The best way to go about things?

Interesting headlines in the BBC today, apparently the Scottish Parliament are going to debate independence (again)

An independence referendum and minimum pricing for alcohol are among the bills to be introduced at the Scottish Parliament in the coming year.

The Scottish Government confirmed they would be among 13 bills brought forward in the SNP's third legislative session.

Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the people of Scotland had a democratic right to have their say on the issue of independence.

The programme will be debated by MSPs at Holyrood on Thursday.

A referendum on independence was a key SNP manifesto pledge before the 2007 Holyrood election.

A year later former Scottish Labour leader Wendy Alexander challenged the SNP to "bring it on".

Personally I can't see this getting very far, not with the furore that the "Minimum pricing of alcohol" bill will produce (It might take the SNP a while to figure out that what they propose is illegal under EU rules though) Now the SNP have made themselves rather popular in Scotland over the last year or so since forming a government there so you have to wonder just what on earth they were thinking about producing a bill like this? It frankly smacks of political suicide, prohibition never works, never has, never will. You make booze too expensive and people will brew their own or turn to other (probably worse) alternatives. It also will make the political party pushing it very, very unpopular.

So, you have to wonder if the SNP are actually serious about independence, they say they are, but if they go about it this way then I have my doubts about there sincerity. After all the best way to bring the public onside with you for any cause is not to piss them off by supporting something that will cost them money.

It also seems fair to me that if the Scots are to be given a vote (assuming the bill takes form) on independence, that the English should likewise be given a vote too, seems fair enough to me.

Can't see the UK government allowing England to go on its own though.................

More about → The best way to go about things?

Get Cheap Car Insurance - Make Getting Quotes Really Easy

When it comes to getting cheap insurance rates, one of the most important tools you have is information. You need to be knowledgeable about the steps you can take to help ensure that you are eligible for the lowest cheap car insurance rates possible. In addition, you need to know how to locate the companies that offer cheap car insurance and compare available rates.

Everybody wants cheap car insurance, but, alas, the rates are up to the insurer. There are many variables that insurers use in determining your rate, some of which you have influence over and some that you don’t. Age, for example, is one cheap car insurance factor that you’ll just have to wait out. However, young or old, you can do things to make you more eligible for the better cheap car insurance rates.

Naturally, the most obvious is to be careful in your driving, avoiding accidents and traffic tickets. Perhaps not so obvious is to avoid making insurance claims if possible. Sometimes, it is cheaper to just pay for less expensive damage than it is to make a claim, when you factor in how that claim will affect your insurance rates in the future.

Other ways to make yourself more likely to receive cheap car insurance rates include use of devices that help to prevent vehicle theft and to recover it if it is stolen, where you live, as areas with a higher crime rate often result in slightly higher rate quotes, and your choice of car. A more conservative vehicle is more likely to have cheap car insurance than is a sports car.

Also important to getting cheap car insurance is knowing where to look. With the advent of the Internet, you have the opportunity to get quotes and compare prices all over the nation. Using that opportunity can greatly increase your chances of finding the cheap car insurance rates you want.

Information is a valuable tool in getting cheap car insurance. The successful consumer knows where to find cheap car insurance and know what variables can affect rates, adjusting what can be fixed and waiting out the rest. Collecting the right information and acting upon it can help you, too, to enjoy cheap car insurance.

More about → Get Cheap Car Insurance - Make Getting Quotes Really Easy

Double Standards

nWell, it's that time of year when the multiculties declare to the world just how wonderful and vibrant "Inclusive Britain" is. Yes it's carnival time where the Afro-Caribbean community get to strut their stuff to the world.

Notting Hill Carnival:

Last year there were there were 220 arrests, nearing the 238 figure recorded a year ago And by the last night, there had been 160 allegations of crime, making a total for the weekend of 270.

Police had been on high alert after rival gangs taunted each other over the internet saying they would attack each other at the carnival. Two teenagers aged 14 and 17 were shot and another man was stabbed as violence marred the end of the celebrations.

Police estimated that around 4,000 officers had been present in Notting Hill over the carnival period. This included 650 British Transport police on trains and at stations using mobile metal detection arches.

Sniffer dogs were at 20 key stations which revellers used to travel to west London.

Public funding given.
£401,390 ENGLISH ARTS COUNCIL!
Police costs £3,000,000!
£8.7 million pledged by London Development Agency and the Arts Council to provide a Notting Hill carnival Enterprise Centre!

Now I'm sure you could make a case that this was small fry compared to the one and a half million visitors the event gets and the event certainly has an international presence.

So lets all bear this in mind the next time some politically correct council decides that because of the "threat of violence" a St Georges day Parade should be banned. After all at Sandwell, there was not one reported instance of any disruptive incident.

More about → Double Standards

So where are all the votes going?

It is some way off yet, and assuming Brown doesn't manage to get himself declared Imbecile-for-Life before then, but I saw a poll in the Guardian on Monday (I know, I know - I washed my hands afterwards) which seemed to confirm an interesting effect I thought I'd seen in the past about the way the poll numbers have shifted.



Link to the poll here

Now the Grauniad has its editorial mainly concerned with the fact that Labour's vote is still going down (surprise surprise) making any claims of a "fight-back" ring hollow. Which explains their desperation in attaching all sorts of odious "real meanings" to what Dan Hannan has had to say over the last month. (I mean they must be desperate if they think a comment from Mandelson is going to do anything other than repulse people) However what I find most interesting is the 'change on last month'. The Conservatives, I think, got pretty much their current vote share in early 2008 and since then it's plateaued: Labour is still going down but the Tories aren't going up. So where are those voters going?

The Grauniad poll here shows the Lib Dems going up slightly - other polls I've seen suggest that their vote share is either going down or holding steady, so I'm not sure how much you can read into this. But what I find interesting is that the Other parties have got an increase of +2% over last month. Why, exactly? What have UKIP or the Greens or the BNP or the English Democrats or whoever done in the last month for that? Is it just statistical error? Is the Grauniad's polling service counting that good old British option "I don't know" as "Others"?

Obviously we can't trust polls, as only one really counts, though Political Betting are usually the ones I opt for, but ignoring that contemporary increase, I do think it's interesting that the Other parties' collated vote share is now routinely quoted in double figures. By contrast at the last election in 2005 it was only about 6% altogether. If 14% reflects how people would actually vote on the day, that could be a tectonic plate shifter. Granted the first past the post system means it's very hard for a minor party to be elected to Parliament, but it could still shift things considerably: for instance, if a portion of the Labour vote defected to the BNP in a formerly safe northern seat, the seat might pass to the usual runner-up a long way behind (the Tories or Lib Dems). Or if a portion of the Tory vote defected to UKIP in a safe Tory seat, and so on.

For me, the boring truth is the reason the Tories will win the next election* is the Labour electorate will not turn up. David Cameron will get the Tory die-hards and some independents and will win with that. The other parties will make gains but will be statistically insignificant.

*(Well unless Europe becomes a huge issue in the next eight or nine months and Ken Clarke says something which pisses off the anti-EU crowd. Then if everyone assumes a Tory victory there could be a protest vote for UKIP which would siphon off some marginal seats that would have gone to Tories but instead stay with Lab/Lib) Very unlikely...

EDIT: Just to clarify; that scenario is the most plausible but still extremely unlikely

More about → So where are all the votes going?

No doesn't mean ask me again later!

Lisbon, the Irish, democracy in action. What part of no does the EU not understand? I hope the Irish give them an even louder no this time.

H/T OldRightie

More about → No doesn't mean ask me again later!

Not that they were getting my vote anyway, but......

They'd certainly have lost it after this.

The Telegraph reports that Shadow Europe Minister Mark Francois has said that a Conservative government would be willing to increase Britain’s financial contributions to the EU, in exchange for reforms to European farm subsidies. He is quoted saying, “If we come into power, we will be in the foothills of beginning to negotiate a new financial perspective that will run from 2014. Our view is that there should be no further reduction in the British rebate unless it is accompanied by really fundamental reform…The point of principle is that we would be very reluctant to surrender anything further of the rebate unless we thought there was genuine reform available.”

Bastards, why can't we leave, now! Why am I forced to vote for minority parties who represent the English as a whole when the big 3 ignore the wishes of the majority in this country?

They just don't get it do they? We don't want reform, we want out!

More about → Not that they were getting my vote anyway, but......

Photography Modeling Poses Improving

Both photographers and models must understand different photography modeling poses to use during shoots. It is therefore imperative to at least take a basic photography course so you can familiarize yourself with various techniques. This is because different posing techniques are used to express and communicate different messages to the observers. Hence, you must not only use the right model to communicate the message, they must also pose appropriately for the intended shoot.

More about → Photography Modeling Poses Improving

Now there's a surprise.........................not!

Politicians and the Police keep proclaiming that cctv makes life safer, that people feel more secure when they are being monitored, well people might, however the facts tell a different story as to how safe you actually are.

1,000 cameras 'solve one crime'

Only one crime was solved by each 1,000 CCTV cameras in London last year, a report into the city's surveillance network has claimed.

The internal police report found the million-plus cameras in London rarely help catch criminals.

In one month CCTV helped capture just eight out of 269 suspected robbers.

David Davis MP, the former shadow home secretary, said: "It should provoke a long overdue rethink on where the crime prevention budget is being spent."

He added: "CCTV leads to massive expense and minimum effectiveness.

"It creates a huge intrusion on privacy, yet provides little or no improvement in security.

Now bearing in mind that the UK is the most cctv'd nation in the western hemisphere and there are plans to monitor inside peoples homes. Also that more than 500,000 emails are intercepted and read every year (about 1 every 60 seconds) and that local councils use the RIPA act (designed for terrorism prevention) to snoop on the general public to make sure they live in a schools catchment area or are putting the right rubbish in the right bins.

• Fly-tipping yes, dog poo no - Jacqui promises Ripa changes (17 December 2008)

  http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/12/17/ripa_dna/

• RIPA ruling closes encryption key loophole (14 October 2008)

  http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/10/14/ripa_self_incrimination_ruling/

• Bury council carries can over spycam binmen (10 September 2008)

  http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/09/10/ripa_bury_council/

• Tories call for more freedom for snoopers (12 August 2008)

  http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/08/12/tory_ripa_reform/

• UK.gov dishes out £19m for comms snoop data silos (6 August 2008)

  http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/08/06/data_retention_grant_spending/

• UK.gov plans central database for all your communications (20 May 2008)

  http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/05/20/central_government_database_proposed/

• Police go slow with encryption key terror powers (5 May 2008)

  http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/05/05/ripa_encryption_section_49_figures/

• Spy regs used against dogs, litterbugs (28 April 2008)

  http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/04/28/ripa_council_dog_fouling/

• Local council uses snooping laws to spy on three-year-old (11 April 2008)

  http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/04/11/poole_council_ripa/

• UK snoop charter: we're already getting all the data anyway (18 June 2002)

  http://www.theregister.co.uk/2002/06/18/uk_snoop_charter_were_already/

You have to wonder just when the tipping point will come, when people will finally take to the streets and say enough is enough. I don't even think it will be a major incident, just a little straw breaking the camels back and suddenly the politicians and jobsworths will discover what people power is all about and who is actually in charge.

Can't come too soon.

More about → Now there's a surprise.........................not!

A good day to be an Englishman

The Ashes are back where they belong.
Well done England winning the series 2:1

More about → A good day to be an Englishman

Musings

Amazing where your thoughts and conversations go when having a few beers with friends and attempting to put the world to rights.

It's not a joke, as they seem to be determined to do it some how or other anyway. September 11 and the various atrocities/attacks afterwards was a direct result of western interference in ME politics, specifically the continued use of US bases on Saudi territory, mixed in with the rage and humiliation felt by Moslems from Morocco to Indonesia over the current situation of the Palestinians. Indeed a lot of people (not just Moslems) honestly believe that the Palestinian situation does represent something more than a squalid border dispute, and believe that the problem represents an almost diabolical aspect of Zionism, which explains why a lot of people have fallen into the trap of believing anti-semitic fantasies about heinous Jewish crimes and world domination and can't seem to get their minds to think about anything else.

To go directly back to the ME you have the problem of Arab nationalism, this is a unique blend of 1930’s Nazism anti-semitism and Cold war Communist/leftist anti-zionism combined with a desire by the various tyrannical leaders of the area to unite all Arabs into one huge power block to challenge western dominance. Nazism was brought into the mix by the British appointed Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, one Haj Amin al-Husseini, indeed he was visited by Adolf Eichman in Palestine and spent the war years in Berlin heading a Nazi government in exile and training Moslem troops in Bosnia in the art of genocide. Communism was directly responsible for the setting up of the PLO in the 1960’s and after the Baddawi conference (1973) headed by a KGB agent (Yevgeny Primakov) introduced terror as a means of destabilising the west.

This combination of Islam and Nazi/Communist Socialism is currently fuelling much of the present dispute in the ME and still draws western interference in the area through well meaning but ultimately doomed attempts to bring some sort of control/stability to the area. Such is this toxic amalgam of beliefs that Arabs see any withdrawal from this area as a retreat and Israel sees it as a betrayal.

This is of course only one aspect of the whole problem, there are Kurds, Armenians, Assyrians, Maronnites, Copts from Egypt, native Sudanese all with an axe to grind against the various regimes that currently dominate the area.

The only way out of this whole quagmire is to simply develop alternatives to oil withdraw all civilised forces and let them sort it out themselves. Take a leaf out of the French, German, Russian and Chinese books and sell them all the arms that they can afford because they are going to fight anyway. We might as well profit from their idiocy.

When the dust is all settled and the map redrawn then we deal with the victors in whatever manner they desire.

More about → Musings

Why Is Your Car Insurance So Expensive?

Although these days it's pretty easy to arrange your car insurance online, comparing quotes at the click of a button and paying by credit card for instant cover, one ever present difficulty still remains: the high cost of insurance policies. The fact that having car insurance in place is both a legal requirement and a sensible idea doesn't detract from the annoyance of having to pay what seems to be an exorbitant sum, and most of us would jump at the chance of reducing the bill.

To do this we need to know what factors insurance companies use when deciding how much our premiums will be.

Perhaps the most important influence on the level of your premium is your own history as a driver. If you've a history of having accidents, then naturally you're a higher risk to the insurer and so they'll charge you more. Worse, if you've been convicted of a motoring offence such as speeding or driving while under the influence, then your insurance will cost you even more - especially if your licence was withdrawn.

On the plus side, a history containing no black marks such as accidents will result in cheaper insurance as you build up a 'no claims' discount over the years.

The next most important factor is what kind of car you're trying to insure. Naturally, more expensive cars will cost more to replace, and so the insurance will cost you more too. This isn't the whole story though, as other features such as engine size, the availability of cheap spares, and the difficulty of repair will have an influence too. Finally, some models of car are well known for being easier to break into or steal than others - the insurance companies are well aware of this and will adjust their quotes accordingly.

How you use your car will also affect the price you pay for cover. If you rarely drive and have a low annual mileage, then your premiums can be cut as you're on the road for less time, and therefore have less chance of needing to make a claim. City drivers may also have to pay more compared to those who drive in quieter areas.

Where you keep your car is important too - if you have a secure parking area, preferably one that keeps your vehicle out of sight and under cover, then your risk is lowered, as will be your premiums. Cars that are regularly parked at the roadside are at a higher risk of being stolen or involved in collisions, and so will be more expensive to insure.

One final point to cover is that of how attractive your car is to thieves, and not just in the obvious way of how desirable your vehicle is! An expensive car with a good security system including an alarm and window etching etcetera will be more of a hassle for criminals to profit from, and so is less likely to be stolen than a cheaper car with little or no security. Also, a car featuring plenty of gadgets such as an expensive audio system or satellite navigation will attract greater interest from potential thieves.

So as we can see, even though car insurance is an expensive business, it's not always as simple as it seems, and by looking at what insurers want in a 'perfect' customer, you may be able to drive down your premiums.

More about → Why Is Your Car Insurance So Expensive?

Why leave?

Ok, Every country has people leaving, and people coming. Not everyone is happy with his or her country regardless of where they are in the world; this is not something unique to England.

But was is clear is that large numbers of native-born English are leaving or wanting to leave England, is much larger then ever before and while I could not find proper statistics its suppose to be in the 100,000’s every year. And much higher per 1000’s than most western nations.

So why are people leaving? It is rather depressing when you think about it; I am sometimes left thinking I am going to be the last one left. Now according to some TV show on BBC 25% of all people who leave England return within 2 years but regardless of how many realise what a mistake they made the fact they leave says something.

I mean where did we go wrong? Has multiculturalism failed? Because if I am brutally honest fuck multiculturalism. Differences do not unite us, by there very definition they can’t. How on earth can we feel united or apart of a group of people who are so different to us? Now this isn’t a bash at multiculturalism but it just seems that even the basic building blocks of how our society works is failing and set to fail. If we want to feel as a group or apart of a group we need something that unites us as group, multiculturalism doesn’t do that, so its no wonder nobody feels England has no identity because the truth is it doesn’t anymore, because there is nothing that unites us anymore. I mean look at Canada and America, they handle immigration much better than England. Because they have forced their national identity on people coming into those countries and as such they all have something in common, which is the national identity. We don’t seem to do that in England out of fear of something, racism maybe.

When I sit down and list what is wrong with this country; I come up with something like this:
Too many people, the division of the classes, high cost of living, working everyday just to chase the bills, the M25, no sense of wellbeing, feeling like an outsider in your own country, generally miserable people, driving anywhere, a government that finds a new way to grind you down everyday, the constant bad news, the 'English Pub' no longer exists, somewhere safe for my kids to grow up, knowing that however hard you try - it will always be taken off you by politicians, the lack of identity for the country we grew up in that has somehow slipped away, stamp duty, death duties, red-tape, people that win the lottery and don't do anything with it, celebrity fixated media, reality tv shows, road rage, air rage, trolley rage, price of fuel, antagonistic Muslim clerics, spiralling crime, speed cameras for profit, congestion charges, the price of train travel, the lack of manners or courtesy, untouchable criminals aged 9 to 15, public transport, the general state of politics all being in the middle ground, chavs, state spongers, corrupt politicians, loss of civil liberties, I could go on, and on, and on.

These are not all views I hold by the way, these are just reasons that people all seem to complain about. But when you look at that list, it does seem very overwhelming and how on earth would you even go around fixing it? Just through simply voting how on earth could one hope to even be able to fix half of those? It seems every half-arsed attempt to fix these problems falls flat on its arse. And it’s no wonder then when you think about it why people are........well jumping ship.

More about → Why leave?

Agincourt

I was feeling somewhat patriotic today, what with the Ashes test coming up, so I dug this out, not Crispins day I know, but it is for England............

For the correct English operating procedure for defeat of the French see below:

When you've got Brian Blessed on your side what could go wrong ?

More about → Agincourt

The last resort of the scoundrel?

Health Secretary Andy Burnham has accused a Tory MEP who attacked the NHS on American TV of being "unpatriotic".

Labour has stepped up its criticism of Daniel Hannan, who waded into the debate over Barack Obama's health bill.

Turns out Barack Obama doesn't want to copy our system either.

President Barack Obama has made an impassioned defence of health care reform but told Americans he would not use Britain's "socialised" system as a model.

It's been mildly diverting watching the current "witch hunt" as Labour turn their guns against Dan Hannan to try and turn the public's attention away from their own shortcomings. Unfortunately they've forgotten that public disdain for politicians means that the minute they got involved the cause died a death (bit like the unlucky ones that the NHS occasionally fails)
You see, what Labour has failed to realise (along with a good few of Joe public) is that the majority of people don't love the NHS, what they love are the Doctors, Nurses, Ambulance Drivers, Radiotherapists, Ancillary staff etc who look after them on the wards and in A & E. What they don't love is the bureaucracy, the jobsworths, the parking charges, the denial of drugs because of expense (Yes Death panel was a good swipe at the quango called NICE) and the various other things that go to make healthcare in this country a slight tarnishing of the soul.

You also have to wonder which country Andy Burnham thought you were being unpatriotic about, because his title "Minister for Health" is a bit of a misnomer, he's actually only the Minister for Health of England as his portfolio only applies there and not in Scotland or Wales who have to all intents and purposes their own NHS's. No doubt he thought he was making a good point, but any left wing authoritarian really needs to avoid patriotism as their own shortcomings in this area really don't bear scrutiny. Is it patriotic to starve our troops of equipment when fighting in two conflicts? Is it patriotic to allow unbridled immigration? Is it patriotic to refuse democracy in England whilst allowing Scotland and Wales their own Parliaments as well as still allowing their MP's to vote on English matters?

When it comes to Labour, Samuel Johnson was quite correct, "Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel."

More about → The last resort of the scoundrel?

What Makes Classic Car Insurance Special

Anyone who owns a vintage vehicle or a collection of enduringly stylish classic cars knows that a standard automobile insurance policy can’t adequately cover the specific needs of someone who drives a classic vehicle. A classic car owner is more likely than a standard driver to make a claim for repainting after a tiny scratch, for example; whereas a typical driver will be much more likely to get into a highway pile-up than a classic car owner. The habits and requirements of the drivers who spends time behind the wheel of a classic 1950s Ford are obviously quite different from those of a driver who gets around in a used 1997 Taurus; so it makes plenty of sense that insurance companies would create policies specifically for drivers who own vintage cars.

One of the most useful facets of many classic car insurance policies has to do with the idea of flexible usage. This unique idea allows drivers to attain full coverage at a variable rate depending on how often they drive their car and in what situations. Most drivers with antique automobiles drive their vehicles over less than one thousand miles each year, but some collectors drive up to five thousand miles a year in their prized cars. Some drivers are extremely careful about distance because of its potential wear and tear on the vehicle, but just as many classic car enthusiasts are more concerned about what kind of situation they are driving in than how far they are driving.

Many vintage car owners only take their precious vehicles out for special events like auto shows or parades, but there are some drivers who enjoy taking the occasional drive outside of the umbrella that these events provide. With an insurance policy that supports flexible usage, a driver can pay only for the coverage that he or she needs to cover his or her classic car driving habits. This means that a driver who enjoys a leisurely weekend afternoon of driving through town in his or her car will be able to do so without risking the investment that the car represents, but also that a driver who only starts the engine during a special event will not have to pay extra money for open road privileges that he or she won’t use.

In addition to what is and is not covered, there are many conveniences that a classic car owner can enjoy by having classic car insurance instead of a standard auto policy. For one thing, having the agent who is responsible for the policy be knowledgeable about and sensitive to the needs of classic car owners can save quite a bit of hassle and phone time. Vintage car collectors are understandably very selective about where they get their cars repaired, and often will be unwilling to let anyone but their personally trusted mechanic look at their car. The reasons for this fact will be obvious to an agent who understands the needs and desires of people who own classic cars, but for an agent who is not experienced with these kinds of customers it can be a difficult fact to swallow.

More about → What Makes Classic Car Insurance Special

Bloody Cheek!

Sometimes those who benefit at England's expense seriously don't get it. Take this report from Ofcom, as reported in the Scottish Herald.

BBC and STV cut spending by 20% on programmes for Scottish viewers

Phil Miller
0 comments

Published on 6 Aug 2009

SPENDING by the BBC and STV on programmes for viewers in Scotland fell by £13m last year, a report by the broadcasting industry regulator Ofcom has found.

The 20% fall in total spend occurred despite an increase in the percentage of money that the BBC is spending in Scotland for programmes that will be broadcast across the entire network – up from 3.3% to 3.7% of their total UK budget.

Culture Minister Michael Russell said he was “extremely disappointed” by the low level of expenditure on programmes for viewers in Scotland, and also by the low share of network programming made in Scotland.

Yet when you check what the report actually says is that £10.36 is spent on each person in Scotland by TV companies. The UK average is £4.99.

Yet they want more?

Bloody cheek!

More about → Bloody Cheek!

Holding fast

Hold fast to England
For if England dies
A precious jewel is lost forever
This cannot be
A land ruled by others
Small minded men of power
Who tell us we cannot be
Remove our rights of old
Hold their nation first
And Europe second in their hearts
They seek to break us
Set us against each other
Yet we will not go quietly into the night
For English we are
And England will be
Freedom our right
Not to be taken
Never given up
We shall be free
A future bright
The traitors cast down
England restored
Hold fast to English dreams
And remember our nation fair
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.

More about → Holding fast

Excerpted from The Most Beautiful Hadith

Excerpted from The Most Beautiful Hadith.

Khalid ibn al Wald (Radi Allahu Ta'ala anhu) narrated the following hadith:

A Bedouin came one day to the Holy Prophet (sallallahu 'alahi wasallam) and said to him,

'O, Messenger of Allah! I've come to ask you a few questions about the affairs of this Life and the Hereafter.'
- 'Ask what you wish' said Rasulullah (sallallahu 'alahi wasallam).
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Q: I want to be the best of men.
A: Do good to others and you will be the best of men.

Q: I'd like to be raised on the Day of Judgement in the light.
A: Don't wrong yourself or any other creature, and you will be raised on the Day of Judgement in the light.

Q: I'd like Allah to bestow His mercy on me.
A: If you have mercy on yourself and others, Allah will grant you mercy on the Day of Judgement.

Q: I'd like to be the most honorable man.
A: If you do not complain to any fellow creature, you will be the most honorable of men.

Q: I wish to be safe from Allah's wrath on the Day of Judgement.
A: If you do not loose your temper with any of your fellow creatures, you will be safe from the wrath of Allah on the Day of Judgement.

JUST IMAGINE

More about → Excerpted from The Most Beautiful Hadith

Rewriting history?

One of my favourite hobby horses is the teaching of history in English schools; frankly it’s risible, quite apart from the fact that it is so blatantly twisted against anything English, or for that matter, "British". The state seems to believe that our history is so shameful we should not teach it to our children and some sort of multicultural mishmash should be put in its stead so our kids can be taught about everyone else's history and how noble and good they were as they struggled to overcome our evil doings.

The political classes obviously have a serious problem. They cannot see the facts for the ideology they wish to push. They refuse to recognise that, until well into the 19th Century British subjects were being regularly seized and enslaved by the pirates who operated freely under the flag of Islam from North Africa. Anybody ever wonder why the French attacked Algeria and annexed it? No, thought not, mainly it was to stop the raiding of the coast of the South of France and the disruption of trade in the Mediterranean originating from the various Bey's of this that and the next controlling the coasts of Algiers, Tunisia, Libya and the rest. In 1836 a British Fleet assisted in an assault on Algiers for just that reason, Algiers based raiders had seized one too many merchant ships under British Flag.

OK, so we turned the trans Atlantic slave trade into a factory style process - that is one of the features of the English, usually slow to get off the starting block on anything, we simply don't know when to stop. Ask the residents of Hamburg, Dresden or one or two other German cities. Take a look at the same morons now in charge of education and you will see the same thing at work. They have spent so long campaigning for their "cause" that they can't see it has gone far enough and that it should now come to a gentle halt and consolidate what they have - not strive for more.

However, one of the more stupid assertions made by the "beat Britain for its slave trade" is that the Army or the Navy was engaged in capturing slaves in West Africa. If these morons knew their history instead of their prejudice they would know that the slaves were rounded up by locals who sold them to the Arab traders to their North as well. It was the Royal Navy and the Army that put a stop to the tribal wars that fuelled this from 1820 onwards, not an exercise in getting more slaves but in bringing peace to a region that had never had it! On the East Coast of Africa the slave trade continued in Arab Dhows well into the 20th Century, although, again, it was the Royal Navy that was hard at work to suppress it. Trouble was, being the other side of Africa and not affecting British shipping or people (except occasionally!) it was of little interest to the same bunch of wankers who now want our history suppressed. There is still slavery practised in the Islamic states, but you won't find that in any "multi-cultural" history.

It does worry me a lot that even today most of our kids either know so little of what really happened, or get their history directly from movies (Braveheart anyone) As a nation we can't really understand who we are until we know how we got here. This also goes right back to the claiming of the Magna Carta and the Bill of Rights as British, because they aren't, they're English and have nothing to do with Britain as a whole despite the ludicrous claims of our current Prime Minister.

More about → Rewriting history?