More Snouts In The Trough

Another day in Parliament

It seems to me that MPs are now just taking the piss out of us, pushing their luck time and again to see how much they can get away with. And a docile, state loving public just seem to lie there happy for the state to shaft them as and when it wants.

The latest MP to push it is Stephen Dorrell. Hot on his heels is Ian Stewart who is having his expenses closely scrutinised. And before the hand wringing lefties and pinko liberals point the finger at these two Tories, remember Denis  McShane. Then there's that fat old bag Moran who avoided a spell in chokey by feigning claiming mental illness at her trial. She just proves that psychos are more welcome in Parliament than in chokey.

Then there is that poisonous little dwarf John Bercow trying to suppress information about MPs and their dodgy expenses claims. Pigs policing pigs obviously doesn't work. Furthermore the pathetic excuse trundled out by many of these greedy bastards that "I haven't broken the rules" doesn't wash. In fact it not only doesn't wash it is absolute bullshit! Ever heard of  that old saying 'the spirit of the law' chaps? Ever heard of morality chaps? If that is your level of judgement then you really should not be lording it over us mere mortals. You really should be banged up for  a few years to contemplate your snivelling little lives. Then put up against the wall and shot.

But millions of people need to take a good hard look at what they are allowing to happen in their name. Every time you think the state should do X, Y or Z you are saying you want to give more power to people like Dorrell, McShane, Moran et al. Every socialist is effectively saying he/she is happy to hand over responsibility for their lives to MPs and bureaucrats. Nationalisation means handing business, including healthcare in the form of the NHS, to MPs and the state.

The last thing we need is more state. What we need is to smash the current sytem and to start again. Pigs with their snouts in the trough should be the first to go.

Knobhead of the Year-David Cameron?

It's that time of year when I start wondering who will get the Knobhead of the Year award.

There are plenty of candidates this year, such as the committee full of knobheads and out and out nutjobs who gave the Nobel Peace Prize to the European Union. Rio Ferdinand is high on the list for boring the arse off us all with his constant whining and whinging about supposed racism in football.

But today David Cameron has enthusiastically joined the fray with a wonderfully bizarre defence of the most ridiculed and unwanted elections in the history of the world, yesterday's Police and Crime Commissioner elections. Only around 15% of the electorate could be bothered wasting a few seconds of their lives to put a cross by the name of a muppet attempting to clamber aboard the latest gravy train for failed and aspiring politicos. Here's what the knobhead said:

'The turnout was always going to be low, when you're electing a new post for the first time,'

No Dave, turnout was low because we're sick of voting for knobheads like you.

Police State

If anybody thought that this bastard son of Blair government, aka The Coalition, would improve anything in the UK then think again. The public have told the government that they don't want the police commissars (PCCs), foisted on us by Cameron, by not bothering to vote yesterday.

This morning on TV Damian Green MP, Minister for Police and Criminal Justice, claimed that even though less than 20% of the electorate voted, the new commissars had a mandate from the public because we had the chance to vote for them. How very North Korean.

No Mr Green, we didn't vote because we don't want them. In plain English, we don't give a shit about your poxy commissars. They do not have a mandate any more than this poxy government that nobody actually voted for has a mandate.

Then this morning I read about a man in Glasgow who is to appear in court charged with behaving "in a threatening or abusive" manner. He fed a sausage roll to a police horse who he felt looked hungry. It may have been a daft thing to do, but arrested and charged? Nice to know the Glasgow police have no real crime to take up their time.

Recently there has also been a case where a drunken student was arrested and spent a night in the cells for behaving in a "homophobic manner". His crime? He asked a police horse if it was gay. Yes, I know. It seems that the police put the poor delicate flowers among their ranks, the ones who are easily offended and emotionally delicate, out of the way up there on horseback.

It is easy to laugh at these and other ludicrous examples of the state losing all sense of proportion, but that is a very dangerous trap to fall into. What these things show, the commissars and the humourless prats on horseback, is actually how far down the authoritarian road to a police state we have moved in the last couple of decades.

So, the next time you pass a bobby, especially one on a horse, make sure you smile and greet him with a cheery "good morning officer". Anything less may be interpreted as threatening behaviour, and may find yourself cuffed, horsewhipped and dragged into cell for a night.

And bear in mind that the annual police terror will soon be upon us as the police try to catch us for drink driving on the way to work of a morning after the previous night's Christmas party. Be warned!

Full story of the sausage roll here.

Ayn Rand on Israel

"If you mean whose side one should be on, Israel or the Arabs, I would certainly say Israel because it’s the advanced, technological, civilized country amidst a group of almost totally primitive savages who have not changed for years and who are racist and who resent Israel because it’s bringing industry, intelligence, and modern technology into their stagnation."

Q and A session during taping of Donohue, Live in New York

Very hard to disagree with her. What Israel is suffering is an extremely concentrated version of what the rest of us face from Islamist extremists.

Nadine Dorries and the PPC Elections

The Police and Crime Commissioners are just another gravy train,  so I've spoilt my postal ballot paper already for tomorrow's election. I did intend abstaining completely but felt the urge to leave a message on the ballot paper, it may not do much good, but it made me feel better.

A friend of mine has a good idea. At the bottom of each ballot paper there should be a 'Non of the Above' box and if 51% vote NOTA then the election is declared void and nobody is elected. I would also count abstentions because, let's face it, if the candidates can't muster 51% between them then none of them deserve to be elected. I'd rather have no MP at the moment than the insipid little clown who currently 'represents' Morecambe and Lunesdale.

Then we have Nadine Dorries waltzing off to the jungle. She claims that it will give her access to 16m viewers who will then see politicians in a different light. What her entering actually shows is how out of touch our politicians really are. Did she not realise that people like her are only invited on to have the piss taken out of them? Did you not see George Galloway Nadine? And is she not the one who accused Sally Bercow of bringing her husband's position as Speaker of the House when she went on Celebrity Big Brother?

But I have mixed feelings about Nadine buggering off during term time like that. Part of me wishes every Member of Parliament had buggered off with her, preferably until the next election. At least then they couldn't keep mithering and badgering us with new laws and taxes.

Pub Closures-The Gransmoor, Openshaw, Manchester

I was thinking about pub closures today and remembered the Gransmoor on Ashton Old Road in Manchester. Last time I passed it was a secondhand fridge and washing machine shop. Sad as it was a great old Victorian place.

Then I started thinking of some of the bands we used to see there when we were in our teens. Manchester pubs and clubs were the launch pad for many great bands, I suppose they just use the internet these days which is a shame as so many small atmospheric venues and pubs are no more.

One band that I remember from the late seventies, and I was introduced to them by my cousin Vinny in the Gransmoor, was Gammer. The last incarnation of Gammer's original band I saw was Gammer and His Familiars at the old Band on the Wall in Manchester in the early eighties. Happy daze!

So this post has really just become a plug for Norman Gammer. I've posted this before but eh, if something's good..





  

For the Fallen-We Will Remember Them

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.

Police and Crime Commissioner Elections-November 15th

In the run up to the last few elections I've pledged to boycott, abstain, spoil my ballot paper or whatever. But when push came to shove I always caved in, held my nose and voted for the least scary option.

This time though I have followed through and spoilt my ballot paper for the PCC elections on November 15th. I have a postal vote you see. I wrote 'just another gravy train' at the top of the ballot paper and 'muppet' next to the name of each candidate. If nothing else it may give the poor counters a giggle when they have the boring job of counting. Mind you, they won't be too bored this time as turnout is likely to be an all-time low, so they'll probably be done in half an hour.

However, just because I've told them what I think doesn't mean I shouldn't hlp those who may wish to join in this charade of democracy. So here is a useful link to a website that links, when you enter your postcode, to details of your candidates.

I only found it today but it made me even more convinced that abstaining is the only way. My candidates look like a right bunch of oddballs, loonies and fruitcakes.

Can They Get Any Worse?

So, the pinko lefties are drooling about Obama being re-elected. Big deal.  Seeing him constantly on TV these last few weeks has really shown how shallow politics has become here and in the States. He seems hot on rhetoric but when you analyse it he says little of any real substance. From a British point of view having a US President who supports Argentina's claim to the Falklands isn't very helpful either.

Then there's the question of race. This morning I've lost count of the number of references to Obama's race. At best it makes him sound like a token black man, at worst it is surely racism. I've always said that the far left and the far right are two sides of the same coin on the question of race and racism. The reaction to the re-election of Obama, I think, proves me right.

Then we have Nadine Dorries MP disappearing off to Australia to play around in the reality TV show I'm A Celebrity.. Says it all about what she thinks of her position as a Member of Parliament and her constituents. At least George Galloway wasn't an MP when he was well and truly humiliated on Big Brother.

Then we have hundreds of thousands of people signing petitions calling for a referendum on our continued membership of the European Union. Do we get a referendum? No, instead we get to vote for elected Police and Crime Commissioners on November 15th. Democracy in action?

Yesterday I spoilt my ballot paper for the November 15th election. I posted it back with 'just another politicians' gravy train' written across it and something like 'muppet' written against the name of each candidate. I look forward to doing similar at the next general election.

Surely it can't get any worse.

NHS-Paid To Kill

I was out early today, looking forward to a busy day including Mass as today is All Saints Day, a holy day of obligation for us Roman Catholics. But when I got my copy of the Daily Telegraph I was shocked to read this story.

It seems that not only has euthanasia been allowed through the back door, but the government has paid as much as £12m to hospitals that help the terminally ill to die. I can't help wondering what else is going on in our state health system that they don't want us to know about.

Co-Op To Boycott Israel

I have just received the following message from the British Israel Coalition:

 

The Co-op boycotts Israeli companies. They seek to justify this bigotry by invoking ‘ethical policy’.

 

But when you read their ‘ethical policy’, it is clear that it exists to demonise one country: Israel

This week at the Gmex convention centre in Manchester, there is an international expo hosted by the Co-op. The British Israel Coalition is supporting the activists protesting Co-op's highly discriminatory treatment of Israel and working to get this one-sided boycott removed.

Please come along and help us on Thursday or Friday this week to distribute leaflets and help us get across our case.

If you can help, please get in touch with the activists in Manchester:

 

Here is a link to the British Israel Coalition website.

When Voting Becomes Collaboration

These are strange times indeed. Have politicians ever been quite as despised as they are now? Have protest movements ever been as hysterical and puerile as they are now?

Let's start with the wailing and gnashing of teeth about individuals and businesses not paying enough tax. In the sixties the protest movements would have wanted to pay as little to the state as possible, so that they weren't feeding its war machine in Vietnam for example. Today there is faux moral outrage at people and businesses paying, perfectly legally, as little tax as possible. I suppose those headbangers at UK Uncut are happy to pay ever more tax to fund an increasingly paramilitary police force and ever more morally dubious foreign adventures by our military. Those that pay tax that is.

Another about turn by the lefties is attacking Andrew Mitchell for shouting at a bobby. I howled with laughter at seeing the type of nutters who turn a march into a game shoot, with the police being the game, suddenly wanting to string up evil bastards who call the police names. Suddenly they are fanatically pro-police-nothing to do with Mitchell being a 'posh Tory' of course.

Then you have a government that nobody elected. Yes, I know how our system works and that if a big enough group of MPs can band together and cobble a majority then they form a government. But does that mean it is right? I certainly didn't vote to have idiots like Clegg and Cable lording it over us.

Then, as I've said before hundreds of thousands of us have signed petitions, campaigned and marched for a say in our relationship with the European Union. What do we get? The introduction of Police and Crime Commissioners! I don't remember thousands and thousands of people campaigning for PCCs.

But it isn't enough to blame the state. I've been actively involved in politics since schooldays but eventually became disillusioned with the ever increasing apathy of the public. In many cases it was because they had no idea how the sytem works. They didn't understand that at a local level activists are volunteers who give their time freely to leaflet, stand for election and canvass the voters, admittedly in ever dwindling numbers. In many cases they didn't know the difference between a councillor, an MP and an MEP. So eventually I walked away from active politics.

Back in the 1980s I attended a meeting addressed by Enoch Powell, one of several times I was fortunate enough to hear him speak. During questions he was asked how he felt that people should vote in the upcoming European elections. His immediate response was: "I wouldn't soil my hands on a European ballot paper".  He then explained that taking part in the process was akin to validating it.

In many recent elections I have voted for the least bad option. I have not voted for any party from conviction for many years. But now is the time to say enough is enough, beginning with the elections on November 15 for the PCCs. They are a sham, another gravy train for the political class and I do not accept their validity and am no longer prepared to validate what I no longer believe in by holding my nose and plonking a cross in a box.

Furthermore there is no longer a party in this country that I feel able to vote for. They have lied, cheated and broken promises for far too many years and the forging of this despised cioalition was the final straw. In future I will not be voting as I am no longer prepared to vote for something I do not believe in. And before people cry about people dying for my right to vote, they did not! They fought and died for our freedom and that includes the right to vote or not to vote.

I will no longer be voting as voting has becone collaboration.

The Madness of Tony Blair

Proof, if it were needed, that Tony Blair has finally lost his last few marbles. He has now been in Berlin saying that the only way out of the EU's current shambles is to have a Europe wide election for a European president. And guess who wants to stand?

The man's a complete mad man and should be locked up for the safety of us all.

Report in the Daily Mail.

Time For A Real Conservative Party?

Cameron is looking increasingly isolated on the question of the European Union. More and more politicians seem to be waking up the nightmare that is the European Union. Except Cameron, who seems to be doing a great impression of a lemming. The only real chance the Tories have of winning the next election is to bin him. But who could replace him?

At the last election I made the mistake of voting Tory as the best of a pitiful bunch of misfit candidates. Sadly David Morris was elected who seems to have a backbone of jelly. I contacted him for his views on gay marriage and he didn't have a view. He informed me that there was a public consultation process and he would await the outcome of that before forming an opinion. What a prize prat. If he had said that he was in favour I would hgave disgreed with him, but would have respected his opinion. But to effecrtively say that he would wait to see which bandwagon to jump on proves to me that he is a man with no principles or genuinely held political beliefs, a waste of space.

This sorry state leaves me unable to vote Tory at the next election. Even if they bin Cameron I could never again vote for a political tart like David Morris. So, in the absence of a serious conservative/right of centre political party that isn't full of sundry loonies, headbangers and galloping egomaniacs it looks like I'll be abstaining at the next election, as I will be on November 15 when the elections to Cameron's latest gravy train take place.

Southern Jukebox Music

The Penguin Cafe Orchestra made some remarkable music, but this one has to take the prize for numero uno:




I may have popped it on here before. If so I don't care as it's well worgth a second hearing.

Racism In Football-Kick It Out

The older I get the less I seem to understand. Earlier I blogged about Police and Crime Commissioners and how I just can't see the point of them. Now it's racism in football and Rio Ferdinand apparently setting up a trade union for black players only. Odd as I thought apartheid was a thing of the past, but so be it.

What I don't understand is why the authorites seem to be allowing virulent racism in football, apparently sweeping it under the carpet much more effectively than professional cycling swept doping under the carpet. Apart from Suarez and Terry behaving like pillocks I'm unaware of galloping racism in football. It seems to me that there are a higher proportion of black players in football today than the proportion of black people in the general population. Or are some clubs actually barring black players? I don't think so.

In the 1970s there were racist chants aimed at black players but the world has moved on and in recent years, watching football virtually weekly, I've been unaware of racism apart from the odd unpleasant individual. Maybe it is rampant in some Eastern European states, but certainly not in the UK.

Rio Ferdinand seems to be in a constant state of rage about race but doesn't stand up and give examples of racism in football. Earning more in a week than most people earn in a few years it doesn't seem to me like racism in football has held Ferdinand, or the many other successful black players.

The more I hear about this rampant racism in football the more I wonder why anybody gets involved with such an unpleasant sport. Maybe we should all boycott until it's cleaned up, as happened with cricket and rugby under apartheid. That Ferdinand should be making such a fortune in such a vile racist industry sickens me. He should walk away and have nothing to do with such a thoroughly unpleasant game. After all, he's probably made enough money from it to live in comfort for the rest of his life.

Police and Crime Commissioner Elections

I really don't see the point of elected police chiefs, it's just another ConDem gimmick. Sadly Cameron seems to have learnt a little too well from Blair and his Tory Party is just a smoothish facade with no substance.

For many years we have had police authorities consisting of the great and the good, and elected representatives. I fail to see how one elected, highly paid police chief is going to make the police more accountable, especially if that chief is John Prescott or some other failed politico.

The only argument anybody has put to me in favour was that being elected will make them accountable to us. Oh yes, just like the elected government?

To date we have had no information from the state about this mammoth breakthrough in democracy, so it is highly unlikely that I will be voting in November to put whatever nitwit stands onto yet another highly paid gravy train.

Maybe somebody could persuade me otherwise.

George Osborne and the Class Warriors

Murderer and hero of the class warriors.

I have failed, and I am the first to admit it. I have searched and searched but I cannot find why George Osborne, the Chancellor, is all over the media for apparently moving from standard class to first class on a train to London. Big deal.

Headlines like "Great Train Snobbery" may be amusing and clever but does that mean that I am some kind of outrageous upper crust snob because I have occasionally travelled first class on a train?

The Guardian in this piece of usual pinko drivel tries to make it into something by claiming that an aide of the Chancellor tried to have him moved into first class without paying. But the supplement was paid so end of story.

In this country there is an overwhelming tide of inverted snobbery because we happen to have a goverment with a certain number of ex-public schoolboys in it. I thought in the twenty-first century we were supposed to treat people fairly whatever their race, class, religion, shoe size etc etc. That seems to be the case unless you happen to be from what the class warriors perceive as a 'privileged background', then it's open season in the most small minded, petty and unpleasant manner imagineable.

I've always found class warfare vulgar and nasty in the extreme. This nonsense with George Osborne proves that a sizeable proportion of people in this country still thrive and feed on hatred of people they see as privileged.

The reality is that they thrive on hatred for people who are more successful than themselves. It's called socialism.

Christians, Gays and Freedom

This is my reaction to this story.

First of all if I had a hotel, which I haven't, I would not care whether a same sex couple using my establishment was gay or straight. What they do in the privacy of their bedroom is no concern of mine.

Secondly I would not stay in a hotel that advertised itself as a 'gay hotel'. I wouldn't have a problem with a hotel advertising itself as such, I would just prefer not to stay there. Similarly I would prefer not to stay at a hotel that described itself as a 'christian hotel', despite being a practising Roman Catholic. Both designations imply to me establishlishments whose owners are so obsessed with one aspect of their lives that they forget that they are actually a plain old hotel and would probably bore me to death within minutes.

But I see no reason why christians can't refuse to accomodate gay couples or why gay hotels shouldn't be allowed to refuse heterosexual couples accomodation. I wouldn't stay in a hotel where people of whatever persuasion or belief  were banned, but it should be the decision of the owners and the state should keep out.

Police Plebs?

A few years ago Halford's supplied the police in Lancashire with mountain bikes. One particular bobby, in Preston, refused to use his bike as although he was perfectly capable of riding it, he hadn't had specific training in riding a police bike. Health and safety and all that.

Today I read about a blind man in Chorley, not far from Preston, who was tasered by a bobby hunting a man with a Samurai sword. Apparently the bobby mistook the blind man's white stick for a Samurai sword. I can't help wondering if it was the same bobby who refused to ride his bike, but have found no reports that said taser happy cop was on a Halford's mountain bike.

Alternatively maybe the bike bobby had gone for health and safety instruction/training and they'd found that his eyesight was too poor to ride a bike on the open road, hence he managed to mistake a white stick for a Samurai sword.

On a slightly more serious note I can't help wondering why the bobby felt so threatened by the blind man that he felt the need to taser him. After all, if he was too far away to differentiate between a white stick and a Samurai sword then the officer could hardly have been in immediate danger.

So my advice if you visit our beautiful county of Lancashire is to be very careful what you carry, just in case it could be mistaken for a lethal weapon. And if you don't heed that advice I only hope it's a taser toting rather than a gun toting cop that bags you.

And finally will people in the media, the Police Federation and Ed Miliband, now be big enough to admit that the police do actually have a fair proportion of plebs among their ranks?

Ricky Gervais, Religion and Science

 

I'll admit that I've never understood why people like Ricky Gervais. To me he's smug and totally unfunny. To top it all he is nowhere near as clever as he thinks he is. So I wasn't in the least bit surprised to see one of his childish Tweets bobbing up in various places on the internet.

 

Interestingly he doesn't thank science for the nuclear bomb.

BBC and Free Speech

In response to the announcement that the EU had been awarded the totally ludicrous and discredited Nobel Peace Prize a good friend left the following comment on the BBC News website:

Surely Berlusconi should now get a nobel prize for his services to women and his
fight against corruption?

It was removed and following is the BBC's reason for censoring it, which was emailed to my friend:

Thank you for contributing to the BBC web site.  Unfortunately we've had to
remove the content below (above now) because it contravened one of our House Rules.

Your comment was considered to have broken the following House Rule:

"We reserve the right to fail comments which...

Contain potentially defamatory statements.”
 

The sooner the taxpayer funded BBC is abolished the better.

Nobel Peace Prize-European Union

It seems that the European Union is about to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Well if true, after awarding it to Obama for winning an election, it puts the final nail in the coffin of the whole stupid process. What a joke!

I am pre-empting the announcement. If it's not the EU I will donate £20 to St John's Hospice, Lancaster.

Jimmy Savile and Lance Armstrong

This week it's been interesting hearing peoples' reactions to the accusations against Jimmy Savile and Lance Armstrong. In the case of Lance Armstrong the people I've spoken to, like me, have defended him when I expected to be in a minority, possibly of one.

After defending him on Twitter yesterday I was invited to defend him on the BBC World Service, a programme called World Have Your Say. The thrust of my defence of Armstrong was that he had around 500 drug tests during his cycling career and did not fail a single one. The report produced by USADA contains nothing but hearsay, maybe from people with a grudge or people who knew they would receive a lighter ban for admitting their own doping if they fingered Armstrong. Let's face it, USADA have hounded Armstrong for years and were determined to get him one way or another.

With Jimmy Savile the questions are even more far reaching. Why did people wait until he was dead and buried to make the accusations? Why did social workers, police and other agencies seemingly ignore accusations against Savile going back 50 years? Why did hospital authorities allow Savile to wander at will around wards with no supervision if, as is claimed, nurses and other hospital staff suspected or saw him sexually abusing patients? As with Hillsborough, where people in authority at the time are likely to be charged now with manslaughter, I would hope that anybody in any position to have acted against Savile, be it a nurse, a doctor a BBC manager or whoever but didn't, faces investigation and charges if the accusations are proved correct.

There is also the question of women now coming forward claiming to have been victims of sexual misbehaviour, by people other than Jimmy Savile, when working for the BBC. One question here is what constitutes sexual harassment or sexual abuse? Over recent decades what is seen as acceptable behaviour by a man towards a woman has changed dramatically. Could what they are looking back on have been what was regarded at the time as 'banter', but with twenty first century eyes it becomes harassment or abuse? And again, why did these apparently strong women, building successful careers in the tough world of broadcasting, not act at the time?

This morning I read that social workers in Rochdale ignored reports that a 13 year old girl was involved in prostitution claiming that she had made a 'lifestyle choice'. All these things show one thing, that the authorites (the state) cannot be trusted. They need to be questioned and challenged constantly and in many cases agencies of the state should be abolished, only then will people start taking individual responsibility.

Have Eurosceptic MEPs Gone Native?

In the 1990s I was involved with Alan Sked's Anti Federalist League. Around 1995 it became the UK Independence Party and I didn't join, firmly believing that a single issue party would not achieve my aim of leaving the European Union.

In 2000 I was invited, as a local councillor, to address a meeeting of the local UKIP branch. John Whittaker, who became an MEP in 2004, convinced me that UKIP MEPs would use their positions to build a credible and effective political movement in this country to fight domestic elections. I then joined UKIP. John did work hard to do just that when he was elected, but I believe that he is the only UKIP MEP who did.

The other MEP to work hard in this country is Nikki Sinclaire. It was her petition that forced the referendum debate in Parliament. Nikki was forced out of UKIP for refusing to sit with right-wing extremists in their group in the European Parliament. I can't think of anything useful that any other UKIP MEPs have done.

While I respect Nikki I no longer believe that Eurosceptic parties, including her We Want A Referendum Party, will achieve their aims by getting people elected to the European Parliament. I firmly believe that Eurosceptics in the European Parliament have been seduced by the money and status. If all 70+ MEPs for the UK were Eurosceptic it would not bring us one minute closer to exiting. Only the EU imploding or our own Westminster Parliament will achieve that.

Logically therefore, we Eurosceptics have nothing at all to gain from sending MEPs off on the gravy train that they claim to abhor and wish to leave. In recent weeks I have asked numerous people in the North West if they can name any of their MEPs. None could. I have also asked if they can name the parties their MEPs represent. Most thought they were Liberal Democrat or Labour, only one included a Tory, none knew that there was a UKIP MEP, and only one knew there was a BNP MEP. I asked how many MEPs there were in the North West. None got the answer right. So in terms of connecting with the electorate I would say that all MEPs have failed completely. There is virtually no awareness of them or their role. No consultation on any issues, it seems, is done by any of the North West MEPs. So what is the point?

In my opinion the only logical reason for any Eurosceptic remaining an MEP is that they have gone native. And that applies to Europhile MEPs too.

Conservative Party Variety Show

A few years ago I attended a number of party conferences and Tory conferences in the 1980s used to be great affairs. Although policy couldn't be changed there were serious politicians and serious debates with excellent contributions by the membership from the floor. When did it change? Was it Blair, and the Tories copying his slick PR style that did it?

This year's Tory conference is more like a variety show. At times it looks they're using a breakfast TV studio and then there is music blaring out from Take That, or somebody else seen as 'trendy' by Tory grandees, while a dreary video is shown. The tedious habit of making speeches while strolling around the stage is another instant turn-off. How apt that geeky Miliband uses that particular technique.

We've gone, these past weeks, from the pantomime that is the UKIP conference, through the Labour and Lib Dem charades to the Tory variety show this week. If nothing else they have shown what a busted flush most of our political parties are. They have also confirmed that none of them will be getting my vote next time around.

Sadly theses conferences can't be called victories of style over substance, even the style is dreary and tedious. Bring back the statesmen and serious political thinkers of yesteryear. Or am I just becoming an old fart?

Growing Up In Public

Increasingly I despair for the future of this country. We seem to have bred a generation of useless parents who have no clue how to raise children. But unlike past generations, I'll bet the useless ones have had soppy lessons at school on parenting skills or similar.

We have busy lives and a couple of mornings a week we like to have breakfast together in local cafes before we go our seperate ways to earn a crust. Increasingly it is becoming more and more a bad idea as kids increasingly run amok while their mothers sit twiddling their mobile phones. This morning the brats were running around, helping themselves from drinks cabinets, with no shoes on and looking as if they were still in pyjamas.

But it isn't all single mothers. On Saturday it was a couple who sat twiddling on their mobiles while their brat looked around screaming, probably for a little parental attention. Said parents looked blankly towards their offspring occasionally before carrying on with their mobiles. They only became animated when a friend turned up who they could boast to about how drunk they'd been the night before.

I think I'll be cooking breakfast at home in future.

British Railways and the NHS

So the franchise process for the West Coast Mainline was cocked up by civil servants. No surprise there.

Nationalising our railways would effectively put them back under the control of politicians (the government) and civil servants. Do you trust our politicians and the state to get anything right? And remember, the Beeching Axe fell when our railways were nationalised, not when they were privately owned.

So who in their right minds would want government involved in any aspect of our railway system? In fact if our railway sytem is too important to leave to politicians and civil servants to cock up, then what about our healthcare?

Just a thought.

Eric Hobsbawm

The Marxist historian Eric Hobsbawm always epitomised to me the hypocrisy of the twentieth century political classes. It was, and still is, socially unacceptable to profess any kind of sympathy with any aspect of fascism but was, and still is, acceptable to embrace communism. Surely murdering millions in the pursuit of an ideology should be condemned whatever that ideology is?

Rather than go into detail about Hobsbawm, who died yesterday, I would invite you to read the two following objective pieces about him:

This one from The Commentator

This one from Helen Szamuely's Your Freedom and Ours Blog

UKIP, The EU, A Referendum And A Conspiracy

One of the things that sometimes amused me, but often really angered me when I was active in politics was the conspiracy theorists. Believe me in Eurosceptic politics there are plenty of conspiracy theorists.

On Wednesday I posted about UKIP and the We Want A Referendum Party, you can read it below. There are several comments from a very typical conspiracy theorist. He is typical because he bends the truth, or simply ignores the truth, because it doesn't fit in with his theory. So he began by saying that the We Want A Referendum Party is a black op initiated, I presume, by the secret service to kibosh UKIP. He then changed tack and the We Want A Referendum Party became merely a vehicle for people to jump aboard the Brussels gravy train. He even cited incorrect reasons for the party's founder, Nikki Sinclair, leaving UKIP. When I pointed out the reality, that she hadn't resigned the whip but refused to sit with ultra-right extremists in UKIP's group in Brussels, as did two other UKIP MEPs, she was expelled while the other two were not, he convenmniently ignored this truth.

I have waffled on above to highlight the point. I'm sure most people have come across similar whether it be a theory about the EU, the assassination of JFK, the sinking of the Titanic or whatever. It serves no purpose to debate with these people because no matter what evidence or argument you put forward they do not believe the reality. Usually, if you're case is particularly strong, they will eventually accuse you of being in on the conspiracy.

In the case of the EU/UKIP conspiracy I do not believe one exists. The starting point for this particular conspiracy theory is that 50%, maybe more, have wanted to leave the EU for many years, but we are still deeply in there. Well forgive me but similar numbers want the return of the death penalty, is that a conspiracy too? I'd say that way more than 50% want overseas aid at least cut if not scrapped. Is that too a conspiracy? No, governments have a habit of ignoring the people when it suits them, and if you don't get that you don't get the nature of government and why so many of us are so very disillusioned with our system. Rather than face the reality, which might mean getting off their arses and doing something, it is easier for conspiracy theorists to sit at their laptops and tilt at windmills.

The reason Eurosceptics haven't achived independence from the EU is quite simple. The movement is a disparate group of politicos who agree on little other than leaving the EU. Secondly although around 50% of the electorate would be happy to leave the EU they vote in elections on health, education, law and order and a whole range of issues. They do not feel strongly enough about the EU to vote on that single issue. To those who are vehement that the EU is the only issue they cannot caccept this and search for a sinister reason for their failure. Up pops a conspiracy.

Then there is UKIP itself. People over the years have been attracted to UKIP, despite them having MEPs, because the argument was that they would use the MEP resources to build a solid party in the UK to fight elections to Westminster. Sadly, whereas with never more than two MEPs since 1999 the Green Party now has an MP in Westminster and even Respect has an MP, UKIP is no nearer gaining a seat today than they were in 1999. Incompetence? The MEPs have gone native and enjoy the gravy train a little too much? Or is Nigel Farage part of a conspiracy to derail the Eurosceptic movement by coralling Eurosceptics into a cul-de-sac?

For my part I believe UKIP have gone native. They have some of the worst attendance records in Brussels but do little that attracts publicity in the UK. In short they get their fat salaries, huge  expenses and allowances and do very little of any worth.

As for taking seriously our Westminster elections I suggest you watch the Daily Politics clip that I posted on Wednesday from about 4 minutes in. If you do then bear in mind that UKIP claim that MEPs and the Euro Parliament is a complete waste of time and money and that it is only our parliament in Westminster that can get us out of the EU. You will hear UKIP's deputy leader telling Katie Hopkins of We Want A Referendum that her party should not fight UKIP in the 2014 Euro elections but should fight the 2015 UK general election.

Now, why would UKIP's deputy leader prefer the Eurosceptic vote to be split in a Westminster election rather than a Euro election? Conspiracy or boring old, straightforward gone native?

UKIP v We Want A Referendum

The following is an appearance on The Daily Politics by Katie Hopkins of the We Want A Referendum Party.

What I find really amusing is the sheer panic of UKIP MEP Paul 'Scouse Farage' Nuttall at the prospect of losing his seat on the gravy train if the party splits the Eurosceptic vote in 2014. He declares that no number of MEPs would bring about a referendum and that a UK election is where they (We Want A Referendum Party) should be concentrating. Does that mean UKIP are not as interested in UK elections as they are in Euro elections? It would seem so judging by this little debate.

More gravy anyone?

Andrew Mitchell MP

There are serious issues facing the country, indeed the world, but the media and political classes are obsessing about a government minister having a go at a bobby. Fair enough Mitchell sounds like a prat but please, let's get a sense of proportion and forget about it.

As for the Police Federation banging on about an enquiry well they need to grow up. To use the fact that two police women were murdered in the same week is a cynical and emotive ploy by them and is far worse than anything Mitchell did. The Police Federation might also like to remember  that the incident occurred just after we found out about the police lies and cover-up over Hillsborough. But that wouldn't suit the bobbies' union agenda would it?

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.