Monmouth were quietly moved to Arizona, Senator Barry Goldwater, in his 1979 book With no apologies: The personal and political memoirs of United States Senator Barry M. Goldwater, Goldwater stated:
"Carl Hayden, who in January 1955 became chairman of the powerful Appropriations Committee of the United States Senate, told me privately Monmouth had been moved because he and other members of the majority Democratic Party were convinced security at Monmouth had been penetrated. They didn't want to admit that McCarthy was right in his accusations. Their only alternative was to move the installation from New Jersey to a new location in Arizona."[112]
Even though McCarthy's investigations proved that his suspicions were right, for many years afterwards and continue to this day, liberals have spread the falsehood that McCarthy had found nothing at Fort Monmouth.
Before the 1989 release of Carl Bernstein's book, Loyalties: A Son's Memoir, Albert Bernstein, Carl's father, expressed dismay at the revelations that the book would make regarding Communist infiltration of the U.S. government and other sectors of American society. Albert Bernstein stated:
"You're going to prove [Sen. Joseph] McCarthy was right, because all he was saying is that the system was loaded with Communists. And he was right. ... I'm worried about the kind of book you're going to write and about cleaning up McCarthy. The problem is that everybody said he was a liar; you're saying he was right. ... I agree that the Party was a force in the country."[113]
Both Albert Bernstein and Sylvia Bernstein, Carl's mother, had both been Communists since the 1940's. Albert Bernstein was a Union activist, while Sylvia Bernstein was a secretary for the War Department in the 1930's and, during the Clinton Administration, volunteered in the White House, answering letters that were addressed to Hillary Clinton. During the 1950's, Sylvia Bernstein invoked the Fifth Amendment to avoid revealing her party ties to Congress but worked openly in assisting convicted spies Julius Rosenberg and Ethel Rosenberg, who were executed in 1953 for espionage.
Senator McCarthy had the guts to stand firm, in the face of particularly vile attacks, in his defence of freedom and liberty. This potted biography is well worth a quick look, especially if you are interested in an introduction to the story of Joe McCarthy's bravery and courage.
Patronising Pinko Tossers
The Howard League for Penal Reform have reared their ugly heads again, I suppose it is the silly season.
Now I'm not a great hang 'em and flog 'em merchant, it's hard to square being against abortion with supporting the death penalty, all life is sacred, but these clowns are on another planet.
They have now gone and insulted every prison officer in the country with their smarmy sentimentalist bollocks. Things such as:
That from this report on the BBC website.
It takes a certain understanding of human nature to be a prison officer, and imagine what a shambles if they were all as the Howard League advocate:
Imagine a pinko liberal sociologist asking a prisoner to kindly refrain from setting fire to the block because society thinks one shouldn't.
Prats!
Now I'm not a great hang 'em and flog 'em merchant, it's hard to square being against abortion with supporting the death penalty, all life is sacred, but these clowns are on another planet.
They have now gone and insulted every prison officer in the country with their smarmy sentimentalist bollocks. Things such as:
The Howard League for Penal Reform said currently staff were "turnkeys... barely skilled or literate".
That from this report on the BBC website.
It takes a certain understanding of human nature to be a prison officer, and imagine what a shambles if they were all as the Howard League advocate:
In future, said the Howard League, only graduates in subjects such as criminology, prison law or sociology should be accepted for the role.
Imagine a pinko liberal sociologist asking a prisoner to kindly refrain from setting fire to the block because society thinks one shouldn't.
Prats!
Tuesday, September 01, 2009
Apology
So now the Russians are being urged to apologise to Poland for the last war. That'll make a huge difference won't it? Will it bring back the dead? Unlikely. Will it suddenly right the wrongs, perceived or otherwise, of the last 70 years? No it won't.
It's time to stop this pathetic culture of apology for the past and get on with things.
It's time to stop this pathetic culture of apology for the past and get on with things.
Afghanistan and the European Union
This article in The Times says it all about our presence in Afghanistan. Despite thousands of troops the election was a fraud. So what happens when our troops leave? Nothing at all will have changed is the answer.
Afghanistan isn't worth a single British life and the British politicians who sent them in should be put on trial, Tony Blair first up. Notice his kids haven't joined up, which at least the Saxe Coburg Gothas do.
But which type of democracy are we trying to impose on Afghanistan, the British type or the European Union type. It strikes me that the Afghans are nearer the EU type-if you don't like the result, just have another vote.
Afghanistan isn't worth a single British life and the British politicians who sent them in should be put on trial, Tony Blair first up. Notice his kids haven't joined up, which at least the Saxe Coburg Gothas do.
But which type of democracy are we trying to impose on Afghanistan, the British type or the European Union type. It strikes me that the Afghans are nearer the EU type-if you don't like the result, just have another vote.
Radiohead/Gordon Brown/Tony Blair
Saw Radiohead at Reading on the telly t'other day, pure class. Thought this might go down well:
But when I hear 'creep', I always think of Gordon Brown and Tony Blair, in fact all those real or pseudo socialist shits and arseholes. If you are a Trot, Marxist, Leninist knob then go away and die. There you go!
I feel better for that.
But when I hear 'creep', I always think of Gordon Brown and Tony Blair, in fact all those real or pseudo socialist shits and arseholes. If you are a Trot, Marxist, Leninist knob then go away and die. There you go!
I feel better for that.
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