An Englishman's Home Is His Castle?

I have no time for this government. I loathe David Cameron and Nick Clegg for their smarmy self-satisfaction, a bit rich considering neither actually won the 2010 General Election.

As far as welfare goes I broadly agree that changes need to be made to a system that over many years, has rewarded the feckless and the lazy. However, I do not object in the least to paying my taxes to help pay benefits for those genuinely in need, it is the wasters I object to funding. So reform of benefits is a must but in at least one area I believe that this government has got it seriously wrong. What's new?

Among the forthcoming welfare reforms is a reform of Housing Benefit. Currently those who qualify have their rent paid by the state to the landlord. In their wisdom this government is going to change the system so that Housing Benefit is paid to the tenant who must then pay the landlord. Madness. The overwelming majority of people in rented accomodation, and receiving Housing Benefit, are fine but there is a sizeable group who are not. If a junkie is faced with paying his landlord or his dealer what will he choose? The family in hock to a local loan shark. Are they likely to pay the rent or use the money to stop said loan shark breaking legs for non-payment. To many it will be like giving the keys to the sweet shop to a child.

Then the reform will introduce the concept of 'under occupation'. Social landlords will have to check occupancy and if a family have a spare bedroom they will lose 14% of their Housing Benefit. Two spare bedrooms and they lose 25%. This means that when the children grow up and leave the home, their parents will either have to find more money to top up their benefit, find a lodger to pay rent to cover their loss of benefits, or move out into a smaller property, often private which will cost the taxpayers much more in Housing Benefit.

We are talking here about family homes, not just bricks and mortar. Many of us bought our houses but many more, for whatever reasons, chose to rent. If a couple have lived in a home for thirty years or more, raised a family in that home but in retirement exist on a state pension and Housing Benefit, why should they be forced out of the family home with all its memories and momentoes? Why should they be forced to take in a styranger as a lodger? These are peoples' homes we are talkng about, not state operated workers' hostels or workers' dormitories.

In many ways Cameron and Clegg seem to go out of their way to appear 'caring' and 'of the people'. These reforms merely show how very out of touch both of them are with the real world. The sooner they are gone the better. At least then the Tories may actually find a conservative to lead them.

UKIP Launch The Pantomime Season

The panto season seems to come around quicker each year, perhaps it's my age. Today sees the start of the 2012 UKIP panto in Birmingham. You'll know UKIP, their leader Nigel Farage has a comedy routine that goes something like this:

Farage: "UKIP is Britain's third political party!"

Electorate: "Oh no you're not!"

But once people reach a certain age they believe in Farage's UKIP about as much as they believe in Aladdin or Cinderella.

The problem for the Eurosceptics in this country is that they have failed to realise that the electorate, although increasingly Eurosceptic, vote in UK elections on a whole range of issues and will not ignore health, education, law and order etc by voting for a single issue party such as UKIP.

Thus a single issue party will pick up votes in elections that aren't seen as important, the European Parliament elections, where they can make an impact as people protest vote for a party they wouldn't normally vote for. Couple that with a high level of abstinence and proportional representation system and hey presto, you win a few seats, which has given UKIP a fig leaf of electoral respectability.

But if you look at it logically we all know what is behind the fig leaf. In UK elections UKIP continue to fail dismally with Nigel Farage losing in Buckingham in the general election of 2010 coming in behind an independent, Europhile, former Tory MEP. I've said it before and I'll say it again that most of UKIP's councillors are co-opted town/parish councillors or defectors from other parties who rarely retain their seats when they defend them.

We all know that MEPs are a waste of time with no power or serious responsibility. Most people in the UK couldn't even name one of their MEPs and many don't even know that there are only around 76 MEPs for the UK with as many as 9 representing a region rather than a traditional single representative for a one man constituency.

Sadly the Eurosceptic movement in the UK has been seduced by the very organisation it claims to want to leave. Eurosceptic MEPs receive huge salaries and allowances, are surrounded by highly paid assistants and enjoy living the life of a politico without the responsibility. Once they have tasted that lifestyle most of them look at the real world and don't want to return to it.

It is quite apt therefore, that the political panto season should be launched by UKIP.

We Demand A Referendum Party-Aiming At The Wrong Target?

Having a couple of days to ponder Nikki Sinclaire's new political party I am slightly concerned. It seems that they intend taking up seats in the European Parliament if elected in 2014. I fear that standing in the Euros, and taking up seats, could be a huge double mistake.

Many of us were seduced into UKIP post-1999 with the promise that their MEPs would use their huge amounts of money to build a credible force at home in the UK. Sadly they went native and there are now just a number of people with a lot more money in their bank accounts as a result of being MEPs or working for MEPs on fat salaries, but not a single MP. Furthermore they have few elected councillors, most are co-opted onto town/parish councils. The few elected are usually defectors from other parties who lose their seats when they stand under the UKIP brand.

I believe that Nikki's movement would come across as much more principled if they refused to take up seats if elected. After all, most Eurosceptics know that MEPs have no power and any number of MEPs elected would not bring a referendum any closer, it has nothing to do with the European Parliament.

The real target for making an impact is Westminster. Hitting the governing parties in a general election is the way forward, not in meaningless EU elections. Remember James Goldsmith's Referendum Party? If the Tories were in danger in a Westminster election that would make a difference.

Sadly it seems that Eurosceptics have been seduced by the proportional representation system in Europe where, with a relatively small vote, they can gain representation, and fat salaries. Yes some misguidedly genuinely think it will help, others are in it for the cash.

I would not discount the We Demand A Referendum Party, but I will really take some convincing that it will be worth voting for in 2014.

Archbishop Nichols On Business

This is an article in the Telegraph by Archbishop Nichols, leader of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales.

It is well worth a read and chimes with what many of us think is wrong with many large corporations.

New EU Referendum Party

Great news this morning, Nikki Sinclaire MEP has launched a new party to fight the EU elections, the We Demand A Referendum Party.

Polls suggest the party could win betwen 8 and 22 seats at the next European elections and will be fighting all seats in the UK. My only hope is that, if elected, they refuse to take up their seats, unlike UKIP who have sold out since having their first MEPs elected to the gravy train in 1999.

Some hope that there will be a party to at least consider voting for at the next Euro elections, which there really wasn't at the last elections. All we need now is a party to vote for in UK parliamentary elections.

Friday-Morrissey Time

What a change these last twenty years. If nothing else the hard men in the Middle East have been replaced by stone age nutters in the so-called 'Arab Spring'. The western nations, and soppy politicos who actually believed despots would be replaced by liberal democrats, colluded to endanger us all and we are now seeing the consequences with Islamist nutters kicking off all over the region.

But we still have Morrissey. This one from twenty years ago:

Nikki Sinclaire's EU Referendum Campaign

Apart from the usual fatuous quote from UKIP's chief loon Nigel Farage, this is a very interesting article on the possibility of a referendum on any new constitution as a result of Barroso's desire to further erode our independence.

Many years ago UKIP's MEPs 'went native' and, despite having MEPs since 1999, have had little impact in domestic politics where they still struggle to retain deposits and can only boast a few dozen councillors, most of them co-opted town/parish councillors or defectors from other parties who lose their seats upon seeking relection under the UKIP brand.

The only serious politician actually working for our independence is Nikki Sinclaire who has been using her position as a West Midlands MEP to fight for an in-out referendum. I doubt we would be given such a referendum, or that there would be a level playing field if we were given one, but at least Nikki's campaign is keeping the issue live and is a thorn in the side of Cameron and his despised Coalition.

This week I asked 12 people if they knew who their North West MEPs were. None of them knew any and they had no idea they had a UKIP MEP. While UKIP MEPs grow fat on the Brussels gravy train Nikki is delivering another kick at the EU via 10 Downing Street. Following is her statement on the latest petition:

Nick Clegg And The Lib Dem Bigots

The Liberal Democrats make me sick, especially little Nicky Clegg. Do we really expect the Deputy Prime Minister to behave like a tantrum throwing, attention seeking teenager?

He has now called those of us who oppose gay marriage 'bigots'. How very grown up. But of course, in true Lib Dem fashion, he withdrew the remarks when he saw the damning reaction when he circulated advance copies of his speech. Why do people like Clegg assume that those who disagree with them are 'bigots' or worse?

For what it's worth I firmly believe that marriage is an institution for a man and a woman. Further than that I do not believe it to be my business, or anybody else's, what consenting adults do together in the bedroom. That does not make me a bigot Mr Clegg. 

Wearing A Crucifix

British government lawyers are fighting a group of people who want the right to wear a crucifix. This is despite Cameron pledging to defend the right of christians to do so.

Since I was a child I have worn a crucifix, admittedly under my shirt, t-shirt or whatever but occasionally it is visible. As far as I'm aware my wearing of a crucifix has never harmed another person so why shouldn't people be allowed to wear one to work just as other people wear necklaces?

The fact that people have to fight for this right in the courts shows what a sorry, authoritarian state we are living under. Stalin and Hitler would be proud.

Full story here.

David Laws-Coalition As Bad As New Labour

One of the people below went to jail, the other is about to return to the Cabinet. One rule for them and one for us:

 

 

 

Imperial War Museum North

There's a strange piece of blatant politically correct brainwashing at the Imperial War Museum North in Salford. In the section on the Cold War there are three events of the period described as defining moments in the Cold War.

One of the events is the arrival of the Empire Windrush carrying the West Indian migrants that led to Britain becoming a 'multi-racial' country. It then explains that despite this there is still racism, homophobia and sexism in this country today.

After reading this we chose to leave and probably won't be back.

Zombie Nation

We've had a great couple of days, apart from having our ears attacked by noise continuously. What is it that makes whoever is responsible think that we want music pumped at us everywhere we go?

Enter a pub and it's blaring at you, so you leave and go to another pub. But, and it's especially bad in Manchester, there is music blaring in the streets too. Maybe it's coming out of shops most of the time, but in Exchange Square it is blaring out of huge speakers. There also seem to be big screens everywhere showing TV programmes, films or concerts. Why?

Then you look in Starbucks and see five people sat drinking over-priced gunge that passes for coffee. There are three individuals and a couple. The couple are not talking to each other, they are playing on their mobiles as are two of the individuals. The fifth person is playing on a laptop. Do people ever actually have conversations any more?

It seems to me that we are fast becoming a nation of zombies, walking around in a semi-comatose state with a constant noise to stop us thinking too much about things. All we seem to do, apart from work, is shop.

Lance Armstrong

I find it amazing that Lance Armstrong has been hounded so badly by the US authorities that he is giving up the fight to clear his name. He is the most drug tested athlete in history, and has never failed a test, but the authorities in the US, not the world cycling authorities, are hounding him and are about to strip him of his titles.

Below is Lance Armstrong's full statement:

Lance Armstong's Statement of August 23, 2012

AUSTIN, Texas - August 23rd, 2012 - There comes a point in every man's life when he has to say, "Enough is enough." For me, that time is now. I have been dealing with claims that I cheated and had an unfair advantage in winning my seven Tours since 1999. Over the past three years, I have been subjected to a two-year federal criminal investigation followed by Travis Tygart's unconstitutional witch hunt. The toll this has taken on my family, and my work for our foundation and on me leads me to where I am today – finished with this nonsense.
I had hoped that a federal court would stop USADA’s charade. Although the court was sympathetic to my concerns and recognized the many improprieties and deficiencies in USADA’s motives, its conduct, and its process, the court ultimately decided that it could not intervene.
If I thought for one moment that by participating in USADA’s process, I could confront these allegations in a fair setting and – once and for all – put these charges to rest, I would jump at the chance. But I refuse to participate in a process that is so one-sided and unfair. Regardless of what Travis Tygart says, there is zero physical evidence to support his outlandish and heinous claims. The only physical evidence here is the hundreds of controls I have passed with flying colors. I made myself available around the clock and around the world. In-competition. Out of competition. Blood. Urine. Whatever they asked for I provided. What is the point of all this testing if, in the end, USADA will not stand by it?
From the beginning, however, this investigation has not been about learning the truth or cleaning up cycling, but about punishing me at all costs. I am a retired cyclist, yet USADA has lodged charges over 17 years old despite its own 8-year limitation. As respected organizations such as UCI and USA Cycling have made clear, USADA lacks jurisdiction even to bring these charges. The international bodies governing cycling have ordered USADA to stop, have given notice that no one should participate in USADA’s improper proceedings, and have made it clear the pronouncements by USADA that it has banned people for life or stripped them of their accomplishments are made without authority. And as many others, including USADA’s own arbitrators, have found, there is nothing even remotely fair about its process. USADA has broken the law, turned its back on its own rules, and stiff-armed those who have tried to persuade USADA to honor its obligations. At every turn, USADA has played the role of a bully, threatening everyone in its way and challenging the good faith of anyone who questions its motives or its methods, all at U.S. taxpayers’ expense. For the last two months, USADA has endlessly repeated the mantra that there should be a single set of rules, applicable to all, but they have arrogantly refused to practice what they preach. On top of all that, USADA has allegedly made deals with other riders that circumvent their own rules as long as they said I cheated. Many of those riders continue to race today.
The bottom line is I played by the rules that were put in place by the UCI, WADA and USADA when I raced. The idea that athletes can be convicted today without positive A and B samples, under the same rules and procedures that apply to athletes with positive tests, perverts the system and creates a process where any begrudged ex-teammate can open a USADA case out of spite or for personal gain or a cheating cyclist can cut a sweetheart deal for themselves. It’s an unfair approach, applied selectively, in opposition to all the rules. It’s just not right.
USADA cannot assert control of a professional international sport and attempt to strip my seven Tour de France titles. I know who won those seven Tours, my teammates know who won those seven Tours, and everyone I competed against knows who won those seven Tours. We all raced together. For three weeks over the same roads, the same mountains, and against all the weather and elements that we had to confront. There were no shortcuts, there was no special treatment. The same courses, the same rules. The toughest event in the world where the strongest man wins. Nobody can ever change that. Especially not Travis Tygart.
Today I turn the page. I will no longer address this issue, regardless of the circumstances. I will commit myself to the work I began before ever winning a single Tour de France title: serving people and families affected by cancer, especially those in underserved communities. This October, my Foundation will celebrate 15 years of service to cancer survivors and the milestone of raising nearly $500 million. We have a lot of work to do and I'm looking forward to an end to this pointless distraction. I have a responsibility to all those who have stepped forward to devote their time and energy to the cancer cause. I will not stop fighting for that mission. Going forward, I am going to devote myself to raising my five beautiful (and energetic) kids, fighting cancer, and attempting to be the fittest 40-year old on the planet.

Fighting the European Union

The last couple of months have been extremely hard work, setting up a new business is time consuming and stressful, but ultimately rewarding. Now some semblance of normality is returning to our lives, such as going out last night for our first curry, other than a dodgy takeaway, in many months.

Also yesterday I was invited by Civitas to take part in a debate about the European Union in Liverpool in October. Unsurprisingly I will be speaking against our continued membership. I don't know yet what brave individual will be speaking for. When I say that I'm not being cocky about my debating skills, more that finding somebody to defend the EU these days is a little like finding a Nazi in Germany in the immediate post war years.

Another sign of normality returning is that I have, this morning, joined a new political party, the Independent Libertarians. If you value individual liberty and freedom then please visit their website, you may be pleasantly surprised.

Next on my 'to do' list is to find the time to pop along and watch FC United of Manchester.

Independent Libertarians

Good news, the Independent Libertarian Network is now up and running and open for membership.

To find out a more click on the link above.

Julian Assange

I really can't understand the fuss about Julian Assange, or the number of people who seem to support him. To me he seems to be an attention seeking, egotistical misfit who really should get a life.

We all know there are dark things being done by governments all over the world but that is no excuse for posting classified information on the internet. Instead work to change the system to a more open and accountable one.

But to then hide in the embassy of a country led by an attention seeking, egostistical misfit who puts opponents in jail, while attacking the UK, USA and Sweden, smacks of the worst kind of hypocrisy. See the pattern?

I really can't be arsed saying anything more about the pillock.

Friday-Bowie Time

This is a class version of a song that appeared on his Heathen album in 2002. This version was for an album that never saw the light of day. Enjoy:

The Peterloo Massacre

Today in 1819 fifteen people died in Manchester when the local magistrates ordered armed militia to arrest radical campaigner Henry Hunt, who was to address a crowd of around 80,000 fighting for parliamentary reform. At that time Lancashire had only two MPs who were elected by the head of a freehold property.

The massacre took place around where Central Library now stands on what was then called St Peter's Fields. The name 'Peterloo' came about as the troops who were involved had returned from the Napoleonic Wars and had taken part in the 1815 Battle of Waterloo.

The massacre was one of the key events in our history and contributed to Manchester becoming a key place, not only in our industrial past, but in the never ending campaign for freedom and democracy. It is right that this event should be remembered as our fight for freedom and liberty continues today as the state works ever harder to control ever more aspects of our lives.

More information on the Peterloo Massacre.

Losing Virgin

I'm probably one of the few people who doesn't have a strong opinion about Richard Branson. His attempts at being a latter day Victor Kiam could be cheesy but eh, no harm done really. I was sad to hear that when we were in the darkness of the Blair years he was brown nosing the supreme leader and giving him and 'la gob' free stays on his island paradise but that's his prerogative, and probably made buisiness sense knowing how Blair operates.

But this morning I was shocked to hear that Virgin had lost their West Coast mainline franchise to FirstGroup. In my experience I have been extremely impressed  when travelling to London on Virgin trains. Only real problems have been with the track, which is beyond their control.

By contrast my travel on trains in FirstGroup have been marked by dirty trains full of litter and delays because of drivers not turning up for work. I'd love to know the critria for making these decisions but suspect it is hardly bedtime reading so won't bother. But I can't help wondering if it is Dave 'Blair Lite' Cameron getting revenge for Branson's earlier brown nosing.

Cynical old fart? Me?

Olympics-Waterloo Sunset

Ray Davies, top man. But who the hell thought of putting George Michael in the closing ceremony?

Now it's over maybe the Londoners will stop whinging about public transport, too many/too few tourists, traffic jams/empty roads and whatever else they've been whining about this past fortnight. Actually they won't, whining is their natural state, it's the one thing I don't miss now I'm back up north.

Got to hear Waterloo Sunset again though:

Bradley Wiggins Wins Again

My respect for Bradley Wiggins goes up on a daily basis. OK the word on his latest victory, kicking the disgusting Piers Morgan in the nuts, is that it wasn't actually Bradley Wiggins but a fan. Either way it's the kind of thing he would have done and whoever kicks Piers Morgan in the nuts is top man in my reckoning, Wiggo or a fan.

Just for the record I am a patriot and I like to see competitors sing the national anthem. But if they don't then that's up to them. I prefer the understated patriotism where people aren't classed as patriotic if they don't sob when they hear the national anthem or put bunting out gfor the Queen's birthday. What I dislike is footballers like Giggs and Bellamy playing for Great Britain and making a conscious decision not to sing the anthem. Don't like GB, don't play for GB.

NHS Reality Check

Our local NHS Trust is constantly in the news, it is basically useless. The Independent, hardly a ranting right-wing free market advocating newspaper, gives an idea how bad it is in this article.  Then you can read about the killing of patients at Stepping Hill hospital in this BBC report. Also on the BBC website is this report about the tragic death of Emma Stones at Tameside Hospital.

I could go on listing the litany of abuse, avoidable deaths and sheer incompetence recorded in the National Health Service on a daily basis. I have personal experience of the filthy state of my local hospital and the poor standard of care provided by the nursing staff. My mother-in-law has been housebound for five years due to mistreatment at an NHS hospital. Virtually every person I know has experienced varying degrees of incompetence in the NHS.

Until we take a calm dispassionate look at the NHS the horror stories will continue to appear on an almost daily basis. We need to stop talking about NHS staff as if they are martyrs, they are not. They are doing a job, some highly motivated and competent some not, like in any other field.

Danny Boyle's opening Olympics ceremony was stunning. But why the soviet style propoganda glorification of the NHS? There should have been a minute's silence in memory of the Israeli athletes murdered by Palestians in Munich forty years ago. Maybe Danny Boyle should have included a tribute to those who have died needlessly in the NHS too.

I Won't Let You Down

This is an absolute classic, I've had it in my head all day so thought I'd try and infect others with it! It's by PHD which included Jim Diamond on vocals. Yet again I was shocked that it was out, and a huge hit, all the way back in 1982. It seems like yesterday.

Corby By-Election

So, Louise Mensch is standing down as MP for Corby and clearing off to live in New York. Can't say I blame her really as she was likely to lose the seat next time around anyway. It's a marginal constituency and with the Coalition going from bad to worse to even worse even a Labour Party led by Ed Moribund is pretty sure to retake the seat.

This is a great opportunity for smaller parties to make some headway, but I can't see where there is one at the moment that can be taken seriously. Let's be straight, the Green Party managed to take Brighton in 2010 but Brighton probably has a higher percentage of weirdoes and oddballs per head of population than anywhere in the country. The rest of us aren't clear which planet they're on that they wish to save.

The BNP are a spent force and the long running sitcom that is UKIP just keeps trundling along seemingly content to have a few MEPs on the Brussels gravy train but doing little serious work in the UK. Let's face it any number of MEPs representing the UK is not going to get us out of the EU and Party Leader Nigel Farage recently declared British elections to be a waste of time. On the basis that I always checked my watch was still on my wrist when I was unfortunate enough to have to shake Farage by the hand, his statement means that UK elections are actually worth fighting, but they're happy taking the EU dosh and making a serious impact in the UK could threaten that.

The Lib Dems are likely to lose their deposit having been proved to be completely without principle or integrity since the last election, something many of us in politics have known for years but it has taken the full glare of Coalition limelight to show the average voter how bad they really are. I wouldn't have thought there would be a queue of high profile candidates wanting to be humiliated by being the Lib Dem candidate although Brian Paddick, rivalled only by Nigel Farage in the galloping ego stakes, may fancy the spotlight, after all, they are both shameless self-publicists.

So if it's worth the trouble a flutter on a Labour victory in Corby is what I'd recommend, I doubt there'll be any sort of upset.

Public Versus Private Sector

Over the last few months I've had a lot of contact with my local council, especially the planning and licensing departments. While the processes have been overly bureaucratic, largely due to central government dictats, the staff have been, without exception, helpful and pleasant. Phone calls have been returned when promised, queries have been dealt with promptly and things happened when they were supposed to. One phone call got me through to a receptionist that connected me staightaway to the right person, who then gave me his/her extension number for future use.

Conversely I have also been trying to open a bank account. Admittedly banks are a perverse form of private enterprise but I have been met with rudeness, a 'don't give a shit' attitude and crass incompetence. They all seem to have telephone systems designed to ensure it is impossible to actually reach the person, or even department, that you need to speak to. Messages have been left on numerous occasions and calls never returned. I tried Barclays and gave up. I had previously tried NatWest but left after hanging around ringing a bell at the enquiries desk for an age without anybody bothering to come and deal with my enquiry.

Finally I went back to NatWest and was dealt with by a wonderful woman who assured us that the account would be open within about 5 working days at most. It is now 8 and nothing. She promised to return calls, if busy, within an hour, three messages were left last week and not one was returned.

I've realised recently that it's all too easy for people to whinge about the public sector and sing the praises of the private sector, including yours truly. But no more, in future many of us need to be a little more objective. And don't even get me started on First Direct or the private utility companies.

The Snug at Carnforth Station

Haven't blogged much recently as I've been grafting to get The Snug micropub ready for opening on Wednesday 1st August. Why not visit after Wednesday, or visit the blog now to find out a little more.

The Tesco Olympics

The only benefit I can see from the Olympics is that our commissars have decided that if we buy alcohol before 10-00am and after 4-00pm on a Sunday we won't actually die and the world won't crash into the sun. So after watching Wiggo and Cav do us proud in Paree I decided that I would treat Mrs B and yours truly to a nice bottle of wine tonight.

So at 5-15pm I took advantage of our new found freedom and hit my local Tesco. But they'd forgotten to change their cash tills and were unable to sell alcohol after 4-00pm after all. Maybe a greater power telling us that we could indeed die if we buy wine after 4-00pm on Sunday. But as I went to Bargain Booze and got a better deal anyway, I doubt it. Unless of course the first sip kills us both. In which case the nanny state has severely let us down.

I certainly hope that the performance of our athletes is superior to that of Tesco.

The Archers

I have a guilty secret, please forgive me. I listen to The Archers Omnibus on BBC Radio 4 on a Sunday morning. I go out for newspapers, leave one with my beloved the other I take to Mass. I sit in the car for 15 minutes before Mass listening to Aled Jones and usually scan the sport section and read Rod Liddle. After Mass I go home, start the bacon and we settle down with brekkie, the papers and The Archers. But no more, I've had enough.

I grew up in Gorton, Manchester and I thank God every day when I listen in to daily life in Ambridge that I grew up in an inner city area rather than in the countryside. I had such an innocent childhood compared to rural Ambridge which is littered with illegitimate children, broken marriages, racism, violence, murder, arson and fraudsters going to jail. Not to mention the local landowner falling to his death from his own roof and one brother running off with the other brother's girlfriend and baby.

Anybody who has made a few bob seems to be shady at best, downright corrupt at worst. The local vicar married a Hindu but his first wife's mother-in-law, a Christian from the Carribean, was adamantly against the relationship, intolerant Christian you see.  The most loving, and currently enduring relationship, is the gay one, of course.

Of course the BBC claim that the show reflects life, which is what drama is all about supposedly. Bullshit! It represents life through the eyes of a white, pinko liberal, middle class nobhead from Islington. You know the kind I mean, the one who bangs on about race all the time and sees racism in everything. I think I have a wide cross  section of friends, with a wide variety of views, but the only ones who bang on about race to a tedious degree are the lefties. Droning on, and on and on all the time. And they usually look shocked if challenged and piously tell you that it isn't all that long ago that every house in the country had obligatory 'no blacks, Irish or dogs' notices in the windows. They are the kind of brainwashed people who are trying to brainwash us through The Archers and the TV soaps.

Drama doesn't actually have to represent life, as evidenced by The Archers which currently represents a jaundiced and cynical politically correct loathing of all that Britain represents and stands for rather than anything like real life. Life isn't really like it is in Ambridge thankfully. I happen to enjoy drama that is idealised and uplifting, it doesn't always have to make you feel like slashing your wrists or throwing the radio off the balcony.

So today I turned The Archers off and will not be listening in future. The drama of real life is much more uplifting and enjoyable.

Antony And The Johnsons

Have a great weekend.

Independent Libertarian Network!

I had my cornflakes this morning watching TV news, big mistake that. Some prat was banging on again about people drinking too much and how alcohol companies should be banned from advertising at sporting events. When will pillocks like that realise that it is their constant hectoring and nannying that drives people to drink. Thankfully I don't have a hangover this morning.

But Mrs B and I were reassured about our drinking habits when said 'expert' cited forgetting to collect the kids from school as a sign of a severe alcohol problem. That has never happened to either of us  so our drinking must be fine and well under control.

So my advice is, like us, don't have kids.

On a more serious note Gavin Webb, a fine chap I met when I was chairman of the Libertarian Party, has started a new political party, the Independent Libertarian Network. If you are sick of the ever encroaching police state then click on the link and take a look. You know you should.

A Right Bunch of Bankers!

I had a raging row with my bank yesterday, not the first time and doubtless not the last. It got me wondering why the big bankers get such huge bonuses.

I've had jobs where staff are appraised annually and the size of your annual wage rise depends on performance. But why do people working with money, not just bankers but traders and the like, think it entitles them to huge bundles of cash as a thank you for getting off their arses and doing what they get paid for in the first place?

If it's success being rewarded then what should successful pie makers get if they are successful? 500,000 cheese and onion pies?

What about car makers? A few thousand new cars?

Should successful estate agents get a few nice houses as a bonus?

What about urinal salesmen?

A successful distillery worker could get a few thousand bottles of whisky.

A successful pop star could get a few million DVDs as a bonus.

A high achieving bottled water salesman could maybe receive a small lake in the Lake District or a spring in the Pennines.

Just a thought.

Who's the Real Racist?

John Terry has always struck me as being one of the more uncouth people in a severely uncouth business, professional football. Bear in mind this is a game where Graham Le Saux was hounded by other footballers for his alleged homosexuality. He wasn't homosexual as it happens, but they labelled him that because he reads The Guardian.

So the recent court case came as no surprise. Well that's not strictly true, I was surprised that the case ever went to court, but wasn't surprised that Terry was the accused. It turns out that the accuser, Anton Ferdinand, is every bit as uncouth and unpleasant as Terry. So why was I surprised it ended up in court?

Children use anything that is different about somebody to insult them if they fall out. In other circumstances children are frighteningly blunt in their innocence. For example if somebody with glasses upsets a child he is likely to be attacked and called "speccy four eyes". A child who sees a fat person is likely to innocently ask why they have such a big belly. A parental nightmare but done in innocence, if highly embarassing for said parents.

As children develop and mature they gain some sensitivity and desist from using those differences to attack people. Having said that, in a rage many grown ups still do it, but to a lesser extent. Hence Lancastrians and Yorkshiremen, especially at cricket games, will hurl abuse at each other based on place of birth. Football fans will abuse people from the south or the north, or for being Mancunians or Scousers. They will attack opponents who are overweight, who have had an extra-marital affair and so on. But in most reasonable people it is lighthearted at worst and never used to seriously insult and hurt an individual.

The problem with footballers is that many of them have not grown up and developed into mature, reasonable people. John Terry calling Ferdinand a black c#*t is case in point. If Terry had used his height, size of his waist, colour of his hair or whatever nothing would have been said. But it was the colour of his skin that was used to lash out. It wasn't a sinister racist incident, it was an emotionally, and educationally underdeveloped, pampered brat trying to hurt somebody.

This morning Rio Ferdinand is in the headlines. If you don't know he is the brother of Anton Ferdinand and when he's not playing football for ludicrous amounts of cash seems to be on Twitter or seeking something racist to get angry about. So why is Ferdinand Sr in the news today?

Well, Ashley Cole gave evidence at the Terry court case and declared that in his view Terry, his team mate, was not racist. Ashley Cole is black and was married to Cheryl Cole, the alleged singer. Somebody on Twitter tweeted:

"Looks like Ashley Cole's going to be their choc ice. Then again he's always been a sellout. Shame on him."

To which Rio Ferdinand replied:

" I hear you fella! Choc ice is classic hahahahahaha!!"

Another footballer proving that in that world you don't have to be very bright, or emotionally mature, to make a fortune. Bear in mind Cole has been Terry's team mate for quite a few years and probably knows him better than many of his own family. Why would anybody, especially a black man, sit there in court and declare that in his opinion  a man is not racist if he actually, to his knowledge is? 

In my  opinion what Ferdinand said, and the original Tweeter tweeted, is much more sinister and unpleasant than what the clown John Terry said. The reference to choc ice means that in their opinion Cole is black on the outside, white on the inside. Cole is clearly being attacked for not backing the black player in the case last week. I would hope the sell out reference isn't to Cole marrying a white woman.

Who is the real racist, Rio Ferdinand or John Terry? 

Friday, Time For Lou Reed-Families

Yesterday I rattled on about dodgy chavs and their offspring. Today it's time for Lou Reed to put real emotion into a song about the pressure on kids in middle class families. He had a rough childhood being a bit of a rebel when he was expected to be nicely conformist. I reckon this song is autobiographical, as is Kill Your Sons, which is also much darker.

For my money The Bells is one one of Lou's finest albums, and Families one of the strongest tracks on it. Well worth a listen:

The Cult of the Chav Child

Loving parents.

There has been a change in the attitudes to children in this country in recent years I think, much of it the attitude of parents to children. One of the negatives of foreign travel is that parents see kids in cafes  in France and elsewhere and want the same here so they can take little Tristran and Natasha everywhere with them. Problem is that British pubs are not the same as French cafes. That's one change.

Too many of our kids are obese partly because mummy and daddy now drive them everywhere, including the 200yds to the school gate.

If you or me are stupid enough to park on a yellow line or God forbid a zig zag zone outside a school, we are likely to be lynched by a mob of yellow bimbettes with 'Croydon facelifts' screaming about you endangering the lives of their little darlings. But if the little darlings need dropping within 5yds of school said bimbettes have no qualms about pulling up on those same zigzags, with no indication, swinging their doors wide open then ducking into their 4x4s to unstrap their little prince or princess.

In the meantime, while they lean in, seemingly unstrapping them from a seat every bit as secure as a seat on a space shuttle, their ample backsides stick into the road causing a jam. Dare toot or suggest they let you pass and you're likely to get a flurry of hand gestures, backed up with the kind of foul mouthed abuse that would make Frank Gallagher blush. 

Today I went to a local supermarket. Unfortunately there is an entrance to the local school in the far corner of the car park. Parents seem to use it as a challenge to motorists, rushing out from between parked cars holding their offspring and glaring at you, an evil driver, as if daring you to come anywhere near their little brats.

This morning, as I was crawling towards a parking space, a woman jumped out from between parked cars pushing her two kids in front of her, seemingly as human shields. I was only doing 5mph, half the limit, but still had to slam the brakes on and just missed them. She glared at me, gave me a middle finger and mouthed an obscenity, quite possibly screamed it but I had a John Cale CD on very loud. I just sat there, feeling sorry for the children she had spawned and wondering what bastards they were likely to be when they grew up with her as a role model. God knows what the dad is like, if the kids even know him.

It was then that the realisation of the change in attitudes to kids really struck me. It's not that so many of the current and recent generations of parents love children any more than previous generations did, oh no, it's that they seem to hate anybody else, child or adult, in their unhealthy obsession with their own offspring. It also helps explain last year's riots, too many parents today seem to have the kind of shallow love for their kids that they have for their latest electronic gadget.

Democracy

I'm feeling a little unsettled at the moment about the nature of democracy. I'm not sure whether I just don't understand what democracy actually is, or whether my idea of democracy has changed over the last however many decades.

I know there isn't a simple definition of democracy, and that some of the most horrendously barbaric dictatorships in history have called themselves 'democracies', usually 'people's democratic republic' or similar. I also know that our idea of democracy in action differs from many countries in the world who we would regard as 'democratic'. It isn't simple is it?

So to a large degree this week, with the Lib Dems attempting to hijack the word 'democracy' to justify a botched attempt at reforming the House of Lords, the nature of democracy seems to have become defined by voting. I'm not sure about this. If we had a vote on whether to slaughter the first born in every household, and 51% voted in favour, is that democracy in action so get on with it? If our unelected monarch said: "Whoa, one's not keen on that idea, I refuse to sign the act." Would that be an unelected head of state subverting democracy?

In rexcent years there has been a proliferation in the number of elected posts in public life. Many cities now have elected mayors. I don't know why, I don't see the point. Do elected mayors make our system more democratic? I don't see how when they seem to be nothing more than an expensive add-on to already elected, and very costly city councillors.

Our cities have police authorities made up of people from a range of bodies and elected councils. They are accountable to the populace. So why do we need costly elected police commissioners? I honestly don't see the point. Especially when commissioners, like elected mayors just seem to be washed up politicians jumping on a shiny, new, very well funded gravy train.

Are supporters of this move to ever more elected public officials really saying that prior to these innovations there was a huge democratic deficit? There obviously wasn't, as I've explained above.

If Clegg and Cameron are so convinced that the ballot box is the root to true democracy then how can they justify not having a rteferendum on the European Union? A referendum on the death penalty? If an unelected House of Lords is undemocratic why is only electing 80% of it democratic? Why do we have an unelected head of state? Are Clegg and Cameron closet republicans or are they just being intellectually inconsistant? Or are they being intellectually dishonest?

I'll be perfectly honest, I don't see plonking a X on a ballot paper every five years as being the be all and end all of democracy. Not when our politicians then ignore us, and what they promised in their manifestos, and foist a bastard government like this on us. Then proceed to ignore what we want until they next have to tempt us to vote for them by publishing manifestos full of even more lies.

So what's the alternative? I'll have to think about that. But would an unelected leader/government that actually listened to what the populace wants, a kind of benign dictatorship, be any less democratic than our current revolving dictatorship?

Lib Dems-Fiddling While Rome Burns

A typical Lib Dem, representing another planet!

Those political whores, the Liberal Democrats, are at it again. I must have missed the mass rallies, petitions and highly visible internet and traditional media campaigns calling for reform of the House of Lords. Maybe I've been dozing these last few months. Or maybe the Lib Dems are just proving, once again, how completely out of touch with the real world they really are.

The country is in the shit financially. We have armed police taking people hostage on the M6 because somebody on a Megabus is smoking a dodgy pretend fag. We have the state plonking anti-missile weaponry atop blocks of flats in East London because of the Olympics. We have the Olympics, a vulgur multi-billion pound joke, costing the country a fortune when we are in financial shit. We have terrorists staying at our expense at Her Majesty's Pleasure because we can't deport them in case somebody in their own country is nasty to them. We have our armed forces being cut to a level that makes them all but ineffectual. And the Lib Dems want to waste time and money reforming the House of Lords.

No wonder they'll be wiped out at the next general election. If I had any faith in Cameron's pathetic joke of a Tory Party I'd hope they would dump the Lib Dems and take their chances as a minority government. But I see little between them, so a Tory government standing alone would probably wreak as much havoc as this bastard coalition.

Come to think of it I hope the Tories get wiped out at the next election too. I've decided on numerous occasions to abstain from voting, but always changed my mind, held my nose and put a X on a ballot paper. But no more. Never again am I prepared to vote for the least bad option. As there is not a single credible libertarian leaning party in the country I will not be voting in future in any national or local elections.

A plague on all their houses.

Dying on the Vine-John Cale

I had to drive my beloved to work this morning and listened to John Cale's CD The Island Years in my old van. That got me thinking of some of his more modern stuff and I found this on YouTube when I got home. Hope you enjoy it:

Wimp Nation and the Police State

What a shambles this country really is. Yesterday hundreds of thousands of pounds was wasted on a full scale anti-terror raid on a bus on the M6 motorway. It turns out somebody was smoking an artificial cigarette. Thank God it wasn't a real one or some macho, anti-terror robocop would have probably slotted the poor bastard. Full story here.

Sadly the more the state arms it's operatives, the more danger the rest of us are in. Personally I'd rather take my chances than have my head blown off in my local because somebody's having a sneaky fag in the bog.

Eric Sykes

Sad to hear of the death today of Eric Sykes. I remember as a schoolboy in the very early seventies watching Sykes, starring Eric Sykes, the wonderful Hattie Jacques, Derek Guyler as "Corky" the local bobby and many, many more. Wonderful television comedy, up there with Dad's Army, Steptoe and Son and 'Til Death Us Do Part.

Another great Lancastrian comedian leaves the stage:

Democracy: Referenda and Elections

There is much talk about a referendum on our membership of the European, as well as on reform of the House of Lords. There have been whole tomes written about both these issues, so I won't waffle on too much.

I don't want an elected House of Lords and I don't want a referendum on our relationshiup with the European Union. There it is. This is a blog, my personal ramblings on current events, so I don't have to go into page after page of justification complete with references to the works of Bagehot, Mill, ancient Greeks or anybody else. But I will try and justify my position a little.

I blogged last week (here) about the House of Lords and the Lib Dems' typical botched reform proposal.  Let's face it, if the Lib Dems want it it's probably a bad idea. But the libertarian movement seems to be generally of the view that a true democracy doesn't have unelected politicians lording over us, they should be elected. My slightly tongue in cheek response is: "So you want 650 more paragons of virtue and democracy like we have elected to the House of Commons?"

Does putting a tick in a box every five years, or fifteen years in elections to the House of Lords if the Lib Dems get their way, really define democracy? Is democracy really electing a bastard government, such as this coalition government, that then tears up most of the member parties' manifestos and does what it wants because it has cobbled together an unholy majority?

Personally I see nothing wrong with a fully functioning upper house, complete with unelected members, performing a scrutiny role to keep a check on the lower house. It is crucial that party politics plays as little a role in the upper house as possible, and that it is filled with people of wisdom, experience and specialist knowledge from a wide variety of backgrounds. In a word, unelected.

Of course Blair couldn't stand the thought of unbridled power and set about castrating the House of Lords. Clegg now appears to be the heir to Blair. Why doesn't Clegg tell us what he thinks of an unelected head of state? Because it may not be very popular I reckon.

Throughout the country we have hundreds, possibly thousands of unelected councillors on town and parish councils, unelected because the communities they claim to serve have so little enthusiasm for them that there are rarely enough interested people to hold contested elections. Surely they too should be abolished as not only undemocratic/unelected, but quite evidently rejected by the people?

Oh yes, don't forget, Hitler was elected.

I have also rambled on before about the question of a referendum on the European Union. As there isn't a credible political party campaigning against our continued membership of the European Union, a referendum is obviously quite appealing. But is it such a good idea, bearing in mind we live in a representative democracy? I don't think so.

We currently have one of our more Europhile governments, indeed a government that has already ensured that we were not given a referendum on the EU when the issue was debated in the House of Commons.

The Tories have done more than anybody else over the last fifty years to take us  ever deeper into the EU. When bolstered by the Lib Dems why would they threaten our future participation in the European project by offering a referendum? So campaigning for a referendum under the present circumstances is largely a waste of time and resources. Better use the time and resources campaigning on the serious issues around our membership of the undemocratic EU.

If we were given a straight in/out referendum would there be a majority voting for the out option? I very much doubt it, especially under the current economic circumstances. People are naturally conservative and the image painted by an effective pro-EU campaign would be that leaving the EU would be like setting out to cross the Atlantic in a rowing boat in the worst storms the world has ever seen. Would you want to risk that?

More likely the government would set the question to be put to us. Then they could have some real fun with the wording. It could be as absurd as: "Do you agree that the UK should turn its back on our largest trading partner in favour of isolation in the global trading markets"?  Well, that might be a little too blatant, but I think it makes the point.

Then if we did vote to get out, wouldn't they just have another referendum like they do whenever they lose a vote?

David Smith and the Moors Murderers

I only found out today that David Smith died on May 5th, his obituary appearing in the Daily Telegraph on 30 June. Smith was the brother-in-law of Myra Hindley, married to her sister Maureen. He witnessed the murder of Edward Evans and, along with Maureen,  blew the whistle on Hindley and Brady.

Like many who grew up in Gorton it is strangely surreal, even now, reading about those events back in the 1960s. I was only five or six when Hindley and Brady were caught, but we lived two or three doors from Millward's Chemicals where the pair worked and met.

My dad used to deliver the mail to Millward's and used to chat to the blonde receptionist he handed the mail to, Myra Hindley. Hindley and Brady used to drink in the Haxby pub, just over the road from our house. Hindley was even having instruction in the Catholic faith at my old church Sacred Heart, where my Aunty Kath and Uncle George were married around 1965.

Years later a friend of my dad's told me how he delivered the mail in West Gorton in the late 60s, early 70s and used to hear Winnie Johnson out on the streets calling for her son, Keith Bennett, believed to be one of their victims whose body has never been found. Before she died Hindley never tried to ease the pain for Winnie Johnson and even now Brady refuses to say whether or not Keith was a victim or not. Winnie Johnson's agony is even now being prolonged by the evil Brady.

Smith and his wife lived in Hattersley in October 1965, in a block of flats behind the house where Hindley and Brady lived and were finally caught. My grandparents lived down the road, on the same sprawling council overspill estate in the foothills of the Pennines housing whole Mancunian communities exiled from their terraced homes in Gorton, Ardwick, Beswick and elsewhere when the bureaucrats decided their homes were to be demolished.

If Smith hadn't phoned the police in the early hours in October 1965, who knows how many other young children would have been murdered by Hindley and Brady? But there was a still a mood of retribution in Hattersley when the true nature of the Moors Murders came to light and my grandparents witnessed the abuse that Smith became a victim of as the media covered the events during and after the trial. In the eyes of many, although innocent, Smith was judged guilty by association and eventually was forced to leave the area.

Unlike Hindley and Brady, Smith was guilty of nothing more than naivety and of being easily led. He had no peace in his life, we can only pray that he now finds the peace he deserves.

More Tory Bullshit-The European Union

The Conservatives really must think we're a nation of halfwits, which really gets me angry because I don't believe the vast majority of UK citizens are anywhere near as stupid as your average Tory MP.

100 Tory MPs have signed a letter asking Cameron to offer us a referendum on the EU in their manifesto for the next election. No, don't worry, you've not been in a coma and just woken up back in 2009 somehow, oh no, they're still at it. Whenever the Tories want to garner a bit of support they put on their Eurosceptic masks. But then, when in power, do more to sell our country down the Brussels plughole than any other party ever has.

As Cameron lied about a referendum in the last election, and the debate about a referendum in the House of Commons was lost, what is the point of MPs writing him a nice letter asking him to offer what he has promised in the past, and then reneged on? It's more Tory bullshit, don't fall for it.

If those 100 Tory MPs threatened to resign their seats immediately, precipitating 100 by-elections unless he called a referendum now, then I might have some respect for them. But please stop treating us like the idiots that you are, because we're not.

El Perro Del Mar-Change of Heart

All been a little serious lately so time to 'do a Cameron'. By that I mean chillax rather than violently dispose of a man called Cameron. El Perro del Mar do a wonderful version of Lou Reed's Heavenly Arms too, which I have posted previously here.

Enjoy Change of Heart by the incredible El Perro del Mar:

Bomber Command Memorial

Finally the heroes of Bomber Command are to get the memorial they so richly deserve.

We have owed the thousands of young men who fought the war in the air so bravely and selflessly this memorial since 1945, especially those who didn't come back.

Today is a proud day for us as a nation, the dwindling band of Bomber Command survivors, those who never came home and their families.

Lib Dems and the House of Lords

The best way to reform Parliament would be to cram as many Lib Dem MPs, MEPs and councillors as we possibly can into the House of Lords, then blow it to kingdom come.

Nicky Clegg seems to think tinkering with the House of Lords is crucial for our democracy, after all we can't possibly have unelected people involved in law making can we? No, that won't do will it? If you elect people they all behave impeccably don't they? Acting in our best interests, never getting anything wrong and never fiddling their expenses. Don't they?

Just look at our glorious elected leaders. We had Blair and Brown. We now have Cameron, Osborne and Clegg. Paragons of virtue?

So Clegg, and this bastard government, wants to have most of the House of Lords elected and to bung them £300 a day for turning up when elected. Oh yes, and they'll be elected for fifteen years! That's not another gravy train for politicians is it?And let's face it the Lib Dems love a gravy train more than most.

Personally I like the idea of the House of Lords being made up of people who are there on merit. In fact isn't 'meritocracy' the other big word in your average Lib Dem's vocab? I don't see electing idiots, with no qualfications for the job, particularly meritocratic. Especially when they will all have political axes to grind.

Furthermore, the House of Commons is s4/ubservient to the House of Commons, it is a scrutinising chamber. Who will be first 'Peer', elected for fifteen years, to shout to an MP: "You were only elected for five years, people think I'm bettter than you"? Bingo, constitutional crisis.

Maybe if some of the criteria for standing in a House of Lords election were practical things, such as the person can prove they have never been a member of a political party and have never before held elected office, I might see some point. But while it is obviously just another gravy train for politicos stuff it.

The Queen and Martin McGuinness

What the Queen should do today:

Time For A Republic?

I much prefer having a constitutional monarch to the presidential alternative. God help us if we ended with President Blair. But there are times I have to ask what the point of our monarchy is.

I find most of the opponents of the monarchy small minded and envious. They claim the monarch costs too much. Big deal, get rid and what you save is a one off and, in the scheme of things, a tiny drop in the ocean. I still see them as the Roundheads whereas we are the Cavaliers, preferring a dash of colour and romance. On a slightly more serious level I love the link with our glorious past that the monarchy represents.

But at what point do we expect the monarch to actually exercise some power for the good of the country, even if it produces a constitutional crisis, rather than merely acting in the interests of the monarchy?

This monarch has sat back and allowed successive governments to hand over ever more power to the European Union. Should she have stepped in, maybe when the Coalition was being cobbled together, and demanded that she would only accept it if we were given our promised referendum on the European Union?

Then yesterday we heard that she is to grovel to IRA man Martin McGuinness. Not only did the IRA murder Lord Mountbatten but they murdered thousands of innocent people during 'The Troubles'. When Al Quaeda and others see the Queen kowtowing to McGuiness no wonder they believe that terrorism does indeed bring its rewards.

It seems that pretty soon, if not already, there will be little point in having a constitutional monarch if the only reason it exists is to protect its own future and stuff the country and the people.

It's time to make a stand ma'am!

Epitaph

Every now and then, when the EU is centre stage usually, the sight of foreign politicians behaving like prats lulls us into a false sense of ignorance towards our own politicians. In other words, we forget about them.

Then up pops the Labour Party tosser-in-chief, Miliband Jr, talking crap about immigration. So you cocked up immigration when the rest of us knew what was what eh? You think admitting it means we'll forgive you do you? Well we won't you little prat. Especially when, thanks to the EU, we know your platitudes about controlling it in future are clearly lies, along the lines of Cameron's promise of an EU referendum actually.

The following is a classic in my humble opinion that is so very, very relevant today in so many ways. Especially with lyrics such as:

The fate of all mankind I see
Is in the hands of fools.

How true.

Jimmy Carr

Good on Jimmy Carr.

We all have a duty to take care of our families first and foremost, and that's what he has done. But he is now being pilloried for legally ensuring he keeps as much as he earns as he can. If he wanted to work for the government he would have become a civil servant.

By contrast Cameron attacks him as "immoral". The British Prime Minister, head of an unelected government, that squanders millions on pet schemes and bombing other countries, not to mention denying us a referendum on the EU, and he has the audacity to attack Jimmy Carr as "immoral".

Up yours Cameron.

Police State-Religious Police

It seems that not only do the Saudis and their ilk have religious police, but we do now too.

Another pensioner has had the dreaded knock on the door, at least I don't think they kicked it down. This one has been visited by the polizei for having a sign in his window. The sign states ‘religions are fairy stories for adults’.

The Public Order Act dictates that it is an offence to display any sign which is threatening, abusive or insulting, and could cause distress. If that sign causes anybody to feel threatened, abused, insulted or distressed they need serious help, and probably something rather stronger than their religion would appear to be.

Personally I think the man is a pillock who should get on with his life. If he is an atheist don't obsess about those of us who believe to the extent that you waste your time putting silly notices in your window.

But for crying out loud, leave the barmy old bugger alone, he's doing no harm to anyone.

Full story from the Boston Standard here.

Brian Hibbard-The Flying Pickets

Sad to hear that Brian Hibbard of The Flying Pickets, and then Coronation Street, died yesterday.



BBC Obituary

Police State-Olympic Torch!

This country gets scarier by the minute. When I studied politics and history at school we used to be aghast at how authoritarian other European states were, and to what level the state interfered in peoples' daily lives. Now we seem to have caught up and left behind many countries in the mithering, interfering state stakes.

The latest example is a chap in Scotland, yet again, who has been visited by two Gestapo, oops sorry, CID officers, after he wrote to his local newspaper announcing his intention to hold a one man protest when the Olympic torch passes through his neighbourhood:

Mr Coull said: ''It (the torch relay) was invented by Nazi propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels, to please his boss Adolf. Hitler loved the idea of the relay, and the connection with pagan mythology in ancient Greece, emphasising the Aryan nature of the games.''

The pensioner, who completed a history degree at Dundee University in his late 50s, said in his letter that he would be ''there to protest this fascist display'' on the Angus leg of the relay.

Eccentric? Maybe. But we used to celebrate eccentricity. Now we send round the politzei. God help us.

Full story from The Courier newspaper.

Back To Pleasure Island



Wanted, dead or alive!

We had massive delays in Calais yesterday as some barmpot tried to enter England illegally by walking through the Channel Tunnel. Funny as we were sat there wishing we didn't have to come back. But we eventually did.

We got to Folkestone and made our first mistake, we put the BBC radio on. I really thought we had gone through the Channel Tunnel into some weird kind of parallel universe. The main news item was how a nine year old girl had been banned from photographing her school meals and putting them on her blog, Never Seconds. I immediately stopped for breakfast, convinced that my craving a full monty belly buster brekkie, after two weeks of weedy croissants and baguettes, had created some kind of hallucinogenic effect. But no, it was true.

After brekkie we heard somebody I can only describe as a patronising, moronic twat (aka Executive Director of Community Services) justifying this act of pure Stalinism on behalf of the politburo of Argyll and Bute. Yes, it just had to be in the Soviet Socialist Republic of Scotland didn't it?

To cut a long story short the patronising, moronic twat was whining on about how coverage of Martha's blog in a Scottish newspaper, Pravda I think, had led to dinner ladies in Argyll and Bute threatening mass suicide they were so distraught. If that is true I would sack the lot, bunch of mardy arsed bastards should be in padded cells allowed nothing sharp. Well done Martha I say.

But the most annoying thing was the patronising, moronic twat repeatedly claiming that this was not an attack on free speech because free speech, apparently, does not include the right to upset people, those people being the mard arsed dinner ladies of Argyll and Bute. Bollocks, that's exactly what free speech does allow. Tell you what pal your patronising bullshit really got me angry yesterday, so should you be banned from practising free speech because your inane bullshit angers people?

One other really annoying thing was the twat's accent. I do find patronising bastards with Scottish accents really, really annoyingly patronising. Their speech is so clipped and precise every sentence seems to say 'just listen little person, unlike you I know what is right and correct'. If you don't believe me just listen, if you can bare it, to George Galloway, he's the prime exponent.

Anyway, by the time we got to Milton Keynes, the Supreme Leader of the Argyll and Bute politburo had overturned the ban, realising what a load of bollocks it was. I only hope he sent the patronising, moronic twat to Siberia. Well, maybe the Shetland Isles.

France

It's been wet and cold in Normandy these last ten days so going home won't be such a toil.One or two things we've noticed this year.

There is terrible inflation, prices are way up on what they were in October, which nullifies any gains from the exhange rate.

Prices are marked as prominantly in Francs in the supermarkets as they are in Euros.

There is a proliferation of EU flags, even on D-Day memorials. I suppose it's the death rattle of the EU, a bit like the last days of the Reich.

That's all I can be bothered with. Oh yes, it was their elections on Sunday and all the socialist women we saw looked like men, and the socialist men were all camp.

C'est tout!

OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Dutch) Update

A bloody Dutch caravan turned up on the next pitch yesterday. He has built what looks like a radio telescope to rival Jodrell Bank, which has really wrecked our outlook. So I have had to strategically park my van to mask it. I just hope it isn't so powerful it buckles my chasis.

To have a piece of space age industrial kit like that with him he must be chatting to Martians or getting 5 million seriously dodgy porn channels from Eastern Europe.

Get out and sightsee you balloon!

Obsessive Compulsive Dutch People

We've been visiting France, and elsewhere in Europe, for years and the Dutch are the weirdest people on earth. It is a country of obsessive compulsives. They drive me mad! Their towns are so prissy and tidy they are like toy villages. And don't get me onto how bloody smug they are.

Then they come on campsites in France and pitch their caravans like they are in some kind of ideal caravan exhibition. Their awnings are as tight as bass drums whereas others, even the Germans', usually sag a little somewhere.

I swear their cars are so pristine that they don't even get wet when it rains. One Dutchman over the road from us even has a mat in his boot that he pulls over his bumper so that the dog can get out without leaving fur or muck on the bodywork. God forbid the dog has the trots en route, I swear he'd have to burn the car and buy another.

The people next door but one to us even have their little step at their door to their caravan on a mat. Not only that but they have two pieces of timber under the legs at one side so that the step is perfectly level as they are parked on a slight incline. I swear I saw him checking it with a spirit level.

They then seem to spend their whole holiday sat under their awning or cleaning their caravans and cars inside and out. They rarely seem to go out and explore.

They are especially fond of their matching exterior furniture which is always set in perfect position. Table and chairs absolutely geometrically perfectly placed, it makes me want to creep out in the night and put thir chairs at assorted angles. But I fear they may be driven to some kind of mental breakdown if I did.

The most annoying thing is they all have huge satellite dishes outside their caravans pointing at Hilversum. They can't bear to be without Ostenders or Oranjeboom Street or whatever crap television they produce, even on holiday.

They don't need an EU bailout, they need subsidising for a national psychiatric session.

La Belle France

Occasional posting while touring a soggy Normandy, famous for cider, William the Conqueror and the liberation of Europe in 1944/45.

It was strange being in St Valery sur Somme, from where William the Conqueror set out to conquer us, for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. It rained too.

God Save the Queen!

Civil Service Credit Cards

So a parliamentary committee finds that civil servants have been issued with 'company' credit cards, which they then abuse by using them to pay for doughnuts, luxury hotel rooms, music downloads and God knows what else.

The government responds by saying that the cards save taxpayers money. Tell you what then, give me and my beloved one each and we'll save the government an absolute fortune!

I can't believe we are ruled by such obvious idiots. Further proof that we have a costly and bloated public sector that should be cut, cut and cut again. Then cut a bit more.