More Scum In Parliament

Imagine you have a very generous boss who pays your mortgage for you. He then discovers that you have fallen out with your wife, who has effectively kicked you out of said house, and you are now staying in a hotel. Not only are you staying in a hotel but you are claiming for the cost on your expenses.

So you are now claiming for the mortgage on a property you no longer inhabit. You are also claiming for hotel bills. How do you think your boss would react? I'm pretty sure that most of us would give aforementioned employee a steel toecapped kick up the jacksy before considering calling in PC Plod.

I bet that won't happen to David Curry, Conservative MP for Skipton:

The Conservative MP David Curry claimed 30K for a home in his Yorkshire constituency which he did not use because his unhappy wife had banned him from living there in case he used it to continue entertaining his mistress, a local teacher. He admitted he had not stayed in the house recently “as much as I would have liked” and instead claimed additional expenses for hotel bills.

It’s no surprise that Curry is chairman of the Commons standards and privileges committee. Do you have the weeniest suspicion, reading this, that MPs still don’t get it?

Rod Liddle in The Sunday Times.

World's Biggest Idiots

The Chandlers , a right couple of misfits, must be the biggest idiots in the world at the moment. No doubt soon some other idiot(s) will challenge for the title, maybe, but they are it by a country mile at the moment.

You don't have to be a genius to know that taking your yacht around the Horn of Africa is not the best idea you've ever had. A merchant seaman recently told me that piracy in that neck of the woods has been going on for years, way before the recent big attacks and the publicity they have generated. But no, the Chandlers knew better and now men will have to risk their lives, and millions of quid will be wasted, trying to rescue them.

My bet is they will be do-gooding Guardian readers who think that those Somali chaps are just poor misunderstood peasants trying to benefit from the exploitation of their country by the wicked capitalist West. You know, "if you only you show them that you are a nice caring 'liberal' they will love you" types. Well they don't you jerks, and now you know what the rest of the thinking world knew anyway.

I'd let them rot, or maybe insist that the Guardian be shut down as a condition of their release.

Eric Cantona

There are times when an event makes a huge impact on your life, completely unexpectedly. That night at Selhurst Park was one.

Me and my dad were in the opposite stand, but knew that what happened was momentous. Eric had gone from legend to God.

Living in South East London at the time, among fantastic people in Plumstead which was Charlton territory, Palace fans were famously detested as whining whingers and misfits, and rightly so.

If you enjoy poetic justice enjoy this:



In the words of Corporal Jones: "They don't like it up 'em".

God Save Our President

The couple on the left haven't just met on an OAP speed dating evening, you can tell by how grey they are, especially him, let's face it under normal circumstances I am sure they would find each other thoroughly unappealing. You can tell straight away that he wouldn't be scintillating company, he just looks drab and dreary, probably because he is the President of Belgium. But now he's your president too, if you are unfortunate to be enslaved within the European Union that is.

Ladies and gentlemen the old grey fella in the picture is the first President of the United States of Europe, President Van Rumpy Pumpy! The woman is one of Gordon Browns old slags, Baroness von Ashton van der Upholland, your EU Foreign Secretary. Known hereon as The Odd Couple. President Van Rumpy Rumpy, upon becoming Fuhrer, asked to see a doctor claiming he was suffering from amnesia. It was a brief consultation, in fairness there is usually NO consultation in the EU, and he was reassured that he hadn't forgotten the election, he hadn't actually been elected.

It is quite apt that the first President should be a Belgian as Belgium too is a failing state cobbled together by the ruling elites of Europe to suit their purposes. In 1831 the Saxe-Coburgs had a spare monarch who should have become king of England, but for an unfortunate chain of events, so Leopold was instead plonked onto the throne of the bastard state of Belgium.

The one consolation is that the artificial states of Europe, apart from Belgium, have now disappeared-Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia the USSR. Belgium has only survived because the ruling elites want it to survive and it has been the model for the development of the current monstrously undemocratic supranational body known as the European Union.

So the Saxe-Coburgs were integral to the development of Belgium, and Elizabeth Saxe-Coburg-Gotha has demonstrated in recent years that the German monarchs are only interested in their own selfish survival. The only way forward in a post-EU democratic state, be that Great Britain or an independent England, will be as a republic. Our monarch has done nothing to stop our freedoms and liberties being eroded and no longer deserves our support.

The monarchy is an anachronism and should be abolished.

More on President Van Rumpy Pumpy here.

Cameron, Brown or Hung Parliament?

Gordon Brown: "Last time thank God. The next Queen's Speech will be yours."

David Cameron: "Piss off, I was enjoying this."

Then from the back come the dulcit tones of Nick Clegg: "Actually girls, I'll be kingmaker in the hung parliament, so it will be my decision."

Queen's Speech

I was talking to somebody this morning who was looking forward to hearing Lady Mandy of Mandelson's outline programme for his government. I had to point out that the Queen's Speech was Lizzie Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, not the other big queen. Anyway, life goes on.

It seems to be another programme of interference and legislation, but not as grim as it could be, only 13 new pieces of legislation. Having said that I look forward to a Sean Gabb style government that will repeal all legislation passed since about 1963!

Oh well, we'll be rid of Gordon the Moron soon then we can start having a serious pop at Dave who will be just as bad.

Wonder what the odds are on Lady Mandy popping up, in some position or other, in a New Tory government?

Bill by bill summary here.

ID Cards and the Police State

The government has announced that residents of Greater Manchester will be able to apply for an ID card and registration on the National Identity Register from 30th November.

The Home Office claims the cards will be secure, though similar cards issued to non-EU foreign nationals were recently cracked and cloned, and police admitted that printers until recently available in high street IT stores were able to produce replicas. The prime selling point now offered is that they will be convenient for young people. But any application involves the individual ‘voluntarily’ joining the National Identity Register database, being fingerprinted, and becoming subject to all present and future regulations issued under the Identity Cards Act 2006.

I'm proud to say that none of my family or friends in Greater Manchester are stupid enough to fall for this, as they didn't fall for the congestion charge the government tried to bully them into. In fact there is a view that the ID card sheme is being foisted on the people of Greater Manchester now as a punishment for voting against the congestion charge.

Reports of the the death of the ID scheme are unfortunately premature.

Gordon Brown's announcement to Labour Conference that "in the next Parliament there will be no compulsory ID cards for British citizens" is the same misleading line that ministers have been using for years — whatever he says about the card, the ID scheme has been designed to force people to 'volunteer' for a system they cannot leave. For all his crowd-pleasing words, you will still be forced to register when you apply for a passport or, in time, any officially-designated document.

Mr Brown's statement, "We will reduce the information British citizens have to give for the new biometric passport to no more than that required for today's passport" cannot be true even if taken literally, since biometric passports must have at least the biometrics (i.e. compulsory fingerprinting) in addition to the information already on existing ones.

The Identity and Passport Service programme to build linked databases – the National Identity Register – that will be shared between the passport and identity schemes, and integrated with the DWP's systems has not been scrapped. And a raft of regulations defining the information to be held and the masses more information involved in the application process were passed earlier this summer. If what Mr Brown says were true, these would be repealed forthwith.

The ID scheme and database state steamroller on, and we cannot afford to let up the pressure.

If you want proof, all you need do is pay attention to Manchester. IPS has not withdrawn its propaganda campaign and is still looking for guinea-pigs. NO2ID's first Stop the ID Card Con campaign events are on 10th October, and it's more important than ever that we counter the government's spin. Please help us spread the word on the streets of the North West and across the country.

The ID scheme is not dead.

The above is from the No2ID website. Here is their summary of the curent state of play with the government's scheme.

Talking Heads-Heaven

Some songs just provide comfort, this one is a song that caresses and takes you over. It has appeared previously on here but deserves another outing. David Byrne-genius!

Pakistani Politicians Fighting In Manchester

Politicians love to play the tough guy, but if you look on YouTube their fights are invariably as camp as a row of tents. Just look at this pansy style slap:



I suspect that Lady Mandy of Mandelson could have done a much butcher job. Actually, on second thoughts......

Vacuous Apologies

It's a pathetic spineless government that apologises for events in history. I was brought up to apologise for things that were down to my actions, not other peoples' actions. That is just plain vacuous and designed to make the apologiser feel good, it is shallow and meaningless.

So after the crass apology for slavery, despite many black Africans still buying and selling each other, Gordon Brown has now apologised, on whose behalf I do not know, to all the children shipped out to Australia some time between the 1930s and the 1960s. I hope he didn't apologise on my behalf because it wasn't anything to do with me.

I wonder how many years it will take him and Blair to apologise to our servicemen and others over Iraq and Afghanistan. I wouldn't hold your breath, that would mean accepting respoonsibility too, something else New Labour isn't good at.

Glasgow By-Election

I've just seen the news about the Glasgow by-election, and it doesn't make encouraging reading. A turnout of around 32% is disastrous and makes me worry for the future of our democracy, or more to the point, wonder if the populace of the UK care about our democracy.

At a time when there are illegal wars to protest about, a recession to protest about and record youth unemployment, the people of Glasgow still voted for the party that has been wrecking Britain since 1997. We are living in an ever more invasive and oppressive police state, but still the people of Glasgow voted for the pig in a red rosette.

Furthermore the BNP gained over 4%, only just failing to save their deposit. Previously the BNP have been dismissed in Scotland as a fringe English party, not any more, they gave the Tories in Glasgow a good run for their money. But what it does show is that the BNP's brand of socialism, with a heavy spoonful of racism, is much more a threat to Labour than the Tories.

I have felt for a long time that the general election is not as cut and dry as people think, it is not a foregone conclusion that Dave will win with a landslide. If I were a Labour MP with a small majority in a constituency such as Morecambe and Lunesdale, my constituency, I would be very worried. My guess is that the Tories will reclaim the seat because of the number of Labour supporters who will defect to the BNP. UKIP are hardly likely to dent the Tory vote enough to do real damage so hey presto, the BNP let the Tories in.

I think that scenario will occur up and down Britain but will only produce a small Tory majority. However, it will be a Tory majority and Dave will have Nick Griffin and the BNP to thank for getting him into Downing Street.

Belgium and the European Union

It's been a very interesting week in Flanders. Yesterday we watched the wreath laying ceremony in Brugge, with the minute's silence at 11-00am.

Last night we were at the 8-00pm ceremony at the Menin Gate in Ieper (Ypres for the Francophiles). Always a very moving occasion that happens every night at 8-00 throughout the year, on the 11th day of the 11th month it was a huge event with military bands and soldiers from the Commonwealth parading. Everybody should try and get there at least once.

We had an interesting chat en route with a Belgian who regards himself, first and foremost, as Flemish rather than Belgian or European. He feels that the Euroopean Union has now gone too far and has become overly interfering and oppressive. We sense that mood throughout Europe and have done for a few years now, certainly since the Constitution/Lisbon Treaty reared its ugly head.

He also commented on the British obsession with surveillance and the numbers of CCTV cameras in the UK. As did the Australians we spoke to in Ieper.

Goes to show, the rest of the world is watching us being watched! Ever felt like a goldfish?

Geraldine Smith MP-Coward or Bully? (Part 2)

If there is any doubt that my post, the one that prompted an unpleasant and threatening response to my parents from Geraldine Smith MP, quoted from the House of Commons Library believing it, of all places, to be a reliable source, then perhaps the message below will convince:

Dear Sir,

It has come to our attention that there is a link to one of our Standard Notes, about all women shortlists, on your blog site. Regrettably the table erroneously listed Geraldine Smith as being selected as a candidate at the 1997 general election as a result of being on an all women shortlist. I gather that this mistake has caused Ms Smith some embarrassment and we are very sorry that this has happened; the corrected note is now available at http://www.parliament.uk/commons/lib/research/briefings/snpc-05057.pdf.

Yours sincerely,

Isobel White

Isobel White
Parliament and Constitution Centre
House of Commons Library
1 Derby Gate
London
SW1A 2DG

I can only suggest that Isobel and her colleagues warn their parents to expect a call! Unfortunately the House of Commons library failed to send me, the author, this email otherwise I would have dealt with it earlier.

By the way, if you would like to see Geraldine Smith´s record as an MP visit here.

Geraldine Smith MP-Coward or Bully?

Tonight, Tuesday 10 November, I was sat with my wife having a quiet drink in the centre of Brugge. Then my mobile rang, so I felt I should answer it, I was extremely concerned as it was my elderly father, and something was obviously wrong. My parents were distraught and I had to calm them down, they are both elderly and quite vulnerable and not in the best of health.

So what had happened? Well tonight they received an extremely unpleasant, threatening phone call from my local Member of Parliament, Geraldine Smith. She apparently "ranted and raved" about their only son, threatening to sue me, take me to court etc. because of some comments on my blog. I think I have soothed them without the need to return home early, I hope so, even though they were both obviously badly shaken.

It seems that a post of mine in June quoted a House of Commons library source that was wrong, she (Smith) had not, it seems, been on a women only shortlist in 1997. In effect, I had been misled by the House of Commons. Nothing new there then! Sorry about that and I will perhaps seek an apology myself.

Now then, to matters now. With all her allowances it took the genius team of Geraldine Smith nearly 6 months to pick that up. As they said nothing to my parents, or another blog I write for, anything about her expenses claims, which I also wrote about in June, I assume she is happy with that piece.

You can visit both posts if you track back, using the side bar, to my June 2009 blog posts.

So next time you want to throw your weight around Geraldine, pick on me, not my elderly parents.

That's that. I would now like you to apologise to my parents. If you haven't when I return then I will take matters further.

More MEPs On The Make-Sajjad Karim and Giles Chichester

This from the News of the World:

TODAY we name TWO MORE money-grabbing Tory Euro MPs who are cashing in on the great Brussels gravy train first uncovered by the News of the World.
Top Tory John Purvis has siphoned up to £1MILLION of public cash meant to pay staff into his own firm.


And a second Tory MEP, Sajjad Karim, will face questions after paying his wife £26,000 A YEAR out of the public purse to act as his assistant-while she was working as a teacher.


These revelations come after our two-month investigation blew open the long-suspected scandal in the Brussels Parliament.


At last the gravy train is crashing off the rails-and already two top Tories have quit cosy jobs after our undercover probe showed:


- SENIOR Tory Giles Chichester PAYING up to £445,000 of taxpayers' cash into his family map firm.


- BRIT MEPs, led by Chichester, JET-SETTING to holiday paradises at the taxpayers' expense.


- A STRING of high-profile Tories HANDING their wives and children hundreds of thousands of pounds to work as their "assistants".


- HIGH-LIVING Euro MP Tom Wise BRAGGING how he milks thousands every week in dodgy allowance and travel claims and


- GRASPING politicians, including Chichester, filling their boots with FREEBIES paid for by big businesses eager to cosy up to them.


Our findings sent shockwaves through Brussels and led to Chichester quitting as the Tories' European leader. Party chief whip Den Dover also resigned his job this week after paying his wife and daughter £758,000 of taxpayers' cash.


Conservative leader David Cameron has now been forced to send his own sleazebuster out to Brussels to clean up his party's act.


Neil O'Brien, director of campaign group Open Europe, said: "At last the wheels are coming off the Brussels gravy train.


"Finally people are waking up to the scale of the abuse after it was exposed by the News of the World."


Now Scottish MEP PURVIS will be facing questions after paying up to £120,000 a year in taxpayer-funded expenses to Purvis and Co. That breaks strict Brussels rules because he is a salary-paid partner in the company.


And top-secret pay records obtained by the News of the World suggest he could have creamed off £1million in 14 years as an MEP.


Files show Purvis has been paying the staff allowance into his firm for years, certainly as far back as 2002-at £4,178 A MONTH.


Banned

With annual payments in recent years up to £120,000 and up to £50,000 from the previous terms, it is believed the total could hit £1m.


That dwarfs the £445,000 payment since 1996 that cost Chichester his job. And Purvis could be forced to pay back more than £500,000-cash he wrongly shelled out after 2003, when rules banning payments to MEPs' own firms were laid down.


With his snout firmly in the Brussels trough, Purvis is hardly short of euros. Along with the income from his firm and his £67,000-a-year MEP salary, he is also paid for a string of other posts.


They include owning Brigton and Gilmerton Farms with its rental houses in St Andrews, Scotland, and being a partner in farming firm Brigton Partners.


He also declares being a partner in London investment management firm Life Science Capital and non-executive chairman of Belgrave Capital Management.


Sajjad KARIM, who paid wife Zahida £26,000 a year as his assistant, is the other Tory MEP whose actions are being questioned.


His wife was also working two days a week at Great Harwood primary school in Blackburn, Lancs, while being paid to help run his office. Karim, an MEP since 2004, hit headlines last year when he defected from the Lib Dems. He was the first Muslim Brit elected to the EU Parliament.


His former constituency manager David Smithson said Karim's wife was employed to run his office but added: "She only came in for two or three hours a month.


Niggling

"Other MEPs have people in the same position but they do 35-45 hours a week. Zahida didn't even have a desk in the office.


"Last summer I said to him, 'We need to review what Zahida is paid'. It had been niggling at me for a while. Very quickly he told me, 'That's none of your business, it is off limits.'"


Karim insisted he was no longer paying his wife and was looking to replace her. He insisted she had worked at least three days a week on Brussels business and he had paid her the same as her predecessor for the same hours.


He said: "My wife has been paid £26,000 a year for a bit more than three days a week. To say she could have done what she did in just two or three hours a month is just completely unacceptable.


"She used to go into the office once a week. The rest of the time she had a room as an office within our house."


Do you have any information about greedy MEPs? Call us on 020 7782 1001 or email newsdesk@notw.co.uk

Remember Saj, the North West MEP? That's right, he's the former Lib Dem MEP who jumped ship to the Tories when he got scared he might lose his place on the EU gravy train.

I'm pretty sure there will be more, much more to come about various MEPs. After all, MEPs do make MPs look like cost cutters.

Tom Wise, Former UKIP MEP

This from Daniel Foggo in The Times:

Tom Wise, a bon viveur who once boasted of his “cushy job” doing frankly very little as an MEP for the UK Independence party (UKIP), became, last Thursday, the first British politician to be convicted of expenses fraud for more than 10 years.

It was a victory for justice, and a victory for me, too. Four years ago I wrote an exposé accusing Wise of claiming £36,000 a year in expenses to pay for a researcher, Lindsay Jenkins, while passing on to her only a fraction of that sum. The story prompted a European Union inquiry, which was eventually referred to the British police, as was acknowledged in court last week.

In the intervening years I continued digging, uncovering bank statements and contracts that proved Wise blew thousands on a car and fine wine, as well as paying his credit card bills. The resultant stories prompted UKIP to remove the whip from Wise but not to expel him; he continued to sit in Brussels until stepping down at the Euro elections in June.

The case will have had ominous overtones for several MPs and peers currently under investigation by the police over their own expenses, in the same week that Sir Christopher Kelly announced his crackdown on the widespread profligacy of our parliamentarians.

UKIP’s leaders were falling over themselves last week to condemn Wise. The party’s chairman, Paul Nuttall, said: “We believe as a party it is vital as a matter of public trust that justice is done.” But UKIP’s commitment to seeing “justice done” leaves a lot to be desired.

After my first article, the party rallied round Wise, insisting he had done nothing fundamentally wrong. Nigel Farage, a UKIP MEP who went on to become the party’s leader, even breezily told me that Wise had committed a simple, silly error by making himself a “paying agent” for his own staff, something that was against the EU rules to prevent fraud.

Back then, party bigwigs, including Farage and the leader at the time, Roger Knapman, said they could “not state strongly enough that at no time has Mr Wise attempted to seek personal gain”. Furthermore, Knapman said, the party’s own inquiries had satisfied him that Wise’s actions had been “honest and honourable throughout”.

However, it turned out the party had been aware, even before my original exposé, that Wise had a bank account with tens of thousands of pounds in “surplus” funds sloshing around, thanks to an underspend on his expenses. And several thousand pounds that Farage had promised Jenkins as part-funding for a Eurosceptic book she was writing had even somehow found its way to her out of Wise’s account.

UKIP must have known that MEPs are not allowed to come into contact with taxpayers’ money that is designated as salaries for their assistants. EU rules state that assistants nominated by an MEP must be paid directly from Brussels or else via a third-party agent. The fact that one of its MEPs had in his possession a “surplus” on his assistant’s allowance should have sounded warning bells. Yet it was an alarm that UKIP chose to ignore.

Six months after my first article, the party was still confident that the whole matter had gone away. The EU payments office had written that it would take no further action — it later emerged that the office had passed the matter to official investigators — since Wise had rushed to pay back £25,000 after the exposé. UKIP pronounced that Wise was “cleared” and threatened to sue me.

UKIP’s internal inquiry had concluded there was no case to answer: the party claimed it had looked at the paperwork. It couldn’t have looked very hard. When I managed to obtain copies of the relevant documents, Wise’s was the most blatant, open-and-shut case of fraud I have ever come across. On the contract he submitted, Wise had simply put his own bank account number next to Jenkins’s name, so that the EU payments office would think it was paying her directly.

Wise had told Jenkins he would pay her £500 a month, plus extra for any ad hoc work done. She later told the police that she had signed the forms he sent her even though they were blank. He had then filled in the £36,000 annual rate that he claimed in her name and submitted it. Much of it he ended up spending on himself.

Jenkins, 62, was initially charged, but when Wise admitted his guilt last week she was acquitted of all charges. In court, the bearded and bespectacled Wise cut a pathetic figure for a man once elected in the name of a party committed to ending the EU “gravy train”, though his arrogance remained intact.

It was a quality that had first struck me four years ago when he had attempted to bluster his way through my questions about his employment of Jenkins. Later, when he had been supposedly “exonerated” by the EU payments office, he had pompously said that my “attack on his character” had not deterred him from his important work. Wise even took legal advice on how to sue a political commentator who wrote blogs on the story, paying for it — although he did not proceed — with taxpayers’ money from the same fund he was accused of abusing.

Arrogance is a quality that is not in short supply within UKIP; nor is an ability to dissemble and prevaricate. As Wise awaits a possible jail term at his sentencing this week, who knows which politician and which party will enter the dock next.

I wonder who will be the next one up?

Here's a clue: News of the World

Remembrance Sunday

For The Fallen

Laurence Binyon

With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children,
England mourns for her dead across the sea.
Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of her spirit,
Fallen in the cause of the free.

Solemn the drums thrill; Death august and royal
Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres,
There is music in the midst of desolation
And a glory that shines upon our tears.

They went with songs to the battle, they were young,
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted;
They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years contemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

They mingle not with their laughing comrades again;
They sit no more at familiar tables of home;
They have no lot in our labour of the day-time;
They sleep beyond England's foam.

But where our desires are and our hopes profound,
Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight,
To the innermost heart of their own land they are known
As the stars are known to the Night;

As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust,
Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain;
As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness,
To the end, to the end, they remain.

Miss England

How apt that Lance Corporal Katrina Hodge (left) should become the new Miss England. When she proclaims "I want to see peace in the world" for the first time it will be said by someone with conviction, how refreshing.

I always thought the British Army could give the Israelis (above) a run for their money in the beauty stakes!

Adolf Hitler-German Football Coach

It's been an interesting week with Tom Wise, former MEP, at least being honest enough to admit fiddling his expenses. There are around 650 politicians in Westminster and 700 in Brussels who still won't hold their hands up and admit it!!

So let's have a look at the effects of our interfering, expense fiddling, egotistical politicians interfering in, for example, the education system, which should never be under the control of politicians anyway. The article below, from the Telegraph, is actually quite disturbing.

One in 20 schoolchildren thought Adolf Hitler was a coach of the German football team, a survey said.

And one in six youngsters said they thought Auschwitz was a Second World War theme park while one in 20 said the Holocaust was a celebration at the end of the war.

The survey for a veterans' charity also found one in 10 thought the SS stood for Enid Blyton's Secret Seven, and one in 12 believed the Blitz was a European clean-up operation following the Second World War.

Scottish-based charity Erskine, which provides nursing and medical care for veterans, said it would now take part in a nationwide scheme to educate schoolchildren about the two world conflicts.

The charity questioned 2,000 children between the ages of nine and 15 about their knowledge of the key people and events of the two wars.

While a quarter admitted they did not think about the soldiers who died in the conflicts, and 40 per cent said they did not know when Remembrance Day was, 70 per cent of all those surveyed said they wanted to learn more about the two wars in school.

Major Jim Panton, chief executive of Erskine, said: ''Some of the answers to this poll have shocked us and it has shown that Erskine, amongst others, has a part to play, not just in caring for veterans but in educating society as a whole.

''As we approach Remembrance Day it is hard to believe that 40 per cent of our children do not know when it is. Schoolchildren are the future of the country and it is important that we help them to learn about our history.''

The charity said it wanted some of the 1,350 veterans it cares for every year to share their experiences of the war with younger generations.

Erskine will work in partnership with Their Past Your Future (TPYF) project, a partnership of the Imperial War Museum, the Museums, Libraries and Archives England, the Northern Ireland Museum Council, the National Library of Wales and the Scottish Museums Council, to help schoolchildren learn more about the conflicts.

Andrew Salmond, a project manager for TPYF in Scotland, said: ''This initiative offers a fantastic opportunity to inform young people about the experiences of war - both at home and abroad.

''Some, we know, will convey wartime loss and suffering, others will speak of daring and inspiration. However, all will be of great educational value, offering an insight to what previous generations have endured in times of conflict.''

What a sad indictment of our education system as we approach Remembrance Day. Actually, what a sad indictment of modern Britain.

Tom Wise, Former UKIP MEP, Pleads Guilty

From The Guardian:

A former British MEP who masterminded a £36,000 expenses fiddle was facing jail today after he confessed during his trial.

Tom Wise, 61, had been charged with false accounting and money-laundering after an investigation into claims that he misused thousands of pounds of expenses.

Originally elected for the UK Independence party, Wise sat as an independent after being expelled from the party. (See note below)

The former policeman, whose term of office in the European parliament came to an end in July this year, spent a year channelling taxpayers' cash into a bank account he secretly controlled.

He pretended the £3,000 "secretarial assistance allowance" he received every month was for his 62-year-old researcher Lindsay Jenkins.

After paying her just £500, he spent the rest "in support of his own interests", London's Southwark crown court was told.

Mark Fenhalls, prosecuting, said: "He used the funds, for example, to buy a car, to purchase fine wines and pay off some of his credit card debts."

The barrister said that when the fraud was eventually exposed by a national newspaper four years ago, the MEP promptly "took steps to cancel the claim and repay the money".

"He did so because he had been caught and was trying to minimise the trouble he was in," said counsel. "Perhaps he hoped by swift repayment he could somehow head off further inquiry."

Had it not been discovered, the scam could have lasted five years and netted £180,000.

Wise, of Ship Road, Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire, who was kicked out of Ukip over the scandal, denied false accounting between 14 October and 16 November 2004.

But, on the third day of his three-week trial and just before Ukip leader Nigel Farrage was to give evidence against him, Wise began a protracted round of discussions with his legal team.

After several hours and an overnight adjournment to finalise details, the jury trying the case was discharged and the disgraced politician then admitted he was guilty after all.

Jenkins, of Queens Club Gardens, Barons Court, west London, had also been on trial, but was cleared.

She had denied both the false accounting charge and an allegation of using criminal property between 14 November 2004 and 1 November the following year.

The court heard she allegedly used "just shy" of £5,000 of the stolen money to publish a political work she had written.

Fenhalls explained that, in pleading guilty, Wise "fully accepted responsibility for his actions and, by virtue of his plea and what he says, he has effectively exonerated Mrs Jenkins".

The barrister said the former MEP also accepted documents he got Jenkins to sign to pull off the fraud were "misleading and were in all probability blank when he asked her to sign them".

"His acceptance of responsibility is fully consistent with the prosecution's opening and makes his basis of plea acceptable."

He told the court Jenkins's case had always been that the documents were blank, that she had "trusted him", and that the £500 Wise paid her each month was for work actually done.

"We are able to say ... there is no realistic prospect of conviction, nor, in fact, were it necessary, a public interest in continuing. In those circumstances we do not invite a trial against Mrs Jenkins and invite verdicts of not guilty against her."

Judge Geoffrey Rivlin QC agreed, and formally ordered her acquittal on both counts, adding that her defence costs should be paid out of public funds.

After quashing an outstanding money-laundering allegation against Wise, he told the former MEP he would be sentenced next Wednesday.

He said he could remain on bail in the meantime, but warned: "It must, however, be fully understood that in terms of the ultimate sentence, nothing must be read into that."

The judge then added: "I see Mr Wise nodding because he knows too well what the situation is."

Ukip's chairman, Paul Nuttall, said: "Tom Wise broke faith with the UK Independence party, which is why the whip was withdrawn. We believe as a party it is vital as a matter of public confidence that justice is done and have no doubt that this will set a precedent for many Westminster MPs."

At last some publicity. But, just for the record, UKIP never did discipline Tom Wise, his membership eventually lapsed, or he resigned not sure which, last March, which angered many members.

UKIP policy was not to whip but to leave issues, other than EU withdrawal, to individual conscience. So 'withdrawing the whip' was a convenient smokescreen to cover inaction.

Let's now wait for the first MP to be prosecuted.

Similar coverage from The Times.

Guy Fawkes-Bonfire Night

It is sad that today we celebrate, rather than mourn, the failure of the Gunpowder Plot in 1603. I think that today millions of people would be on the side of the plotters.

Mind you, with parliament having handed our sovereignty to the European Union bureaucrats, if a modern day plot were to succeed we probably wouldn't notice a big difference.

An example of how bureaucrats ruin simple pleasures can be found in this article. Health and safety is so costly and complex that Ifracombe Rugby Club are having a virtual bonfire tonight.

A modern day plot? We can hope.

Afghanistan and Iraq

Five more soldiers have died in Helmand, Afghanistan. The conflict there is unjust and we should mourn all deaths in Afghanistan, and Iraq, especially the British servicemen.

While our government is happy to hand the power that we loan it to Brussels, they must realise that neither we, the Iraqis nor the Afghans want them over there exercising power by means of an illegal war.

It's time that we brought the troops home and left others to manage their countries as they see fit, not as we would want them to. After all, look at the mess politicians have made of government over here.

And if the politicians of the three big parties claim we are there to make us safe from terrorism, ask them this simple question: "Why are you increasingly legislating against our freedoms and liberties in the name of counter-terrorism".

Lisbon Treaty and the European Union

The signing of the Lisbon Treaty (EU Constitution) sounds the death knell for democracy throughout Europe, not just here in the UK.

The EU is not a democratic organisation. Its MEPs have no power, they merely rubber stamp the edicts of the bureaucrats, be it the EU Commissioners or the Council of Ministers. When does a true democracy tell its populace to vote again in referendum after referendum if they don't get the answer they, the masters want first time? How would you feel if, in 1997, John Major had declared the general election result wrong, changed a couple of his minor policies, then had another election?

When, in a healthy democracy, does a leader declare that a record low turnout in elections shows that the people are happy? Well Barroso did this year.

Not only do the EU re-run referenda when it suits them, note they didn't re-run our 1975 referendum which went their way, but they push something through anyway by renaming it. The Dutch and French also voted against the EU Constitutional Treaty, but it has been foisted on them now under the name 'Lisbon Treaty'.

OK I spent from July 2004 to last September working for an MEP, which is enough to make anybody cynical, but I did see at first hand what a sham the whole structure is. I know MEPs have no power. They are remote. Can you name even one of your MEPs? Can you tell me a positive thing that a single MEP has done in your region? Why do they exist other than to make money? I really don't know.

It is my firm belief that we are now beyond the traditional liberal democracy that we so valued. Too many people sleep walked into the European Union, soon to have its own President and Foreign Secretary, while being soothed with platitudes about it just being a trading block. First it was the Common Market, then the European Economic Community, then the European Community and now the European Union with the power to impose its will on us and to even dictate the splitting up of our banks. Those of us who warned, over the years, about its ultimate destination, were called 'Little Englanders' and worse. Well tell me now we weren't right!

There is a profound difference in the relationship between people and state in much of Europe, compared to the UK, or at least there was. The state has been traditionally much more powerful in Europe than here, largely why in my view Spain, Italy, Germany and elsewhere experienced fascism in the last century which we thankfuly didn't, although we still bear the scars from fighting it.

I also see why the bureaucrats in post-World War 2 Europe wanted to forge such close alliances betweeen countries, starting with the Steel and Coal Confederation, so that European war again would be virtually impossible, after all look at what their politicians had unleashed on Europe. But please do not tell me that it is the EU that has given us peace in Europe since 1945. Until we joined in 1972 there were only 6 member states, peace was preserved by 'the bomb', NATO and the Cold War.

I love Europe, its people its diversity. I loathe the interfering, busybody monster that is the European Union. The scandal of the Lisbon Treaty will surely hasten the demise of the EU. What we will then have to decide is the type of democracy we will replace it with. One thing is for sure, we can't turn the clock back, the EU and New Labour between them have destroyed too much of our democracy, values and freedoms. Tough decisions will be necessary when the day comes, and it can't come too soon.

Political Correctness-The Awful Truth

As Lord Pearson is pilloried for his recent remarks, which I consider clumsy and simplistic but certainly not 'racist', I came across the following website:

Political Correctness-The Awful Truth

I haven't read every single word on the website but, as an antidote to the PC fascists, it seems to do a job. One of the most powerful points being how the word 'racism' is now used totally out of context to oppress peoples' views on, for example, large scale immigration. Of course it is now accompanied by its close friend 'islamophobia'.

It does make interesting reading and I shall have a further look into it later today.

Of course there is also the Campaign Against Political Correctness, but they've always struck me as being fuddy-duddy old Tory types.

Interestingly I've just received a leaflet from a theatre in Manchester where they will be doing a stage version of George Orwell's '1984' next year. How apt.

UKIP's Lord Pearson's Comments on Islamists

There has been much fuss these last few days about Lord Pearson's comments on Islamist extremism. Below is the full interview rather than the clips that have appeared elsewhere.



There are some disquieting comments but he does call on moderate muslims to assist in the fight against extremists and jihadists, there is certainly a debate to be had. Has Lord Pearson merely begun the debate or has he fanned the flames of hatred?

Personally I think his arguments are a little crude and too simplistic to be seen as constructive, but let's see what the response is.

Tom Wise, Former UKIP MEP

Here is a link to the first report I have found of Tom Wise's trial at Southwark Crown Court which began today.

Politics is in a terrible mess and events such as this do nobody any favours. All too often people, or indeed whole parties, set themselves up as knights in shining armour, riding in to save the populace, in this case from a greedy and undemocratic European Union, only for them to actually be as bad as that which they oppose.

I have asked the question before but will ask it again. Does politics attract a higher proportion of crooks than most professions, or are so many previously decent people simply corrupted by the power and egotism of politics?

I am also convinced that the media ignored the Tom Wise affair, and other negative publicity surrounding UKIP in June this year, so as not to drive the protest vote further into the arms of the BNP. It will be interesting to see what comes out at this trial, and in the run up to the general election.

Tom Wise, Former UKIP MEP To Go On Trial

Former UKIP MEP Tom Wise, and his researcher, are to stand trial on Monday for allegedly fiddling taxpayers' cash.

Tom Wise, 61,and Lindsay Jenkins, 62, deny false accounting and using criminal property.They will face trial at London's Southwark Crown Court.

Wise was never disciplined by UKIP and there are rumours that he will make some serious allegations about certain current UKIP MEPs and their 'sharp practices' during his trial, we shall see.

I always thought Wise was a clown and an idiot, and I take no pleasure in being proved correct.

This article gives you an idea how stupid Wise actually is.

As does this article.

I have no doubt that Junius on UKIP will be covering the trial.

Halloween-Trick or Treat?

Trick!

OK, here's one to scare the kids:

David Cameron's Conservative Party

The Tories, are they dependable? I don't think so.

Labour? They can't be trusted.

Lib Dems? No point.

What about Jim Diamond? Let's see:

New World Order

There are numerous blogs and websites about the 'New World Order', and a new one I've discovered is very readable.

Whether you believe in the conspiracy theorists or not, it is always interesting to read about them. Whether you accept them as part of a conspiracy or not, there are lots of shadowy organisations bringing together world leaders and prominent businessmen in clandestine gatherings to discuss the future of the world.

Today I came across a fairly new blog that has a very interesting article about the Club of Rome, which I have heard of before and blogged about briefly. So I can recommend that you visit:

With Us/Against Us

Nikki Sinclaire MEP-UKIP Leadership

There are few, if any, more honest politicians than Nikki Sinclaire, UKIP MEP for the West Midlands. Whereas many MEPS get to Brussels opposing the EU, or its ever increasing interference in our lives, only to be seduced by the lifestyle, I would bet my house on Nikki never, ever 'going native'.

In these days of MPs and MEPs constantly appearing in the media for being on the fiddle, it is nice to highlight an elected representative who is open and transparent. But don't just take my word for it.

Here is where Nikki details her MEP allowances on her website.

Here is where she details her staff and their roles. No family members you will note.

Nikki said she would be open and transparent during her campaign earlier this year, now elected she has kept to her word. How refreshing.

Needless to say, if I were still a member Nikki would get my vote in the leadership election.

Dwarf Throwing and Midget Racing

A few years ago there was a terrible furore about the sport of dwarf throwing, and it was banned. I couldn't understand why.

More recently there has been a fuss over midget racing in Australia, where dwarf throwing originated. I fear that midget racing will also be banned. Below is a short film of the recent midget racing event at an Australian racetrack.



What I really don't understand is why, if the little fellas don't mind, and the trophy winner in the film was obviously ecstatic, so many people have a problem with these pastimes?

MPs Employing Wives

In principle I see no reason for MPs not to employ family members. Politics is a 'profession' full of people with egoes who are not averse to backstabbing whenever necessary, and it is on a scale that is much more vicious than in virtually any other walk of life. If I was an elected representative and had a family member, wife or other, who could do a job for me I would certainly employ them before many others in politics, if only because I knew I could trust them to be working with me rather than against me.

Of course there has to be transparency, after all what serious politicans wants people whispering that Mrs X or Mr Y is being bunged £40,000pa to swan around the West End. One of the prices to pay for being an elected representative is saying goodbye to privacy, you must prove that your staff, family or otherwise, are actually employed gainfully and not just receiving a subsidy.

Of course there have been cases where MPs' families have been receiving money for nothing and that, quite rightly, needs stamping out. But it isn't just MPs but MEPs who are at it. They came through the expenses scandal in their elections in June pretty untainted, but former UKIP MEP Tom Wise is up before the courts next month, a fate yet to befall an MP, and you don't have to be Sherlock Holmes to unearth some pretty unsavoury financial shenanigans in Brussels and Strasbourg. Indeed when I was involved with UKIP their position was to publicly oppose employing family members on MEPs' allowances. A position shown to be slightly hypocritical when we found out, through a national newspaper, that Nigel Farage, UKIP MEP, had been employing his wife on an undisclosed salary for some time. None of us knew what she did exactly as we had never come across her in the course of our work.

By contrast Nikki Sinclaire, UKIP MEP for the West Midlands, is highly transparent in explaining her allowances and lists, on her website, who she employs and what they do for her. I suggest you visit Nikki's website. Incidentally, she des not employ any family members.

So there is a need for openness and transparency but I sympathise with hard working staff, who happen to be related to the MP for whom they work, who now face the chop. The expenses of MPs need sorting out, but there is a real danger of throwing the baby out with the bath water. The whole thing seems to be becoming yet another huge and dangerous over reaction that this country is becoming all too familiar with, yes it has been bad but please let's keep things in proportion.

Ironically bombing Iraq and Afghanistan, leading to the deaths of hundreds of British servicemen, will go unpunished. What is the bigger crime in the real world? Indeed Blair could be rewarded with becoming first President of the United States of Europe, which says it all.

Bonnie Greer and the Indigenous English

I have decided to introduce an occasional guest writer to my blog, and begin today with Edward Beaman, shared surname but no relation. Edward and I have been in contact through the blogosphere for some time. He is extremely active, courageous and commonsensical on Twitter too.

So, I have pleasure in inviting you to read the following piece by Edward, my first ever guest blogger. If you wish to comment please do and Edward will respond:

It is both fascinating and in some cases, very worrying, to note the changes that have taken place in Britain over the last few decades. In today's modern Britain, words such as 'ethnicity' and 'indigenous' have become taboo words which people associate with either the sterilised and scientifically neutral journals of human history or the bigotry and racism of fringe groups like the British National Party. In everyday life, the mere mention of these two words can send a shiver down the spine of the speaker and the listener.

That is of course unless one is piously explaining to or heckling anyone who dares deviate from the acccepted norms of this politically correct age. Then of course, these words must be treated as derogatory and dismissed as old fashioned, racist and even false. Take for instance, the African-American playwright Bonnie Greer who appeared on the BBC's flagship discussion programme Question Time last week. I was both bemused and shocked to say the least when she calmly stated "there are no indigenous British people". This was followed by claps from the Liberal-Left audience. Also on the panel was the leader of the BNP as well as three representatives of the three main political parties.

It's well known and practically taken for granted that the BNP's Nick Griffin is a genuine racist and bigot. That fact is undeniable and so I will leave rightful criticism of him for the rest of the blogosphere to complete. However, what Bonnie Greer said and in fact got away with, when thinking how little coverage her outrageous comments garnered from the media, is in my view an indictment on England's lost identity. Thankfully, many a commenter on online newspaper forums also picked up on these remarks which leads me to think a silent majority were also rather taken aback.

People might not think ethnicity matters and in many regards it does not. For example, no one should be treated any differently if they are black or white, different races should inter-marry and immigrants from Asia or Africa should be welcomed to these shores if they fit a job skill which is lacking. However, in other ways, ethnicity is an important distinction and no matter how much one denies it, we inherently judge people by the colour of their skin and their probable ethnic background. Is this bad? No, it's just natural and as long as it's not used to discriminate, abuse or alienate, it won't lead to negative repercussions.

That's where Bonnie Greer's comments come into play. Her derision and denial of an indigenous people of Britain was both discriminatory and alienating. What she fails to realise and has failed to study, is the myriad of research conducted by historians, forensic archaeologists, genetic anthropologists, genealogists, and linguists. These studies have shown, especially those of the last decade, that the overwhelming majority of English people today are descended from a group called 'the first people'.

Professor Bryan Sykes, Professor of Human Genetics at The University of Oxford has observed:

"We are an ancient people, and though the Isles have been the target of invasion and opposed settlement from abroad ever since Julius Caesar first stepped on to the shingle shores of Kent, these have barely scratched the topsoil of our deep-rooted ancestry. However we may feel about ourselves and about each other, we are genetically rooted in a Celtic past. The Irish, the Welsh and the Scots know this, but the English sometimes think otherwise. But, just a little way beneath the surface, the strands of ancestry weave us all together as the children of a common past." (1)

Isn't it sad that people can applaud a woman who denies the English their ethnicity and ancestry? Isn't it a further tragedy that it's left to the leader of an odious fascist party to be the only panellist to have stuck up for the indigenous English?

It's certainly not a problem our ancestors had in the 6th Century AD. In a letter to Augustine of Canterbury in the year 597 AD, King Ethelbert of Kent wrote:

"The words and promises you bring are fair enough, but because they are new to us and doubtful, I cannot consent to accept them and forsake those beliefs which I and the whole English race have held so long"

We see in this communication the recognition of both an English ethnicity and identity as well as a considerable history of such, preceding this letter. Bonnie Greer would do well to study the history of her adopted nation.

What I am basically saying, is that we shouldn't hide away from our history, our shared history that the majority of English people have in common. We should not baulk at the fact that yes, the indigenous people of Britain were and are, white. The words 'indigenous' and 'ethnicity' should not be seen as insults or concepts to deny, regardless of which race is being discussed. Common sense should not be thrown out of the window in the face of political correctness by claiming British citizens whose grandparents came from the Caribbean or Pakistan, are indigenously English or Scottish. Or worse still, a denial of the majority ethnicity, just so as to avoid any possible discrimination or alienation of ethnic minorities.

We must of course fight racism wherever it is found and condemn the likes of the British National Party whenever possible. Inter-marriage of races is and should be an accepted and celebrated fact of modern British life. That said, it's also important to note that people do identify more with people like themselves. Whether we or the political correct elites like it or not, the famous phrase "birds of a feather flock together" is true. We must also distinguish between race, nationality and culture, the latter of which deserves an essay of its own and is in my view, the most pressing concern facing modern Britain.

Edward Beaman

(1) 'Blood of the Isles', Bryan Sykes, Bantam Press, London, 2006

Edward's website is: Home Interior Design Themes

Police State

If you go on the march to make your views known you are now a 'domestic extremist'. But it doesn't end there.

Police are gathering information about people attending protests for a national intelligence database.

Details of activists - including photographs - are collected by forces and passed to a central "domestic extremism" unit for storage and analysis.

The database features people seen at public demonstrations including anti-war rallies and environmental protests.

Campaigners can be included on the systems even if they have not committed a crime, a Guardian investigation revealed.

One face on police "spotter cards" obtained by the newspaper is comedian and political activist Mark Thomas.

Three national police units responsible for combating domestic extremism are run by the "terrorism and allied matters" committee of the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo). It receives £9m in public funding, from police forces and the Home Office, and employs a staff of 100.

The domestic extremism section was set up in 2004 to combat animal rights activists who were committing crimes.

The main unit, the National Public Order Intelligence Unit (NPOIU), runs the central database from intelligence supplied by police forces across England and Wales, which routinely deploy surveillance teams at protests, rallies and public meetings. NPOIU works with two other Acpo branches, the National Extremism Tactical Coordination Unit (Netcu) and the National Domestic Extremism Team.

A spokesman for the units said people on the database "should not be worried". "There are lots of reasons why people might be on the database," he said. "Not everyone on there is a criminal and not everyone on there is a domestic extremist but we have got to build up a picture of what is happening. Those people may be able to help us in the future. It's an intelligence database, not an evidence database."

"Protesting is not a criminal offence but there is occasionally a line that is crossed when people commit offences."

Stalin and Hitler taught New Labour well. But don't, for one minute, think the Tories would be any different.

Support No2ID.

Morrissey

The lad's on the mend, thankfully. So enjoy:



Pure class.

Nick Griffin and Question Time-The Last Word

It's all getting very tedious now, almost as tedious as the aftermath of that Paris car crash, or was it murder?

There seems to be a puke inducing holier-than-thou, self-righteousness fest as the politically correct try to outdo each other in their disgust at Griffin's appearance on Question Time.

All sense of proportion has been lost. Shirley Williams, David Owen and Bill Rodgers couldn't 'break the mould' so I would bet my life that the BNP are not about to take over from New Labour, next year or ever.

The only thing the politically correct misfits are doing is making themselves look very, very silly and dangerously obsessive. I have decided never to mention him, or his appearance on this blog again, please kick me if I do.

The Sunday Times today has the most balanced coverage, I can recommend it then suggest you move on. I particularly liked this AA Gill article.

Liverpool v Manchester United

Those Scousers do learn very early how to nick a hubcap.

Of course any United fans will know to protect their beach balls on their way to the ground tomorrow, Scousers could peel an orange in your pocket and you'd never know.

Morrissey

It seems that Morrissey has collapsed on stage in Swindon. Let's hope it's not serious.



Get well soon Morrissey, missed you in Brixton this year because of illness, take it easy.

More on Nick Griffin and the BNP

Below is a link to a review of Nick Griffin's statements on BBC Question Time. If anybody was foolish enough to be seduced by Griffin's appearance please read this and reconsider. His 'peaceful' KKK comment may have been obviously stupid, the piece below shows how most of everything else he said was stupid. Thanks to Helen on Twitter.

FactCheck: Nick Griffin on Question Time

The Great Crash of 2008: Are governments or markets to blame?

I wouldn't even try to explain the financial mess but below is a link to the writing of a man who can, Professor Deepak Lal. The article appears on the website of the Adam Smith Institute.

The Great Crash of 2008

It's well worth a read.

Ceca Raznatovic

Time for the return of Friday Funday with my new favourite female singer:



I do like a bit of Eastern influence!

Nick Griffin on Question Time

So what was the point of Nick Griffin being invited on to QT? Was it to prove that human beings, certainly those in the studio audience and on the panel, still enjoy a good old fashioned freak show? All they had to do was bring Griffin into the studio on a lead and shout "roll up, roll up" and we would have been straight back to the Victorian days of prodding the freak.

The BBC have now pissed off those loveable 'red-fascists' for inviting him on, and proceeded to piss the rest of the country off by allowing bullying and the dropping of all pretence of intellectual rigour. It was pretty sickening to watch in some ways.They had the chance to politically rip the BNP apart, but chose to use the tactics of the school playgound. What a sad state our democracy is in when you see Chris Huhne and Baroness Warsi unable to defeat Griffin by reasoned political argument, not the sharpest knives in the draw, I hope.

It's also been interesting seeing how the opponents of the BNP appear to be even worse in their views on free speech and democracy than the 'fascists'. These are the people who attack 'white imperialists' and use 'indigenous' people in North America and the Antipodes to attack us but then attack Griffin for referring to the 'indigenous' British population, a point made by Griffin. I don't agree with either position, they are virtually the same, but Griffin is condemned, the 'liberals' are not. Personally I look forward to a libertarian future where there are no immigration controls, but suspect that is some way away.

Again the so-called 'liberals' constantly whine about slavery and blame the likes of you and me, to the extent that ludicrous apologies are demanded from us today. But when Griffin pointed out that Jack Straw's father hid under the stairs in 1939, whereas Griffin's father fought the Germans, he was condemned for visiting the sins of the father on the son. Another example of crass hypocrisy.

I'm not going to be forced onto the bandwagon of stating that I dislike the BNP, you only have to read this blog to know my position, but I see no difference between the red-fascists of Unite Against Fascism, and the likes of Peter Hain, and the BNP.

The loser last night was the BBC. Question Time has been shown, yet again, to be a vacuous sham, fit only for the smug pseudo-intellectuals of Islington having little relevance outside the politically correct chattering classes. There was a great chance to rip Griffin apart, but they just called him names. If you still have any illusions about the impartiality of QT please watch the clip below.

Just to put some perspective, and to inject a note of realism into the hype of the last few days, the BNP got 6% in the EU elections and gained 2 seats under a system of proportional representation. They would just about save their deposits with 6% in a parliamentary election under our first past the post system. Food for thought there for the Liberal Democrats and others.

And finally:

Wimp Nation

At the theatre in Manchester last night, we were greeted with the notice that you see on the left. It really made me despair at what a nation of wet, drippy, wimps we have really become.

No doubt if they hadn't put the warnings up some bloodsucker, in about 6 months time, would have sued the theatre claiming it was that unexpected bang at the play that brought on his eventual heart attack.

As far as the smoking goes, some quisling, grass, snitch whatever you want to call them, would have phoned the police hotline to tip them off about what they thought was illegal smoking. That or some over-dramatic tart in the tenth row would have started exaggeratedly coughing and spluttering as if choking to death as soon as a fag was lit. Said tart would then have sent a dry cleaning bill to the theatre claiming her clothes reeked of second-hand tobacco when she got home, and she'd even had to wash the curtains too!

And to think there are soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq living in crap, seeing terrible things and suffering terribly themselves, many coming home in their coffins. Is that really the kind of thing they are fighting for?

Frankie Boyle-Mock The Week

As we slide ever deeper into a nation full of authoritarian wimps, misfits and emotionally incontinent tarts, the excellent Mock The Week is now in the firing line.

If you don't know Mock The Week is a satirical show where comedians make funny remarks about the week's news, well most do, Russell Howard is just a tedious little prat excuse for a comedian, but he at least makes the others appear even funnier by comparison.

So unless you are dead from the neck up you know that satire, by definition, will be edgy and quite possibly offensive to the innocent or naive. Well the show has now been chastised by the BBC after 75, yes 75 not 75,000 or 7,500 or even 750 people complained about remarks by the excellent comedian Frankie Boyle. So what did Frankie say? Don't read on if you are easily offended.

Referring to swimmer Rebecca Adlington he said she resembled: "Someone who's looking at themselves in the back of a spoon". But no, it gets worse, be very cautious about reading what follows.

Referring to her boyfriend, apparently he is very attractive compared to the poor girl in question, he said: "....I have deduced that Rebecca Adlington is very dirty".

Yes, that's all, no big deal to a well balanced human adult.

Now, if you are one of the 75 complainants would you please go back to your padded cell, take your medicine and leave TV and the real world to the grown ups and the sane. In other words piss off you hysterical arseholes.

If you are a rational, sane adult, then why not visit the show's website where you can buy a DVD of the bits even they didn't dare show on TV. What a present for some prudish politically correct tit you really want to piss off. Or you could just enjoy it, like a grown up.

If it's not your cup of tea, which it won't be for many, then just switch off or switch over, don't try and spoil it for everybody else.

Old Holborn-November 5th

Old Holborn has invited people to join him on a pleasant autumnal stroll past Downing Street to Parliament on November 5th, where he will go and observe our elected representatives in all their glory. Well, observe our elected politicians.

The details are on Old Holborn's blog.

UKIP Donations Blow

I feel terribly sorry today for Alan Bown and the decent majority of UKIP members.

Here is why.

I've always felt this was an establishment set-up. Having said that it seems very bizarre that Alan Bown, UKIP's major donor, couldn't have voted for them in 2005 because he wasn't on the electoral register.

Still, if your party is in thrall to a spiv like Nigel Farage strange things will happen. But it does make you wonder what calibre of people Farage was employing with his £2m plus allowances. Let's hope it wasn't Mrs Farage who dropped the clanger.

Libertarianism

I was asked this weekend what libertarianism actually is, and it's difficult to answer briefly. One definition I found on the internet is:

Libertarians support maximum liberty in both personal and economic matters. They advocate a much smaller government; one that is limited to protecting individuals from coercion and violence. Libertarians tend to embrace individual responsibility, oppose government bureaucracy and taxes, promote private charity, tolerate diverse lifestyles, support the free market, and defend civil liberties.

Here is a link to a test on the same website. Try it and, albeit rather simplistically, you will get an idea if you are libertarian or not.

There are many strands to libertarianism, as there are with most philosophies. The side bar has links to some libertarian blogs and websites such as the Libertarian Alliance, the Ayn Rand Institute and the Adam Smith Institute.

Here is a link to an essay entitled Classical Liberalism v Modern Liberalism and Modern Conservatism. Libertarianism has its roots in classical liberalism. Libertarians believe that modern 'liberals', such as the Liberal Deemocrats, have corrupted classical liberalism beyond recognition. My view is that the Lib Dems are nearer to social democrats than classical liberals.

I was then asked how libertarianism differs from the liberalism that many people espouse today. I would say that many 'liberals' today are not liberal. I would always be cautious of people who describe themselves as 'liberal' as I would any country that plonks the word 'democratic' in its name, both words are terribly abused.

Libertarians believe in the maximum freedom and individual liberty. Free speech means free speech, not 'free speech as long as I approve'. Liberals think they know what's best for you, libertarians let you decide what is best for you.

For example Nick Griffin of the BNP is to appear on BBC Question Time this week. The libertarian approach would be to allow him on, many 'liberals' want him banning. Do the 'liberals' actually believe that the public, if exposed to Nick Griffin, will all suddenly want to rush to join the BNP? Do they think that we will all be mortally offended and fall on our swords if we hear Nick Griffin speak? If so then that's democracy. I prefer to think that most people will shun the BNP, let them be condemned by their own words rather than the illiberal actions of 'liberals'.

More and more people are seeing the dangers to their freedom and liberties from the ever expanding nanny state, and there is now a Libertarian Party in the UK. Here is the introduction to the Libertarian Party website:

The Libertarian Party of the United Kingdom aim to take the cynicism out of British politics, by taking the politicians out of your everyday life.

Libertarians believe in individual liberty, personal responsibility, and freedom from government—on all issues at all times. We don't say government is too big in one area, but then in another area push for a law to force people to do what we want. We believe in individual liberty, personal responsibility, and freedom from government—on all issues at all times.

Let's end on a question. Who would you prefer to run your life, the state (politicians and bureaucrats) or yourself?

Here endeth the lesson.

Israel Defence Force-Colonel Richard Kemp

The following video is a must watch:



With thanks to Edward on Twitter.

Islamist Irony?

Geert Wilders condemns Islam as a violent religion.

So the Islamic extremist nutters condemn him for lying and demand that he be beheaded.

Do Muslims 'do' irony?

Geert Wilders-Triumph for Freedom

I would have had more sympathy for the UK government's actions in trying to stop Geert Wilders entering the country if it had been on the grounds of that dodgy hairstyle, but banning him because he doesn't like Islam was illiberal and totalitarian. Look at the number of people in this country now, be they ethnic British, of Asian descent or others, who seem to despise our Western culture but have the freedom to come and go as they please and, more importantly to say what they please.

The problem is that the word 'hatred' is used to attack anybody who dislikes or opposes an idea or, God forbid,a fundmantal tenet of political correctness. To 'hate' now is a sin tantamount to 'racism' or 'homophobia'. But did we not hate the Nazis (Germans) in the last World War and wasn't that good? Did we not hate communism in the cold war which was good? Although the freedoms we preserved by that hatred are now being obliterated by Labour, and soon to be further obliterated when the New Tories take power, an instinct for survival involves hatred of enemies, perceived or otherwise.

Wilders' sin seems to be equating Islam, or the Koran, with terrorism. A simplistic argument that I would seriously question. I would question it as I question anybody who claims that Irish people were terrorists in the '70s and '80s, or that Catholics were terrorists in that period. There were some Catholics who were terrorists, some Irishmen who were terrorists, some Irish Catholics who were terrorists, but thankfully a small minority. I believe that to be the case with Muslims and that Wilder's argument is fundamentally flawed.

Having said that I would like to decide for myself if Wilders' argument is so fundamentally flawed or whether the politicains and media are just painting him as a hate figure. I would like the freedom to actually make up my own mind, after all, politicians are the first to decry the objectivity of the media when it suits them, so why should I blindly accept what they say? I think I'm grown up enough to hear Wildes and make my own mind up, I don't need'protecting'.

A further problem I have with the government's suppression of free speech in the Wilders' case is Afghanistan. We are fighting a war where, pretend otherwise if you will, but a form of Islam is driving the main forces attacking our soldiers. The reaction of militant Islamic groups in this country shows that a sizeable element of British Muslims support the extremists and hate the West. So we can fight an unjust war in Afghanistan, killing Muslims every day and our soldiers being killed, but the government tried to ban a Dutch politician, who articulates opposition to Islam, from entering the country.

Finally, the BBC could go for a real double whammy. Get Wilders on Question Time next week when Nick Griffin of the BNP is on. That would be fun.

Bill Etherington-Nobhead of the Year

Bill Etherington is MP for Sunderland North. Bill thinks it's fine to claim for an electric shaver on your expenses, in other words from our taxes.

Bill thinks it's OK because it was allowed. Well Bill, I'm legally allowed to go shagging other women, but that wouldn't be nice to my wife, so I don't. Just because you can doesn't mean you have to. It's called morality.

What kind of a twat even enquires about putting an electric shaver on his employer's expenses bill in the first place? A greedy twat, that's who.

And on the radio this week he had the barefaced cheek to claim that those of us who criticise him are jealous.

Have you ever been jealous of a thieving, snivelling socialist parasite? Thought not.

Etherington is not seeking re-election, otherwise he wouldn't be quite so barefaced. I bet he didn't show the voters that side of him in the last few elections. He epitomises what the expense scandal is all about. An electric shaver is a relatively small thing, but what about his behaviour on the really big issues, how honest was he then?

Britain Has No Serious Problems

It seems that we have so few problems our politicians can waste time on this kind of thing:

Cigarette vending machines could soon be a thing of the past after MPs agreed to ban them.

The House of Lords will now consider whether there should be an outright ban on the machines, after an amendment to the Health Bill by Labour's Ian McCartney was passed by the Commons on Monday night.

MPs also voted to bar the display of cigarettes in shops, despite strong opposition to the Government's proposals from the Tories.

Former Cabinet minister Mr McCartney said the approval of his vending machines ban proposal "was going to change history".

Condemning the devices as an "outrageous loophole in our country's safeguards" to prevent thousands of children suffering illness and premature death, he protested that tobacco was still "the only product in Britain that can be sold legally, which routinely kills and injures its customers".

Mr McCartney's amendment was passed without a vote, and Health Secretary Andy Burnham said the Government would not oppose the measure in the Lords.

Anti-smoking campaigners welcomed the move. Deborah Arnott, chief executive of Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), said: "Stopping tobacco sales from vending machines has made a strong Bill even stronger.

"We wouldn't tolerate other age-restricted products such as alcohol or knives being sold in this way. This prohibition means that a lethal and addictive product will no longer be easily accessible to children."

Harpal Kumar, Cancer Research UK's chief executive, added: "We are delighted that MPs have voted to protect young people from tobacco marketing. Putting tobacco out of sight in shops and removing cigarette vending machines will help reduce the number of young people taking up a lethal addiction: Tobacco kills half of all long term users."

The Tories expressed concern over proposals for a ban on the display of cigarettes, particularly during the recession when shops could suffer from a lack of business.

Interfering bunch of illiberal prats and complete plonkers!!