À l'eau, c'est l'heure*

One of the things I like about the EU (and there's not damned many) are some their environmental regulations. I'm not talking about their bizarre obsession with global warming climate change or their profligacy with spending our money on weird stuff like carbon capture. No, this is about beaches and blue flags. Years ago sewage was just pumped raw into the seas around Britain, it wasn't treated and usually wasn't pumped far enough out so that it didn't make a return on the incoming tide. Part of this goes way back to the Victorians and Sir Joseph William Bazalgette who was requested by the UK Parliament to deal with the "Great stink" and came up with the first modern sewage system out of London and into storage to be pumped into the Thames downstream on the outgoing tide. I worked well until population growth and other towns and cities got into the act and the quality of water on Britain's beaches started to suffer. (Though I suspect all the bacteria in the water made for hardier kids, certainly more disease resistant ones). Sewage wasn't the only thing dumped at sea either mine waste was dumped too including chemicals some of the beaches in county Durham were black with the mine tailings. A lot of the rivers in the UK were dead zones for fish as well. Still once the EU came along in the 80's and started giving awards for clean beaches it was discovered that most of the UK's beaches failed the water cleanliness regs/standards they used. Well things have moved on since then...

BBC.

Almost every beach in England and Wales meets Europe's highest cleanliness standards, the Environment Agency says.

Tests reveal the quality of water in 97% of bathing sites is sufficiently good to be classified "excellent".

But the agency says the results were based on early season sampling and could change over the coming months.

It says the recent spell of good weather and action to reduce pollution from farms and sewer overflows are responsible for the improved results.

Last week the Marine Conservation Society rated 421 of 769 UK beaches as excellent - 33 more than 2009, but below the 505 rated highly in 2006.

Its annual Good Beach Guide revealed more beaches have excellent water quality than last year, but pollution has worsened since 2006.

The Environment Agency tests show a rise in the number it classifies as excellent of almost a fifth, from 76% 10 years ago to the current 97%.

Now they're tightening the regulations again in 2015, we'll probably still be in the EU then despite my fondest hopes unless it descends into civil war and the Germans decide to take their twice a century trip to Paris in force. The possible collapse of the €uro wont help either, but bureaucracies have a tendency to survive unless the bureaucrats are exterminated, even then we tend to appoint new ones to deal with the paperwork. But it's nice that our beaches are clean.

* That was a pune, or play on words.

More about → À l'eau, c'est l'heure*

Hate

One of the things that all the politicians who were vying for our votes in the last general election promised is that they would do something about letting in those who preach hate and violence into the country. Labour of course had a list of undesirables including Geert Wilders the Dutch politician and Michael Savage, the US broadcaster, neither who have called for violence in any shape or form, they were simply unpopular with a certain religion of peace who the apparatchiks in New Labour favoured as treasured pets as they had a tendency to vote for them when not voting for Respect.
And so, less than a month into the coalition we have a certain Zakir Naik (also a member of the religion of peace) coming to do his televangelist shows in the UK.

Times.

THE home secretary, Theresa May, is facing a stiff test of the Conservative party’s claims to oppose radical Islam after her officials chose to allow a misogynist Muslim preacher into Britain.
Zakir Naik, an Indian televangelist described as a “hate-monger” by moderate Muslims and one Tory MP, says western women make themselves “more susceptible to rape” by wearing revealing clothing.
Naik, who proselytises on Peace TV, a satellite television channel, is reported to have called for the execution of Muslims who change their faith, described Americans as “pigs” and said that “every Muslim should be a terrorist”.
In a recent lecture, he said he was “with” Osama Bin Laden over the attacks on “terrorist America”, adding that the 9/11 hijackings were an inside job by President George W Bush.
One well-placed insider said: “Zakir Naik is a nasty man who makes al-Qaradawi look like a participant at a teddy bears’ picnic. He shouldn’t be allowed into the country to stir up hatred.”
The Home Office indicated that it was not planning to ban Naik, however.

Quite the card isn't he? And our wonderful Home Office is going to let him in despite such rants as these...

“In America, most people consume pork. Many times after dance parties, they have swapping of wives. Many say, ‘You sleep with my wife and I will sleep with your wife’. If you eat pigs then you behave like pigs.”

“Western society has actually degraded [women] to the status of concubines, mistresses and social butterflies, who are mere tools in the hands of pleasure seekers and sex marketeers”

“People who change their religion should face the death penalty”

“It is a blatant secret that this attack on the twin towers was done by George Bush himself”

“If he [Osama Bin Laden] is terrorising the terrorists, if he is terrorising America the terrorist ... I am with him. Every Muslim should be a terrorist”

Freedom of speech is one thing, but this is hate speech and Naik should not be given a platform in this country to spread it. If the government can attempt to ban Wilders and Savage then they should also be blocking hate mongers like Naik and al-Qaradari.
Wonder what Theresa May will do, or will it just be "unfortunate" again.

More about → Hate

Cars

I'm starting to hate cars, not because I hate driving or other drivers, I hate cars because they are now a money trap. When I was young, I used to do all my own servicing, even down to stripping an engine out of the car and doing a total rebuild. Such matters as changing a starter motor or alternator were childsplay. Modern cars though, the first thing you notice is that the modern car engine fits almost precisely into the engine compartment, no wasted space at all (and no way to get at anything either, not without stripping something like the radiator. Even on a Mondeo like mine changing the passenger side headlamp bulb requires pulling the light housing out as you can't get at the bulb holder due to lack of space. Try to look at anything underneath and there's a drip tray in the way and again not a lot of room to get at anything once that's removed. No wonder garages use ramps, it's the only way to get at anything. As for the engine management system, it makes the car go great, until it goes wrong and then you have no chance. You require a laptop, a connector and propriety software to diagnose any issues (yes I can get a pirate version of the software but that's not the point) Modern cars have been designed to take servicing out of the hands of the amateur and into the clutches of the professional, and not all professionals either.
The other day my starter motor started acting up, sounded occasionally like a grinder on metal, other times fine, but disturbing as hell when it happened. Easy enough job I thought until I found where it was mounted, front of the engine, underneath the power steering pipes and out of view unless you strip out the cooling system, even then the bolts holding it on are a sod to get at and I wasn't able to do it. So, a few phone calls to local garages later, I found out that most wont touch diesels and or didn't want to get involved at short notice. Still my usual service place took it in. Later I gets a call, "It's the starting motor" My reply, "yes I know" back to them "It needs replacing, £272 cos we need to strip out the cooling system to do it and it'll take a while" Me, "OK" The garage, "But" Me, my wallet smarting already "Oh?" Them, "We need also to check that the double helix flywheel hasn't been damaged, if it is, it's an engine out job, cost you over £1000" Me, "Just change the starter, if it's the flywheel I'll sell the car part ex and get a new one." Garage, "Don't blame you."
It's not the garage's fault either, modern cars are more efficient, better designed, but definitely not designed to be worked on easily or cheaply, part of the £272 is the cost of a new starter (£120).

But I hate cars now, this year mine has cost me a fortune, it's probably going to go as soon as I can persuade my good lady that we need to. It'll be a 4x4 as I know global warming is a myth and I need the 4x4 to get out of my street in snow. It'll also be low mileage and reliable.
It'll still be expensive as hell to fix and run though.

I really hate cars now.

More about → Cars

Symbolism

Every so often some academic (or foreigner) comes along and points out that the patron saint of England was neither English, nor ever been here and that we should get rid of him. They normally don't do it for St Patrick (Welshman, though he did end up in Ireland) or St Andrew (Jewish) mostly because they know the reaction they'll get.

Step forward Dr Markus Eichhorn.

Dragon-slaying martyr St George should be replaced as a symbol of England, university academics have said.

With national identity in sharp focus leading up to the World Cup, experts at the University of Nottingham have come up with a new idea.
They believe the English oak would be a far better symbol.
"St George is a peculiar symbol," says Dr Markus Eichhorn, from the University's school of biology.
"He was Turkish, he never visited this country and he has no particular associations with England."
He added: "What better symbol of England than the oak which has been a key element of the country's culture, geography and economy for thousands of years?"
Dr Eichhorn suggests May 29th as a potential date for a new English national day, replacing St George's Day on April 23rd.
Already known as Oak Apple Day or Royal Oak Day, it marks the day Charles II hid from the rebel forces in an oak tree after the battle of Worcester in 1651.
When the monarchy was restored in 1660 he decreed the date should be celebrated and that trees should be dressed as part of the festivities.

So not only not English, not only never lived here, but replace him with a tree too. This sort of thing comes around every year, though I do feel that Royal Oak day should have significance in a restored England, however a saint it is not, merely a symbol of the escape of Charles II and the restored monarchy. No, it's not where St George comes from that makes him significant to the English, it's what he represents, the patron saint of soldiers of being prepared to stand up to evil and wrongness, to defend the innocent, to do what is right no matter the odds against you. That is why St George was chosen, not because of where he came from, but what he represents. There are saints aplenty born in this land, but few who represent anything other than martyrdom and were in the past not wholly of England. Alfred the Great being one, a great man yes, but only king of Wessex, though oddly enough his reign started on 23 April 871 St Georges day.
I doubt anything will be done anyway, Dr Markus Eichhorn is simply headline grabbing, the English aren't about to change their Patron Saint, nor their flag, especially not these days when we feel under siege by the politically correct "Righteous" British. The popularity of St George and his day will continue to grow in England whether he was one of us or not simply because it is opposed by the "Righteous" in local councils and national government who hate the English and what we represent and wish we were regional and British.
So the more headlines like this that come up, the more the English dig their heels in, 14 years ago you hardly ever saw an English flag, now they're everywhere and not just for the football. St George's day parades were few and far between, now they're springing up all over the country. The English are slowly but surely waking up from the deadening, numbing hand of Britishness and finding new strength from old symbols and the "Righteous" hate this, which makes it all the more worth doing.

More about → Symbolism

Mistakes, far too frequent mistakes.

Credit card companies, for all they occasionally get stung by identity thieves tend to be very, very careful with their customers details, they don't put them on disks or sticks (encrypted or not) and they don't leave them on laptops in taxi's. Nor oddly enough do they post your details to someone else. Yet the civil service of this country seem to have no qualms whatsoever about doing this to all and sundry.

BBC.

The private financial details of up to 50,000 people who claim tax credits have been mistakenly sent out in the post by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC).

Claimants were sent their annual tax credit award notice, along with personal details of other claimants.

One woman from Hyde in Greater Manchester has told the BBC her letter included her neighbour's earnings.

She also got the bank sort code and the last four digits of the bank account number of another claimant.

The HMRC said it would be apologising to all the people affected.

"Unfortunately an error has occurred in one of the tax credits print runs causing some customer information to be wrongly formatted," said a spokeswoman.

"Investigations are underway to identify the cause of the problem and we will be contacting affected customers in writing this week, apologising and providing a corrected award notice.

"An initial analysis shows that ID theft could not result from this printing error," she said.

No doubt, "Lessons will be learned™" and no doubt it will happen again and again at least until they start sacking some people (complete with civil service union strikes and no doubt SWP solidarity rioting during negotiations) The problem is that the public sector through various means have managed to disconnect action from reaction, there are rarely consequences to their actions and never dismissals for actions that in the private sector would do so possibly with criminal proceedings. Until the realisation gets to the civil service that "heads will roll" should people's data be treat with respect and security then I expect the Cameron/Clegg coalition to be irritated by these scandals on a regular basis.

Simply not good enough no longer works with me for this sort of thing.

More about → Mistakes, far too frequent mistakes.

It will go wrong, it always does.

The EU (and the UK) are proposing a tax on banks to cover banking failure, ostensibly it's to prevent the taxpayer from having to bail out banks and there are proviso's to make sure the cost of this tax isn't passed on to the borrower (some hope, they'll get their money back somehow, it's what banks do)

BBC.

A network of national funds should be introduced so the cost of bank failures are not met by the taxpayer, the EU internal market commissioner has said.

Michel Barnier said such funds would provide part of a broader system aimed at preventing future financial crises.
Banks would be required to pay a levy into the funds which would not be used to bail out failing banks, but manage failures in "an orderly way".
Mr Barnier said: "I believe in the 'polluter pays' principle."
"It is not acceptable that taxpayers should continue to bear the heavy cost of rescuing the banking sector. They should not be in the front line," he said.
And the EU report said that any levies that banks were made to pay should not be passed on to their customers in the form of higher charges.
UK Chancellor George Osborne has favoured a banking levy but would prefer national governments to have more freedom to decide how the money is spent.
Commenting after a meeting with US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Wednesday, Mr Osborne said he agreed on the need for a bank levy to fund the cost of future failing banks.
But he reiterated the UK's position that the funds raised should be treated as general government receipts, rather than as a specific ring-fenced fund to be held in place until a crisis arose.

Sounds great doesn't it? However like any tax, sooner or later it gets used as a "temporary" top up to other schemes. Bit like road tax by far exceeds what is spent on roads, it's just another tax all ending up in one big tax pool. That's the issue that I have over this, the fund will be administered by the government and frankly I don't trust the government, their intentions might be good, but sooner or later some unscrupulous chancellor is going to come along and see all this nice "just in case" money sitting there and think well I have a few schemes that could benefit from that. Next time the banks have a problem, the money will be gone and the taxpayer will be hit again.
Again, I might be wrong about this, but the past track record of governments isn't a good one where it comes to keeping taxation for what it's supposed to be for. National insurance, road fund license etc all collected yet not used on what they are supposed to be for, simply government funds. Now I'm all for the banks having to pay for one of their own going bust, but I'm more in favour of an organisation along the lines of ABTA, to look after the problem, not the Bank of England and hence not the government of the UK. Politicians simply cannot be trusted with money, they always find a way to spend it, not save it.

More about → It will go wrong, it always does.

First summer idiot parent found

Usually instances of parents harming their children are deliberate rather than stupid.

Brighton beach baby suffers burns in heat

A baby was taken to hospital with burns to 20% of his body after spending a day on Brighton beach with his mother.
The five-month-old baby boy was taken by ambulance to the Royal Sussex County Hospital on Sunday - one of the hottest days of the year.
Police community support officers intervened and called an ambulance after they saw the boy on the seafront, as temperatures reached 25C.
Sussex Police said his 29-year-old mother had been visiting from London.

No arrests have been made. 

We get a few of these fools who think that babies are immune to sunlight every year. Perhaps she thought he was Kryptonian and would display superpowers after being grilled.  There are certainly enough adverts around telling people to be careful of the sun, but again I wonder if the blame can be left at the appalling education standards in this country, though at 29 the mother probably wasn't educated under Labour, so she might just be an idiot after all.

More about → First summer idiot parent found

Cutting to the bone

£6 Billion, it sounds like a lot, well it is a lot compared to what the average guy/gal earns in a year. What it is though is about a fortnights worth of the overspend that the previous government has saddled us with. Currently we have £165 billion going out more than we take in, £6 billion is just a drop in the ocean. The cuts that Osborne and the coalition government are proposing are just the beginning, Labour have ruined the economy big style in their efforts to buy a client state, no real surprise there though, that's what Labour tend to do after all. Even if they come into office with good intentions, they still manage to bugger things up when they inevitably resort to type. Labour governments leaving office usually leave unemployment higher than when they went in and the economy in a mess as their priorities don't match economic realities. They spent the surplus the previous government left them and then borrowed more to keep up the payments and now the consequences of that fiasco are about to bite, hard. The fools couldn't even prioritise when in office, pet projects were funded lavishly along with government departments, often spending billions on new décor and logo's. Yet our troops went without vital equipment fighting wars in places that really didn't concern us.

Your average person knows how to balance their monthly budget, if at the end of the month I was overspending by about £165 I could manage for a while on the credit card, but those payments would rise, as would the debt. The longer I left it, the worse it would get and reducing my outgoings by £6 a month wouldn't help at all even if it was a start, my creditors would insist that I reduce my costs by £165 a month at least, preferably more and I would be a long time paying off my debts, years possibly if the credit card bills could only be paid off in minimum payments.

That's the situation the country is in, we need to stop spending so much and/or increase our income. Labour have destroyed the enterprise culture in this country with red tape and left a demoralised badly educated workforce to pick up the slack if or when jobs can be created. Yes there will be success stories, yes we could save money by leaving the EU, there's never been a better case for it with the near collapse of the €uro. I doubt the government will though, it might just be a case of better the devil you know at the moment and the EU is a known if corrupt quantity.

Whatever happens though, it's going to hurt, lives are going to be ruined, aspirations put on hold and blame ladled out wholesale. Labour have a lot to answer for and they are going to try and shift the blame, rather like some credit card junkies blaming the lenders for making it so easy.

I can't listen to Labours theme tune "Things can only get better" now without grinding my teeth, the utter, utter bastards!

More about → Cutting to the bone

Own goal

The ability of socialists to shoot themselves in the foot has brought me great joy and some hilarity over the years, from Michael Foot's inability to judge the public mood, to Neil Kinnock's triumphalism in 1992. From Gordon Brown's complete inability to come across as human to the current crop of leadership hypocrites. But the politicians are not the only ones, the "real" socialists of the SWP have also over the years managed to associate themselves with every lost cause, terrorist supporting agenda, anti democratic movement going, flitting from one cause to another whilst being perfectly prepared to drop such shibboleths of gay rights as and when faced with cosying up to Islamic extremist groups.
Their ability to get it wrong knows no bounds as witness this classic.

Times.

LAST-DITCH talks to avert the next round of British Airways strikes had to be abandoned last night after protesters from the Socialist Workers party invaded them.

The disruption followed the apparent release of details from inside the talks by the Unite joint general secretary Derek Simpson, who is accused of sending a string of regular updates via the social networking website Twitter.

The tweets, sent under the name derekamicus on a page with a photograph of Simpson, contained remarks such as: “Willie and Tony locking horns over accusations of unequal treatment of allegations of bullying.” Another read: “Arguments over the 8 sacked workers,” and then: “Fear of more sackings to come.”

A tweet sent just before 6pm read: “Intruders from left political group has infiltrated Acas building and disrupted talks ... Police called ... Much noise and stamping.”

About 60 left-wing protesters forced their way through the doors of Acas and up to the 23rd floor five hours into the talks, claiming to be showing solidarity with British Airways workers.

Walsh was surrounded by chanting protesters and had to be escorted from the building by police. The Unite joint leader Tony Woodley angrily remonstrated with them telling them to “shut up”. Many of the demonstrators staged a sit-in until they were removed by police. No arrests were made.

Talks to avert a strike, talks to save disruption to passengers, talks to prevent union members losing money from said strike disrupted by those showing "solidarity" with the BA staff.
You couldn't make this stuff up.

Not that Unite come out of this terribly well, I mean, what the hell was Tony Woodley doing "Tweeting" during negotiations?

Last night BA said it was “astonished that Simpson feels it appropriate to tweet a running commentary of some very delicate and private negotiations involving top mediators”.

I mean I know socialists are addicted to tweeting as the 140 character limit encompasses their attention span, but you'd think that during delicate critical (and private) negotiations you'd be very careful not to tell the world how it's going every couple of minutes.

Ye gods it's difficult to imagine how these people get in positions of power over us, yet somehow they do. I despair for this country at times.

Mummylonglegs  has a good go at the idiocy which is the Unite union members who support strike action.

More about → Own goal

The kiss of death

BBC.

Lord Kinnock has publicly endorsed Ed Miliband in his campaign to become the next Labour leader.

In an interview with the Observer, he describes the former energy secretary as having the electoral "X-factor" and "the capacity to inspire people".
The former Labour leader says he also rates Ed's older brother, David - a leadership rival - "very highly".
The pair are among six people to have said they plan to stand, with a winner due to be announced on 26 September.

Nuff said.

More about → The kiss of death

Green madness

What is it with politicians that despite the mounting evidence they still ride the Green bandwagon off into the sunset of idiocy. They know the public aren't with them and they know a majority of the public think CO2 and global warming man made climate change is a scam to pick their pockets.

BBC.

The UK government will push the EU to move to a higher target for cutting greenhouse gas emissions. It will urge the EU to cut emissions by 30% from 1990 levels by 2020, rather than the current 20% target, partly through more support for renewable's.

A higher proportion of tax revenues will come from environmental taxes.
The Conservative-Lib Dem coalition also confirmed there would be a free vote on fox-hunting and that badger culling was back on the agenda for England.
The pledges are contained in the Programme for Government, unveiled on Thursday.
This fleshes out the much shorter agreement released by party leaders David Cameron and Nick Clegg immediately after the confirmation of their coalition.

 CO2 is essential in the chain of life on this planet, in the past there have been far higher levels in the atmosphere than there are now and the planet has survived and prospered.
Environmental taxes are why a good portion of the UK now live in energy poverty struggling to pay their bills.
Also, whilst there are some who would welcome internal* pressure within the EU to built up in favour of even stricter emission cuts. Because they believe that they'll create an environment in which green businesses will flourish, and hope that it will create economic recovery and expansion. However, as it is signs are already appearing that "green business" is in danger of becoming the next big bubble. When people with lots of money but next to no experience or knowledge begin flooding a market its often time to get out.
So, I'm still not quite sure what the Tories are up too on this, I believe it of the Lib Dems simply because their Beardy Weirdy faction demands that the country commits economic suicide. But Cameron did bang on about it the old manifesto so he clearly sees that there are votes to be had in it, though personally speaking they aren't the sort of votes that win elections as Cameron seems to have proved.
I can't see how any of this will solve the economic crisis, if anything it could make things a hell of a lot worse. I just wish politicians would deal with the environment pragmatically, deal with pollution, take care of the nations energy needs and not worry about climate change as climate changes anyway.

*My first idea was UK pushing the EU on anything is quite out of this world.

More about → Green madness

So not an EUsceptic at all then Dave.

Well Cameron confirmed today what we all suspected save only for the odd deluded Tory still aggrieved over the amount of votes UKIP got that cost them a majority.

BBC.

Prime Minister David Cameron has pledged to play a constructive role in Europe after holding talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

At their meeting in Berlin, the leaders discussed attempts to contain Europe's debt crisis and wider EU co-operation.
Mr Cameron said he wanted a "strong and positive partnership" with Germany.
He said the UK wanted a strong Eurozone but ruled out the UK agreeing to any future EU treaty transferring further powers from Westminster to Brussels.
On his first foreign trip as UK leader Mr Cameron held talks with French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Thursday before moving onto Berlin.
In a press conference in the German capital, Mr Cameron said there was "no question" of the UK agreeing to the transfer of any further powers from Westminster to Brussels - seen as a potential fault line in the UK's relationship with Europe.
He said any treaty proposing such a transfer of sovereignty was "not likely to happen" in the foreseeable future, a position supported by the German leader.
Although the UK would not be joining the Euro, Mr Cameron said it was in the interest of Europe for the countries using the single currency to enjoy growth and stability.

This man is clearly no EUsceptic, nor are the top echelons of the Tory party and those who told us that the Tories would do something about the EU were clearly deluding themselves. Wanting a strong Eurozone would be fine if the UK weren't getting tapped for money left right and centre to prop it up nor does "no question" of the UK agreeing to the transfer of any further powers from Westminster to Brussels make you an EUsceptic either, it just makes you neutral.
If Cameron really was an EUsceptic, he'd offer us a referendum on in or out, or at the very least a referendum on the re-ratification of the Lisbon Treaty. As it is, he isn't and the body of evidence grows that Cameron is not the man the Tories thought he was, then again his attempt at emasculating the 1922 committee should already have set alarm bells ringing for his MP's and grass roots anyway. He seeks power, not for the UK, not for the Tories, but to make his position unassailable from anyone who might disagree with his position on policies.
This man is no EUsceptic, he is however very dangerous and I doubt the Tories will be able to do much about him for a long, long while as he's removed their ability to do so.

More about → So not an EUsceptic at all then Dave.

Guidance for New Models Talents

The first step in creating a stunning model portfolio is finding the right photographer. This is the first and the most important step in the long process. Call local agencies and ask which photographers they go through to get their pictures. It is important to find the right photographer who specializes in the photo styles, which you want to be represented in your modeling portfolio. What you pay for is also what you receive, while hiring the most expensive photographer may not be your first choice, going for the cheaper option may yield cheap results, and in the modeling industry, you are only as good as your worst picture.

More about → Guidance for New Models Talents

Choices, choices

Interesting times for Labour, They're in opposition, broke, having a leadership election which might turn into a civil war and their owners the unions look like they are hell bent on making sure via strike action in transport and public services that they are being made pretty unelectable in the near to mid future.
I know the Milliband clones are the current favourites to take the leadership, though it's far more likely to be eco freak (Ed) rather than banana boy (Dave) but this assumes that the unions don't decide to let Labour commit electoral suicide Michael Foot style by letting Ed (the thug) Balls in or Diane (hypocrite) Abbott. There is another candidate, but he's currently having a hissy fit over Abbott stealing his thunder.
As I have no stake at all in deciding who gets to be Labour leader, (even if it is tempting to join as has been suggested over at Obo's place just to get Ball's in*) I'm pretty undecided who I'd like to see leading them. A healthy democracy needs a good opposition to hold the government to account. Problem being that Labour are not a good opposition in pretty much the same way that they weren't a good government. They are too tied down with either Blairist posturing or socialist idiocy to be of much use or ornament as an effective opposition, at the moment they are tainted goods.
However if not Labour, then who? The Lib Dems don't have enough parliamentarians as yet, though their little scam to get government tax payer funding for parties is still ongoing at the moment (as I never voted for any of them, why should I fund them?) They are also temporarily the government too, though I doubt it will last long. Question being will they be caught out by what needs to be done to put the country right, it might be necessary but it wont be popular.
So, is it worth wanting Labour to make themselves totally unpopular save amongst niche groups like the SWP or that at least they make themselves popular enough to at least give the Tories something to think about.

Guess what I really want is a proper "conservative" opposition to the Tories, EUskeptic, economically sound and not obsessed with social democracy, targets and posturing, at least until they become the government. Basically I want a UKIP opposition/government, but at the moment that's just a pipe dream along with an English parliament in a federal UK.

So, decisions, decisions, it's got to be Balls or Abbot for me ;-)

* Tempting, but I just couldn't, far too much self respect ever to associate myself with Labour

More about → Choices, choices

Same as it ever was

Meet the new government, same as the old government, authoritarian bansturbators to the core.

Independent.

Britain's 24-hour licensing laws could be axed after the new coalition Government ordered a wholesale review.

Home Secretary Theresa May said she is determined to examine problems created by the "binge-drinking culture", including street violence and other crimes.

Speaking at the Police Federation conference, she said she opposed the 2003 Licensing Act when it was introduced by the previous administration.

Questioned by a police officer in the audience about the problems caused by heavy drinking, Mrs May confirmed that a review is under way.

She said: "We are going to look at the licensing laws. I was in opposition when the new laws were introduced and I argued against them.

"I argued that those were the sorts of problems that would come about but I was told we would have a cafe culture. We think they have produced problems on the streets.

"There are some other issues to look at around the binge drinking culture that has grown up. We think it is right that we do review these laws."

Earlier this month, Judge Christopher Harvey Clark QC said relaxing the nation's licensing laws was partly to blame for incidents of violence on the streets.

As ever the target is the vast law abiding mass who behave, have a good time and don't cause any bother. We have to pay the price because the police and authorities can't be bothered to use their powers properly nor deal with the miscreants properly. So they opt for the ban, every time, they spoil everyone's pleasure rather than deal with the problem. They'd rather businesses go to the wall than lock up the troublemakers.
Of course, if you have a real problem, then they get to stay at our expense and we can't deport them in case their human rights are infringed.
But it's ok to infringe on our freedom.

More about → Same as it ever was

Parish Notice

I'm going to be a Grandad.

Damn :-D

I'll have a few drinks to celebrate, I think I deserve it after all the hard work I put in to get to this position.

More about → Parish Notice

Livid

There are many things I disliked about New Labour, economic imbecility, delusions of socialist grandeur, obsession with class, obsession with lining their pockets at our expense, multiculturalism, favouritism, cronyism etc. It's a long list. There are a few things I hated about new Labour, their big state, big brother ever intrusive poking their noses into our lifestyles and presuming they knew best about how we should behave, their constant bansturbation to target everyone rather than the root cause of a problem. Their politicisation of the police hierarchy and their removal of ancient rights from the people of the land.
Their was (and is) one thing about New Labour (or Labour in general) that always got me livid and that's their disdain shading to outright hatred of the English, be it Jack Straw calling us violent, or Gordon Brown seemingly being unable to say England, even John Denham attacking the EDL for the violence of the UAF. They set up regional committees and filled them with placemen all of whom desired the splitting up or marginalisation of our nation, when the people said no! They went ahead and did it anyway.
And now we have Lord Triesman, a Labour Lord who can't keep his dick in his pants, who wanted a British football team in the Olympics despite opposition from all UK football associations and who has probably because of his indiscretions cost England the World Cup in 2018.
Yes I know it was the Mail on Sunday who printed the allegations and they certainly share a goodly portion of the blame as does the Daily Mail and they're getting a right good kicking in the press and from the public because of it. But it was Labours penchant for anti-Englishness coupled with an almost unique talentless set of politicians with an inherent ability to pick the wrong person for a job who put Triesman (Gordon's choice) in charge at the F.A. and who proceeded to undermine this country at almost every chance he got, probably because he saw being British rather than English as being the important thing.

People are planning on boycotting the Mail, I don't blame them, but to be honest I'd rather they boycotted Labour who put this buffoon in charge in the first place.

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English Heroes #6

An occasional series recording Englishmen, women and children who have done great things for themselves or others and reflected well on the country of their birth.

Step forward Brian Burnie a Newcastle-born millionaire.

BBC.

A Northumberland millionaire has sold his country estate near Alnwick, giving every penny of the proceeds to charity.

Brian Burnie put Doxford Hall Hotel and its 10-acre estate up for sale for £9m, pledging that the proceeds would go to fund cancer care in the region.
Mr Burnie, 64, said he and his family would be "sad to leave" the hotel.
Northumberland couple Robert and Gina Parker have bought the site. They already own a number of estates in the north of England and Shropshire.
Mr Burnie said: "We live in a me, me, me society and it has always been important to me to think of others.
"We can all do something by leaving money to charity when we die, but why don't we do something while we are still living?"
He wants to pay for a Macmillan cancer nurse for north Northumberland and buy custom-made vehicles to take cancer patients to and from hospitals.

The father-of-three said he and his wife Shirley - a breast cancer survivor - would live on their private pension.
The Newcastle-born millionaire said: "After 17 years this is an important milestone for me and my family and of course we will be sad to leave.
"I've done the stately home bit - the bricks and mortar - but I've always been a people person. To be able to do something to help people has a much bigger return than any financial gain."
"You are what your parents are and you should never forget your roots - we were millionaires in kindness, not money."

Words cannot express my admiration of Mr Burnie, he's worked hard all his life and now is putting something back into society, far more in fact than he's ever taken out.

Mr Burnie, this blog salutes you and your good lady and wishes you all the best for your future and many thanks for the future you have provided for others.

More about → English Heroes #6

So tell us something we don't know

"There's no money left" That was the note left for new chief secretary to the Treasury by Liam Byrne. No doubt it was meant as a joke, however with £165 billion pounds overspend because of the previous government, it was definitely a joke in bad taste.

Telegraph.

The former chief secretary to the Treasury, Liam Byrne, left a note in a desk stating, ''I'm afraid to tell you there's no money left,'' his successor has claimed. 

His pithy summary of the serious challenges facing the new power-sharing administration was revealed by Liberal Democrat David Laws, who has taken on the role.
Speaking at a press conference at the Treasury, he told reporters: ''When I arrived at my desk on the very first day as Chief Secretary, I found a letter from the previous chief secretary to give me some advice, I assumed, on how I conduct myself over the months ahead.
''Unfortunately, when I opened it, it was a one-sentence letter which simply said 'Dear Chief Secretary, I'm afraid to tell you there's no money left', which was honest but slightly less helpful advice than I had been expecting,''
Mr Byrne insisted the message was meant as a private joke.
"My letter was a joke, from one Chief Secretary to another," he said. "I do hope David Laws' sense of humour wasn't another casualty of the coalition deal."

 Problem is, that there is no money left, there was no money left even when Labour did its scorched earth tactic and left the incoming government with debts to pay even if they cancelled the contracts. I've also got news for Osborne too, £6 billion of cuts is not going to be enough, nowhere near enough. If you're going to cut you're going to have to go for the jugular, the longer you leave it, the worse it's going to get. You might also need to have a word with Huhne, the idiot Cameron has put in charge of energy, and global warming climate change. He has some odd ideas about subsidising wind and wave farms rather than power supplies that actually work when you need them, move the climate levy onto nuclear if you must, just please don't tell us the world is in danger from climate change, we know you're lying.
Above all, don't be afraid to tell us the truth, we know it's going to be bad, but please don't sugar coat it because if you do we'll make you pay for it at the next election, besides we know who's to blame, so you might as well pile it on thick.

More about → So tell us something we don't know

Scorched Earth

Well we knew it might happen, we certainly know how the socialist mindset works, petty and vindictive beyond belief when their little empires are thwarted and overturned by what passes for the democratic process in this country. These are the people in WW2 who were prepared to sabotage the war effort during the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact until at least Hitler invaded the then Soviet Union. These are the people who sold our atomic secrets to the Soviet Union and spied on us. These are the people who tried to have our nuclear deterrent disbanded whilst knowing full well the Soviets had no intention of removing theirs. These are the people who saw the Soviet Union and its satellites as a workers paradise until it collapsed, who still believe that Cuba, China and possibly even North Korea are still the way to go as an ideal society and are currently working in and around the EU to subvert it to socialist ideals. These are the people who think they know best how to spend our taxes, robbing us blind to pay for their favoured diverse and multicultural pets and processes, who follow Marxist dialectics and try always unsuccessfully to run economies based on that failed theory. Who see personal liberty and freedom as inconveniences to a workers paradise and are prepared to use the state and its hirelings to control every aspect of our lives for our own good and security.
And when we rid ourselves of them via the vote and put in a new government we find this sort of thing...

Times.

Labour hid ‘scorched earth’ debts

Labour ‘left poison pills’ for Cameron’s government

THE government last night accused Labour of pursuing a “scorched earth policy” before the general election, leaving behind billions of pounds of previously hidden spending commitments.
The newly discovered Whitehall “black holes” could force even more severe public spending cuts, or higher tax rises, ministers fear.
Vince Cable, the business secretary, said: “I fear that a lot of bad news about the public finances has been hidden and stored up for the new government. The skeletons are starting to fall out of the cupboard.”
The new cabinet has been discovering previously unknown contracts and uncosted spending commitments left by their spendthrift predecessors.
“There are some worrying early signs that numbers left by the outgoing government may not add up,” said Francis Maude, the Cabinet Office minister.
David Willetts, the universities minister, claimed that Labour had left behind “not so much an in-tray as a minefield”.
Billions of pounds in public money was committed in the run-up to the election campaign in a deliberate strategy to boost Labour’s chances at the ballot box and sabotage the next government.
One former Labour minister told The Sunday Times: “There was collusion between ministers and civil servants to get as many contracts signed off as possible before the election was called.”
One former adviser to the schools department said there was a deliberate policy of “scorched earth”. “The atmosphere was ‘pull up all the railways, burn the grain stores, leave nothing for the Tories’,” he added.
The disclosures come as George Osborne, the chancellor, prepares this week to reveal details of an initial £6 billion of cuts to help plug the hole in the £163 billion deficit. A full emergency budget next month will see some departmental budgets being slashed by up to 25% as well as tax rises, including a possible hike in Vat.
Many ministers are spending this weekend going through their red boxes trying to understand the scale of the budgetary black holes facing their departments.
The “black holes” that ministers have already unearthed include:
- A series of defence contracts signed shortly before the election, including a £13 billion tanker aircraft programme whose cost has “astonished and baffled” ministers.
- £420m of school building contracts, many targeting Labour marginals, signed off by Ed Balls, the former schools secretary, weeks before the general election was called.
- The troubled £1.2 billion “e-borders” IT project for the immigration service, which, sources say, is running even later and more over-budget than Labour ministers had admitted.
- A crisis in the student loans company where extra cash may be needed to prevent a repeat of last year’s failure to process tens of thousands of claims on time.
- The multi-billion-pound cost of decommissioning old nuclear power plants, which ministers claim has not been properly accounted for in Whitehall budgets.
- A £600m computer contract for the new personal pensions account scheme rushed through by Labour this year, which will still cost at least £25m even if it is cancelled.
Maude, who has been given the task of reducing Whitehall waste, insisted that ministers were not scaremongering to paint their predecessors in a negative light. He said there was widespread concern that Labour had become particularly spendthrift in the run-up to the election campaign.

 I'm sure there's more and I'm sure by the next election Labour will be back on its feet to an extent, run by the unions and blaming the Tories and the Lib Dems for not sorting out their mess.
They have saddled us, our children and our grandchildren with mountains of debt, they have spent our money, maxed out the countries credit card and then went ahead Zimbabwe style to print money to make up the difference. And when they knew the game was up, they vented their spite and hatred of the right by spending some more on their constituencies and left others to sort out the disaster that was their time in office and us to pick up the tab.

And the worst thing is, come the next election they'll blame everyone but themselves in an effort to get back into power and possibly up to a third of the population will vote for them come hell or high water.
They say people get the government they deserve, it's not entirely true, save in the case of Labour voters, who never seem to learn the lessons and still believe that Labour will look after them. They believe the myth of the rich soaking the poor whilst ignoring the fact that Labour seek to emulate the rich using our money to do so, but only for the party or top union bosses. After all you wouldn't expect those who labour so hard on the part of the masses to actually live like them now would you? Well they don't.


Petty, spiteful and vindictive defined only by their hatred of the right and their efforts to keep them out of power even if it means wrecking and ruining the country to do it.


That's the New Labour legacy.

More about → Scorched Earth

Respect?

David Cameron visited Scotland yesterday and had this to say...

Sky.

On his first trip since becoming Prime Minister, David Cameron has said he wants to win Scotland's respect.

The coalition chief was accompanied on his visit to the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh by the Secretary of State for Scotland, Lib Dem Danny Alexander.
They met Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond.
On arrival, Mr Cameron said: "I want to show my respect for the devolved institutions.
"I want to make the devolved institutions work and work well.
"I want a real agenda of respect between our parliaments."
He said he wanted Scottish ministers to appear in front of Westminster select committees and said if the Scottish Parliament wished it, he would travel to Holyrood ever year to answer MSPs' questions.
Mr Cameron went on: "I want to try and win Scotland's respect as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

That's all very well Dave, but how about some respect for England, after all we're the ones who put you where you are. How about dealing with the democratic deficit that means England is the only recognised country in the EU that doesn't have its own Parliament. How about dealing with the West Lothian question which allows MP's from other nations in the UK to vote on matters pertaining only to England in which they don't have to answer to their own constituents? How about tackling the Barnett formula and converting it if you must to a true needs based fund, rather than a syphon on English spending to hand over to the devolved parliaments in the UK? After all it leaves you facing this sort of thing...

Mr Salmond is expected to press Mr Cameron for Scotland to receive about £700m of additional cash.

He wants the Scottish Government to be able to bring forward further spending.
He is also calling for Scotland to receive money as a consequence of Olympic spending and for cash for renewable energy projects in the fossil fuel levy fund to be released.

I don't see too much respect coming back your way Dave, just an outstretched hand asking for more English cash. I doubt you'd get that much respect if you handed it over either, just a demand for more. The term were looking at here is not respect, you may want respect Dave, but what they want is appeasement, a form of Dane Geld, a you pay us to stay quiet fund, or hush money if you want it put bluntly.
In a sense Dave, what you're seen as by Alex Salmond is another Neville Chaimberlain, an appeaser, he has his own agenda which is Scottish independence, which stands at total odds to your unionism, so he sees nothing wrong in soaking the UK government for readies, after all it's not like he plans to stay now is it? Not exactly mutual respect really, but he sees your weakness and plays on it, no doubt you'll oblige and wonder why your popularity nose dives in England. Salmond also claims you have no mandate for Scotland (conveniently forgetting that your Lib Dem partners have a greater mandate in Scotland than he does in the UK Parliament) The way to deal with this is not by bribes though, but by tough but fair policies, if there's pain to go around, then we all share until one or the other decides to leave. Salmonds Scotland cannot be allowed to escape the cut backs, nor claim extra resources needed elsewhere.

Time to grow a spine Dave, if respect is due, it's due to those who voted you in to sort things out, not to hand over their taxes to those who would leave if they could. We don't mind fairness, we do object to Dane Geld!

More about → Respect?

Removing the regions

One of the worries of supporters for an English Parliament was the Labour governments insistence despite rejection in referenda (an EUphilic trait) that England would be split up into regions (like we didn't already have counties) It was prevalent in Labours NewSpeak where the UK was called a country of nations and regions, the nations being the Celts and the regions being the English, somewhat discriminatory, but very New Labour as it divided and conquered (so to speak) England and would have given some control of the regions to their party. When their referendum failed in the North-East, they went ahead and did it anyway using it as a means to stuff their politically correct mindless drones in the regional committees and removing local control from the counties and shires. The good news is that the Con/Lib government is going to remove those regional committees.

Northern Echo.

THE region faces a revolution in decision-making within weeks of the new Conservative-Liberal government coming to power, The Northern Echo can reveal today.

Communities Secretary Eric Pickles will bring forward plans to strip out Labour’s “regional tier” of government, while also pushing for powerful “executive mayors” in towns and cities.

The Government’s war on red tape means:

■ The end of the ten-year blueprint mapping out the North-East’s regional development;

■ Forcing councils to account for all spending above £500;

■ Plans to sweep away town hall bureaucrats, replacing them with all-powerful executive mayors;

■ Moves to strip authorities of powers over new schools;

■ Plans for elected police commissioners to oversee law enforcement.

The agenda means wielding the axe on the regional spatial strategy (RSS), the blueprint to deliver infrastructure, housing, transport and business investment over the next decade.

Cue howls of anguish from the "Righteous" who see their dreams of avarice suckling on the taxpayer riding off into the sunset. Even the Police chiefs are up in arms, it could mean the end of ACPO and their little financial empire too. After all if the public start to elect police chiefs, they'll elect them on the grounds of catching criminals, not political reliability. In short it's all about accountability to the general public rather than the Labour Party/Government.
Destruction of the regional tier will not be the end of the EU's plans to destroy the English politically of course, but it will put a bit of a dent in them.

More about → Removing the regions

Nihilism and not learning the lessons

What is it about socialists that they cannot come to terms with defeat in the polls? You check around various leftist blogs, even the Guardian CiF for commentary of the Labour meltdown and they more or less come up with the same tired old diatribes and nihilism when it comes to a change of government.

Here.

When it comes down to it, we don’t give a flyer what is in anybody’s manifesto. We are not stupid enough to believe that politicians will implement their stated policies anyway.
No. Our only goal is to keep the Conservatives out. There are no other considerations, nothing else to factor into the equation. It really is that simple.

It's defining yourself by what you oppose, not what you want to do, in part it's because the public tend eventually to refute socialism in the polls after the cost becomes apparent, this usually leads to socialists aligning themselves to any group who they see as a possible counter to the Tories. There are of course some on the right who do that too, you can often see their comments in ConHome where they blamed UKIP because Cameron was stupid enough to believe he didn't need to take what the core supporters wanted into consideration enough and hence ended up in a hung parliament, rather than an overwhelming majority against one of the worst lead governments in living memory. In effect it's a form of tribalism along the lines of my party/country/group right or wrong and with socialists being internationalist communitarian's (mostly) they have a tendency to do group think on a far larger scale and define their thoughts by what they hate.

They still bang on about diversity and multiculturalism and how the government should do things despite the rejection of much of this way of doing things by the electorate.

Here.

Diverse, plural, where different points of view find a way to work together."
This cabinet, diverse? With less than 14% women? Spain manages 53%, Germany 37%. Plural? With not a single minority ethnic MP? A new kind of politics? When two thirds of the top table went to private school – three each to Eton and Westminster – compared with 7% of the population?

 Clearly to the average lefty diverse has a completely different meaning to the average person on the street, you don't have to be a woman to accept that if women have different needs and priorities from government, you don't need to be a woman to apply them, ditto Muslims, Blacks, Gay etc. It was diversity where these groups or rather political extremists in these groups got power from the government and proceeded to use this to elevate their particular group over and above the mainstream, instead of equality and diversity we ended up with priority and ghettoism where these groups drew apart and discriminated against others rather than tolerated them, which was rather supposed to be the point of equality and diversity.

The left really needs to redefine their message away from hate and what they oppose, then again, considering what they usually offer when in power being economic mismanagement, public service growth, discrimination against the majority in favour of minorities, perhaps even an effort not to pick the pockets of the workers to pay for those who don't, though that's asking a bit much as they never seem to grasp that it isn't their money.

Still it could be a long, long while before they get into a position to do so much harm again, but peoples memories are short, the left remind them of Thatcher, yet the people forget why she came about and what she faced.

Perhaps the socialists will never grow up.

More about → Nihilism and not learning the lessons

We may live in interesting times.

Like a lot of bloggers on the libertarian right of the political spectrum I'm prepared to hang fire on the new government at least until it finds its feet, not that I'm prepared to be muzzled mind you. It's just I tend to write my opinion on things rather than get scoops or inside information. It's not that I trust Cast Iron Dave or Flip Flop Clegg either, save only to face up to the mess that Labour have left and start to move the country back onto the path of financial sanity. There are also some interesting possibilities on raising the minimum tax threshold from the Lib Dems to £10,000 which will help low earners and perhaps make benefits not seem so worthwhile, God knows we have to do something to wean people off the state teat.
The Lib Dems also have far more interesting plans for the UK as such, particularly devolution and the West Lothian question. Danny Alexander (Lib Dem) is to be the new Secretary of State for Scotland where at least the Lib Dems can claim some sort of Mandate, and curiously the BBC article that informs us of this fact also brings word of this:

There will also be a commission to discuss the possibility of setting up an Assembly for England and to look at the West Lothian question - whether it is right for Scottish MP's to vote on policies which affect other parts of the UK.

The Liberal Democrat manifesto, promised to "address the status of England within a federal Britain, through the Constitutional Convention set up to draft a written constitution for the UK as a whole". This from an English point of view is by far the best of the manifesto promises about devolved government from any of the main parties, though that wasn't too difficult as Labour had none whatsoever, though they were looking at the findings of the Calman commission.
Now if the Tories can keep the Lib Dem promises for Trident and illegal immigrant amnesties at bay (easy enough) then things might just tick along nicely enough until the parting of the ways in a new general election, which I don't expect to be that long, a year perhaps longer, there are too many differences between the parties still.
One thing they could do is as Lord Tebbit suggested, bring in the IMF to do an audit on the countries finances, the blame for the mess could then be laid straight at Labours door, particularly the very harsh medicine that will be required to put things right. This might just keep the Tories (and Lib Dems) electable when the parting of the ways comes.
I'm not expecting any moves to leave the EU though, I doubt the Tories will be able to do much (assuming they want too) until they have a proper majority in parliament.

So I'll give them some time to firm up their plans and lay into them when I think they're getting it wrong...

Couple of days should do it.

More about → We may live in interesting times.

♫ Ding dong the Witch is dead ♪

It was inevitable, but at least his curse will only be upon his own constituents now.

Persistent little bugger wasn't he?

More about → ♫ Ding dong the Witch is dead ♪

Hung out to dry

Seems the like the current stalemate is about to end for the UK parliament.

BBC.

Labour recognise their efforts to do a deal with the Lib Dems to stay in power are over, the BBC understands.

The decision appears to clear the way for a Lib Dem and Tory deal which would see David Cameron succeeding Labour's Gordon Brown as prime minister.

The Lib Dems and Conservative teams are still in talks, four days after the UK election delivered a hung parliament.

Mr Cameron, Conservative leader, met Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg in private for an hour earlier on Tuesday.

'Respect results'

Talks between Labour and the Lib Dems began formally on Monday when Gordon Brown announced he would be stepping down as Labour leader.

But several senior Labour figures have warned against a coalition with the Lib Dems, particularly if the price involves offering them a referendum on changing the voting system to proportional representation.

Seems like Cleggs little gambit by talking to Labour to force the Tories hand worked, the Tories put AV proportional representation immediately on the table and thus gave Clegg a sop for the beardy weirdy brigade in his own party to get his hands on a real bit of power for the Lib Dems in living memory.
Still that was easy enough, though again I doubt such an alliance can last too long and there's always the possibility of a major fall out on what needs to be done to get the economy back on track and to gut government overspending.

Still, the one good thing to come out of it will be to wipe the smile off the faces of those socialist spendthrifts who desperately tried to hang on to power through fair means and foul (mostly foul, come to think of it) With a bit of luck the resultant bloodbath for a Labour leader might just produce another Michael Foot too.

More about → Hung out to dry

He really does think we're stupid

Darth Eyebrows the Sith Lord second in command to Darth Gordoom despite the destruction of the Socialist Death Star was despatched to the heart of the Empire to support the €uro in the last act of sabotage that Labour can manage before the Rebel Alliance takes over the running of the country. He simply went there to hand over cash that he didn't need to to top up the bankrupt Greek (and possibly other States) economy.

Times.

Alistair Darling has denied that Britain is helping to prop up the euro after he agreed to a €750 billion (£650 billion) EU and International Monetary Fund rescue fund to shore up troubled eurozone economies.

After a marathon 11-hour session of talks ministers settled on the package that they hoped would be big enough to prevent Greece's debt crisis from spreading.

Under the three-year aid plan the EU Commission will make €60 billion available while countries from the 16-nation eurozone would promise backing for €440 billion. The IMF would contribute an additional sum of at least half of the EU's total contribution, or €250 billion.

Britain's involvement in the bailout could cost taxpayers £15 billion. The country was already exposed to a potential £7 billion cost under the original scheme and its ultimate liability under the enhanced plan will be a further £8 billion, Treasury officials say.

This is exactly why we should have had a referendum on Lisbon and this is exactly why we should have an in/out referendum on the EU as soon as possible. We're in the middle of a crippling economic downturn ourselves owing to the economic incompetence of Gordon Brown and we're still handing over cash to the EU despite the fact that the government is spending up to a third more than it's actually taking in! This has got to stop!

The Chancellor told the BBC's Today programme that there was "no way that non-eurozone countries should be asked to underwrite the currency".

But he's going to do it anyway.

He said: "It is a good deal for Europe and we have minimised our exposure and that is a very, very important feature of what I managed to agree last night.”

But not a good deal for the UK, not that he cares, it's not like he has to face the wrath of the nation for doing it, the next government will have to do that whoever they are.
It has been noted that Lisbon is up for re-ratification, it has been said that we should take this opportunity to have a referendum on it. Unfortunately the ones saying it aren't in a position of power to deliver this and Cameron looks very much like he'll stick to form and pretend the EU doesn't exist, at least as far as the general public are concerned.

Can we just leave? Now?

More about → He really does think we're stupid

So what now?

Well it's day 3 of the stalemate and not a lot is happening save a lot of hot air from the MSM pundits and bloggers too, truth be told, even the general public are in on the act as my good Lady, who loathes politics and politicians (though she always votes) is starting to opine on what she wants to happen*.
England and Wales more or less voted for change, were we to lop off the Scottish vote, Cameron would have a very comfy majority to play around with, though I doubt he'd be that popular in a years time after they see the real state of the books and have to make some very unpopular decisions. Labour however have decided that as their vote increased in Scotland by 0.1% that they still have a mandate for the tail to wag the dog, they are supported by Alex Salmond of the SNP who whilst having a Braveheart moment thought he could trust Labour to keep their word and share a bit of power in a Lib/Lab/SNP/Plaid/Uncle Tob Cobbley and all coalition. A lot of right wing SNP supporters were naturally a bit upset about this, though they shouldn't be too surprised, Salmond is a politician after all and power not morality is the key to understanding his position on pretty much anything.
Whilst Gordon Brown has gone into hiding (or at least not saying a lot other than screaming down the phone at Nick Clegg in a typical lovers tiff) his clone army were out either jockeying for position as the new Sith Emperor or making a total arse of themselves (Yes Jack Dromey we're looking at you) on tv by not answering a simple question with a straight answer. Asked if Gordon should go, he replied that because the rebels did not have a majority, Labour have a total mandate to rule and despite the destruction of the Death Star they still were in charge as they controlled Scotland (Something like that anyway).
On top of this Labour are sending Darth Eyebrows out to Brussels to hand over a lot of cash because the Euro has been declared a national disaster under addendum 122 of the Lisbon treaty that they signed up to without asking anyone as they knew we wouldn't mind.
Cameron and Clegg are still trying to find some common ground that they can forge an alliance with, in that they both want power, but have these inconvenient grass roots supporters ready, willing and able to hang them out to dry if they deviate from the one true path, Clegg in particular is being harassed by the Wookie squad of PR supporters demanding that as they have no power the voting rules should be changed to confuse the issue even further. Cameron's problems stem more from the fact that his supporters expected to win provided that they didn't talk about the war EU and they didn't although it was close, so they are waiting to see what light sabre he can pull out of his hat before they get rid of him and replace him with a real Jedi Conservative.

Me, I just want England to be free, of both the UK and the EU, so far it's looking a lot better than it did last week.

*I've tried explaining that taking them outside and shooting them before starting again is not an option, but have to admit it's a decent premise and growing more popular by the day

More about → So what now?

The blame game

Didn't take long to start, I alluded to it a little in the previous post

I reckon the Tories could have had another 20 seats if it had not been for UKIP. The question of who is to govern Britain would then have been decided fairly swiftly. Will the Conservatives learn anything from that? I suspect not. Cameron could have killed off UKIP easily, he just had to offer a referendum, that he wouldn't tells me and thousands of others exactly where he stands on the EU and is why he lost potential critical gains.

Tory Bear and The Tap as well as Conservative Home have all started in on UKIP blaming them for the fact that the Tories aren't running the country. Unfortunately for them it's very much a case of Mea Culpa for Cameron. He had many opportunities to kill off UKIP or at least muzzle them during the general election, a simple promise of a referendum on the EU in the Tory manifesto would have done it. But no, because I suspect that Cameron is at heart a EUphile and knows given a choice the UK people would elect to leave he couldn't do that. Instead he went scratting around trying to entice environmentalists when climate scepticism reached a peak. He tried to entice the pink vote only for the B&B scandal to involve Chris Grayling. In the end he even tried for a bonfire of the Labour authoritarian/database state, but too little too late.
UKIP was an easy solution, or at least you'd have thought so, but I suspect that Cameron couldn't or wouldn't give in to a simple request to hold a referendum on the EU after reneging on a promised referendum on Lisbon, he even ignored the re-ratification issue.

So for Tories looking for someone to blame, look no further than Team Cameron, you may have gained 97 seats, but you lost 12 percentage points in the time between the Lisbon denial and the election, perhaps you should aim some of your fire at the man who could have done something about that rather than sticking his head in the sand and pretending the EU as an issue didn't exist. Cameron could have had it all, but his EUphilia betrayed him, the Tory Party and the country, and that is where I'm squarely placing the blame.

More about → The blame game

Night of the losers.

From my point of view last night was a night where everything that's wrong with UK politics came together and all parties ended up as losers. I'm sure there are some out there who see it as a Tory victory grabbing 97 seats mostly off Labour, but in reality it was an epic fail as they didn't win a clear majority owing to Cameron's ineptitude in snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. Back in December he had what amounted to a 17 point lead, easily enough to get a majority but he fudged the Lisbon Treaty and all his dreams turned to dust as he now faces the choice of grovelling to Clegg about what parts of the Lib-Dem manifesto he thinks the Tories might be able to stomach. He also failed in Scotland, where there was no change in seats at all so the sour little Englanders and Scottish blood runs in these veins comments were to no avail other than possibly deciding a few more English not to vote for him. I don't think he really gets how much the Scots hate the Tories (and possibly the English) over the 1980's and the Thatcher myth they've built up to hide their own massive failure of socialist economic planning, after all it's much easier to blame a distant and not terribly liked nation rather than look to yourselves as to what you could have done better. There's even the usual blaming of UKIP going on amongst the Tory faithful as they see the close but no coconut constituencies slip from their grip because people like me were not going to vote for a party who they did not agree with just to oust another party they did not agree with. Richard North at EU-Referendum is compiling a list of these but I reckon the Tories could have had another 20 seats if it had not been for UKIP. The question of who is to govern Britain would then have been decided fairly swiftly. Will the Conservatives learn anything from that? I suspect not. Cameron could have killed off UKIP easily, he just had to offer a referendum, that he wouldn't tells me and thousands of others exactly where he stands on the EU and is why he lost potential critical gains.
For Labour too this was a terrible rejection of their core manifesto ideals, they held their own in Scotland for the reasons I stated above, but England and Wales rejected them and they no longer have a mandate to rule alone again having to run to Clegg to see what he'll stand for in order to try and run 2 countries that have shown their hatred of their faux socialism. That some of them don't even see it as a defeat says more about their addiction to power than their grasp of reality.
For the Lib-Dems even though they have ended up as power brokers this was a bad night as they lost seats yet increased their total vote by 1%, just not anywhere where it would do any good as they failed to even dent Labours core vote even in Scotland where they are the main opposition despite the claims of the SNP. They now face the possibility of going down in flames with the Tories or into electoral oblivion if they side with Labour, the UK public might be politically fickle, but we have long enough memories to get our own back in a following election.
The SNP too failed, Scotland remains exactly the same despite one of the most catastrophic Labour regimes in living memory, Salmond is no kingmaker after all, 6 seats is never going to be enough and doesn't bode too well in an independence referendum.
BNP failed yet again to make headway, their only consolation is that their share of the vote didn't totally collapse.
English Democrats, as above.
UKIP, probably prevented a Tory majority, but made little or no real headway even in Buckinghamshire, still the protest vote of choice for disaffected Tories, but not yet mainstream.

So, nobody really won and it gets interesting, I suspect any pact will not last long, I also believe that electoral reform wont get the nod in a referendum. So we'll get another general election within 2 years as the economic recovery and the cuts that have to come force a separation of the political parties again.

The only winner was England, we showed Labour what we thought of them, though I doubt the Tories will thank us by giving us a parliament, their leadership still takes far too many things for granted, which is another reason why they remain losers.

More about → Night of the losers.

Odd sort of night

Well the Tories took Chatham and Aylesford (my constituency) so I can hold my head high in that I didn't cost the Tories the seat here, though in all conscience I could not bring myself to vote for them due to some very weak national policies as well as a certain cast iron promise broken. Kent the county is now totally Tory too, like it was before 1997, I expect if labour and the Lib Dems cobble together an alliance we'll suffer for that, though I suspect that Clegg if he's smart will see that for the poisoned chalice it is. Then again smart and Lib Dem is a bit of an unusual set of circumstances. The watermelons also managed to get an MP in Brighton, no doubt she'll slavishly vote Labour, hopefully though she'll never ever have a deciding vote as knowing the Green party it will not go in favour of the best interests of the people.
Still Cameron might just scrape home with a tiny majority, it might keep him honest and more in touch with what real conservatives want, then again, perhaps not, he is a politician after all and I suspect a closet EUphile, he could have had my vote yesterday if he'd said that the re-affirmation if the Lisbon Treaty would be put to a referendum, but he said nothing, which means to me that he said no.
Still Labour got a good kicking which is no less than they deserved, they were still trying to rewrite the constitution on keeping power when last I looked, wasn't going too well though, Tories kept getting gains. BBC were terribly upset too, all their analysis seemed to be all over the place and nothing went to plan, they were still bigging up a labour/Lib Dem minority government last I looked, but you could see in their eyes they knew the game was up.

Was fun watching though I doubt I'll do it again, unless of course I'm working nightshift.

More about → Odd sort of night

Odd sort of day

Well today is the day we'll (probably) get rid of this odious Labour government who have wrecked the economy, moral standards, education and have enabled the state to spy, control and generally wreck the important safeguards such as the Bill of Rights, Magna Carta etc.
Not that I helped, yes I did go out and vote, but not for the person who might have been able to take the seat away from the current Labour MP. I voted with my conscience, not with my head and for someone whose party was committed to getting some of the things I want for this country. So if labour win, it's probably my fault.
Normally I'd have slept through the results starting as I'd expected to be at work tomorrow, getting up at 4:50 am. As it is, owing to personal problems one of the guys had to pull an emergency day off and fly out to Portugal. So I'm in on nights and will probably watch the election results happen live and contribute to one of the live blogs at All Seeing Eye, Barking Spider, Biased-BBC, Corrugated Soundbite, Dick Puddlecote, Governmentitus, GrumpyOldTwat, Man Widdecombe, Tory Totty Online and Subrosa.

That is of course unless anything goes badly wrong here, they pay me to work not play, but as nightshift mostly involves monitoring the system not fixing it, hopefully I can enjoy the sight of Labour going down in flames.

More about → Odd sort of day

Getting away from it all

Today I decided to put politics on hold, it's a dirty subject generally and the general election has had the effect of slightly tarnishing my soul with all the lies and false promises.

As it is I packed my good Lady and the faithful mutt into the car and set off for High Elms country park near (ish) Bromley in Kent/Londonshire. The aim was to take advantage of a little bit of sunshine and get in some good short distance walking (4 1/2 miles) before starting our main walks of the year, a sort of get the kinks out of our system walk.
We certainly at least picked a good day for it, it was also noticeable that unlike other areas of Kent the election seems to have passed this area by, no placards or banners at all save for the odd one for a local independent councillor. The ground was pretty good too, not rock hard and not wading through occasional mud, the dog thought it was great too.
We stopped off for lunch at one of my favourite pubs too, the George and Dragon at Downe.

 

I like the name and I like the real ale too, though it was pretty quiet, mostly down to the time of day, though I suspect the smoking ban isn't helping either. Still it was good food and good beer, cheerful staff too.
We then strolled through some beautiful English countryside and into Cuckoo Woods where the bluebells were out in all their glory. We didn't hear any cuckoos, though we did hear a woodpecker (didn't see it though) and had a good laugh at the dog chasing squirrels though he never got near one, still he never stops trying and if he can just figure out how to climb a tree...

There are days like this when you can appreciate the heart of England and forget all the petty little men and women who believe they know what's best for us and how to run the country.
These are the days I'll remember, not the politics when I grow old.

More about → Getting away from it all