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!

Let's Do The Timewarp-The Queen In Ireland

I heard an interesting piece on the radio this morning and thought it was part of the BBC's Domesday Project. Either that or that I had actually travelled back in time to the 1980s when the IRA were blowing people up and the Liberal Democrats had an ounce of credibility. But no, it was definitely being broadcast live, this very morning.

The piece was about the Queen's visit to Ireland and the participant was some kind of Irish socialist republican, he sounded extremely bitter and insular. He constantly referred to the Queen as 'Elizabeth Windsor'. He's obviously a seriously extreme revolutuionary calling her that!. When pressed he didn't want her there, or Obama when he visits soon because their governments kill innocent people in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya. As most governments in Europe are sending troops to help in those places he was pressed on which heads of state he would welcome. He couldn't name any because he was talking tosh. But the old chestnuts repeatedly popped up about the potato famine, the six counties and how British troops are occupying part of Ireland and we should go and let the Irish be united.

I have no beef with anybody in Ireland be it the Republic or Northern Ireland. My view has always been that if a majority in Northern Ireland want to remain within the United Kingdom then so be it. When a majority want to be part of the Irish Republic then good luck and goodbye. I feel the same about Scotland and have said before that if the people of Cumbria wanted to join an independent Scotland then so be it. That's democracy.

What disturbed me about this particular republican on the radio is that he represents a 'dissident' Irish republican outfit. 'Dissident' being a euphemism for 'terrorist'. He sounded just like a throwback to the dark days of the 1970s and '80s. It was quite sad to hear and a timely reminder that there are still lunatics, on both sides in Ireland, just waiting to return to the path of violence. That's why I think the Queen's visit is so important to Anglo-Irish relations. The overwhelming majority of Irish peope are decent, law abiding people just wanting to live their lives in peace and prosperity just lik the res ofus. But nobody should be complacent.

One final thought. When the little Irish dissident was spouting about the cost of security for the visit in these straightened times, and wanting the British out of Ireland, I don't remember hearing him asking us to take the billions of pounds we baled them out with when we go.  Strange that.

Libya, Armed Insurrection and the Coalition




One man's terrororist.......

 
I don't think it's a legitimate thing for one country to impose its will on another by force. There are lots of governments that we would regard as undemocratic, but it's for their own people to change the situation. China is probably one of the worst, but I don't see us clamouring for regime change or pondering a no fly zone over Shangai, and certainly no calls to send in troops.

What has struck me as odd in the Middle East is the number of people who have jumped in to support the demonstrators/rioters/insurrectionists, with little or no idea whether they would be any better or worse than the governments they want to overthrow. It's almost a Pavlovian response to cries, legitimate or not for 'freedom'. One man's idea of freedom is another's idea of imprisonment, just as it is with democracy.

So that thinking led me to ponder the immediate calls, by this government especially, for governments abroad to get out if the people voice opposition. In the case of Libya take up arms and that proves your democratic credentials and the government should immediately step down, even if the man in charge is a pal of Blair and the previous Labour government.

My conclusion is that those who do not accept the legitimacy of this Coalition should occupy a part of Central London for a week or two, maybe Trafalgar Square which sounds a little bit like Tahrir Square, and hey presto, Cameron and Clegg will flee to Bognor and the government is gone. The army will take charge for a spell while a new constitution is knocked together.

If that fails they only have to get hold of a few Toyota pick up trucks, a few Armalite rifles, which I'm sure that nice Mr Adams or the wonderful Mr McGuiness can get hold of, and there you go, freedom fighters. Surely those same governments that have jumped to urge Ghaddafi out would urge Cameron and Clegg to do the honourable thing too.

It worked for Adams and McGuiness don't forget.

Trouble in Belfast

It's not been a good few days for those fond of orange, what with Holland losing the final and Orangemen getting attacked as they marched in Belfast.

The last time I was in Nothern Ireland, about six years ago, there was widespread cynicism verging on ridicule about the officially stated arms decomissioning. Real people, not idiot politicians like Blair, knew that the peace process would only last so long.

Let's face it, if you put murdering bastards like McGuiness and Adams in positions of power eventually they will grab for more power until they have complete power. In the last twenty years they have been proved absolutely right in their belief that the bomb and the bullet can get them what they want.

No wonder the pair look so smug when you see them on TV. OK the trouble at the moment is nowhere near previous levels, but let's see how long it takes.

Bloody Sunday-The Saville Report

The Saville Report has proved two things, that the IRA have won and that Cameron, with his grovelling apology, is every bit as big a shit as Brown, Blair and the rest.

The squaddies fight back.

Labour Party Scum

25 years ago the IRA blew up the Grand Hotel in Brighton, where the Tories were holding their annual conference. It was the first Tory conference in a few years that I hadn't attended but I had friends there, some actually in the hotel but none of them died thankfully.

The Labour Party have proved how thoroughly vile they are, despite their 'New Labour' makeover, by inviting Martin McGuiness to their conference, in Brighton this year. Overly polite people may call that insensitive, I think it is far worse and more sinister. McGuiness is totally unrepentant, he and his ilk have got away with murder and are rubbing our noses in it.

Remember too, that it was Labour MPS who, in the '80s and '90s consistently voted against the relatively mild anti-terror legislation of the day, when the IRA were committing atrocities here on a far more regular basis than Al Qaeda. Yet they are the ones now turning the UK into a huge prison island.

I've always believed that Labour, and socialists in general were scum, little has changed.

Daily Mail Report

Afghanistan, Iraq And War Criminals

Blair, Brown and others deserve putting on trial once the disasters of Afghanistan and Iraq are over and our troops are home. Here is the full litany of how they not only invaded foreign sovereign states but did it, and carry on, while putting our troops in unneccessary added danger by underfunding and under supplying them.

Brown and his minnions are now scurrying around claiming that the action in Afghanistan is making the UK a safer place. Oh really?

Over the last 30 years many of us felt much more in danger from the IRA than we have felt in the last few years from Al Qaeda. In the past I've been very close to several bomb attacks by the IRA as have family members, including the Manchester bomb, the '96 one as well as the two in the 1970s, and the Canary Wharf bomb. I was sat on a train at Charing Cross when the London Bridge bomb went off and was in London when the Bishopgate bomb was detonated by the IRA.

I don't remember the British government threatening to invade the Irish Republic or the USA, who arguably gave much more support to Irish republican terrorists than Afghanistan has to Al Qaeda. And Sinn Fein/IRA are now power-sharing!

It would be nice to one day see a great Soviet or Nuremberg style show trial with the current batch of war criminals, and those retired, getting their comeuppence.

Now that's off my chest I'll go and start Richard North's book Ministry of Defeat, reviewed here.

Meanwhile, What About Zimbabwe?

While the world, or at least the West, has become focussed on Iran let's not forget Zimbabwe. Remember that place, over there in Africa?

Just like today with Iran, a few months ago all the bleeding heart liberals were attacking the Zimbabwean government and quite rightly so. The great hero being hyped up by all and sundry was Morgan Tsvangirai, who was going to save Zimbabwe from the evil Mugabe and his cronies.

Well Tsvangirai is now Prime Minister and thinks that all Zimbabwean exiles should return home and work with guess who to build stability and prosperity in that country? Yes, that nice Mr Mugabe.

Unlike the people in this country, who fell for McGuinness, Adams and company joining the Northern Irish government, or people who voted UKIP only to see their MEPs being bought off in Brussels but still voted for them on June 4th, this is how the Zimbabwean exiles in the UK responded to Tsvangirai 'going native':



Now that's the way to do it. The problem with Iran is that while we are full of admiration for the people taking to the streets, from a western perspective would the opposition politicians in Iran be any better in government than what is there now?

Full BBC coverage of Tsvangirai's speech.

Reformed Character.....

.....or hypocritical twat?

"We need a collective effort to face down these criminals in society who are quite clearly intent on preying on vulnerable women and children.
We are going to do everything in our power to ensure these criminals, these racist criminals, don't have their way".

Martin McGuinness, of Sinn Fein/IRA, on those nasty people who have destroyed centuries of peaceful 'community' cohabitation in Northern Ireland by attacking Romanians.

Terrorism is obviously one thing, racism another.

Oh Manchester, So Much To Answer For.

The Times reports on Islamist terror groups' use of fake colleges to smuggle terrorists into the country. That's a strange departure as, up until now, they've always used British lads from Luton or Bradford. But there you go, our security services must be right, they did assure us that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction didn't they?

What particularly struck me was that much of the report centres on East Manchester, where I grew up. Roughly speaking that means Gorton, Levenshulme, Openshaw and out to Tameside which includes Hyde and Hattersley. I can't help imagining the high dudgeon of the local citizens, indignant that Al Qaeda should lower the tone of East Manchester in such a terrible way.

Of course they are forgetting that Openshaw saw one of the first IRA murders on the mainland in the 1970s, outside my local as it happens. That Gorton, Hattersley, Hyde and Ashton-under-Lyne were where the Moors Murderers did their evil deeds. That Hyde was where Harold Shipman had his surgery. I'm bloody sure that he, and the previous events, did a great deal more to lower the tone of the neighbourhood than a few more terrorist raids that will probably lead to nowt but a few illegals, as also happened recently in North Manchester.

My parents always harp back, bless 'em, to the golden days when you could leave your front door open, not like theses days. I always have to check with them if by that they mean the 1950s, the decade when they suffered their only ever burglary and one grim night heard the screams of a woman being murdered in a nearby alley.

I suppose we all have our coping mechanisms. Mine is Morrissey and The Smiths so here we go:

Sinn Fein Snouts In The Trough

Even those loveable democrats in Sinn Fein/IRA are at it. Perhaps after supposedly giving up the Armalite for the ballot box they are snouting taxpayer cash with the zeal of the convert.

Isn't it strange how their principles stop them taking their seats in the House of Commons but not the associated cash. Below is from Teletext:

The row over MPs' expenses has extended to Sinn Fein with the disclosure that the party's five MPs have claimed more than £400,000 on a pair of London flats.

It was reported that in the last financial year the five claimed a total of £105,000 even though they do not take their seats at Westminster and are rarely seen in London.

Gerry Adams, Martin McGuinness, Pat Doherty, Michelle Gildernew, and Conor Murphy each claimed £21,000 in Additional Cost Allowances.

The Daily Mail said that since the figures were first published in 2001/02, the Sinn Fein MPs had received a total of £437,405 in the taxpayer funded allowance.

A party spokesman defended the claims. He said that the two rented properties were used by the MPs on a shared basis when they were in London.

"Sinn Fein MPs do not receive a salary from Westminster, nor do they employ any family members. Sinn Fein makes no apology for refusing to sit in the British House of Commons," the spokesman said.

"We also make no apology for ensuring that people who vote for Sinn Fein get the same democratic entitlements as everyone else."

However the payments were strongly condemned by senior Tories.

Shadow Northern Ireland secretary Owen Paterson told The Daily Mail: "It is completely unacceptable for Sinn Fein representatives, who won't even sit in Parliament, to claim hundreds of thousands at the taxpayers' expense.

"That is why the Conservatives have consistently opposed members who refuse to take their seats receiving the accommodation allowance."

Once a pig always a pig I suppose.

Sportsmen Bottling It!

The Bombay murders were shocking but why do our sportsmen, usually cricketers, bottle it whenever something like this happens and rush back home then threaten to never return? Like this.

Throughout my lifetime appalling atrocities have been carried out by Irish republicans in the United Kingdom, and latterly Islamic nutters, and as far as I know not one foreign sporting team has legged it home or refused to come and play here, including foreign teams playing in Belfast in the 70s and 80s.

A fine example is the 1996 European Football Championship held here. The Manchester bomb went of in the middle of it, thankfuly nobody was murdered, but there was no panic reaction about what could have happened or might happen next. What happened to that 'the murdering bastards won't beat us' attitude?

Pansy of the year award for 2008, until a bigger bunch of pansies surface in the next 28 days, goes to the England cricket team and the England and Wales Cricket Board.

IRA and BBC

No real surprise at this report from Reuters appearing on St Patrick's Day. No surprise either that the Irish police arrested a number of BBC men in connection with paramilitary activity.

Last night I had the misfortune to watch the South Bank Show 'special' on the march of the Marxists in 1968. Seeing Melvyn Bragg brown-nosing prime t~*t Tariq Ali was truly vomit inducing, especially having heard Tariq The Trot on Desert Island Discs that morning also being brown nosed, that time by Kirsty Young.

Looks like we are in for a load more heavy duty slagging off of Western culture and civilisation, especially the British type, by the media luvvies in celebration of their failed attempts at Marxist insurgency 40 years ago.

Diana Inquest

It isn't often I agree with Labour MPs, but in this article about the inquest into Princess Diana's death, I have to salute George Foulkes, Dari Tayor (who he? Ed.) and even the former Europe Minister Denis McShane for talking sense. Three Labour MPs talking sense, indeed three MPs talking sense, is a rarity indeed. They agree what a sham and a waste of public funding this inquest really is, and urge Mohammed el-Fayed to accept that it was an accident.

What a shame a few more MPs didn't object to the waste of over £150m on the equally ludicrous Saville Inquiry. That inquiry, set up by Blair, looked into the events in Londonderry in 1972 that became known as "Bloody Sunday" and was a peace process sop to the IRA.

PS Dari Taylor is a she and has been an anonymous Labour MP in the North East of England since 1997.