Tom Wise, Former UKIP MEP

This from Daniel Foggo in The Times:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I wonder who will be the next one up?

Here's a clue: News of the World

Remembrance Sunday

For The Fallen

Laurence Binyon

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Miss England

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

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

Adolf Hitler-German Football Coach

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tom Wise, Former UKIP MEP, Pleads Guilty

From The Guardian:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Similar coverage from The Times.

Guy Fawkes-Bonfire Night

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

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

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

A modern day plot? We can hope.

Afghanistan and Iraq

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

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

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

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

Lisbon Treaty and the European Union

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Political Correctness-The Awful Truth

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

Political Correctness-The Awful Truth

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

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

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

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

UKIP's Lord Pearson's Comments on Islamists

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



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

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

Tom Wise, Former UKIP MEP

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

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

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

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

Tom Wise, Former UKIP MEP To Go On Trial

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

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

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

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

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

As does this article.

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

Halloween-Trick or Treat?

Trick!

OK, here's one to scare the kids:

David Cameron's Conservative Party

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

Labour? They can't be trusted.

Lib Dems? No point.

What about Jim Diamond? Let's see:

New World Order

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

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

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

With Us/Against Us

Nikki Sinclaire MEP-UKIP Leadership

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

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

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

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

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

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

Dwarf Throwing and Midget Racing

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

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



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

MPs Employing Wives

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

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

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

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

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

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

Bonnie Greer and the Indigenous English

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Edward Beaman

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

Edward's website is: Home Interior Design Themes

Police State

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Support No2ID.

Morrissey

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



Pure class.

Nick Griffin and Question Time-The Last Word

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

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

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

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

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

Liverpool v Manchester United

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

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

Morrissey

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



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

More on Nick Griffin and the BNP

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

FactCheck: Nick Griffin on Question Time

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

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

The Great Crash of 2008

It's well worth a read.

Ceca Raznatovic

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



I do like a bit of Eastern influence!

Nick Griffin on Question Time

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And finally:

Wimp Nation

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

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

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

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

Frankie Boyle-Mock The Week

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Old Holborn-November 5th

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

The details are on Old Holborn's blog.

UKIP Donations Blow

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

Here is why.

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

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

Libertarianism

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Here endeth the lesson.

Israel Defence Force-Colonel Richard Kemp

The following video is a must watch:



With thanks to Edward on Twitter.

Islamist Irony?

Geert Wilders condemns Islam as a violent religion.

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

Do Muslims 'do' irony?

Geert Wilders-Triumph for Freedom

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

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

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

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

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

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

Bill Etherington-Nobhead of the Year

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

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

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

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

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

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

Britain Has No Serious Problems

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Interfering bunch of illiberal prats and complete plonkers!!

A Nation of Wimps and Whiners

So one of the judges on X Factor has been in the brown stuff for 'homophobic' comments. I wondered what she'd said. I wondered if she had been advocating the extermination of homosexuals or at least re-criminalising homosexuality. But no, the evil, wicked Minogue woman, with reference to a contestant changing a song lyric to love for a woman rather than a man, said:

''If you're to believe everything you read in the papers, then you didn't need to change the gender references in the song.''

My God, what an evil thing to say!

Following on from the 'race row' around Anton du Beke it seems that elements in this country have very seriously lost all sense of proportion.

Of course if you dare to even mildly question certain politically correct givens then you are immediately branded a something-or-otherphobe. Quite pathetic.

Barack Obama-Nobel Peace Prize

What did Obama win this for?

He had only been in office 12 days when nominations closed on February 1.

Make your own mind up!

Poetry

Ruth Allen is a superb new poet in Lancaster. A few weeks ago I went along to one of her readings at Litfest and had a wonderful evening.

She started writing in 2008 and is currently focused on poetry. She likes melancholia and her writing tends to contain lots of imagery focused around ‘wilderness’, coastlines and places in your mind.

Find out more and see what you think by visiting: Write Around the Wilderness

You'll love it!

Are The Electorate Too Stupid To Vote?

There are days when it seems life, and people, are great. God's in his heaven, all's well with the world, you know what I mean. Then you read the letters page on Teletext and crash down to earth with a bang. The following letter makes me wonder at some peoples' sheer and utter stupidity:

Leaving EU is suicide

Twelve months ago, Iceland was solidly anti-EU. They are now pleading to be fast-tracked into Europe, having faced bankruptcy and a wrecked economy.

How stupid then that foolish (or treacherous) elements are advocating the suicidal step of British withdrawal. What planet are they on? Norway only survives through vast oil reserves, while Thatcher sold ours to pay for her economic mismanagement.
N G, Bromsgrove, Worcs

Every sentence, virtually every word, is such utter drivel that I don't think I need to say anything. All I will say is that I know people who do think the EU is a good thing, but at least they don't support their beliefs with such arrant crap!

I think there should be an exam for people to pass before they are allowed to vote. After all you can't drive a car without passing a test, but dickheads like N.G.of Bromsgrove, with the brain of a chipmunk, can vote for twats who then go and bomb Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.

Sorry if that is insulting to any chipmunks who may be reading, perhaps I should have said 'brain of a Guardian reader'. Mrs B told me off, think she likes chipmunks.

Bob Marley and Lou Reed

Time for some top reggae, with particularly relevant lyrics in UK 2009:



What an experience if Bob Marley and Lou Reed had ever done a double header:

Anton du Beke and Carol Thatcher-Oppressed!

One of the images is a gollywog, the other Jasmin Alibhai-Brown. One offends me, the other doesn't.

The police state marches on, gathering momentum each day as the politically correct establishment turn the British Isles into a huge prison island. I wasn't going to comment on the Anton du Beke business, it seems so trivial. A dancer, in a private converstaion says that his dance partner, after spray tanning "looks like a Paki". Two weeks later somebody makes it public, wow, must have been a slow news day, and all hell breaks loose. Yet again the quislings and collaborators complain to the BBC, 500 members of the public with lives sadder than slugs and brains smaller than a mosqito's.

I decided to comment today because I have just heard professional offendee Jasmin Alibha-Brown on her soap box. If that bitch finds this country so disgusting, racist, imperialist why not piss off back to Uganda? Because she knows where she can have a cushy life, plauded by the self-loathing pinko-liberal establishment. She would probably be treated like the parasite she is in Uganda where, I suspect, they have more important issues to exercise the mind.

Her argument today was that it is OK to use the word "Paki" in a private dinner party for example, but not in a public space. Even when she was told, repeatedly, that he had used it in a private converstion she kept banging on about public space.

Then poor old Carol Thatcher was dragged in yet again for saying that a tennis player, with a particularly '70s style haircut "looked like a gollywog". It now seems that Carol Thatcher's sin was to not apologise. So she lost her job for perceived rudeness rather than 'racism' after all. The tennis player did actually look like a gollywog by the way.

But the great irony was that Jo Brand, the fat, ugly comedienne was the one that found the gollywog reference offensive. So talking about vaginas, penises and bodily functions and so on in your act isn't offensive Jo, but referring to a gollywog is?

Finally, I am a Mancunian, but Scousers and others refer to us as Mancs. So the next time a Scouser shouts: "Piss off you Manc bastard" at me, I look forward to him losing his job, if any Scousers actually work these days, and to my numerous appearances on news and current affairs shows explaining how mortally offended I am, not just for me but for Mancunians throughout the world.

Unless he does it in a private dinner party. Highly unlikely of course, as most Scousers aren't house trained!

UKIP (UK Independence Party)

Somebody still within the UK Independence Party has brought yet another dissident UKIP blog to my attention. This time it is The True UKIP.

Unless I'm very much mistaken The True UKIP has come about because of dissatisfaction with the way the party leadership has used and abused Young Independence. The problem is that the youth wing was used by Farage and his friends merely to promote the thoroughly unpleasant Lisa Duffy and the not very bright Paul Nuttall. Job done it now seems to be being laid to rest.

I have no idea who is behind The True UKIP but they seem to be working with Junius on UKIP and Caterpillars and Butterflies to try and clean up UKIP and return it to an organisation with principles fighting the European Union, rather than sponging off it to make a few people a good living.

The destruction of Young Independence shows the total lack of ambition within the party's current leadership, political ambition being replaced by personal greed and self-glorification. Remember that Paul Nuttall was secretary of Young Independence before becoming Party Chairman, not much of a track record in building and developing an organisation then.

I admire those still fighting to change UKIP, there are many decent people amongst the rank and file membership, but fear it is a lost cause. Since 2004, especially during the leadership of the despotic Nigel Farage, UKIP has been corrupted and used for the benefit of a small greedy group. Sadly it should now be laid to rest, which I suspect it will within five years.

This demise can only be hastened by the upcoming publicity surrounding the trial of Tom Wise, yet another divisive leadership contest that will scupper chances of progress in the general election and the MEPs allowing themselves to be absorbed into a pan-European party to ensure they get the most generous allowances available. Remember Farage is stepping down to concentrate on his job 'over there', not what he was elected by the members or the voters to do, but he just loves the lifestyle.

No wonder so many UKIP members, especially those who didn't merely jump on the post-2004 band wagon, are despairing.

Chavs Battered By 'Transvestites'

This is fantastic, the real fun starts about 1 minute in:



Yes the Chav hard boys, after initial fisticuffs, drunkenly stagger down the street. But the 'transvestites' they decide to wallop turn out to be a group of cage fighters out in fancy dress.

Priceless!

European Union?

I get a sense that people are now seriously starting to question the validity of the European Union. The bureaucrats in Brussels/Strasbourg seem to have underestimated the reaction to forcing the Irish to vote for a second time on the Lisbon Treaty/Consitution. In democracies the powers that be, if they choose to hold a referendum, respect the decision of the electorate. That is not, and never has been the case with the EU.

But our politicians, and probably more importantly the media, slavishly follow the EU barely criticising or questioning its trampling underfoot of basic democracy. How can they just sit back and allow this to continue? If Brown loses the next general election, but decides to adjust his party manifesto and re-run the election, would this country be as docile and subservient as to allow it, as we have repeatedly allowed it in the case of the EU? Have we lost all sense of decency and honesty?

So where are the politicians, especially those who supported bombing Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere into submitting to 'democracy'? Well it could be said that people like 'Woy' Jenkins, Leon Brittain, Kinnock, Lady Mandy of Mandelson and others have been bought off, they became very wealthy as EU Commissioners. But why have all the others, and the media, merely rolled over?

My opinion is that the anti-EU movement, those whose sole focus is on getting out of the EU, has attracted too many freaks, oddballs and conspiracy theorists. Serious opponents of EU membership eventually become tired of having to share groups, platforms, meetings with the nutters who see a conspiracy around every corner, be it the Illuminati, Common Purpose or some other figment of a paranoid and hyper-active imagination.

This causes a couple of problems. It drives real Eurosceptics away from organisations campaigning against continued EU membership, and provides easy material for opponents who want to blacken the name of people and organisations campaigning against the EU. Your everyday voter on the street does not want to be told that we are being controlled by 6 foot lizards by a man in a dodgy lilac, or whatever colour shell suit, he will run a mile.

So where now for Eurosceptics? Well, UKIP sold out a long time ago. Compared to the Greens and the BNP they have not progressed since 1999. The resources that came with three MEPs from 1999 to 2004, twelve from 2004 to 2009 and now thirteen MEPs, have been squandered. Where it counts, in UK elections, they have been a disaster. Indeed, in my view the media intentionally backed off criticising UKIP in the Euro election campaign in order not to drive the protest vote to the BNP. Why else was virtually no mention made of Ashley Mote or Tom Wise when the expenses of MPs were in the spotlight? Indeed around 23 May 2009 Peter Oborne in his Daily Mail column said:

"NIGEL FARAGE'S United Kingdom Independence Party is shaping up as the major beneficiary of the European elections to be held next month. There is talk that it could even demote New Labour to a richly deserved fourth place. Yet UKIP's record on expenses-fiddling is at least as bad as the Tories' or Labour's, as I will reveal on this page next week. Don't vote for them".

Strangely Oborne's expose of UKIP's scandals did not appear in his column the following week. I wonder why?

My conclusion is that people who oppose EU membership must support a party that has EU withdrawal as part, but not the be all and end all, of its manifesto. Less than 8% of those who would like us out of the EU would put that number one on their list for a general election, they vote on health, education, law and order and other issues. So I urge you to consider the Libertarian Party if you value our traditional freedoms and liberty.

Nikki Sinclaire-UKIP Leadership

While away this weekend there was a lot of fuss on Junius on UKIP and Catterpillars and Butterflies about the following open letter by Nikki. I have a great deal of time and respect for Nikki and, after being initially shocked by the content, feel sure that she is pulling off a Machiavellian master stroke.

Dear Nigel,

After much consideration, I feel it is incumbent upon me to write you this letter. I beseech you to reconsider your resignation as Party Leader, for the sake of UKIP, our cause and, more importantly, our country.

In all good conscience, I cannot see the sense of an internal election, costing more than £25,000, less than six months prior to a General Election campaign. I think it essential for the party to keep its eye on the ball and prepare for the election.

I completely concur with your judgment that you have too many responsibilities and you must prioritise. However, I respectively suggest that, in the short term, you have chosen the wrong priorities. We need you to lead the fight here in the UK, to spearhead our campaign as only you can do.

I cannot understand why you can't delegate some of your Brussels responsibilities to one of your 12 MEPs. You could still hold the title of EFD Co-President and give your wonderful plenary speeches but spend only six days a month in the parliament (as promised in your leadership election campaign).

You led us to an historic victory this year and have taken us to the centre ground of British politics, winning Labour strongholds such as Stoke, Newcastle under Lyme, Dudley, Plymouth , Sunderland, Hartlepool and others. Yet UKIP did not win one single Conservative stronghold and, if you step down, the party could be seen once again as an offshoot of the Tory party if the leadership race went as many expect, thereby costing us votes.

I also ask you to honour your pledge to the UKIP members - who elected you for a four-year term - to see out that commitment. The last thing the party needs now is a couple of months navel gazing. We certainly need a debate on the direction of the party in the near future but preferably after a General Election. If we are to have a leadership race, a race that will elect a leader, according to our constitution, not just for the forthcoming General Election but for the next European Election and possibly a second General Election, we must debate some key issues now in order to give a new leader a strong mandate.

This mandate will have to make difficult decisions, such as UKIP’s inclusion in a pan-European party, that you recently proposed we support. I feel that we, as MEPs representing UKIP’s best interests, could not go forward with this unless it is debated and voted on at conference. So I am glad to learn the proposal has been shelved for this year.

To conclude, Nigel, I ask you please to lead UKIP into the General Election and help increase our support across the Country whilst winning Buckingham and taking UKIP to a new level. Only you can do this, Nigel. Please do not desert us now. All UKIP MEPs will, I know, support you in return, to help you become the first UKIP MP.

If you choose to stay as Leader, I would not put my name forward in the leadership ballot and would urge others to do likewise.

Yours

Nikki

If you didn't know Farage has stepped down as leader of UKIP, a great relief to many in the party, and Nikki, a woman of principle, is standing for the leadership of whatever Farage leaves in his wake.

EU Style Democracy-Irish Referendum, Again.

18 months ago the Irish voted NO to the Lisbon Treaty/European Constitution. Today they are having to vote again so that they get it right, so the EU hope. The EU only like democracy if the participants agree with it, a bit like the old style communists of Eastern Europe.

I remember hearing a few years ago how the president of Albania slightly cocked up rigging his victorious election. When all the votes were counted over 100% of the people had voted for him. Oh how we laughed at such tyranny.

Nobody's laughing now, especially in Ireland.

Society and the Labour Party

It really is amazing when people whinge about drinking, violence, especially football violence, and anti-social behaviour. Every generation saw it, lived it, survived it. For Christ's sake, my parents lived through WW II, how was that for sheer bloody violence and anti-social bahaviour?

The 1960s? Oh well, they gave us peace and love didn't they? Or did they actually give us the sex without responsibility generation? The 'I'll do what I want and up yours' generation? The people who 'don't give a shit about anybody else, as long as I'm alright' generation? The 'I don't give a shit, the government can deal with the mess' generation? The BBC and Guardian readers in other words.

Do nowt yourself, but scream 'government must act' and wash your hands of it. Bung a few bob today and salve your conscience that way, after all you work for the BBC or the NHS now, you've given up revolution and don't give a shit any more, you work for worthy organisations, enough.

Social conscience is now Live Aid, Comic Relief, Sport Relief. Phone through your credit card number, that's how you care. Don't get off your arse and do, those nasty Victorians you despise so much did that, didn't they? Got their hands dirty, gave money to fund a hospital, and volunteered to help in it because they wanted to.

Imagine if the Victorians had just sat on their arses and gone 'here you are HSBC, take my cash and be gone'? They actually did something, and look at their achievements. How many care like that today?

My formative years were the 1970s and early 1980s. Interesting to hear Labour dickheads this week talking about the '80s as if they were another, darker, sinister planet. They weren't, yet again the country was trying to recover from years of Labour government abuse. This country in the 1970s was dying, socially and economically, but Labour talk as if the pre-1979, pre-Thatcher years, were the halcyon days. They weren't, they were actually shit.

Thanks to Labour the mood in the 70s was for revolution, but to overthrow the socialists. This country actually had food shortages, power cuts, yes we couldn't afford 24 hour electricity. Manchester, and elswewhere, were regularly disrupted by bombs or bomb threats, courtesy of the IRA. My youth in the 70s was very similar, in many ways, to that of youths in the post war years. We had shortages, candles, black-outs, parents uncertain about job security. Trade unions bullying men into strike action, or else. It was grim.

In 1979 the Tory election victory was the salvation of this country, and what the Tories did to Margaret Thatcher was unforgivable. But this is a new time. The Labour Party have raped the country again, but this time the Tories offer no salvation. Cameron is a self-seeking fraud with no answers. The British people must look elsewhere before the country falls apart into at least four parts, if not many more.

Let's look at Punk Rock. It seems to me that punk has been corrupted. The modern gobshites in the media give it over to be some kind of socialist rebellion, invariably tying it in to a gullible post-punk, naive Guevara t-shirt wearing generation as an anti-Thatcher rebellion. It sodding wasn't, the Sex Pistols played the Lesser Free Trade Hall in Manchester in 1976, three years before Mrs Thatcher. We were pissed off and, believe it or not, she was actually wanted, hence her winning the election in '79.

So get a grip, and bondage? Up yours!



I feel better for that. Off to bed now.

BBC Question Time

Tonight's QT showed why politicians in the UK need exterminating. Two examples:

Ben Bradshaw MP (Culture Secretary), when asked about the recent kidnapping of film director Roman Polanski, by the Swiss on behalf of the USA, couldn't even comment claiming: "I don't know, I was only a kid in 1978", or words to that effect. Twat!

Theresa May, Tory Shadow Bitch (or similar) when asked about teen pregnancies said: "We will introduce legislation to curb this", or words to that effect.

So who will you sterilise Theresa, the lads or the girls? No, you came out with that shite because you thought it sounded good at the time.

But, as ever with British politicians, she was talking complete and utter crap.

Feed The Scousers

The world is sending food parcels to the Scousers, according to BBC NW news.

Lazy bastards. What do they do with all our tax money they get in welfare benefits?





Feed the scousers,
Let them know it's Christmas time...
Feed the scousers,
Let them know it's Christmas time

China and Swine Flu

Don't know if this is just a sick coincidence, but....

2007 - Chinese year of the Chicken - Bird Flu Pandemic devastates parts of Asia.
2008 - Chinese year of the Horse - Equine Influenza decimates Australian horse racing.
2009 - Chinese year of the Pig - Swine Flu Pandemic kills hundreds of people around the globe.

Has any one else noticed this?

Next year, 2010 - Chinese year of the Cock - what could possibly go wrong?

Party Conferences and General Election

With less than a year until the next general election the party conferences have been lacklustre to say the least. Next up the Tories in Manchester, which will be more bland nothingness I fear.

None of the parties seem to have used their conferences to seriously launch their campaigns, golden opportunities squandered. Labour seem to have accepted the inevitable, the Lib Dems were busy pretending to be serious contenders but only making themselves look foolish, I suspect the Tories will be a mixture of both, but slicker.

None of the smaller parties seem to be gaining ground. The Greens are invisible, UKIP wasted their conference backslapping about their mediocre results in June and as a result, are on a mere 4% in the latest polls.

From now until the elction this blog will be taking a closer look, on a regular basis, at the performance of the smaller parties because to be honest, the big three are all a bit much of a muchness.

Having said that, there are 60 million people and 650 or so MPs, so it's no good the populace whining when the remedy is in their hands. Look outside the big three.

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

Gordon Brown Speech-Sit Down by James

I was shocked to see some bloggers claiming that Gordon Brown came onto the platform today to "Sit Down" by Manchester band James.

Last year Big Gordy did the same thing at their conference in Manchester, and got this verbal volley from lead singer Tim Booth.

Is Big Gordy even more stupid than we thought? Or are some bloggers not quite as smart as they think?

TUC-Trade Union Censorship

It seems that the dinosaurs of the trade union movement are still roaming parts of the earth, trying to tell you and me who we should be allowed to listen to on BBC Question Time.

Yes you've guessed it, Gerry Morrissey, of the TV technicians' union Bectu is urging his members to boycott and pull the plug on the BNP leader Nick Griffin's appearance on the current affairs show on 22 October.

General secretary Gerry Morrissey said: "We believe there should be no media coverage of the BNP and I have raised this issue with the director general, Mark Thompson.

"He said they have been invited on to the programme because they have won elections, but we strongly disagree.

"We will be arranging a demonstration and lobby outside the Question Time studios and we will be working with anti-fascist groups to ensure there is a significant turn out."

We all know that those 'anti-fascist groups' largely consist of people just as bad, thoroughly unpleasant and anti-freedom and democracy as the BNP. We need no pious lectures from those idiots about democracy, disagree with them and you're more than likely to get a brick in your face. Two sides of the same coin in my opinion.

When I don't vote BNP I want it to be because I have heard the arguments and used reason. I don't want to not vote BNP because some fascist/anti-fascist trade union zombie has had a word in the shell-like of Mark Thompson, and put another nail in the coffin of free speech and liberty.