ID Cards

Liberty tends to be very selective in its calls for freedom and liberty, but it does have some good stuff on its website, such as this on ID cards.

Workplace Bullies!

Here is the report of a sixteen year old girl being sacked for saying on Facebook that her job was "boring". She didn't use the company name.

The boss of the company, Steve Ivell, said:

"Ivell Marketing is a small, close-knit family company and it is very important that all the staff work together in harmony.

"Had Miss Swann put up a poster on the staff notice board making the same comments and invited other staff to read it there would have been the same result."

Actually Steve, it is nothing like that you hyper-sensitive prat, not to mention bully. I only wish Ivell's outfit were clients of mine. I would take great pleasure in sacking them off pronto!

Friday Funday

Man on the Moon by R.E.M.



Followed by a classic comedy moment from 'Only Fools and Horses'.



Finally, last night I went to a sportsman's dinner at Lancashire County Cricket Club and Kevin Connelly was on after dinner. He was fantastic and you can't miss him if you enjoy sport and impressionists.

The Gold Standard

Some time back I blogged about the price of gold. I didn't claim then, nor do I now, to be a genius when it comes to high finance and economics, far from it, but often a gut feeling backed by a little knowledge, can put you in the right direction. So I was pleased to find the following press release when I was perusing the Libertarian Alliance website, which I like to do when I can.


NEWS RELEASE FROM THE LIBERTARIAN ALLIANCE
In Association with the Libertarian International

Release Date: Friday 4th April 2008
Release Time: Immediate


Statement by the Libertarian Alliance on the Financial Crisis: Time to Return to Gold

The Libertarian Alliance, the radical free market and civil liberties policy institute, today issues the following statement on the present run of crises in the financial markets. This statement is prompted by the various calls made for closer regulation of the financial sector.

Libertarian Alliance Director, Dr Sean Gabb, says:

"The world may or may not be on the edge of financial collapse. But the present run of banking crises is only the latest consequence of the ending of the gold standard. Since 1914, and more particularly since 1971, the ability of governments to create unlimited amounts of fiat money has led to bubble after bubble, each one larger than before. Financial markets have become little more than casinos. Immense resources have been diverted into the promotion and management of speculation. All other economic activity has been subordinated to and therefore distorted by such speculation.

"The latest set of problems, brought on by fooling lending on property in America, is not a failure of the free market system. It is ultimately the effect of government monetary policies. The answer does not lie in some new set of regulations, which may prevent the next speculative frenzy. The true answer lies in the return to a more sensible and more honest set of monetary arrangements.

"We mean by this the return to a fully convertible gold standard.

"The Libertarian Alliance calls on the British Government to do the following:

* To order the conversion of all foreign currency reserves held by in the Bank of England into gold;
* To sell every reasonably marketable asset of the British State, to convert the proceeds into gold, and to lodge these at the Bank of England;
* To revalue the Pound, so that all claims on the Bank of England were equal to the gold reserve of the Bank of England:
* To impose on the Bank of England a legal obligation to pay all claims on it in gold, on demand and without limit:
* To impose on the Bank of England an obligation to do all within its ability, and nothing other than this, to maintain the new parity between the Pound and gold:
* To impose on all deposit receivers operating in the United Kingdom (unless explicitly exempted by contract) to pay all claims on them in gold, on demand and without limit;
* To make the directors or, if they are without the jurisdiction, the most senior management of all deposit receivers in the United Kingdom personally responsible for any failure to make such payments:
* To impress on any foreign government or central bank that might choose to fix a parity against the Pound that no assistance whatever would be given to maintain such a parity.

"We note that these measures would bring about first a severe devaluation of the Pound, and then a credit squeeze that deflated the value of real and financial assets. But this is what we seem already to be facing. A return to the gold standard would provide us with a stable financial system, and would tend to protect us against future bubbles, and would abolish the need for intrusive financial regulation.

"We also note that a fully convertible gold standard would make all money laundering laws unenforceable, and would severely limit the ability of the British State to finance its activities by the unlimited sale of bonds to the banking system. We would unreservedly welcome both these effects.

"We look forward to a Britain, and preferably a world, in which fiat money has become as unusual as state ownership of telephone networks, and in which paper and electronic money is a rare substitute for gold and silver and copper coins."

END OF COPY

It still seems to make sense to me.

Libertarian Party UK

I've finally done it. After nearly two years of doubt, and nearly doing it, I have joined the Libertarian Party and it feels very refreshing.

If you are curious I suggest you click on the title of this post, or one of the links to the left, to find out more.

Want A Giggle?

If the answer is yes then you must visit John Prescott's Blog.

It's hilarious but I'm not sure it is supposed to be.

Congestion Lies

A report in Manchester Online proves how the government and the 'Yes' campaigners in Manchester lied about the level of congestion. While they lied about possible gridlock traffic levels were actually going down.

Sean Corker of Manchester Against Road Tolls, said: "Tens of millions of pounds were spent on the congestion charge plans over a two-year campaign, and now we are told congestion is going down.

"Someone has not been telling the truth and it is time somebody resigned."

Thankfully the overwhelming majority of Mancunians had the good sense to vote against the proposed congestion charge in December. All we need to do now is scrap bus lanes, chicanes, speed humps and traffic lights. Hey presto, congestion will virtually disappear.

It's Kicking Off-Part II

I blogged about riots over the weekend, as the only way that the political establishment may be forced to actually listen. It seems that senior police officers are now getting twitchy about the summer. Read it here.

Let's hope we have a real hot, very long heatwave.

Straw Man Speaks

Jack Straw says the Met is no longer 'institutionally racist' thanks to the Macpherson report.

Actually Jack, it never was!

James

As UKIP fade, and I move to the Libertarian Party, here is one from James, from a concert we went to just before Christmas:

It's Kicking Off!

Let's just kick off, the sooner the better.
Bring it on! Riots in the streets and bloodshed. Let's follow the Irish example but take it further. Let's shaft the political class, properly!

Friday Funday

Here's punk band Half Man Half Biscuit with a pleasant little ditty about growing up playing subbuteo. It also inspired me to get my Dukla Prague away shirt from Toffs.



Followed by a tribute to The Smiths by the late, great Bernard Manning.



But that must be balanced with a performance from the genius himself live at Old Trafford, Manchester:

Harman Begins Leadership Bid

It's straight from the horse's mouth and below are the words she used to begin her challenge to Gordon Brown:

She told BBC's Newsnight there was "not an iota of truth" she had positioned herself to take over the top job.

Here's the full story.

Public Transport

There's a bit of a fuss at the moment about public transport. Here is an interesting article from the Times comparing British train fares with those in European countries.

What I can't fathom is why it costs me £2.90 single to travel 10 miles to Lancaster by train but only 10p more (£3.00) for a return. Using a mile by mile fare, which may be slightly unfair but illustrates the point, my journey to London (about 300 miles) should cost about £900, which it doesn't. Just a thought.

One World-One State?

Gordon Brown and New Labour have bankrupted the UK so he is now desperately trying to grab cash from wherever he can. According to this report in the Grauniad world leaders are drawing up plans to shaft tax havens which 'cost' the top economies £100bn each year in tax avoidance.

I'm not sure how Switzerland, the Cayman Islands and others will respond to this but I guess they won't just declare "oh go on then" and roll over. Who knows, perhaps like spreading democracy they will get the crap bombed out of them in the interests of fiscal equality.

I prefer to see independent nation states setting their own rules and levels of taxation. Perhaps if so many countries, such as the UK, didn't have such high taxes, and squander so much of its tax revenue, then people would be happy to pay a little more rather than looking for perfectly legal loopholes.

Bloody Animal Rights Wallahs!

I hadn't realised that snake charming had been illegal in India since 1991, thanks largely to animal rights activists. But now the Indian snake charmers are fighting back.

Good luck lads!

Michael Moore-Prat!

It's a long time since I gratuitously abused Fatty Moore, so here goes. This John Cooper Clarke classic is dedicated to him. As you will see it is entitled Tw@t, so if that word offends you don't listen.

Fair Trade?

Nice work, if you can get it! Wonder how many bananas a poor Latin American farmer has to produce to finance this particular gravy train!

Deputy Executive Director
The Fairtrade Foundation
London

Salary: £57,000 - £65,000



The Deputy Executive Director role exists to strengthen the capacity of the Senior Management Team, and is the linchpin role between the Executive Director (ED) and Departmental Directors. The Foundation is driving forward ambitious plans for delivery of our core mission by increasing the impact of The Fairtrade Foundation in line with the vision contained in the strategic plan to 2012 and needs a talented Deputy Executive Director to be accountable for turning the plans into reality.

With previous experience of operating at a senior management level within an organisation of either comparable scale or complexity, we are looking for someone to undertake the strategic management of the core teams of the Fairtrade Foundation on behalf of the Executive Director, ensuring appropriate internal systems are put in place across the organisation and supporting the Heads of Departments to enable them to deliver on their individual programmes and having accountability for ensuring delivery against organisational KPIs.

A lateral-thinking problem solver, you will seize opportunities for improvement and drive initiatives through to operational excellence. You will have substantial experience at a senior level gained in either the not-for-profit or commercial sector; including leading change management and business improvement initiatives. You will use your proven leadership skills and collaborative style to inspire the cohesion of multi-disciplined teams to take the Fairtrade Foundation on to the next level.


This is a really exciting time to become part of one of the fastest growing social enterprises in the UK enabling increasing numbers of producers to build sustainable businesses in the developing world. If you’re used to working creatively and want to be part of our exciting rapidly expanding world then this could be the job for you.

Police State

Backwards Into The Future

I'm scared, and so should you be. It seems the Fabian Society has a booming membership.

Fabian national membership now stands at a 35 year high: it is over 20% higher than when Labour came to office in May 1997. It is now double what it was when Clement Attlee left office in 1951.

People seem to have learned nothing from the disasters of the seventies, and earlier, and are looking backwards for the same disastrous attempted solutions that Labour/socialists have tried in the past. If you want nightmares tonight peruse their website, which includes Mandy's views on tax hikes:

Pushing up tax rates for high earners is not a “litmus test of social justice”, Business Secretary Peter Mandelson told the Fabian New Year Conference. Instead, tax policy should be guided by the economic circumstances and national needs in play at different times, he argued – with the new 45p top rate necessary for everyone to pay their “fair share of the burden”

Stock up on the basics. Strikes, power cuts and food shortages on the way.