Mine's a pint of Badger

A short note on Steve Green's (Daily Referendum) meet up in London on Sat.

A very congenial afternoon was spent in the bar having an opportunity to chat to some fellow right of centre bloggers over a few pints. ( Just a few dear - honest ).

Unlike certain ex-Labour minister we could (and did ) mention we managed to spot our badgers.

Given the impending elections and FA cup were competing turnout was good. Pictures etc are up at Steve's site courtesy mostly of John Ward.

However it all reminded me I need to sort out my Blog Roll when I discovered "The Last Boy Scout" blog had moved on - despite being on my to link to list when I get round to it list ( sorry Simon). A task I've put of for far too long. ( My ability to put off obvious tasks I put down to the influence of 14 years of marriage ).

PS It was pointed out that there were no Lager drinking centre right bloggers present. I wonder if thats true of the wider blogging fraternity ?

Brown is just so hard to like

Now I know that tactically every Conservative supporter should be praying for a result just good enough to keep Gordon Brown in post till the Coup de Grace of the general election comes along - as I identified with my Operation Foxley Brown post when Brown was still considered popular.

But the man is just so hard to like. He raises my blood pressure everytime I see something he's done ( and not for political reasons, but for the shear unpleasantness of what he does ).

Here are the recent examples:

1) The Vote BNP Labour leaflet ( You think that shading of Labour was too slight ? Just look at the apologetic version on their own leaflet ! ). Using the Union flag by the party that has done the most to destroy the Union and the country. You'd think Labour want the BNP to have a good night ....
2) The Day Jennifer Died (for charity which makes it OK ) vs His Conference speech of 2008. Remember "Some people have been asking why I haven't served my children up for spreads in the papers. And my answer is simple. My children aren't props; they're people." *
3) The expenses scandal is all the Tories fault line taken by shameless Gordon who's cabinet is filled with unrepentant flippers. He forgets his own expenses scandal a) http://tinyurl.com/ddvg9a b) http://tinyurl.com/mts2kf.

The common thread is at best the lack of judgement about how to behave decently - at worse its the naked aggressive tactical anything to win shamelessness that we so strongly associate with him.

I know electorally it would be better for the Conservatives if Brown was Labour's next leader of the opposition, but will rejoice on the day he steps down whenever it is and whatever excuse he tries to cover the event with ( and there will be one ).

* Note: I have no problem with this article or the book. It will perhaps help many people. My problem is with the man who says he doesn't do such things, and tries to gain advantage over someone he accuses of doing so.

The 'game' is about to change again for Labour's last gamble

A long while back I tried to argue in comments on Conservative Home and on this blog that what matters about the next election is winning with the mandate to do what's necessary, and it would be better the lose than to get elected without having squared with the electorate about what's got to happen.

Well like a horror film there's one more gut wrenching act to be played in this Parliament. Just when you thought the shameless beast of socialism had finally been identified to the public and clubbed to death by public disapproval of its deceit, bullying, hypocrisy and lets not forget complete failure to deliver despite spending future generations wealth, suddenly it could yet be back.

Aided by the "whining here" Fib Dems with their artificial anger, pointing at pot holes, and all round shameless and immoral opportunism, its possible that the ability to govern could be denied to the Conservatives. Here's how:

1) The Daily Telegraph, for whatever reason which is appears can't be speculated about without the attention of their lawyers, continues to do exposee's on MPs - but especially focusing in Conservative MPs and incidents that play to public prejudice.
2) Gordon Brown resigns on Monday 8th June, claiming its for the good of the party etc to grab goodwill. He will stay on a caretaker PM to avoid the electoral disaster of Harriet Harman getting her hands on power.
3) Press stories etc now don't home in on the govt as they used to do, in the mean time the impact of pumping money into the economy start to come through, whilst the public are ignorant of the long term implications of the debt they have been sold into.
4) A month long Labour leadership contest contended between David Milliband and Alan Johnson is good natured and gains lots of free publicity for Labour over the Summer when no other news is generated.
5) Alan Johnson wins.
6) He immediately goes to the palace to request a dissolution of Parliament and a general election with the longest time period he can get, say October 09.

These points would shorten the odds against Labour and allow them to set the agenda running into a general election where they could campaign as being a change.

I hope CCHQ has an answer for this, because it looks very likely to me.

Lets be clear anything less than a clear working majority and mandate to govern for the Conservatives will be a disaster for our country, and its still all to fight for.

The dangers of Californication

With apologies to the Red Hot Chilli Peppers let me explain.

The great state of California is stuffed, doomed, financially dead though it doesn't know it yet.

Why ?

Because of just the sort of reforms that are being banded in our media like this was a super sized student Union general meeting. ( You may never have been to one - in which case your quite normal, where I went to Uni they always struggled to get even a small proportion of the student population. The aim of the right of centre students was essentially to frustrate the adolescent and middle class guilt ridden ramblings of the left who were busy planning their careers in politics. )

California has recall ballots for its governor ( that's how old Arnie got it ).

They have primaries for their candidates ( which means, oddly enough, only the extremists get elected ).

They have referendums on everything and anything.

This makes California impossible to financially govern. They are in real trouble. ( The Economist spells it all out in far greater detail here ).

Now those student politicians whose meeting you never went to are government ministers and journalists. They suddenly see a way out of having to take the blame for destroy the country's finances, flipping houses and being rather too "tax efficient" for the red blooded socialists they claim to be. It time to play the game of voting systems and "constitutional reform" - by which they mean lets change the rules so we don't loose.

But these changes will have deep and profound an unintended impacts. ( Indeed they want the tactical impact of stopping the next Conservative government from being able to govern ).

What we have now is everyone with a scheme that they never normally could have dreamed of getting support for trying to take advantage of the temporary unbalanced nature of our politics to pull a quick one whilst people are distracted and desperate.

And perhaps of equal danger are the trolls of the hard left with their ideology of hate and eternal planning to take advantage of any moment of public unrest to drive us into the socialist purgatory that they so wish to eternally punish the middle classes in.

Just like in their days of student politics Fib Dems, Fabians, and Labour careerists call for new voting systems and changes in the name of the people ( who never turn up or understand ), but with their calculated wish to change the system so it can only ever deliver answers they like as their true aim.

These are dangerous times.

PS This doesn't mean that no reform is the right way to go. Only that the anger over expenses is being as shameless abused as was the allowance and expenses system.

I'm generally in favour of David Cameron's suggested reforms, except perhaps fixed term parliaments - which I think fail to take into account the need for a government to sometimes go to the country. My earlier suggestions of fixed financial licenses for governments would be far better.

Further: See Fraser Nelson's take on what is awaiting the next government to see how relevant this all is here...

The destruction of private wealth continues, whilst the good times continue to role for those in the state sector funded by debt

How do I know ? We'll I've just had one of my annual pension statements, and its another case of the people I pay to invest my money for my old age using more of it up than they have managed to make in an investment return.

This year the last pension return was -15% last year .

Yet public sector pensions continue to rise, whilst the state rips of those who have to buy annuities by its printing money for government debt programme.

Quietly and by stealth the wealth of those not employed by the government is being stolen to enrich those who are.

Labour's scorched Earth strategy turns to the constitution

Like Hitler who determined that Germany must be destroyed for failing him, Gordon Brown and the Labour party seem determined to destroy the UK in spite and their impending rejection.

Our institutions have been savaged or destroyed. Educational certificates are now devalued. All public servants now seem to need cash incentives to go on top of their golden pay rises and spectacular pensions that for the over £60k/year mob make the troughing of MPs look like amateurs.

They have ensured our military will be on its knees for a decade or two to come, with decades worth of equipment life used up in a few short years, but no provision for replacements made.

They have bound and sold our country out to the European Union - at the same time breaking their election oath to provide a referendum on such a surrender to a foreign power.

Our banks have been destroyed and nationalised. Our currency debauched. Our pensions ( for those not in the ruling classes super well provided for left wing rich list public sector little piggy scheme ) have been stolen and reduced to dust.

But that's not enough for Labour, now they have to try to make the country ungovernable by the next government.

PR is always proposed by parties out of power or suspecting they will lose it shortly.

Alan Johnson, in combining a referendum with a general election is playing fast and loose with the constitution just to keep a few more little Labour piggies with their snouts in the trough at parliament.

Don't get me wrong - I'm not against electoral reform, although my preference would be for PR for the house of Lords to provide a form of check and balance on the geographical representation of the commons. But this is being proposed by panicked lefties who fear the loss of power. ( If proper PR were introduced then I don't expect any of the three main parties to survive as they are - especially the most shameless party of all the Lib Dems who are in effect two political parties with one name. )

Indeed I think its reasonable to argue that its actually a betrayal of democracy by a party seeking to retain power by changing the rules that keep it in absolute power for twelve years.

As I said in an earlier post, these are dangerous times. And the Labour party is the shameless, gutless, self interested machine to hang onto power in any way their grubby little minds can conceive.

Clegg's being a prat

A petition with 5% of a constituency to recall an MP ?

Typical Lib Dem proposal in that it is:

1) self serving - like those mindless manufactured rage leaflets they push through your door with their candidates pointing at hole in the road ( its just what your stir shamelessly 'local campaigner' false friend Lib Dem would love);
2) impractical. It would mean any political party or religious organisation could remove and MP at any point;
3) just about grabbing headlines for selfish Lib Dems, instead of contributing to the debate; and,
4) has no chance of being implemented ( the true test of a nutty Lib Dem policy ).

The major problem with the Lib Dems is they aren't known for who they really are....

Standard and Poor's warning is for the Conservative party

Those of us who think the current economic crisis is being understated where perhaps cheared by Standard and Poor making their warning this week.

I find the breath taking dishonesty of Labour who try to portray enslaving us further into debt as "doing something" and saving us worthy of criminal charges.

However, the truth has to be that the warning was for the next government and its policies. And that most likely means a Conservative government.

How will our finances be put right ?

Its a hard question to answer as Labour are trying to create their selfish dividing lines for a general election that is now rumoured to perhaps only be a few months away.

But it will need answering very quickly after a new government tales office.

Update See Dominic Lawson today (Sunday 24th) on the same theme in The Times.

The Telegraph moves to censure Nadine Dorries - free speech in the UK not even for MPs !!!!

It seems that free speech and articles are fine as long as they don't impact on the owners of the Daily Telegraph.

Dizzy reports that heavy handed legal attacks have been made on what Nadine has said (H/T to Guido).

The key objective appears to be to prevent her alleged accusations that the owners of the Telegraph have a political agenda beyond public service in they way they have handled the MPs expense and allowance scandal. I have questioned for some time what the Telegraph's agenda really is in comments else where.

I have to say I think this level of legal censorship is breathtaking and quite frankly makes you think that Nadine Dorries has a point. ( You can see a glowing report about UKIP in todays Telegraph ).

In the mean time Nadine's blog can be read at this Google cache.

There is a real stink of hypocrisy and bullying about the Telegraph position.

PS There is also a lesson for UK bloggers about the need to take your blogs outside UK jurisdiction where the law doesn't only favour the rich.

Ofsted has become a lever of power for the Govt rather than an inspection agency

For a few years I've been a school governor. Its an introduction to the public sector that has sent friends who have been Labour voting all their lives ( with a little Lib Dem moonlighting ) to vote Conservative for the first time in their lives, but I digress...

That's why I have full support for what Chris Woodhead is saying now about Ofsted.

Ofsted inspection reports make or break a school currently. Get a bad report and your put in special measures and every prospective parent can read about your schools failure for years to come. That reduces you intake and leads to financial problems at the school, which will lead to redundancies.

Ofsted are now the high priests of the national curriculum. No school dares to do otherwise than prepare to impress Ofsted. Rumours and indications of what Ofsted inspectors are paying particular attention to are eagerly listened to by schools eager to avoid the disaster of "a poor Ofsted".

Hence the misuse of Ofsted is now a key tool of the government social engineering agenda, as it abandons education and instead embraces the class warfare struggle and remodelling society, which for some reason doesn't seem to require standards or measurable capabilities.

The latest two theme from the Commissar Ed Balls are Diversity and Community Cohesion.

If you kids are at school right now you'll have noticed a sudden increase in "international weeks", "cultural awareness festivals" etc etc. Its the schools trying to avoid the infamous "Bad Ofsted".

Thus the national curriculum and Oftsed inspectorate have become part of the command and control from the centre, which no school or teacher can stand against.

Now I know the national curriculum was a Conservative idea, but where it has gone to has now become more than a danger to our education system ( notice Labour don't even talk about Education any more they are so ashamed of their failure here ) and to our society and democracy. Ofsted has become the political control department enforcing the latest mad edict from the class warriors who are Labour ministers.

As such something will have to be done about both by an incoming Conservative government.

The ugly mood on question time - and those looking to exploit the mob

Just watched the moved forward question time, and as you might expect the mood is ugly.

As you would expect William Hague was interrupted by lengthy prepared quotes from the chair - but its the BBC and that's what we expect from a David Dimbleby.

But what's really frightening is how all the various interest groups are lining up to take advantage of the current chaos, and how the BBC is busy trying to encourage them.

Yasmin Alibhai-Brown ( who strikes me as one of the most confused people ever to appear on the national media ) has a schizophrenic problem that she knows Labour are responsible for the current mess, but can't abide the idea of a Conservative Govt. So she talks up the Lib Dems ( not that its necessary with the shameless political angling by Red Vince Cable on tap next door).

The left can see defeat coming down on them, but they still hold the levers of power. The BBC with its left wing staff and left wing sympathies is keen to do anything it can to prevent a Conservative victory, even if that means talking up independents. The guardianista commentators pray for a hung parliament. Anything to stop the economy being saved from the car crash Gordon Brown has so carefully engineered for it - which must surely lead to oppressive and irreversible socialism if the crisis allowed to develop as they wish.

The clear a present danger is that the guardianistas get their hung and neutered parliament devoted to constitutional navel gazing whilst our sovereignty goes to Brussels and our economy down the drain.

These are dangerous times.

PS I noticed that the programme finished with Ben Bradshaw and various others calling for a new House of Lords ( with professional politicians, not those who have served our country in many sphere's of life appointed)- but the issue of professional politicians never came up. Vince Cable mentioned fix term parliaments, but not terms limits for MPs. Odd that ...

The flying phones of Downing Street

Stories like this "Nokias, BlackBerrys pay ultimate price for Brown gov" are why the IT world loves El Reg ....

What I fear most about the expenses scandal

Is that it could yet provide a route for Labour to come back, or at least to ensure that no government can replace them with a strong enough mandate to save the economy.

The private self enrichment, within and without the rules, of MPs is bad enough. Tories seem to have embarrassing things on their claims, Labour seem to have been "optimising their taxs" through the rules in just the way they criticise "the rich" for doing. ( The second is in my mind worse ).

But the corruption has gone deeper than that, and mostly its on the Labour side. They have allowed the gutless coup to install Gordon Brown, despite being elected on a promise in 2005 that this would not happen. They have sold out our country with the Lisbon constitution treaty without the promised referendum and made layers excuses for what we just know in our guts is a betrayal. ( A judge even ruled that nobody should have a reasonable expectation that the Labour party would keep its manifesto promises !! ).

The governments books and public statements on our financial position are now being falsified in a way that would get you sent to prison if you were a director of a private company.

Education is just getting worse. The teaching unions are getting into strike mode to prepare a scorched earth policy for a future Conservative govt.

We have suffered utter humiliation in Iraq, and have been forced to pull back from Helamand province to be saved by the Americans. Our military equipments is old and worse worn out. Things are so bad that there are less than 10 serviceable aircraft to defend UK airspace and Russian supersonic nuclear bombers can come within a whisker of our Territorial waters without being detected.

The public services are unaffordable and private pensions have been destroyed.

I'm afraid the lack of moral backbone of a number of MPs of all parties ( and this includes you Lib Dems ) is not the major issue. It is just a symptom.

If people go on ego trips like Ester Ranzen and deny an incoming government the ability to govern then the damage will be irreversible and its just possible that another Labour government might follow.

Its time to lift out eyes from the scandal and look at the big picture. Yes lets get even with those MPs, but lets make sure we end the disastrous mis-government of this country by Labour and replace it with a government that can stop the rot and put us back onto the path that It was on in 1997.

Dear Labourgraph - Anne Milton's a Tory !

This whole being an arm of No 10 thing is clearly getting out of hand over at the Telegraph bunker - see this caption for Anne Milton ! (Click to enlarge )

Man in a Shed has been out canvassing for her.... ( No doubt they will get round to a correction and grovelling apology).

Update: The relevant correction has now been made to the Telegraph web site.

Draft John Bercow

The post of speaker requires an independent mind and respect and roots on both sides of the house.

John Bercow fits the bill on many fronts.

He'd be my choice, as for this office he is ideally suited.

H/T to Tory Bear who thinks that Mr Bercow may harbour ambitions in this direction based on sucking up to the lefties here in January ....

Update: Guido thinks not based on John Bercow's expense claim rate. His wife is known as a member of the Labour party, which is why Labour members may have more faith in him, as opposed to Guido thoughts on expenses.

Labour con of the day

Now I know you might think that when I mention con I mean convict and by implication Labour MPs, but I think the following action by the government itself constitutes a con.

Apparently only 2% of the "Apprenticeships" being offered by the civil service ( and surely to appear on the long list of tractor production statistics that Gordon Brown loves sapping peoples will to live with ) are given to people who aren't already civil servants.

Its the old re badging con again !

The next speaker must be English

Since Labour's anti-English devolution settlement and its campaign against the identity of England with is EU inspired regional balkanisation campaign England has never been in a position with less natural justice and more exploitation by the other members of the Union.

Its time that a convention was established where, as long as the British Parliament that sits in Westminster is the only Parliament that England has representation in that its speaker should be representing an English constituency.

The role of the speaker is about to get much more important with the next parliament for the English, even if we are to be currently denied our sovereign right and popular wish for our own Parliament - as is granted to all the other peoples of these isles.

The next speaker must be an MP for an English constituency and ideally be English.

The Economist, in trying to help Brown, condemns him

There is currently an over supply of lefty journalists doing their bit to save their party.

Every so often they are unable to deny any more the disaster that Labour have been and the clear a present threat that Gordon Brown's premiership is to our country and especially the Labour party.

But they can' get out of the habit of trying to urge their side on and provide Brown advice on how even now he could hold onto power.

A good example of this is Bagehot in this weeks Economist,"There is a mood of penance in Britain. Gordon Brown can make use of it". He suggests a course of action from Gordon Brown of trying to take advantage of the current crisis to change the terms of the political debate. ( I'm sure Brown will, but it will have the usual naked aggression and viscous political tactical calculation that have so much characterised No 10 along with the New Labour bullying spin machine since Brown won power through the gutless coup).

The advice from the Bagehot column is
"Henceforth, Mr Brown could say, I will be franker about the economy. I will answer interviewers’ questions. I will scrap the ID-cards scheme and other costly fixations. I will be less partisan. It isn’t only the expenses, he could declare: I understand the mood; politics must change."

Or to put it another way Brown should:

• stop lying about the economy;
• accept that he has to answer questions and that is is rude and boorish to do his famous tractor production statistics on a separate issue and Kirkcaldy telephone directory sort of evasions to anyone who dares to question him;
• stop burning great piles of cash that he has enslaved the nation into debt to acquire on schemes that nobody wants and are very likely to fail just because he can't admit making loads and loads of very costly and irresponsible mistakes;
• stop treating the country like it was solely there for the Labour party and the Labour party like it was solely there for his personal gratification of his massive and insane ego;
• act like he understand other people - fake it if absolutely necessary, and;
  
• change - which really means leave, preferably calling a general election first.

Why could even the most trendy lefty and self deceiving intellectually dishonest journalists not see that the answer is far more simple:

Brown and the Labour party are unfit for high office and must go and go now.

Is the establishment trying to get even with Nadine Dorries ?

Ever since Nadine Dorries became more than Jack Straw's favourite blogger by leading the case against late abortion she's been a marked woman.

She is an effective advocate of her cause, and a strong representative of her constituency. She also has the common touch, perhaps because she has a hinterland of experience which is just so lacking, especially amongst the career politicians on the Labour benches.

Hence perhaps her being singled out for the unpleasant attacks in the McPoison Red Reg scandal in No 10. Just the sort of bullying that has been handed out to many opponents of No 10.

More recently the media ( see BBC ) have started using a very unflattering picture of her partially blinded by sun light. She's a striking woman who photographs a lot better than that unless you have malicious intent to make her look bad.

She has upset No 10 by demanding an apology in PMQs when she over came the Speaker's resitance to put a question directly to Gordon Brown. She is also taking legal action against Gordon Brown's former right hand man Damian McBride.

Yes her card has been marked all right.

So tonight we have the news that the Daily Telegraph is going after her. This is the Daily Telegraph that tipped of No 10 about the McPoison emails, despite giving assurances to Guido that it would do no such thing.

Am I the only one to find all this just a little suspect ?

However, I have to admit her explanation on the second home allowance isn't water tight as it stands. Perhaps mistakes have been made. We will find out when David Cameron's review of his MPs expenses produces its results.

Given what must have been considerable disruption to her personal life from her split with her husband in 2006, perhaps mistakes have been made. But I find it very hard to believe that she has deliberately been deceitful. I find it far easier to believe that the establishment has seen its chance to get even. Nadine has been just the sort of MP this country needs and I for one will be very sorry if she has slipped up or this damages her.

Update: I seem to have some problem linking to specific posts in Nadine's blog, so I hope it will be OK to cut and paste her post today (16th May 09). The attitude of the Daily telegraph in all this is looking more and more suspect all the time !

Copied from Nadine's blog post 16 May 09 titled "The Other place" ( highlighting is my own)



I had hoped that I could retain some of my private life and keep it just that, private. It appears that this is now impossible.




The Telegraph has every right to ask questions and to hold politicians to account for the way they spend public money. But their reaction when I told them I would publish my response to their allegations on my blog was revealing. It appears that the general public is only entitled to hear the Telegraph’s version of the truth if they pay for a copy of the Telegraph. They also felt it necessary to phone CCHQ with veiled threats about what they could do to me in the future if I dared to post the letter they sent to me on my blog before they published their own article in today’s newspaper. I am afraid that the Telegraph doesn’t appear to get the ‘new media’. If anyone is going to publish anything about me, I will do it myself, first.





Yes I do claim for my second home in Bedfordshire using my ACA. I rent it. I never felt comfortable buying using tax payers money.




I felt it very necessary that I should commute from my constituency to London on work days with the rest of my constituents, in the cattle truck trains, in the jams and delays even though I leave early in the morning and don’t arrive home most days until gone midnight, long after my fellow morning commuters are in bed.




But, yes, I do have another home. It was where I went to after I had finished my Parliamentary and constituency work and changed into a mother and looked after my girls. I lived in my main family Cotswold home until my marriage broke down in 2007. The family home was then sold. I then rented a home in the Cotswolds where my daughter went to school and where my ex husband looked after her from Monday to Thursday during school and Parliamentary term time. He then moved out before I arrived back and spent his time with a significant other and I stayed in the home, which I paid for from my own money. Sometimes, on the very late week nights I stay in London, at my own expense.




During Parliamentary recesses, when I am not in the constituency or the Cotswolds, I take my girls abroad. The rest of the time during weekends I finished work and spent my time in the Cotswolds preparing the week’s meals for my daughter, washing and ironing school uniforms, changing sheets, checking homework, and leaving to drive back to Bedfordshire when she was in bed late on a Sunday night when I had finished packing her school and PE bag and hanging the week’s uniforms on her wardrobe door, just before my ex husband came back to take over.




I never wanted my constituents to think that I had another prime responsibility other than Bedfordshire and Parliament; maybe I should have been more open.





My daughter was due to start boarding school in September but instead she started at a school in Bedford. At the weekends we go back to the Cotswolds together, or, if I have to work such as this weekend, we stay in Bedfordshire.





During the Parliamentary term time, it is unusual for me not to have a constituency engagement.




I spend more nights away from my constituency home than I spend in it and I use it for the purpose of my work. I do, however, retain the right to have my daughter, or daughter’s with me depending on who is with me at the time. It may only be a second home, however, it is a home.




So, to my constituents and no one else, I am sorry. My crime is that I haven’t owned up to you that I don’t always live here – that I have a private life, which has not always run smoothly. I couldn’t work harder for Bedfordshire than I already do - I have given it almost every day of my life since you elected me. In politics, my constituency always comes first, but in my private life my family does. I can’t apologise for that. What sort of person would I be if I did?





By trying to protect my girls and keeping the circumstances of my marriage break up private and the arrangements for looking after my youngest daughter in the family, I realise that I am in fact arousing suspicion.




I don’t have much more to say other than the posting of this blog will humiliate my daughters, but what else can I do? I have to make sure people understand that not everyone has a life which runs to plan. It really isn’t always a wonderful life and as a mother you just have to do what you have to do.

Somebodies will no doubt go through Nadine's claims for expenses and allowances with a fine tooth comb, but it doesn't seem to me that she was enriching herself or costing the tax payer excess costs. In another time the sisterhood would have stood up for her as a working mother, but that's before she stood up for children terminated after 20 months gestation.

Further - Dizzy Thinks gives his view on why renting was a honourable thing for Nadine to do.

Monday 18th DT goes with an article saying Nadine Dorries apologises to her constituents - looks to me like they are trying to justify themselves here....

The BNP party election broadcast last night

Purely by accident I ended up watching this after the news last night .

Nick Griffin should be glad he's not a contestant on the Apprentice, because he'd get fired for that performance.

The BNP managed to look shifty, amateur and sinister all at the same time. (Quite an achievement.)

Given what they must have spent getting enough Council candidates to get that broadcast you've got to wonder what they were thinking.

The good news is I would expect that broadcast to make a number of people tempted to vote for them to kick the government think again.

Surely we're in resignation country by now ?

In the good old days when many gullible voters believed that Labour would be whiter than white did young Peter Mandelson have to resign (the first time) about being forgetful on a mortgage and when it was revealed that he had borrowed money to buy a house from Geoffrey Robinson, a minister whose affairs were under investigation by Mr Mandelson’s department.

On this scale surely Elliot Morley should be applying for the Chiltern Hundreds for claiming for a mortgage he didn't have ? ( And Brown should remove the Labour whip first )

Out in the real world social services take people to crown court for this sort of forgetfulness ....

How much do you earn ?

That's seen a an intrusive question. And well it is. I've just watched Carrie Gracie (Beeboid news presenter) admits she earns £92,000.

MPs have a headline salary of about £64k, but with allowances and gold plated super safe pensions that's worth well north of £100k ( and they get paid a fraction of it even if they lose their seats at the next election ).

Personally I'm just depressed by all this. The highest I've ever earned must be about £50-55k, and then just for a few years. It miles of the case where trying to run my own company my income is current zero.

The truth of the matter is that if you reduced the salaries of the top paid public servants by 30% they would all still turn up for work tomorrow. For some people its to vocation ( Doctors, Politicians ) for other they over value themselves.

What is certainly true is that I'd rather cut back their salaries than the education of our children or health care.

There is a wider problem here that the state has grown out of control, especially at the high paid side, and now the body of the economy is having trouble providing the resources it so loudly demands. If the country were a human body then the State would be acting like a cancer right now.

It has to stop.

Its time to start talking about radical cut backs at the top.

Be careful what powers you give to government

The lobby groups for protecting copyright are hoping to get the government to take powers to disconnect persistent file sharers.

I see a number of problems with this. Firstly powers given for one reason, especially to this government, tend to get used for other reasons.

Say for example a future government decides to remove internet access to religious groups it doesn't like as they are speaking against its sacred religion of secularism and diversity ? Or perhaps like the ideas of removing driving licenses from offenders its used a civil punishment

Always remeber even if you support the current group of people in power, people you neither like nor trust may be in power eventually and these laws will be available for their use.

Secondly how do they know fully what is being transferred ?

Perhaps a case for throttling upload speed could be made, but the internet has now become a new, but essential pillar of our democracy and society. Planning to cut people off from it seems very dangerous to me.

The Rot

I've been away for a few days on a family wedding and have watch the revelations via my mobile phone with growing disquiet.

For those people who engage in politics the revelations on expenses are alarming but perhaps not surprising.

The army of local activists of all parties are going to get sick of hearing at the door step that all politicians are crocks, and a significant proportion of those who turn up at the ballot box will vote for parties that they think will annoy the establishment the most.

If we had a PR system, then I think you'd be looking at an Italian / Canadian scale changing of the political guard.

None of the major parties is going to come out well from this, although currently it is perhaps Labour who will suffer the most. ( Although given revelations about the shadow cabinet are due that can be by no means certain. )

We have a system where by the new political class, who are apt at playing the part of our representatives are able to deceive many of us.

I've just spend a few happy days in the world without national politics that is a family wedding, and its just depressing to look back into all this.

None of us know if politicians we admire, have campaigned for or supported will shortly be shown to have taken the tax payer for a ride. few of those of us who are volunteers can have anything other than a sick feeling in our stomachs.

The events that are reported are serious, disturbing and even revolting. But, but they are only a symptom of a deeper problem in the way we try to democratically govern ourselves.

"New Labour" is at the root of this problem. "The Project", "The Narrative", spin and of course lies deceit and triangulation.

The attempt to deal and manipulate peoples knowledge of the situation by controlling the media, emoting, using "sound bites" and political cross dressing.

What all those things have in common is a lack of moral integrity, unless you subscribe perhaps to the conceit of the left that only they are holy and have receipt of all wisdom and hence are justified in any actions, however reprehensible to destroy those who disagree with them.

Whilst Labour has lead on most of this, the other two main parties, including the Conservatives, cannot escape blame here. Defining yourself in opposition to your party's membership has become the standard trick of the trade of every new party leader. The poison of new Labour has spread to the wider body of politics.

I suspect Labour have suffered more as many of those who are at the top of the Labour party now went into politics believing something quite different from what the claim now. Having lost that integrity, its perhaps no surprise that they should lose moral integrity also, in the same way they trade political and intellectual integrity for power.

The test that comes now is how much shame those who have selected themselves to rule us now show. One of the abiding characteristics of the current government and Blair's before it was the shamelessness is showed.

Underlying all this is the need to stop politics continuing as a profession and a profitable one at that.

We need term limits and upper limits on the total amount of money any elected representative can ever receive from the tax payer.

We need men and women who see public service as a noble sacrifice not a career.

PS We should perhaps consider that dishonesty has become wide spread in our society. Many people lie on their CVs and embellish their expenses. There is a mirror here of our wider society if we can stand to look into it.

I realise I don't yet have a fully formed central thesis in this post, but I'm going to publish as its time to say at least something.

Bank of England to print money to stoke inflation

Well that's what the headlines should say.

The extra £50billion to be printed will mostly be given to the government to pay public servants in inefficient, but Labour voting sectors, and put off pulling the government finances out of their tail spin till after the June elections and maybe further.

The money will be taken by stealth from all those of us who have the misfortune to have their wealth denominated in Stirling.

It will also postpone the point at which the government can no longer finance its own debt.

None of it the happy clappy glad Gordon Brown is prime minister news the BBC paints.

ING not so direct

I'm just gearing up to move my money from ING Direct.

When they started out they positioned themselves as a no nonsense bank, without special teaser rates.

Today they just told me their interest rates are down to 0.5% ( but special bonuses for "new customers"). Well five minutes on money super market has identified that Sainsbury's bank is offering 2% above BOE rate, that is where my money is moving and it will keep on the move whilst the banks insist on playing this kick the savers game.

If your bank is messing you around on savings, move your money. Its the only message they understand.

The opportunity cost of Gordon Brown

Today we are warned that we could have to work till we are 70 to pay of the debts Gordon Brown has run up.

Labour ministers bleat about public sector "investment", which means client state spending.

But what a poor return on these so called "investments" they achieve.

Because they spend today, you will pay tomorrow as it becomes very clear that these investments were just overhead that is wasted on consumption rather than capital investment (I don't mean capital spending here - they are very good at that ) or process improvement.

Its what I learn't in my 'O' level economics as opportunity cost.

Because Labour chose to hose cash on unreformed public services and finance it by borrowing future generations will have to pay interest on loans rather than spend the money on improving the NHS or education ( little of which has been done by Labour ).

The hunt for Gollum

I've just watched The Hunt For Gollum, directed by Chris Bouchard. Its a not-for profit, so don't sue us, amateur film that tries to fill in some of the story just before the start of The Lord of the Rings.

Its about 40 minutes long, and if you have loved Tolkien at any point you'll enjoy the film. Whilst watching remember its been made on a budget of £3k ! It worth a look at some of the short documentaries attached to the films web site. ( See here ).

No doubt critics would point to bits and pieces, but I think the wider message should be for professionals in Hollywood and elsewhere - if this can be done on a shoe string by volunteers there must be great potential for more creativity than we are seeing in the Cinema currently.

Personally I really enjoyed it and this post is by way of a thank you to Chris Bouchard and his team. You made my day.( & H/T to BBC Entertainment for the post which lead me to it. )

PS I put the Label of Gordon Brown as there's a link in there somewhere ....

Brown - all tactics, no strategy.

Its getting grim out there. Today's attempt by Gordon Brown to get the focus of his failings as a leader just go on to expose more.

He can see that the Conservative education policy is going to be very popular, but this time he can't copy it as it goes against the control needed to ensure that everyone suffers socialism to the same extent.

His analysis is a tactical response to the opposition. Not an idea driven by any strategy Labour might have ( or that Vision he pathetically tried to convince us he wasn't going to run and win the election that never was for ).

The solution to bad schools ? Get local authorities more involved after checking the views of parents whose kids don't go to those schools yet.

The uninformed parents are supposed to be better judges of a schools capability than say Ofsted, and the LEA is of course the salvation for education.

There will be school improvement plans, armies of education consultants ( different ones every month if the experience I've seen is anything to go by ), federations of schools, confederations of schools - with no doubt hit squads redoing whats meant to happen anyway.

If you think that's going to work, then perhaps its time to start suing the education authority that provided your own supposed education.

The Conservative education policies are some of the most exciting aspects of a potential new government. They are very much over due as this tired tactical response of an exhausted, discredited and useless government shows full well.

PS For once the BBC does a very good job of reporting this. See here if your not to easily shocked.

Just what is it with Mary Riddell and Gordon Brown

As a number of people have mentioned something odd has happened to the Telegraph.

People who would normally live out their lives at the Guardian / Independent / BBC are now regularly writing articles.

The top puzzle is Mary Riddell. She seems to have the "hugging Gordon Brown" brief at the Labourgraph right now.

When I first started seeing her articles, like many others leaving comments I asked what on earth she was doing writing for the Telegraph ? It must have caused offence since my comments appear to be banned ( though it would seem reasonable to let those who have been cast into the Telegraph's outer darkness know why they're banned, but they don't have to. )

So now, right on queue we have the following article:


Its just breath taking stuff ( as well as a very odd commercial tactic for the Telegraph. Just mention the name of Gordon Brown in Surrey right now and you have a near riot on your hands - he's not very popular with the DT readership ).

The Telegraph summarises her role as: Mary Riddell keeps a careful eye on the Labour government as well as writing about social policy, childhood and criminal justice.

In my opinion, which you won't find allowed on the Telegraph's site any more, she seems to be more supporting that government rather than providing insight into it.

She finished her article about why there's no one better than Gordon Brown for Labour with; "If Labour is to have a prayer of avoiding electoral disaster, MPs must abandon the politics of make-believe. On the day some saviour is parachuted into Number 10, then pigs will really fly."

Well as we know Swine Flu is spreading around the country ....

My memories of 30 years ago

I was eleven by the morning of 4th May 1979. I was waiting for a lift to school with some friends when the father who's turn on the lift rota it was turned up very excited. He turned round to us all in the car and said "don't you feel freer today ?".

My memories of growing up were of power cuts (Miners etc), bread shortages ( because of bakers strikes ), TV strikes, Car strikes (always), shortages of sugar (can't remember why ), and enteranl wait for a telephone.

At the time my Father was in the RAF and it was clear that the forces had been very badly treated. Private soldiers pay was below poverty levels. We know know that the RAF didn't have the stores to fight the Soviets for more than a day or two. Aircraft were old and moral was very low. The assumption was that any attack by the Warsaw pact would go nuclear in a few days and the West's totally inadequate military was pushed aside by the hordes of Soviet armies, aircraft and ships.

The last 6 months had been the winter of discontent. Strikes were everywhere. The dead weren't buried and rubbish piled up in the street. ( Some insane lefties try to paint the 70's as some sort of paradise - well for selfish and self obsessed politico's perhaps it was, but the rest of us hated it )

I can remember listening to this week in Parliament on radio 4 and moving closer to the radio as Mrs Thatcher spoke - she used the common sense that many people had been longing to hear from the politicians, but had till now instead got the patronising mantra of managed decline and retreat to the destruction of our country.

The 4th of May 1979 was the day that Britain gained hope for the future.

Many one the left and those programmed by the Guardian and BBC will never forgive her for saving our country form the socialist purgatory they had so desperately hoped to imprison this country in.

She saved our country, and maybe with Ronald Reagan the World.

She defeated the IRA.

She defeated the communists and closed shop fascists in the Union movement.

She gave us back our future.

She gave us sound money.

Now many will go on about the restructuring that happened, but like today's debt crisis that had been building for at least a decade. The blame belongs to those weak and deceitful men who shirked their responsibilities in the hope of a few more years of managed decline and some votes. ( Much as Labour are doing today ).

I am deeply grateful to her for her courage and determination.

And on that morning on that lift to school I dared to hope again...

Gordon Brown is a bad leader- official

For some reason leadership was apparently being discussed in my daughter's Sunday School class. She chipped in with the comment that "Gordon Brown is a bad leader " ( no I haven't even been discussing it with her ) " but that Obama was probably a bit better " ( that's what you get when you take your news from the Marxist BBC's Newsround programme for kids ).

So I think its game over for Brown if even eight year olds can spot he's no good just by watching BBC children's TV. ( Ok just possibly she's overheard her Father sounding of when listening to the radio just a bit ... )

PS I'm fairly sure the Obama thing will correct itself as the evidence and the bills for the Americans come in.

The hypocrisy of Hazel Blears

I'm fed up of Labour careerists who wound but fear to strike. The likes of Blears who want to win votes by feeling the voters pain and being seen to be on their side ( which today means against Gordon Brown ), but to do so whilst still in the cabinet.

Its the same trick when cabinet minister, um like Hazel Blears, campaigned against the health cuts their own constituencies that their collective responsibility government was inflicted on England ( but never Scotland and Wales ).

I know many of them will never earn much once they are not ministers (expense fiddling aside) and they are immersed in the shameless gutless culture of the Labour party that treats the poor, down on their luck and dependant the same was a drug pusher treats their clients, but surely even they realise they should act honourably ?

During Conservative governments these things were understood, but I guess Conservative ministers were generally talented enough to live productive lives away from government.

Blears should either resign from the cabinet ( and if she is really interested int he people's welfare then the corrupt parasite that is the Labour party as well ) to make her case, or do what she is signed up for of trying to explain how Labour has sold us all and our children into debt slavery in exchange for little improvement in services - which will now have to be cut either by the IMF or the Conservatives.

In short she's a hypocrite, and member of the most dishonourable, incompetent, gutless, shameless and useless government this country has ever had the misfortune to have to tolerate.

Update: I see she's being forced to come out a swear allegiance to Big Brother - how very Labour. As Matthew Parris has said - the problem with Labour's Cabinet is they are gutless.

Confusion reigns over swine flu, and the disease continues to make progress

In Mexico

The Mexican government is revising down the number of deaths it ascribes to swine flu from 178 to 101. The number of cases reported have varied from 2000 to 300 depending on what appear to be random factors.

In addition they have taken the bizarre step of the 5 day quarantine of its population ( though the WHO and everyone else refuses to ban air travel, sayings there "no evidence to support*" such a ban).

The quarantine itself will not stop the epidemic in Mexico, it will just delay its peak a little. Effectively the Mexican government is trying to put of what is now inevitable by 2-3 days. I wonder what they need to do with that time ? Maybe they are urgently trying to gain stocks of Tamiflu or such ? The logic behind their decision doesn't seem apparent.

The information that reaches the public domain has been low quality and poor in Mexico. Hospitals have been told to keep quiet. The situation looks confused and there is the potential that the Mexican government is hiding something big. ( There are areas where people say there is now flu at all and they are cross at being sent home ).

In short given that Mexico is the centre of a world wide emergency its a surprising mess.

* The "there is no evidence to support" is the new official statement for we're not going to do it so there.

In the UK

We seem to be having trouble with our testing. The first human to human transmission in Scotland initially tested negative, but was retested latter.

The second human to human case was from a man who believes he caught it in a meeting with a woman who's only symptom was to cough once and she tested negative for swine flu.

A number of possible conclusions can be drawn:

1) Human to human transfer is quite effective.
2) The current testing isn't.
3) The stay at home if you have symptoms the self quarantine line bleated out by the government and all its agencies is ineffective - since some cases are:

a) ignorant they have a disease they need to report
b) show no symptoms
c) on the day when they are infectious but not showing symptoms.

If all three points are true, and I think there's evidence starting to stack up to support them, then the government has lost its ability to do anything other than moderate the outcome of events.

It is now very likely that unidentified cases, may be without symptoms, are now wondering around the UK leading to a exponential increase in cases, currently untracked by the government.

We are told a day or so ago that 260 cases where awaiting test results ( which we know know are much less than 100% effective - so do those who get negative results, but are in fact infected go on to spread the disease - the answer must be yes ). The number of out standing tests is now over 300, and I assume rising. Update 2May09 - this number has just climbed to 600. That may indicate more effort to trace potential contacts of existing cases ( in which case good ) or it may be an indicator of a spread of the disease (v bad ). We will need to await on confirmed cases to be sure. There seems to be some sort of delay processing tests or perhaps their results are being held back from the media as final preparations are made for a winder sense of panic ( If this is true I think it underestimates the British people, who will stay calm if they are honestly dealt with ).

Perhaps the virus will die out by itself, because the government's plans are not proving very effective at containment.

As I've said in comments else where we are going to have to trust to dumb luck rather than a dumb government.

PS The game of catch up continues to be played by our "best prepared in the world" government. Today its "where are all the anti-biotics day". You see its the secondary infections that seem to kill in swine flu's case rather than the cytokine storm that is feared in the cases of H5N1. The government thinks it might now have enough, or panic over stocking could cause shortages ( which at the peak of a bad epidemic means deaths ). Again it is clear they have not worked this through properly. These are simple issues that a systematic review would have identified ( if civil servants have problems with this then they should contact a professional engineer, we know about managing risks and consequences and identifying them ).

I heard a cross official on R4's news lunch time on Friday complaining that they had made it clear where Tamiful could be obtained from and they'd explained it to GPs ( who are continuing to be confused about the new supply chain the govt is putting together - after all why use a tried and tested system when you can invent one at short notice ? ). He doesn't get it at all. What matters is what is happening - if his communication hasn't worked, then he is at fault. But in true UK public servant mode what matters is who you can point the blame to, not getting the job done.

This is again why the military need to be put in charge. Senior and Junior officers rely on the men under their command for their very lives, and are committed to effective results in a rapidly changing and confusing situation. just the skill set we need rather than the box ticking, blame shifting, procedure referring to mentality of civil servants.

Ok a bit of a rant, but I don't like where this could be going. The UK Govt has been effectively decapitated by Labour's internal worries, just at the point that the danger to its population is the greatest its been since the end of the cold war. Lets hope we are lucky.