Out on the streets

Been out on the streets for the first time canvassing. I have to say I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would. People again mostly friendly - even those who had didn't sympathise with the Conservative message. I'm developing more of a liking for my fellow countrymen and women that I thought I might.

Of course if they don't punish New Labour on Thurs then I may revise that view a bit.

Our real problem round here is the Lib Dems. There election material denounces the Conservative administration ( of the county council as far as I can make out - even though its borough elections ) for cutting the budget by GBP 50M - failing to mention that's the cut from central govt in the form of the same reduction in grant. Now I'm told their are some genuine honest and upstanding people standing for the Lib Dems - but how could they let something like that go out in their names if that is true ?

I also read they are in favour of abolishing Surrey Country council - maybe this is why they haven't leafleted my address, but just put up the 'whinging here' signs. They must have some inkling how unpopular that measure would be !

I conclude that not all of my fellow countrymen and women are entirely trustworthy.

Why is Charlie Clarke still drawing his ministerial salary ?

In naive fairness to the man he did offer to resign. However, wait a minute, as a politician he understands timing - even if his grasp on the workings of the criminal justice system is a bit weak. I'm guessing he chose the moment to tell Tony 'they're not going to hound out ministers like they did with John Major' Blair - when he expected support ( and before the full impact of letting violent and dangerous foreign ex-cons wonder the streets to harm the public was understood ).

But the real culprit here is Mr Blair - who appears to have no shame. He should have sacked Clarke - its his duty as prime minister, even if its inconvenient as Labour Party leader. This failure shows him to be "weak weak weak" - if your remember where that quote came from.....

Update:

Simon Heffer says all this much better than I have in todays Telegraph .....

Just in from Sky News !-

Was Killer Freed Prisoner?

Updated: 17:17, Tuesday May 02, 2006

The Home Office is investigating whether a suspect in the killing of PC Sharon Beshenivsky was a foreign criminal released from prison without being considered for deportation.

As Guido says - if this is true he's toast

The yellow high tide

This sign - on a busy road in my home town tells me a number of things:

1. Tactical voting is key to any Lib Dem success, rather than who they are and what they stand for.
2. They can't afford to leaflet or canvass this time round as they are running out of support and money in the party. (Ian Dales doing a good job of keeping track of the GBP 2.4M donation fiasco that I've commented on over a number of occasions also. )
3. They can't come up with a new slogan - we're all fed up with this off yellow one.

However, due to the strange rules of politics at the moment the Lib Dems are expected to do well in the Council elections on May 4th. I suspect this will be down to momentum they built up over many years - the full impact of the disaster of their party leadership and finances has yet to be felt. Plus does anyone know what they actually stand for ? ( Apart from getting elected to claim expenses and salaries ?)

In 4 years time ( unless John Prescott gets his mind back on his job and abolishes English councils to create special euro-socialist regions - hold on would that make any difference? ) there will be a yellow ring round the top of the bath where the Lib Dem support once floated.



PS Got a spare £2.4M anyone - see the FT ....

It should be going badly for Labour on May 4th

Given recently ( sorry if I've got the order a bit mixed up):
The Education reform fiasco ( Ruth Kelly / Tony Blair )
David Mills ( Tessa Jowell )
Hidden Loans to Labour Party ( Tony Blair )
Loans for peerages ( Tony Blair, Lord Levy )
Margaret Hodge ( and the BNP )
John Reid ( rules of engagement in Afghanistan )
Comrade Patricia Hewitt ( of the NHS )
Gordon Brown ( and what was your pension, and tax credits )
Shagger Prescott ( and people other than his wife and the planned Balkanisation of England and building on the South East )
Charles Clarke ( failing to deport criminals )
The Dave the chameleon shows

Things should go badly. However, you have to start wondering what it would take to make the British Electorate properly punish these people ? I have an unpleasant feeling that Contra Tory may be closer to the real position. The government of our country is a shambles - but no floating voters seem to care. I hope I'm being too pessimistic - if that's possible.

Update

Trevor Kavanagh talks about a new law of political gravity in his blog. He's got a point, but perhaps it should be more closely associated with the dotCom new economy - where profits didn't matter. At some point the failure to deliver ( analogous with profits ) should over whelm the bland answers on TV about investment, agenda's and supposed reform given by New Labour zombies. The amount of pain we all have to suffer in the mean time is dependent on how long it takes the English floating voters to wake up ! ( This is where things are different from waiting for the dot Com bubble to burst - the pain grows as we fail to lance the bubble of New Labour spin ).

Wake up England - and smell the coffee - before you get:
1) Your house rebanded for Council Tax.
2) Your pension completely spent by Gordon Brown is his campaign to be PM.
3) Murdered, raped, robbed or crashed into by foreign criminals released by Charlie Clarke.
4) Killed by MRSA in our hospitals.
5) Your children get qualifications that have no substance and have real skills of no use.
6) We get dragged into a major World War type mess in the middle east.

VOTE CONSERVATIVE - Save our country - stop the rot and the pain

( OK I'm off to sit in a darkened room to calm down a bit ).

A few days latter -

Iain Dale has a more comprehensive list here !

BT Pension scheme

It appears the govt is not quite sure what sort of deal it has sone on the BT Pension scheme. One thing you can bet on is that it will cost us all money. ( New Labour can breath easily as its not their fault - but the old Tory Govt - however it should go onto Govt debt, which is bad news for us all and the current Govt. )

I'll declare an intrest here as I bought BT shares a few months ago - which have done poorely. This news has given them a small bump today - but looking at burningourmoney I don't think its going to pay of the debts the current govt has run up in our names.

Canvassing done - idle thoughts

On Saturday I finished the last of the canvassing I'd volunteered for. All in all things are going OK - though I don't detect any great movements in opinion. A few Lib Dem waivers were interested in David Cameron, but I suspect they'll want to give him more time to see how he beds in.

In general the great British public were polite and friendly, with only one or two exceptions. Even those still in their dressing gowns at 11am on a Saturday morning.

What was strange was how different types of voters were 'clustered'. Young families ( and people who seemed essentially happy to me ) supporting the Tory's. Most of the miserable people 'North facing houses especially' voting Lib Dem and a few die hards going to vote Labour ( if they have a candidate here ).

Can't help thinking some modern profiling tools would work wonders .... Time to find David Cameron's Lexus man perhaps ...

NHS Blog Doctor: Mad Hatter's Tea Party

Hurray for Big Sister Hewitt !
Remember tatical lying is part of standard communist mode of operation ....
NHS Blog Doctor: Mad Hatter's Tea Party

Labour running scared of the Chameleon

Looks like changes at mud slinging central. The New Labour HQ are changing the Dave the Chameleon web site to mostly point at the Labour party. Some of the criticism of why they aren't putting their own policy failures forward must be biting.

Or perhaps their focus group research is telling them people liked Dave and thought it was a Tory broadcast anyway ?

Either way - looks like a hasty rethink ( changing their position each week depending on what they think people will respond to - hold on that sounds familiar ).

Go check what they are up to here http://www.davethechameleon.com - looks like Gordon the tax spender investor to me ... And we know he's not blue through and through !

BBC - just can't help themselves

BBC looks biased to me as its trying to list Tory creditors with high profile next to a potential scandal.

This link highlighted right was on an article on the investigation into Labour Loans for peerages scandal this morning. And now its there for the Lib Dems shall we say discomforts... Implied message they are all as bad as each other.

Everything is on the never never

The BBC is giving the good news to its staff today that they can stay in the building till their 65 birthdays ( a little harsher here than the favoured civil servants - with whom its only the poor suckers who join from now on who suffer ). But again the changes in the final salary pension scheme are for new members.

It strikes me as distasteful that every change that is required is always to be enacted on the generation to follow.

Lib Dem donor arrested !

The masters of political hypocrasy are being caught out again. As many people involved in the main two parties can testify the Lib Dems are not the Nice Party they try to portray themselves as.

I blogged about this donation before and said it was strange. Now it looks like the doner is an intresting man, and the Lib Dems keep being hit by scandal.

Couldn't happen to a more deserving party, IMHO.

The BBC are saying:

Quote Start
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The Liberal Democrats have moved to distance themselves from their biggest donor following his arrest on fraud charges in Spain.

Scottish businessman Michael Brown is being extradited to the UK to face a number of charges including fraud, forgery and obtaining by deception.

Mr Brown donated more than £2m to the Lib Dems ahead of the last election.

But a party spokesman stressed there was "no connection" between the charges and Mr Brown's donations.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Tory HQ gets others to do their work

I don't know how they're doing it, but Tory HQ has some how created the circumstances where by their opponents are making their points for them ( much less effort and much more credible ). Guido is the first person to make this point.

First we have Dave the cycling chameleon (looks cute - will they be available in the shops in time for Christmas ?) - making the point the party has changed. Thanks New Labour.

Then its the Green Party complaining (Today prog this morning) about the vote blue go green - allowing the same point about how David Cameron is changing things to be made.

What I'd like now if for them to persuade my local Lib Dems to do the rest of my canvassing for me - explaining what compassionate, attentive representatives the local Conservatives would make and also what good stewards of their local council tax we would be. Anyone any ideas how to do that ?

Its time to tell the difference between 'investment' and 'spending'

Most times when a member of the New Labour elite gets on TV to talk about Education/the NHS (delete as appropriate) they keep on about investment, as if there is no difference between investment and spending - and indeed waste.

---

Wikipedia entry on Investment says:
Investment or investing¹ is a term with several closely-related meanings in finance and economics, related to saving or deferring consumption. An asset is usually purchased, or equivalently a deposit is made in a bank, in hopes of getting a future return or interest from it. Literally, the word means the "action of putting something in to somewhere else" (perhaps originally related to a person's garment or 'vestment').

---

Dictionary.com says: ( format highlighting is mine )

An asset or item that is purchased with the hope that it will generate income or appreciate in the future. In an economic sense, an investment is the purchase of goods that are not consumed today but are used in the future to create wealth. In finance, an investment is a monetary asset purchased with the idea that the asset will provide income in the future or appreciate and be sold at a higher price.

---

Investment is clearly not the same as spending. Paying people more money increases your sending, but the result of the investment element needs to be measured in improved returns.

I don't understand why the New Labour critics let them get away with this deliberately misleading language. The time is right for this to be opened as a strong line of attach on the government.

Here are a few starting line of attack:

New Labour Investment * Incompetence = waste. ( As can be seen in the NHS right now )
Investment where no return can be proved is spending and is probably waste.
Calling all spending investment is dishonest.

The Battle for the Falklands

So Easter is over and I've managed to scrounge enough time to read Max Hastings and Simon Jenkins account of the Falklands War.

I was 14 years old when I watched all of this run past on the TV and in the newspapers. I even remember the article ticked away in either the Times or the Telegraph ( I used to prefer the Times in those days I think ) on scrap metal merchants running up the Argentine flag on South Georgia. My reaction to the war was that finally Britain standing up for itself - like most people I didn't believe a British Government would go through with it - except for the leadership of Margaret Thatcher. ( The Argentines view that this wouldn't happen is even more understandable in the light of the times. )

So reading the political, diplomatic and military analysis of Hastings and Jenkins has been really interesting. I've been up into the early hours of the morning at times.

What I've learned is more about the history of the Falklands. I don't think the Argentine claim was ever properly described to the British public at the time. When you add the Argentine belief in their claim, internal unrest and the signals coming out of Britain that it wanted rid of the Falklands you can see how the miscalculation of the invasion came about.

However, a British population had lived there for almost 150 years, and Argentina was an alien culture run by a repressive dictatorship. And parliament wasn't going to let them be transferred. Hastings and Jenkins are critical of the bear pit of parliament making compromise and progress difficult before the invasion - but equally it shows it as the last defence of the British people from the plans and actions of its government.

The military description is broad, reviewing tatics and strategy combined with accounts of individual actions on the ground.

The impressions it left me with were:
1) Yes it was a close run thing - and required courage, determination and skill on the British side to win. ( Especially the real gamble of the landings at San Carlos ).
2) Its a war neither side wanted - but were trapped into by events, poor understanding of each other and poor intelligence.
3) The major issue of the Falklands status has still not been resolved and will not be resolved until agreement in reached between the two sides.
4) I understand more of the Argentine view point. There are 1,800 kelpers on the Falklands and a lot has been done to preserve their chosen allegiances and way of life. It would be good if they would compromise in some ways - from their current position of strength.
5) Britain is trapped with Fortess Falklands until compromise is reached and a second war cannot be ruled out and could even be almost unpreventable.
6) The Royal Navy is well worth keeping up to strength - you never know when you might need it.

The book was a good read - educational, relatively neutral and ultimately worrying.

BNP talk up - is it a Labour anti PR ploy ?

Labour manipulates public opinion with ruthless skill. Is the BNP story being talked up to help excuse a voting system that will prevent minority parties getting seats in a re-reformed house of Lords ?

Or is it to change the headlines from Labour sleaze. The only thing we can be sure of is that it all this isn't as it first seems !

Who's afraid of the BNP ?

Call me cynical, but this looks like another squeeze on the Lib Dem vote. Labour warn of BNP uprise - thereby securing the votes of those who feel threatened by the BNP but might vote anti 'war' Lib Dem and getting the wooly left to feel guilty about voting Lib Dems in case it lets the folk in jack boots in.

The alternative view is that the the Labour party means what it says and wants to give the BNP extra publicity before a local election ( given that many Labour supporters were of the No Free Speech Platform type at University this seems unlikely. ) Are they that stupid ?

Is this a sign of real desperation on Labour in London's part ?

Of course its hard to throw stones here as David Cameron has done something very similar with UKIP.

The frightening truth of why Iran wants a bomb

The link below (Sunday Telegraph opinion ) tells a worrying story about Iran, but not a surprising one.

The frightening truth of why Iran wants a bomb
By Amir Taheri

I worry that the secular west understands militant, but more mainstream than we are lead to believe, Islam very poorly. As we are often lazy we don't fully research what  they are actually saying ( hard to do few of us speak or read Arabic). Being palmed off with simple explanations about Islam meaning peace etc.

War with Iran must be coming soon. Any ideas how it can be prevented ? ( OK I acknowledge that this refers to the Shia branch of Islam only and lead up from Iran ).

Remember MAD only works when everyone is sane.

Geogian wine - order a case load and support a brave people

The KGB democratic government of Russia is bullying its neighbours by banning their wine exports. This is a great opportunity to buy Georgian wines as:
1) It supports a free people against an aggressive neighbour.
2) Its rather good stuff !

I know little about wine - but enjoyed the following: Flame me on my doubtful taste if you know better - but I enjoyed drinking them - even before I knew it was upsetting the Kremlin.

Old Tbilisi Saperavi Dzelshavi
Old Tbilisi Rkatsiteli Mtsvane

Threat to the Falklands again

I hope the article I found in the Scotsman in Feb is alarmist about the build up of Argentine forces. But you get a cold feeling about it.

Just at the time that Britain gets rid of its Sea Harriers - what capacity is left to retake the Falklands after another successful invasion ?

Does anyone really think the Americans or French will help us out.

This has the makings of a national disaster ...

Update - see BBC post on issue raised by Liam Fox here..

Straw 'seriously concerned' at Iran's nuclear boast

But presumably even he isn't that surprised.

NHS IT time bomb ticks on...

Computer Weekly keeps up the pressure on the government with a brief report by Tony Colins. Although its a trade magazine I recommend reading it and following its links.

In short the key point is:

"Their open letter to the House of Commons Health Select Committee echoes a call last year by Computer Weekly for an independent audit of the project.

The letter is unprecedented. Suppliers say they have been warned off speaking about the NPfIT, and IT directors in the NHS fear being victimised if they openly express critical views. Academics, who are independent of the NHS, can express their concerns without fear of repercussions. " - Tony Colins, Computer Weekly, Wednesday 12 April 2006.

This is all likely to go critical around the time of the next general election - which will harm Gordon Brown greatly. However, the real harm will be to the innocent patients of the NHS and the swindled tax payers who fund this project.

Remember the technical people can see this coming. They have tried to warn everyone else.

Channel 4 news must really hate Silvio Berlusconi

Channel 4 news - whom I normally respect - got completely out of hand with its excitement at the prospect of Silvio Berlusconi loosing the Italian election. Not very professional. Then at the end of the broadcast the realisation that exit polls overestimate the support of the left with the news that Silvio Berlusconi might not lose after all. Now that's something that would never happen at the BBC right ?

The French Govt surrenders ( as usual )

Its a bit of a habit. Of course this means the whole thing will have to be gone through again in a few years, but next time their economic position will be worse and the expectation of blocking any reform ( just like last time ) will be stronger. Hence the pain will be worse.

They need a visit from TINA.

Holiday reading - Sea Harrier over the Falklands

Did you know that over 30 years ago Britain had a fighter that could better F15's - and it hadn't even been designed as a fighter ? Flown from what were not 'Aircraft carriers', as that would upset the Govt and RAF, but through deck cruisers ?

If your looking for something to entertain over the holidays - can I recommend Sea Harrier over the Falklands. Its the personal story of the CO of 801 Squadron FAA on the Invincible. Perhaps of more interest than the historical story is the intra and inter service rivalry that it documents.

I've read in through twice ( lost on an air plane to Denmark once - had to buy another copy ) and just picked it up again last night. 'Sharkey' Ward gives you a real feeling for being a fighter pilot in one of the last real air combat engagements of the last 40 years. It however leaves you with the feeling that British top brass and the MOD will not succeed in holding onto the Falklands in the long run. See his comments on the new Stanley airfield at the end.

By the way the last operational Sea Harriers were decommissioned a few weeks ago - the Royal Navy has no replacement until the new carriers are built, the JSF in operational and the Americans let us at the source code that controls the aircraft. The official line is that the Navy will be OK in the mean time as we can rely on other countries aircraft carriers and our missile systems. That's certainly not the impression that 'Sharkey' Ward's book leaves you with.

NHS IT project doom

Channel 4 news had a brief article on the possibilty of failure in the current NHS IT integration project.

This should surprise no one as;
1) Most government IT projects fail - in the US as well as the UK.
2) The basic faults of the current approach have been a regular feature in Computing - a great IT industry weekly magazine in the UK.

Of course since the New Labour project is based on manipulation of peoples realities (aka Spin) they have little understanding of real world projects.

This will cost us ....

PS Don't start me on the connections between New Labour and the management consultancies.

11Apr06 See recent Computing article

The return of the 3 minute terror

Those under a certain age will not rember the underlying sense of tension from the cold war. The acceptance that at any time the sirens would go and you would have 3 minutes to find what shelter you could before soviet nuclear war heads started to go off around you. ( Latter we realised that the 3 minutes warning would probably never have been given ).

Well soon it will be back. The Iranians have an alleged nuclear capable missile that can hit Paris, and is assumed to be just short of London. But the next version will presumably include the whole UK. The prospect of London disappearing in a mushroom cloud will be back. Interesting to see what happens this time:

1) Will CND suggest unilateral nuclear disarmament again - to appease the Mullahs ?
2) Will we begin to stop laughing at the US Star Wars and Anti-Missile defence schemes and start to wish we had done some of the ground work ourselves ?
3) Will this make intervention (aka War) with Iran popular ?
4) How will the latest generation react to continual low level terror ?

Maybe I should have half buried this Shed and painted it White to reflect the initial flash....

Sounds alarmist ? Well yes - I truly hope so. If you want to believe this then I recommend not checking the pronouncements of the current Iranian regime on Britain, and especially not Israel.

Dead swan with H5N1 found in Scotland 7 days ago .. but nothing to worry about

The Government continues to tell us that all that can be done is being done  in a timely manner. They have reviewed their procedures and are happy with them ( in spite of the fact it takes 7 days to identify a case ).

Complacency and inefficiency ... Sound like Foot and Mouth to you ?

There is a chicken farmer from Fife on the radio right now who tells us he heard about the outbreak from family phoning him having heard about the swan on the media - rather than being contacted by the relevant Govt agency. Clearly whatever the Scottish version of Defra is - its not able to act in good time.

Who 'Trusts' Gordon Brown ?

True to form the real impact of the Budget is only now coming to light. See this article on taxation of trusts in the Daily Telegraph today. Yet again they try to hide negative consequences of the budget in the small print.

My wife and I have set up a trusts in our wills to provide primarily for our autistic child ( though its not clear how badly he will be afflicted in adulthood - we need to make provision now). It cost me lots of time and some money - which is in short supply as I'm setting up a new business. I have no idea if Gordon Brown's movements on trusts will impact us, but of course fear the worse. The money we would have provided would have removed from any charities or the state the need for some support - but that's not the way Gordon likes it. We are all to be their clients in the great socialist care home.

By the way we are not unusually wealthy - we just have a house in the south east of England and hence inheritance tax (maybe best called Southerner Tax) will bite hard in the event of a double death of both my wife and myself.

I will loose time, and maybe money if I seek advice, which is needed else where right now. And our child may loose some of the provision we aimed to provide them if the worse comes about. Still its nice to know that the Chancellors pension is safe with the extra money the government votes for the MP's pension scheme.

---

Dear David Cameron,

Its time to make the career politicians share the pain being handed out by HM Treasury and its actions. Cut the number of MPs ( as you have suggested ). Make MP's finance their own pensions and set tax back onto an honest basis again - maybe income tax needs to rise if stealth taxes are removed - but the population suffers most from stealth taxes as they don't even realise their losses until its too late.

Yours,

Man in a Shed.

The wrong thing to say about UKIP

David Cameron was, IMHO, wrong to label UKIP in the way he did on the radio.

Firstly as its just the sort of thing the left do with the Conservative party - so unjustly -, and secondly because UKIP's supporters will feel insulted and be even less inclined to return to vote Tory (its commonly assumed that most UKIP support comes at the cost of Tory votes).

However, UKIP supporters need to ask themselves whether - under the current electoral system - their objectives are better supported by Labour/Lib Dems or the Conservatives. They may not like the choice, but that's the only one on offer - in the real world.

David - apologise.
UKIP voters - take your responsibilities seriously, forget self indulgence and vote Conservative again.

Stranger Danger ! ( Its the Lib Dems )

You could make this stuff up - the BBC reports that the Lib Dems are being accused of using sweets to try and get children to canvass for them ! The reply quote from the yellow ones  is "All political parties find that young people are often willing deliverers of party literature."- said Lib Dem chief executive Chris Rennard.

During the general election I've had a run in with bused in Lib Dems outside my children's school where they were blocking the entrance - which was busy with cars and distracting parents at precisely the most dangerous parts of the journey to school. As well as intimidating parents - all of whom had to walk past/though them.

What is wrong with these people ? Is there no one in that party who can see that this sort of thing is just wrong ?

Canvasing out there ...

I've been out on the streets of our local town canvassing for the upcoming local elections for the local Conservative candidates. The response has been quite good, with only one dodgy occasion which happened in a block of flats when some one was shouting in the background menacingly.

I'm not sure about canvassing. Clearly it needs to be done - and is best done by the candidate as then they actually meet the people they are representing. However, like most English people I don't really like people coming to my door. You can hope that the web and postal drops could take some of the strain, but I'm guessing the first party to give up talking to people on their doors will get punished. Still overall the response was good - and people were polite and usually friendly.

No sign of Labour ( no great surprise there ). But the local Lib Dems have material on the web that shows what an utter shower they are. All of it protest - mostly about things that don't have a bearing on the local election for the borough. I suspect local elections, especially borough elections are one of the occasions where weighing up the individual candidate may be more important than their party. However, it seems the Lib Dem candidates must have low standards to let that sort of material go out in their names.

Redistribution in the NHS - confirmed on BBC Newsnight on Thursday

What I've been worried about was confirmed on Thursday night's Newsnight programme when a government health minister explained how he wanted NHS Trusts in poorer parts of the country ( a point he made at least twice ) with surpluses to be paid interest on those surpluses at 10-20%, whilst NHS trusts in deficit are charge 10% to borrow to cover their overspend ( in addition to automatic drops in their grants ).

It is clear to me that the governments aim is to provide worse health care to the middle classes, whilst moving resources to its core voters.

Now this is a policy they are entitled to carry out - but not whilst pretending to have a National Health Service. Support for the NHS will stop amongst those who pay the bills, and that will ultimately be the end of the NHS. ( Lefties think hard on this as you may be out of power sooner than you think. )

Does anyone have a geographical map showing which trusts are in surplus and which are in deficit ? It would be interesting to cross reference with the political map from the last general election.