£12 billion reasons not to vote Tory

Foreign aid often causes my hackles to rise, mostly because it's misplaced, used unwisely, lines the pockets of foreign dictators or is given to countries that clearly don't need it (India and Pakistan). Currently the aid budget stands at £12 billion and is as ever defended by our politicians including David cameron.
Daily Mail.

David Cameron will today admit that millions of pounds of foreign aid has been ‘wasted’, but insist this is not a reason to turn off the tap.
The Prime Minister, on a curtailed tour of Africa, will hit out at those in his own party who criticise his decision to pour billions more into foreign aid at a time of cutbacks at home.
In a speech in Lagos, Nigeria, he will declare: ‘The aid sceptics are wrong. Aid is essential. It can work and we are making it work.’

In this of course he is wrong, it's not essential at all, desirable in some cases perhaps, but not essential particularly when we have enough problems at home. As far as I can see, most politicians don't really understand the issues here as they seem to have no problems at all in signing away taxpayers money to all and sundry.

Charity or aid, whatever they want to call it, should begin at home or be used to cut our mountain of debt down. Yes I know it's not enough to make a huge bite into what we owe due to the previous and current governments ruinous spending programs but every little helps and giving it away to foreign governments is not helping.

Why our MP's choose to do this I simply do not know, it's like their common sense is amputated by the electoral process and they go on to be loyal little lobby fodder to the leadership rather than representing those who elected them.

I'm not in favour of banning things in general, but I'd make an exception for political parties they seem far too free with public money. Perhaps individuals voted in on their own policies is the way to go in the future with alliances made for issues rather by party political consensus.

Would certainly make the buggers work for the people once more.

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On your Mark's

The Euro, love it or as most of us do ignore it has a poor history, supposedly one of the flagship marques of the European Union it was an artificial currency that took no notice of regional economies as it did not have anything like the checks and balances built in to alleviate regional differences that its so called rival the US Dollar does.
Still, with the current difficulties it faces with the Southern Mediterranean states (and Ireland) the possibility of a Greek default on their loans, you'd have suspected that it would have been one of those states who would eventually be the first to leave the Euro. and that the Euro bolstered by the more stable Northern EU economies would survive.

Express.

ALMOST three-quarters of Germans doubt that the euro has a future, a poll reveals.
They also believe rescue attempts are futile as billions more euros will be paid to bail out Greece.
A poll by German newspaper, the Frankfurter Allgemeine, found 71 per cent had “doubt,” “no trust” or thought there is “no future” for the euro. Only 19 per cent expressed “confidence” in it.
Sixty eight per cent said they did not think the emergency bail out of Greece would work.
A separate poll last week showed more than half of Germans thought that Greece should be thrown out of the euro.
Rumours are also rife in Germany that Deutsche Mark bank notes are being printed again in preparation for ditching the euro.
It is said Germany’s central bank, the Bundesbank, has been ordered to print marks as part of contingency plans to leave Europe’s single currency.

Couple of years ago I'd have been gobsmacked by such an announcement, that was however until I noticed something a bit odd on my till receipts from my occasional booze cruises to France in that they all had the amount in Francs still printed on them, seems the only people who thought the Euro could work were the EUphiles and despite their claims, they still only form a minority of people throughout the EU, the rest being either highly hostile or mostly indifferent to the EU, just check out the percentage of votes cast in the EU elections, hardly a vote of confidence is it?
I expect the EU to move heaven and Earth to keep the Germans onboard, but Merkel is walking on a knife edge, elections are due and it's just possible that the opposition will force the German governments hand. If Germany leaves the Euro it will be the end of it, far more so than if Greece does.
We can dream.
Can we leave yet?

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How to make it rain

It's been a very dry spell here in the garden of England, weather has been nice, but very little in the way of rain, few odd showers but nothing particularly heavy. The silence from the global warming climate change crowd has been quite welcome though, I'm still waiting for the official pronouncement from them that the unseasonable warm weather is due to excessive carbon from UK industry. Perhaps they're just tired of being mocked and are concentrating their energies on keeping Chris Huhne in a job so they can get their hands on our money that way. One thing I don't think they'd do is claim that someone else is stealing our rain, I think they know they'd be asked for proof.

Telegraph.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says Europe 'stealing Iran's rain'
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has accused Western countries of plotting to "cause drought" in Iran by using high tech equipment to drain the clouds of raindrops. 

"Western countries have designed plans to cause drought in certain areas of the world, including Iran," Mr Ahmadinejad said in the city of Arak in Markazi province.

"According to reports on climate, whose accuracy has been verified, European countries are using special equipment to force clouds to dump" their water on their continent, he said.

By doing so, "they prevent rain clouds from reaching regional countries, including Iran," Mr Ahmadinejad charged.

Iran has experienced several droughts in recent years.

Yes I'm fairly sure that western countries are working on weather control as a means of warfare and yes I know that there have been some attempts to try and make it rain by dropping silver iodide crystals into clouds with varying degrees of success over the years. However the one thing you don't do is go on about it in front of the worlds press because it makes you look like a total idiot particularly...

Moments after the Iranian president made the startling claim at the inauguration of a dam in a central province, it started to rain.

Coincidence?
I suspect he'll think it's proof.
Some of us will think it's divine retribution for being an idiot whose eyes are far too close together.
Me I think it's the squirrels taking revenge for being arrested for espionage.
Must have been funny though.

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£650 million reasons not to vote Tory

You have to hand it to Cameron, when it comes to foreign affairs, he's right up there in the Gordon Brown class. When it comes to running Britain down abroad, he's in a class of his own. and I for one am sick and tired of politicians and other righteous scum apologising for stuff in the past that has nothing to do with me.

Mail.

David Cameron vowed to hand hundreds of millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money plus vital military secrets to Pakistan yesterday to make amends for offending the Muslim nation last year.
The Prime Minister pledged to invest £650million in Pakistani schools at a time when the education budget at home is being cut.
Britain is also to give highly sensitive military technology to combat roadside bombs to the Pakistani security services, which are widely blamed for funding and arming the Taliban.

The gesture came after Mr Cameron sparked a diplomatic rift last year when he accused the country of ‘looking both ways’ on terrorism.
It is designed to get four million children into the classroom – 17million currently get no schooling. Pakistan spends just 1.5 per cent of its national income on schools but is placing billion-pound orders for six Chinese submarines and 36 fighter aircraft.
The UK will have no control of the curriculum in schools receiving funding, meaning taxpayers could see their money pumped into madrassas peddling extremism.
Mr Cameron defended the payments, saying it was ‘in our interest’ to help Pakistan.

Why is it in our interests to help Pakistan? Don't we have enough problems at home? Also why are we paying into their education system when they are buying military hardware from non UK sources?
What exactly do we get from Pakistan other than trouble? I mean we have the Pakistani gangs in the Northwest pimping and grooming under age girls. There is a good deal of evidence linking them with electoral fraud, police corruption, extremism and benefit fraud to name but a few (usual addendum of not all Pakistanis etc. blah, blah blah).
Cameron couldn't even get the roots right for the Kashmir problem, blaming the UK when it was the governor of Kashmir (an Indian Hindu) who caused the problem.
Still my main issue is this...

This is what angers me, we have problems here that this money could help resolve and Cameron and co are just handing it over to a radical Muslim state without any preconditions as to how they are to spend it other than in education. I suspect a lot of it will go into Wahhabi Madrassas further radicalising another generation of Pakistanis who have already killed non Muslims who called for a reform of the barbaric blasphemy laws in that country. There are suspicions that the military aid will simply end up helping the Taliban to design better bombs anyway.
Cameron's pandering to Islam has to stop, charity begins at home and the money going out in foreign aid would be better spent at home trying to repair the damage done by 13 years of Labour misrule. Yes I know it's only a drop in the ocean compared to the deficit continually being run up by government borrowing, but the lines have to be drawn somewhere and we have need of the money here, spent on British people and British needs. Giving away our cash to nuclear powers who wont spend their own cash on their own people hardly strikes me as a cost effective process. If Pakistan can spend billions on foreign arms to bolster its military, then it can find £650 million to educate its own people from its own pockets and to hell with demanding grovelling apologies from our spineless political classes!

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Only in the Guardian

In an incredible piece of blame shifting, the Guardian has a poll up today asking whether Pastor Terry Jones who burned a Koran is responsible for the deaths of the U.N. civilians in Afghanistan.

Here.

Note: If you answer yes to the question then I really think you need some sort of brain surgery.

Now apart from the emerging evidence that the Afghans rioted then committed atrocities as explained in an interview on BBC Radio 5 Live with an Afghanistan correspondent who stated quite categorically that this attack had little or nothing to do with the burning of the koran 2 weeks ago and everything to do with the recent publication of photographs of US soldiers posing with dead Afghan civilians that they had indiscriminately killed.
Apparently the crowd were angered by this and other instances where innocent civilians were killed and there was little or no condemnation or action taken by the west to bring the perpetrators to justice or to compensate the victims families.
Whilst this does not excuse the actions of the U.S. soldiers, the U.N. people were made up of a Swedish national, while another came from Norway. The other foreign victims are believed to be a Romanian and four Nepalese guards.
The Taliban has denied it carried out the attack.
"The Taliban had nothing to do with this, it was a pure act of responsible Muslims," spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told the Reuters news agency by phone from an undisclosed location.

On the face of it, it would seem that the koran burning is merely a smokescreen started by 'elements' within the media to try and apportion some of the blame to anywhere other than where it belongs.
Regardless, the cowardly slaughter of innocent people on ANY side is not acceptable and cannot be condoned and as Pastor Terry Jones said, this just highlights the very violent nature of Islam.
And no I'm not excusing Jones either, the man is a fundamentalist Christian and very controversial, however it has to be said that the Guardian trying to make it appear as if the obvious response to burning a book is to behead an innocent victim is outrageous, callous and bereft of compassion for the victims. No-one deserves to die over the burning of a book and it's time the Islamic community realised this.

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Culturalism failure

I live in Kent in the Medway area, though I'm not from Kent, still it's a nice county and has a good few interesting places to visit and walk, also London is just 30 miles away if I feel the need to enjoy big city delights, which to be honest is about once a year if that and is mostly a West End show followed by a few drinks. I fit in quite well here, after all I'm English and have pretty much the same roots and outlook in life as the people down here though they (technically) draw their roots back to the Jutes and my antecedents seem to be of Viking ancestry. So you'd think it would be the same for anyone from the same country in that what they have in common would unite them.
Well not in Folkestone...

Express.

A SEASIDE town has been turned into a battle zone by rival gangs of Afghan asylum seekers settling tribal differences, terrified residents say.
Tensions between different factions being housed in Folkestone, Kent, erupted into a pitched street battle last week that left one man dead and five seriously injured.
Families living in the area are scared to go out at night, with some fleeing their homes to escape the violence that has come with the influx of immigrants.
Michael Straw, 50, who lives near the scene, has been staying with friends since the mass brawl, said: “It is absolute chaos and like being in a war zone. I felt scared being there and cannot face going back.”
An elderly man, who did not want to be named for fear of reprisal, said: “This used to be a holiday town but in the last few years it’s turned into Beirut.”
Former police officer Malcolm Montgomery added: “There’s a lot of problems around here. I wouldn’t feel happy walking at night.”

Another joy of Labours open door immigration policy, they're even from the same country and they don't get on with themselves never mind the people here. We can't even deport them, their human rights would be breached if we did as their rights trump the residents who only want a peaceful life and don't want Folkestone turned into a war zone. They've brought their culture with them and it isn't the usual ethnic cuisine restaurants you normally see springing up, it's their tribal warfare. And no it's got nothing to do with their religion, the Afghan tribes have been fighting each other since before the days of Alexander the Great, we've just imported a tribal war that has its roots back to the days of prehistory. It's not a multiculturalism failure either, they're the same culture and they aren't fighting the locals (yet) but they have some of the locals scared out of their wits.
Something needs to be done, starting with leaving the EU and scrapping the Human Rights Act and replacing it with something that suits our needs and that of the law abiding people here. These Afghans need to be deported to where they can butcher each other without involving us, Afghanistan perhaps or Somalia at a push. And no, I don't care if their lives will be endangered if we deport them, that's their lookout, our country, our rules, live with them or leave.

If only...

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Jobsworths

We have a few jobsworths in this country, people who will make life for others that bit more intolerable by a petty adherence to the rules often flying in the face of common sense, complete with a self righteous attitude to the general public whilst doing it.
Slightly tarnishing the soul of all they come into, I had generally thought it to be a mostly British thing, though a few run ins with bureaucracies over the years in foreign climes left me in no doubt that it was fairly prevalent abroad held only in check by the fact that the natives were far more volatile and likely to make life just as hard for the bureaucrat if pushed too hard.
This however was a wonderful example of workers getting on with a job in the face of an utter lack of common sense...

Express.

A WOMAN was left high and dry after road workers dug up a car-park around her motor.

Iza Konieczna 26, returned to her car in Poznan, Poland to find it marooned on its very own tarmac island.

The Polish men at work pushed on with their digging despite Miss Konieczna's red hatchback blocking the way. 

Miss Konieczna told the Austrian Times:  "It was unbelievable.  At first I thought there had been a landslide until I saw the diggers which had been moved up the road."

The woman driver slipped into the slot for a two hour stay.

She said: "It had been a car park when I parked there and there were no signs warning you not to park."

But a spokesman for government highway repairs explained: "The team was in a hurry and we couldn't wait for her to get back."

No wonder the Polish workers fit right in here, it takes a certain type of mind to "go for it" no matter  what common sense would tell you.

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Envirolunacy

It's bad enough the government wasting our money on bird choppers wind farms and solar panels as well as putting an extra enviro-tarrif on top of our fuel bills. It's bad enough them lying through their teeth when they tell us it's good for us and the environment. It's bad enough they know we know they're lying and going ahead and doing it anyway. However it seems they are even using our money to export their madness.

Express.

MILLIONS of pounds of British taxpayers’ cash will be spent on developing wind turbines and solar panels in Africa and Asia, it was revealed yesterday.

At a time when the rest of the UK is being told to tighten its belt, the Government will pour money into the schemes abroad as part of a drive to help poor countries to develop green businesses.

Critics angrily attacked the move, which was announced by the International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell, branding it a waste of money and inappropriate at a time of austerity at home.

Mr Mitchell said the aid money was vital to help tackle climate change, as well as funding health and education in poor countries. Announcing two public-private partnership projects in Africa and Asia, he said they would help to stimulate investment in renewable energy schemes. And he defended the use of taxpayers’ cash.

“When it comes to tackling climate change across the world, we have to get on with the job,” he said. “We are at the threshold of nothing less than a new industrial, agricultural and technological revolution. That’s why we are acting now to help the world’s poorest countries adapt to and mitigate against climate change.”

The Government has put aside a total of £2.9billion from its overseas aid budget over the next four years to fight climate change worldwide. But the move sparked an angry backlash last night.

Britain is already dishing out more foreign aid than any other European country despite having to make the biggest spending cuts since the Second World War. Our donations outweigh those of Germany and France and come as Britain’s economy shows worrying signs of slowing down.

 Why are we paying out aid for this? Why are we inflicting envirolunacy and spending billions on other nations when people here are going to freeze to death this winter because global warming didn't? Why are so many people being forced into fuel poverty when we can find billions to give to give away abroad?
International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell should be amongst the first to be hung from the lampposts come the revolution because it's obvious this and previous governments care more for anyone or anything than their own people.

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Jihad Jenny strikes again

Most political parties have a few mad old relatives that they'd like to get rid of but can't, so they stick them in the House of Lords in the hope that they'll go away. Unfortunately some of them just get louder and more embarrassing. Case in point being Baroness Tonge (Lib Dem) who managed to embarrass even Nick Clegg enough to sack her over a claim that Israeli doctors were illegally harvesting organs from the Haiti earthquake victims. <Link>

She's still unfortunately at it...

Jerusalem Post.

Liberal Democratic peer asks why world allows Israel’s treatment of Palestinians to continue – "Is it Holocaust guilt?"

LONDON – In the second attack on Israel by Liberal Democrat politicians in the same week that the party’s leader said the party got it wrong on Israel, Jenny Tonge claimed on Friday that Israel’s treatment of Palestinians is the root cause of terrorism worldwide.

Possibly “Holocaust guilt” allows this treatment to go unchecked, Tonge said, adding that it might also be the “power of the pro-Israel lobby” in the UK and US.

Nothing quite like a quick conspiracy slur just to muddy the waters

The Liberal Democrat peer was speaking in the House of Lords at the Strategic Defense and Security Review, which sets out how the British government will deliver the priorities identified in its national security strategy.

On the issue of world conflict prevention, Tonge then said: “It is a disgrace to us all that problems such as Kashmir and Palestine are still alienating Muslims all over the world.

“The treatment of Palestinians by Israel is held up as an example of how the West treats Muslims,” she said, “and is at the root cause of terrorism worldwide.”

“Even [the Quartet’s Middle East envoy] Tony Blair has now admitted this publicly,” she claimed.

“Why do we let it continue? Is it Holocaust guilt? We should be guilty – of course we should. Is it the power of the pro-Israel lobby here and in the USA?” The peer went on say that “cynics might think” Britain is at the ready to help Israel attack Iran.

Tonge's problem, other than the fact that she's a useful idiot for global jihad. Is the normal one of politicians in simplifying a possible solution where it will require a very complex one instead. As this video shows.



Then again I'm fairly sure that Baroness Tonge does see the elimination of Israel as a simple solution, it's what she's worked for for years, as unfortunately have most of the left and a good few of the right in this country. What we should be doing is minding our own business, we have enough problems with the economy, civil rights and home grown jihadi's before we start meddling in someone else's back yard.
So politicians should when asked about Israel/Palestine simply say no comment or none of our business, simply because it is none of our business and fanning the flames as Jihad Jenny does is no help to either side and often brings the problems of those two countries closer to home for us as witness the attacks in London and Glasgow as well as fanning the flames of Muslims against Crusaders in burning poppies in London.

I'm becoming more and more a fan of armed neutrality Swiss style every day.

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The fecal flow is hitting the rotary impeller

It's always interesting watching how people in the EU react to economics, stereotypes abound of course with the French supposedly going on strike at the drop of a hat and Greeks rioting etc. However with the near collapse of the Euro, the problems of tying so many disparate nations into a political whole seems to be a case of chickens coming home to roost, for Brussels.

BBC.

Thousands of people from across the EU are expected to march in Brussels to protest against sweeping austerity measures by many national governments.The European Trade Union Confederation says its protest could be one of the biggest in Belgium's capital for years.

The union says EU workers could become the biggest victims of a financial crisis set off by bankers and traders.

A general strike has begun in Spain and protests are planned in Greece, Poland, Italy, Latvia, Ireland and Serbia.

Many governments across the 27-member bloc have been forced to impose punishing cuts in wages, pensions and employment to deal with spiralling debts.

In Greece and the Republic of Ireland, unemployment figures are at their highest level in 10 years, while Spain's unemployment has doubled in just three years.

In Britain, the government is planning to slash spending by up to 25%, while France has seen angry protests against a planned increase in the minimum retirement age.

Labour unions in Spain have started a general strike by marching through the capital, Madrid, in an effort to shut down the city. There has been mass picketing outside bus and metro stations since midnight. There were also protests in Barcelona.

Be interesting to see how the commissars and apparatchiks actually deal with the people they've been ignoring  for so many years whilst they set up the perfect system for enhancing their bank balances and pensions. Then again I rather expect most will have taken the day off or clocked in early then went home as normal. Give the EU its due though, they've set themselves up as a massive target for continental rage as they've been blowing their own trumpet as to who actually is in charge for so many years. Sort of the equivalent of painting a giant bulls-eye on their bodies, particularly as they've shown no restraint on treating themselves out of our pockets. Bit of luck they'll burn the place down and hang all apparatchiks, but I'm not normally that lucky.

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Perhaps it's time to fight fire with fire

It's the being reported in the MSM, in that our prisons are breeding grounds for terrorists, the kind of terrorists it's apparently Islamophobic and racist (despite the fact Muslims aren't a race) to mention might be terrorists.

Express.

UP to 800 Muslims in UK jails may have been turned by fellow inmates into fanatics ready to launch a new wave of terror attacks.

An alarming report by defence experts warns that the security services face a “significant challenge” in spotting and keeping tabs on possible suicide bombers and other jihadists as they are freed from prison over the next five to 10 years.

The Royal United Services Institute’s study, released today, predicts a switch from highly-planned outrages such as 9/11 and the London 7/7 bombings to attacks by lone suicide bombers with only slight links to Al Qaeda and using home-made explosives.

The authors warn: “Perhaps some 800 potentially violent radicals, not previously guilty of terrorism charges, will be back in society over the coming five to 10 years.”

The report also says that many of those caught in the anti-terror campaign of recent years were not convicted of very serious charges and will, therefore, be freed fairly soon.

Now  bearing in mind that this is the religion of peace here and we all know how harmless some out there would like us to believe they are, you'd have thought our prison service would have kept the radicals and the easily lead apart. Well in any sane society they of course would, but these are prisoners and criminals who apparently have more human rights than us ordinary folk. Prisons have long been notorious as training grounds for criminals as petty thieves mix with experts and pick up new skills, this wasn't really too much of an issue when all they were doing was being criminal, rather than potentially murderous fanatics, well save for their victims of course and often enough the local criminals were well known to the police anyway.
This however is dangerous, these fanatics if they are being allowed to indoctrinate inmates are very ,very dangerous and were we to live in a sane society would probably be in solitary, if not expelled from civilised society in the UK.
Yet as we are not allowed to do that perhaps it might be best for us to look at how other civilisations dealt with the barbarians at the gate and that is they treat barbarians barbarically. The Romans for example allowed friendly tribes to keep their kings and customs after conquest, at least until the first revolt, then they wiped your nation out, everyone knew this and everyone feared the wrath of Rome. Whilst our idiot political classes may wish to be loved by our neighbours and other races and religions, perhaps a better route might be that they fear what we may do if they attack us, it might not be civilised in the eyes of the "Righteous" but it does get results. Though admittedly the best time to do this would be after a complete military withdrawal from lands where we should not be. Then perhaps we can rebuild some bridges and if we cant...


Let them hate so long as they fear. (Oderint Dum Metuant)

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Traitor

Graham Watson MEP is a traitor to the British people, though quite obviously he wont see it that way, yet this man is behind the misery of the European Arrest Warrant (EAW) in which British men and women can be dragged off abroad and held in foreign prisons on the most frivolous of charges.

Telegraph.

"The European Arrest Warrant should not be feared," says Graham Watson, the Liberal Democrat MEP who piloted the legislation through the European Parliament (as so often with things that really annoy Euro-sceptics, their authors turn out to be British.) "It is a crucial tool in ensuring criminals cannot hide behind national borders. It has brought justice to the perpetrators of murder, rape and terrorism."

I wonder what Edmond Arapi thinks of this claim?

Edmond Arapi, a Staffordshire waiter, was seized under an EAW issued by Italy after being sentenced to 16 years in absentia for a murder in Genoa in 2004. Yet he never left Britain in 2004. He spent time in Wandsworth prison before the Italians finally admitted it was a case of mistaken identity.

Or Deborah Dark.

Deborah Dark, who was cleared of drugs charges in France in 1989, found herself detained whenever she tried to travel. Unknown to her, French authorities had won an appeal against her acquittal in 1990. Fifteen years later, they issued an EAW, which was only dropped in May.

Colin Gabriel.

Colin Gabriel was demanded by Spain after a passport with his name on it was found in a boat that had been carrying drugs. He denied it was his and British judges said the evidence against him was "thin", but could not halt his extradition.

There are others.

Michael Turner, from Dorset, and Jason McGoldrick, from Plymouth, were extradited on an EAW and held without charge in Hungary, accused of owing business creditors £18,000. They spent nearly three months in tough jail conditions before police even interviewed them. They were freed after five months and have never been charged.

Even foreigners staying here have problems.

Dimitrinka Atanasova, a Bulgarian legal secretary, fled to Britain after threatening to expose her boss – the country's chief prosecutor – for misconduct. That same chief prosecutor then personally requested her extradition from Britain on what a British judge agreed were "bad-faith", or trumped-up, charges of murder. Crucially, her case predated Bulgaria's EU membership and adoption of the EAW. She was freed, after several months in Holloway Prison, but could be rearrested under a warrant at any time.

And there is a regular flight back to Poland from Biggin Hill in Kent of handcuffed Poles arrested and deported at the request of the Polish legal system often for such things as smoking cannabis, stealing a bicycle, or receiving a stolen mobile phone. The defendants will have been seized from their homes by a special police unit. They will often have been held in British custody, and will continue to be held, sometimes for months, until their appeals against extradition are dismissed, as they almost always are.
Yet the worst case is that of Andrew Symeou
hauled off to Greece on flimsy evidence obtained by assaulting witnesses none of whom appear to have correctly identified him as actually being where an assault took place, nor describing what he was actually wearing. So far he's was extradited last July.

Andrew, who, cannot speak Greek, spent almost a year in some of Europe's least civilised prisons. At Patras, he was unable to wash, and was taunted by the guards as an "English ------." They made him pack his kit with handcuffs on, laughing at his inability to manage it, then squeezed toothpaste into his bag, so he got to his next prison with toothpaste all over his clothes.
At Korydallos, he witnessed three riots. He would lie in bed, said his father, "and cockroaches would be dropping from above. He'd wake up in the morning with them crawling on him''.

So yes, Graham Watson MEP who guided this odious and dangerous bit of legislation through the EU, you are a traitor, you're ultimately responsible for the arrest and detention of scores of your fellow countrymen (then again he's a Scot so might not care all that much about the English) who are often held without trial for years in foreign prisons and you tell us that the European Arrest Warrant should not be feared. You've forced our legal system to hand over our people on the most flimsiest of evidence and prevented them from fact checking the evidence, nor of preventing flagrant abuses of the warrants themselves. It costs us money to hold the people that have been arrested under the EAW and if or when we hand them over, there are few safeguards as to how quickly they will be dealt with.
EUrophiles like you make me sick Graham Watson, even now I doubt you can see the harm you've done and the people now living in fear over your folly.
Sooner we leave the monstrosity of the EU the better, though it looks as if we'll have to bring down the government to do it, perhaps hanging a few like Graham Watson pour encourager les autres will remind the next generation of politicians to be more protective of the British people.

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No, we're not struggling to understand

Cleggy boy has condemned the international response to the floods in Pakistan as well as having a snide go at charitable giving at home.

BBC.

The international response to the devastating floods in Pakistan has been "absolutely pitiful", Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg says.

He said the UK was "doing a lot", but donations may still be less than hoped for because the public was "struggling to understand" the scale of the crisis.

Mr Clegg spoke as the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) said the total raised by Britons was now £15m.

At least 1,600 people are known to have died in the monsoon floods.

The Pakistani government says up to 20 million people have been affected and some six million are estimated to need urgent food aid.

Aid agencies say survivors, especially children, were also at risk from diseases such as cholera.

'Lamentable'

Last week, the United Nations launched a $459m (£294m) appeal for emergency aid for Pakistan, and said that billions of dollars would be needed in the long-term.

The UK government has pledged £31.3m, nearly £17m of which has so far been allocated.

The British public can be generous to a fault, take a look at various charities such as children in need, or even the tsunami in the Indian ocean which devastated Indonesia et al. However we only tend to give when the victims are seen as being "deserving" not that the tragedy in Pakistan doesn't have its innocent victims, however it's the nation of Pakistan that is disliked (often intensely) by the British public. It's an Islamic state and Islam has done itself no favours recently in this country, however that alone would not be enough to stop the giving, Indonesia after all is an Islamic state and we gave a lot of aid to the tsunami victims there. Pakistan is also a nuclear power despite having a population with a lot of people on the breadline, yet that wouldn't quite cut it either, when hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, the British again emptied their pockets to help, the USA is after all the premier nuclear power. it might be the recession, but again when times are hard, the public still often finds a way to help.
The problem I believe lies in the fact that elements in Pakistan (including their government) are aiding and abetting the Taliban in Afghanistan to kill our troops, and the British public are very aware indeed of this, there have even been grumblings about the government giving our money away to help. The public also noted the dress of the Muslims against the Crusades when the Royal Anglian regiment marched in Luton, these people protesting were mostly of Pakistani descent judging by their look. The public also know because they are constantly told that all Muslims see themselves as Muslims first and look to see how many Islamic nations have generously given to their brothers and sisters in Pakistan, they could count on the fingers of one hand exactly how many.
So, no Clegg, the British public aren't struggling to understand the situation in Pakistan, from their point of view it's the same as giving charity to your enemies, they'll take it anyway, sneer at us, attack our way of life and despise us to the core of their beings, whilst trying to get here to live a better way of life whilst keeping the old prejudices going against the kuffar.
We know who our enemies are, it's not the flood victims per se, it's their government and their religion and the actions they've taken against us in the past and present.

More about → No, we're not struggling to understand

One for the road

It's apparently very rude to tell a Pole that they drink too much or heavily, one of those interesting factoids where different people from different nations can cause offence if you aren't careful. others can be

:: Winking is considered a rude gesture in Hong Kong.
:: The Chinese are very suspicious - talking about poverty, failure or death could cause offence.
:: Visitors from the United Arab Emirates don't take kindly to being bossed around.
:: When accepting thanks, Koreans will typically say "No, no." The remark should be interpreted as "You are welcome".
:: The term "Poms", which is used by Australians and New Zealanders, is a term of endearment, rather than a insult.
:: Snapping your fingers in the presence of a Belgian is regarded as impolite.

Well according to Sky anyway, though they say British, they are apparently talking about the English as this is the London Olympics being held up as a potential embarrassment.
That's as maybe, doesn't seem to stop foreigners telling us what to do or how to behave, though it seems harder to actually insult an English person by gestures, mostly because we tend not to recognise the obscene when it's thrown in our face, or merely find it funny.
That said, there is the case today of a Polish driver really having a drink problem.

Express.

LORRY DRIVER SPILLS 25,000 BOTTLES OF BEER

A LORRY driver spilled 25,000 bottles of beer over a busy highway as he led police on a wild goose chase.

Driver Krzystof Lewandowski, 44, was trying to dodge police in Chojnice, Poland, who had clocked him speeding, when he took the exit too quickly and flipped his truck.
 
Police spent hours clearing up the mess while keeping other motorists away from trying to salvage the wreck.
 
One officer told the Austrian Times: "People were convinced there must be some unbroken bottles but it was too dangerous to let them look. There was broken glass everywhere."

Typical cops keeping people away from salvaging something, wonder how the party at the local station went though :-D

More about → One for the road

Sweeping statements

We can all make sweeping statements, mostly along the lines of exaggerating personal beliefs and extending them beyond our own little world and onto the national consciousness as a whole. This is normally fine for individuals and only occasionally leads to clashes with those who hold opposing views. Nowhere is this more apparent than the views people hold on the Israeli Arab/Moslem situation, despite it being basically none of our business other than possibly selling or trading with the nations and groups involved. It does become a problem however when politicians become involved. Cameron's comments in Turkey about the Gazan prison camp (manifestly untrue, but a dearly held belief by many) have drawn a reply from Shimon Peres which is also manifestly untrue, though as with Cameron's statement also contains elements of the truth exaggerated to the extent of Peres' own beliefs.

Telegraph.

Israel's president has accused the English of being anti-semitic and claimed that MPs pander to Muslim voters.

Some of us no doubt are anti-semitic, elements of both right and leftist thinking have a tendency to see the Palestinians/Arabs/Moslems as underdogs and Israel as the problem, this particular type of thinking goes on in the Foreign Office to a large extent, though many in England hold similar views, particularly those of the left.

Shimon Peres said England was "deeply pro-Arab ... and anti-Israeli", adding: "They always worked against us."

*He added: "There is in England a saying that an anti-Semite is someone who hates the Jews more than is necessary."

No England is not deeply pro Arab, we more or less allowed the state of Israel to come into being, however recently our politicians and Foreign Office have appeared to criticise Israel more than those who oppose them, though the reasons are more to do with real-politik than any desire to undermine the Israeli state.
As far as I'm aware though there is no English saying of "an anti-Semite is someone who hates the Jews more than is necessary." It's certainly a new one on me and I doubt it's Scottish or Welsh either just in case Mr Peres can't tell the difference between England and the UK.

"There are several million Muslim voters, and for many members of parliament, that's the difference between getting elected and not getting elected," he said.

"And in England there has always been something deeply pro-Arab, of course, not among all Englishmen, and anti-Israeli, in the establishment.

 This is possibly true and militant Islam is the most potentially dangerous threat to our security and we do appear through various government initiatives to allow a possible 5th column to live amongst us. Though most English I've found are more pro Israeli because of this, though of course I can't speak for all the English. Certainly elements of the establishment seem more prepared to pander to the militant Moslem extremists even to the extent of putting their supposed needs way above that the general population. This has backfired to a certain extent by a rise in support of groups like the EDL and to a certain extent the BNP, though they are a far more fair weather friend having only recently realised the greater threat of Islamic fundamentalism.
Not that anyone listening to the BBC for their views on England would grasp this as the BBC appear to be anti-Israeli to the core and balance in that conflict is unremittingly pro Arab. Perhaps this is where Mr Peres gains his mistaken views from.

Yes it was a sweeping statement from Shimon Peres, but there was and is an element of truth in it. It was a good counter to Prison Camp Cameron though and no more than Cameron deserved. There certainly are elements in English and UK society who would like little more than to see Israel driven into the sea and expunged from the Earth. They do however remain in a minority and mostly on the extreme left and religious fundamentalist Islamic groups. They do represent a danger via the BBC as their views are the ones most likely to be heard rather than the average Englishman's, even if we did air a view that the problems stem from both sides or that the Palestinians may be at fault we're inevitably howled down as being racist/islamophobic and the usual lies and half truths are dredged up to support such claims.
Personally I'm of the view that we should just tell both sides to get on with it and we'll negotiate with the eventual winners. But then that's just me, I suspect wiser heads wont do this, simply because they expect such a conflict to expand across the globe, or in certain cases suspect the Arabs would lose.

* The saying "An anti-Semite is someone who hates the Jews more than is necessary" originates not in England but from Joseph Eötvösz, a Hungarian nobleman in 1920. H/T An Englishman's Castle

More about → Sweeping statements