MPs expenses - the police are getting involved...

The BBC report that:

"Scotland Yard has decided to launch an investigation into the alleged misuse of expenses by a small number of MPs and peers, the BBC has learned.
...
Police say officers from their economic and specialist crime command will conduct the investigation.

It will be overseen by the Metropolitan Police's temporary assistant commissioner Janet Williams, a former special branch commander.

In a statement, the force said: "After consideration by the joint Metropolitan Police and Crown Prosecution Service assessment panel the Met has decided to launch an investigation into the alleged misuse of expenses by a small number of MPs and Peers."

They will not confirm who is under investigation nor what parties they are from. "

Interesting, I wonder who they will choose to investigate and how much pressure the Labour government can exert to ensure that there is a nice even Labour/Conservative split, and that no friends of Gordon are investigated...

Did you catch the Damian McBride question at PMQs (update)

Further to my piece on Wenesday entitled "Did you catch the Damian McBride question at PMQs" which pointed out that at PMQs:

"Conservative MP Lee Scott asked if the government has received any informal briefings from the disgraced former spin doctor Damian McBride. Gordon Brown replied "I have not"."

I explained that:

"Clearly the follow-up questions should be:
Has anyone else in the Cabinet or working in or for the Labour government received any briefings from Damian McBride whether formal or informal?"

And I reported that:

"In case you are not aware of the background to this story, The Scotsman on Sunday reported that (my emphasis): "LABOUR sources have claimed that disgraced spin doctor Damian McBride has begun operating once again behind the scenes for Labour government.
Just weeks after McBride was forced to resign after writing an e-mail suggesting that Conservative leaders be smeared, insiders say the former special adviser is actively working for ministers again.

Downing Street last night insisted McBride had not returned. But one respected party figure said that while the former adviser was not working at Number 10, he was engaged in informal briefings once again." "

Today The Telegraph reports that:

"A Downing Street staff member ... has leaked just how close Gordon Brown and Damian McBride remain - despite Downing Street's denial to Scotland on Sunday last weekend that Mr McBride had returned as a spin doctor.

Before Mr Brown appeared on the Andrew Marr Show on May 31, the official says Mr Brown discussed his lines with Mr McBride by text message. This surely puts him at the heart of Gordon Brown's inner circle.

If the leaked information is correct, given Mr McBride's nickname - McPoison - shouldn't Mr Brown find a more positive source of spin? And wouldn't it make the Prime Minister's attempt to distance himself from Mr McBride and his smear emails look rather hollow?

However, a political spokesman for the Prime Minister has denied the communication between Mr Brown and Mr McBride."

So who do you believe: Gordon Brown or the mounting contrary evidence?

And elements of the Labour party watch with interest...

The Guardian reports that:

"Turnouts of more than 100% were recorded in at least 30 Iranian towns in last week's disputed presidential election, opposition sources have claimed.

In the most specific allegations of rigging yet to emerge, the centrist Ayandeh website – which stayed neutral during the campaign – reported that 26 provinces across the country showed participation figures so high they were either hitherto unheard of in democratic elections or in excess of the number of registered electors.

Taft, a town in the central province of Yazd, had a turnout of 141%, the site said, quoting an unnamed "political expert". Kouhrang, in Chahar Mahaal Bakhtiari province, recorded a 132% turnout while Chadegan, in Isfahan province, had 120%.

Ayandeh's source said at least 200 polling stations across Iran recorded participation rates of 95% or above. "This is generally considered scientifically impossible because out of every given cohort of 20 voters, there will be at least one who is either ill, out of the country, has recently died or is unable to participate for some other reasons," the source said. "It is also unprecedented in the history of Iran and all other democratic countries."

The claims are impossible to verify, but they are consistent with comments made by a former Iranian interior minister, Ali Akbar Mohtashamipour, who said on Tuesday that 70 polling stations returned more completed ballot papers than the number of locally eligible voters.

Supporters of the defeated reformist candidates, Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karoubi, have complained that their campaigns' inspectors were refused access to or ejected from polling centres on election day."

If we are allowed a general election, and the Swine Flu pandemic may yet give Gordon Brown the excuse he needs to cancel an election as could widespread fuel protests, then watch out for extremely dodgy postal voting, ballot boxes disappearing, ballot box sealing coming under scrutiny etc. etc. etc.

Now do you see why the NHS IT project is so over-budget?

The Register's readers have been going through MP's expenses and have spotted that:

"minister of state for health services, Mike O`Brien... oversees Connecting for Health and NHS IT ... made out a cheque for £60 in response to an invoice from Domain Registry Services. Earlier that year, as El Reg reported four months earlier, Domain Registry Services was a fraud - and O'Brien attempted to stop the cheque.

(O'Brien has a degree in history and politics and was a solicitor.)"

Also spotted was that

"Ben Bradshaw, the latest media minister, and the man behind the man behind Digital Britain. Bradshaw's staff were trying to "connect the wrong end of a Scart lead to a digital TV box", we discover. Bradshaw billed £20 on expenses for the TV engineer."

With such intellectual giants running the country's IT projects is it any wonder we are in the mess we are?

Ah now it makes sense - Patricia Hewitt special

LobbyDog reports that:

"Patricia Hewitt, who is quitting as an MP at the next election, said she wanted to stand down to spend more time with her family.

I guess when she said “family” she meant it in a very broad sense, because today she was appointed the new senior independent director at BT.

Ms Hewitt, Leicester West, has been on the board at BT since last March."

Any recent news affecting BT recently? Oh hold on, how about the news that

"Every Briton with a fixed-line phone will pay a "small levy" of 50p per month to pay for faster net access."

NB That faster access is not necessarily for the person paying the "tax".

Ah well I just hope Patricia Hewitt is more of a success at BT than she was at the Department of Health...

And we will keep asking you until you give the right answer

I read that:

"European leaders this morning gave Ireland the guarantees on the Lisbon Treaty it has sought, crucially with a pledge to incorporate them in a future EU treaty.

Agreement on the shape of the deal followed an early morning meeting between Taoiseach Brian Cowen and the British prime minister Gordon Brown at which the latter indicated that the British would no longer stand in the way of a reference to a future protocol.

...

With agreement on the guarantees in place the Government can now procede with plans for the referendum expected to be in early October and will next week publish the details of legislation on a referendum commission."

If the EU and Irish government can get the Irish people to vote "Yes" on this second referendum then the Lisbon Treaty can be implemented before any UK general election takes place, assuming Gordon Brown can hold out that long. Democracy? This is EU style democracy...

We're screwed but shhh don't worry the plebs

The BBC report very quietly that:

"UK public sector borrowing was the highest on record in May, the Office for National Statistics said.

Public sector net borrowing was £19.9bn in May, and has already reached £30bn in the first two months of the financial year.

This is double the level of one year ago, and even higher than the £19bn borrowed in March.

The total outstanding government debt has risen to £774.8bn, £150bn more than one year ago, equal to 54.7% of UK GDP. "

Did you hear that reported on the BBC news? Of course not, why do you think the Iranian elections and the "attacks" on Roma in Northern Ireland are being covered in such detail?

The BBC report continues:

"In April's budget, the Chancellor, Alistair Darling, forecast that borrowing this year would reach £175bn.

Excluding investment spending, the public sector current budget deficit was also at a record of £17.5bn, compared to £10.6bn in the same month in 2008.

"The public finances for May were absolutely dire, deteriorating even more than feared as tax revenues continued to be decimated across the board," said Howard Archer of IHS Global Insight.

And Capital Economics estimated that the total public borrowing was now on course to reach £200bn, or 14% of GDP. "

Got that? The summary would be that the UK economy is even more screwed than most people thought. But "the narrative" is a slow economic recovery (in fact there are less than 12 days to the end of the recession according to Gordon Brown's estimate) and if the facts don't fit "the narrative" then the facts will have to hang.

The BBC report then turns to tax receipts:

"Corporation tax receipts fell by 27%, VAT revenues were down 18%, and income tax fell 11% compared with the same month in 2008."

The BBC always keen to support Gordon Brown end their article thus:

"The rapidly growing public borrowing will fuel the political debate about what level of cuts needs to be made to public spending to bring the budget into balance.

On Wednesday, the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, accused the Conservatives of planning to cut "vital services" by 10% - a charge David Cameron rejected. "

So there is a political debate about the level of cuts needed and Gordon Brown has accused the Conservatives of planning to cut vital services. No mention of the Conservative claims that Labour are planning cuts? No mention because the Labour/BBC "narrative" is Labour investment v Tory cuts.

More odd web searching

From recent visitors:

google.com - protruding nipples - This blog is at position 8

webcrawler - sheep pussy - Why would someone search for that?

technorati.com - nipples - This blog is quite highly placed, which is nice!

Britney Spears visits Neasden

The Mail report Britney Spears' visit to the Neasden branch of McDonalds yesterady. I cannot remember the last time I had a McDonalds burger so cannot comment on the quality of food served there but from driving past that establishment on many occasions I would say that she would fit in with the often chavvy locals.

News update

Dr David Kelly - that's odd

Here on the BBC is something odd:

"Last Updated: Thursday, 21 August, 2003, 16:07 GMT 17:07 UK

Dr David Kelly told a UK diplomat he would probably be "found dead in the woods" if the UK invaded Iraq, the Hutton inquiry has heard.

David Broucher, the UK's permanent representative on the disarmament conference in Geneva, said the scientist made what at the time he regarded as a "throwaway remark" in February.

It was only when he heard that Dr Kelly had been found dead in Oxfordshire woodland last month that Mr Broucher thought the comment might be more significant.

Mr Broucher said the remark was made after Dr Kelly had explained to him that he had assured senior Iraqi officials that if they cooperated with United Nations weapons inspections they would have nothing to fear.

"The implication was that if the invasion went ahead, that would make him a liar and he would have betrayed his contacts, some of whom might be killed as a direct result of his actions," he said.

"I asked him what would happen then. He replied, in a throwaway line, he would probably be found dead in the woods."

Mr Broucher said he had thought Dr Kelly was talking about possible Iraqi vengeance.

"I now see that he may have been thinking on rather different lines," he added."

How odd...





Thanks to BastardOldHolborn for the spot.

"wholly, exclusively and necessarily"

Whilst you peruse the heavily censored MPs expenses now available on the web, do bear in mind that every claim has to be signed by the MP next to the declaration that the costs were

"incurred wholly, exclusively and necessarily in the performance of my Parliamentary duties"

Remember that declaration every time you see a receipt for cutting logs or even £700 for a year's newspapers (more on that one later..), "wholly, exclusively and necessarily in the performance of my Parliamentary duties"
Why should any claims for items other than those that meet that tight requirement be seen as anything other than fraudulent?

Israeli innovation

Margaret Beckett as Speaker?

The Times article that reports:

"Conservative MPs will support Margaret Beckett, the former Labour leader, over one of their own for the Speaker’s chair amid signs that the race is showing a form of inverted tribalism and party whips are playing an increasingly central role."

Also includes these extracts that explains why Margaret Beckett should not become Speaker:

"Prominent members of Gordon Brown’s whips’ office past and present, including John Spellar and Ian Austin, are organising a campaign to install Mrs Beckett as Speaker."

"On the BBC programme last month, the audience turned on the then Housing Minister for expenses claims that included £600 for hanging baskets and pot plants. She was almost drowned out by shouts of “scandal” and “Are you better than us?” after she refused to pay back a penny of her expenses to the taxpayer."

"Mrs Beckett also has a chequered history on votes on expenses. As well as the second-home claims, she voted against reforms put forward by Mr Martin last year to end the right of MPs to claim on furniture for their second homes. She abstained from votes exempting Parliament from the freedom of information requirements."

If Margaret Beckett becomes Speaker it will be a victory for Gordon Brown and the Executive, another biased Labour MP as Speaker and another reason for the public to treat MPs with disdain.

I have said for some time that the Speaker elected now must be a temporary one and that a new Speaker must be elected by the new House of Commons following a general election, assuming Gordon Brown allows the country such an election.

Did Gordon Brown lie to the House of Commons at PMQs?

Read the exchanges between David Cameron and Gordon Brown in Hansard then read The Mail on the exchange and Lloyd Evans in The Spectator.

Can I also recommend you look at this article by the Institute for Fiscal Studies' Robert Chote from March this year (before the delayed budget showed that the figures were worse than Alistair Darling had "believed" at the time of the Pre-Budget Report); here's a few extracts (my emphasis):

"the Pre-Budget Report also signalled a fiscal tightening - a combination of cuts in spending plans and tax increases - that would get under way next year and gradually increase to 2.6 per cent of national income, or around £38 billion a year in today's terms, by 2015-16.
...
... the fact that 80 per cent of the planned tightening comes in the form of cuts in projected public spending, compared with just a fifth from this and other tax increases. So the burden would fall primarily on the users of public services. By making it harder for the Conservatives to promise that they would outsqueeze him, Mr Brown may have narrowed the ground over which the parties will end up fighting, rather than widening it.

Public spending is now projected to grow by just 1.1 per cent a year on top of inflation over the next three-year spending review period, which begins in 2011-12 and is likely to cover most of the next Parliament. This is a much slower rate of increase than during Labour's years of plenty. What is more, most of this increase may be swallowed up by higher debt payments and social security bills, requiring spending on public services to be frozen in real terms on average.

Only a few Whitehall departments would enjoy real spending increases over this period. But even spending on health would fall as a share of national income after a period of unprecedented growth. The Government has already signalled that capital investment will be squeezed tighter than other spending, which suggests that transport, housing and the like might be relatively hard hit. "

So is Gordon Brown deliberately misleading the House and the Country? What do you think?

Not even the majority of Labour supporters believe Gordon Brown's claims on "cuts"

Politics Home reports that: "The public were asked to choose which of the three main political parties they feel are most honest about their tax and spending plans. They were allowed to select up to two parties.

The Conservatives are seen as the most truthful about their fiscal policy with thirty seven per cent of the public vote, followed by the Liberal Democrats who gained twenty eight per cent. Only sixteen per cent of the public believe the government to be more honest than the opposition parties on spending plans.

The results from nonaligned voters were perhaps the most revealing of the level of suspicion in this area: only six per cent of nonaligned voters think the Labour party are honest: the largest percentage (forty per cent) chose 'none of them.'

Labour failed to score an overall majority even with their own supporters; only forty eight per cent of Labour party supporters believe they are the party that is most honest about their spending and tax intentions. In contrast, the Tories and Lib Dems were both backed by eighty two per cent of their supporters.

The government's rhetoric on tax and spending has failed to convince independent voters. Only six per cent feel they are most honest, whereas thirty three per cent chose the Conservatives and twenty three per cent the Liberal Democrats.

Twenty eight per cent of the public believe that none of the main parties are honest about their spending and tax plans."

More "shock horror" reporting of Israel

According to the BBC's Middle East News page the third biggest story is that

"Israel's internal security minister apologises after he is caught on camera using an offensive Hebrew slang word for Arabs."

Have the BBC ever highlighted the comments by Hamas leaders such as:

"Before Israel dies, it must be humiliated and degraded. Allah willing, before they die, they will experience humiliation and degradation every day." - Dr. Mahmud Al-Zahar, Hamas leader in Gaza, Washington Times, February 4, 2006

"Neither the liberation of the Gaza Strip nor the liberation of the West Bank or even Jerusalem will suffice us. Hamas will pursue the armed struggle until the liberation of all our lands. We don't recognize the state of Israel or its right to hold onto one inch of Palestine. Palestine is an Islamic land belonging to all the Muslims." - Dr. Mahmud al-Zahar, Hamas leader in Gaza, The Jerusalem Post, August 18, 2005

Of course not, it seems that the BBC is happy to give support to Islamic terrorists and the states that fund them at the expense of the only democracy in the Middle East.

The forty second weekly "No shit, Sherlock" award

This week's winner is the Obamemessiah himself, Barack Obama, for this comment on CNBC as reported in :

"It's important to understand that although there is amazing ferment taking place in Iran, the difference between Ahmadinejad and Mousavi in terms of their actual policies may not be as great as has been advertised,"

Really, two candidates handpicked by Iran's Council of Elders and both current or senior Islamic politicians may be close on policy?
"No shit, Sherlock"

Did you catch the Damian McBride question at PMQs

Conservative MP Lee Scott asked if the government has received any informal briefings from the disgraced former spin doctor Damian McBride. Gordon Brown replied "I have not".

Clearly the follow-up questions should be:
Has anyone else in the Cabinet or working in or for the Labour government received any briefings from Damian McBride whether formal or informal?


Gordon Brown's answer leads me to believe that he may be hiding something.



In case you are not aware of the background to this story, The Scotsman on Sunday reported that (my emphasis): "LABOUR sources have claimed that disgraced spin doctor Damian McBride has begun operating once again behind the scenes for Labour government.
Just weeks after McBride was forced to resign after writing an e-mail suggesting that Conservative leaders be smeared, insiders say the former special adviser is actively working for ministers again.

Downing Street last night insisted McBride had not returned. But one respected party figure said that while the former adviser was not working at Number 10, he was engaged in informal briefings once again."

Public sector jobs "blood bath"

You can ignore Gordon Brown's increasingly desperate lies as he tries to persuade a sceptical public that jobs and spending investment are safe under Labour and at risk under the evil Tory toffs. The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development claim that Labour's plans will lead to 350,000 job losses in the public sector within six years. Placing the blame at Gordon Brown's door, chief CIPD economist John Philpott warned of a 'bloodbath in the public finances':

"The fiscal squeeze implied by Government plans will result in 350,000 job cuts in the public sector between 2010/11 and 2014/15. This will be preceded by around 30,000 job cuts in local authorities in the next year."

The experts know it, the public know it, the Government know it but inly the latter try to pretend it isn't going to happen.

Now why would David Cameron do this?

The Independent report that:

"David Cameron has said he would allow Tony Blair a free run at becoming the EU's first president. According to reports, the Tory leader has informed senior colleagues not to oppose a Blair candidacy if the Lisbon Treaty, which creates the role, is ratified later this year. The issue is a thorny one for Mr Cameron, who has refused to answer questions about a Blair candidacy on the grounds that his party opposes the treaty. "

Is David Cameron trying to accelerate Gordon Brown's mental breakdown?

"Gordon Brown Helped Cause the Crisis "

THe Wall Street Journal have an article by Keith Marsden that analyses the UK economies collapse and lays the blame firmly at the feet of Gordon Brown. Do read the whole piece but here are a few telling extracts:

"Britain's economic downturn began when its house price and household debt bubbles inevitably burst, beginning with the run on Northern Rock in September 2007. These bubbles had swollen to higher levels, relative to average price and income levels respectively, than in the U.S. and other major economies.

In relation to their long-term average, British house prices soared by 88.5% between 1997 and 2007, according to the OECD. In the U.S. the rise was 64.5%. Britain's household debt rose to 176.9% of disposable income in 2007 from 104.8% in 1997. During the same period, U.S. household debt rose only to 105.8% of disposable income from 64.3% in 1997. The increases in Germany and France were considerably lower.

Gordon Brown tolerated and even encouraged the formation of these bubbles for several reasons. The traditional sources of Britain's economic strength, the mining and manufacturing industries, shrank during his term as chancellor. Total mining sector output, including oil and natural gas, dropped by 31% between 2000 and 2007. Total manufacturing production was stagnant during this period.

The gross value, in inflation-adjusted prices, of output from all production industries combined fell by 3% between 2000 and 2007. Their employment level dropped by nearly 1.1 million over the same period. These trends were not an inevitable result of shifts in comparative advantages that are said to occur in advanced economies. Real manufacturing output rose at an average annual rate of 2.2% in the U.S., 1.2% in Germany and 1.1% in France between 2000 and 2006, according to the World Bank.

Eager to achieve the illusion of steady progress in the overall economy, Mr. Brown needed the rapid expansion of financial services, and the real estate and business services industries. Their output soared by 48% and 33% respectively from 2000 to 2007, compared with 19% for the overall economy. Their combined employment level reached nearly 6.7 million in 2007, an increase of more than one million.

Rapid expansion of consumer credit in turn boosted demand for wholesale and retail products and services. The booming financial and real estate sectors, with their inflated salaries, bonuses, and profits generated by unsustainably rapid credit growth, also filled Mr. Brown's tax coffers.

Thus, despite the decline in corporate and personal income and national insurance tax revenues from the production industries, he was able to fulfill Labour's 1997 election promise of expanding public services....

So the boom in the financial and real estate sectors served Mr. Brown's political interests well. And he was by no means a passive bystander to their growth. He urged them along in several policy speeches. Introducing on April 1, 2005, a policy document entitled "Homebuy: Expanding the Opportunity to Own," he insisted that "this Britain of ambition and aspiration is a Britain where more and more people must and will have the chance to own their own homes."

Ignoring the inability of many house buyers to pay their mortgages, he touted this message to City bankers in successive annual speeches at the Mansion House in London, promising them "light-touch regulation." Already in 1997 he transferred the responsibility for bank regulation from the Bank of England to the inexperienced Financial Services Authority. He also curbed the central bank's ability to keep asset inflation in check by removing housing costs from the price index.

Mr. Brown also repeatedly praised the City's "innovative skills," bragging in 2006 that it was responsible for 40% of the world's over-the-counter derivatives trade -- which includes the now infamous repackaged subprime mortgages. He gave financial institutions a false sense of security by telling them on June 16, 2004, that "I am determined to ensure that we can lock in greater stability not just for a year, or for an economic cycle, but in this generation.""

Blame for this "bust" can be laid at the feet of Gordon Brown and if the Labour party are still in denial, the British public are not. This is the line of attack that David Cameron should take at PMQs, blaming Gordon Brown is the right thing to do.

Who should run the UK economy

ComRes's poll of business leaders for The Independent contains an interesting finding. When asked who they trusted to run the UK economy, these were the results:
Ken Clarke 65%
David Cameron 62%
Vince Cable 61%
George Osborne 39%
Lord Mandelson 31%
Nick Clegg 27%
Gordon Brown 16%
Alistair Darling 14%


Ken Clarke's record speaks for itself, it is interesting that Vince Cable rates so high and that even Peter Mandelson and Nick Clegg rate higher than Dumb and Dumber.

Iraq inquiry update

I see that some generals have called for the recently announced in-private inquiry to be held at least partly in public. General Sir Mike Jackson has said that:

"I would have no problem at all in giving my evidence in public." He said Mr Brown's decision that the proceedings be held in private fed "the climate of suspicion and scepticism about government", adding that the Prime Minister ought to consider requiring witnesses to give evidence on oath.

"I do not see why it could not have gone for a halfway house with sessions in public and then having private hearings when it comes to intelligence," said General Jackson. "And they do have to look at the intelligence that Blair used in the run-up to the war... which at the end turned out to be fool's gold."

Also Air Marshal Sir John Walker, the former head of Defence Intelligence, said:

"There is only one reason that the inquiry is being heard in private and that is to protect past and present members of this Government. There are 179 reasons why the military want the truth to be out on what happened over Iraq."

In addition Major General Julian Thompson, who was highly decorated for his command of the Royal Marines in the Falklands, said:

"I do not see why this has been based on the Franks inquiry into the Falklands. At that time the Cold War was on and protecting Western secrets in things like communication was used as the reason to hold the inquiry in secret. That is certainly not the case now. Also, the Falklands was essentially a failure of intelligence.

"Here we are looking at something much more serious: the allegation that a British government manipulated intelligence to take part in an illegal war.

"There is no reason why the public should not be able to hear the witnesses and judge what they say for themselves. We should not have to depend on a group of people handpicked by the current Government. A report from a secret inquiry will look like a whitewash."

Secrecy, whitewash and cover-up would seem to explain Gordon Brown's inquiry.

I wonder why

The BBC loyally report that:

"Chancellor Alistair Darling is to announce later that he does not plan fundamental reform of the way UK financial institutions are regulated.

Mr Darling will say the current regulatory system is not to blame for the credit crunch, according to speech extracts released by the Treasury."

Now why might Alistair Darling say that?

"The existing tripartite system, which was introduced by Prime Minister Gordon Brown when he was chancellor, relies on the Financial Services Authority, the Treasury and the Bank of England to regulate financial institutions. "

Oh yes, that would explain it.

Digital Britain - more taxation and extra costs

So every telephone line will bear a charge of £6 a year. That's £12 a year for me, why? Why am I being taxed to provide broadband to others? Why should my pensioner neighbours who don't have a computer, and don't want one, have to pay £6 a year to help the government out? The government promise a world class broadband system; 2MB
world class my arse.

Now to the Labour plans for radio in this country. The BBC report it thus:

"Mr Bradshaw told the Commons that the government intended to upgrade all national radio stations from analogue to digital by 2015."

What it actually means is that all existing radios will be useless, my pensioner neighbours will have to buy a new radio; and why? My car, and most people's cars, will need new radios; why should people have to buy new car radios? Apparently the freed-up FM spectrum will be filled by new ultra-local radio stations, comprising small local commercial and community stations. Currently digital radio accounted for 20.1% of radio listening and DAB remains the most popular digital platform, accounting for 12.7% of digital listening. So this most democratic Labour government plan to force the 90% of people who don't listen to their radio via DAB to change their platform. They expect us to replace our home radios, our car radios but hey it's only money; presumably MPs will get their DAB radios FOC.

"light on new policies and did not contain a convincing political narrative."

The FT report that:

"Gordon Brown has postponed plans to publish on Monday a “next steps” plan for Labour’s last months in office before the election, as ministers try to rustle up new ideas to revive his administration.

Mr Brown on Friday convened a three-hour cabinet meeting to discuss the initiative – dubbed “Building Britain’s Future” – which he hopes will provide the government with new momentum.

But Mr Brown’s team feared that the draft document – due to be launched next week – was light on new policies and did not contain a convincing political narrative.

A trawl around Whitehall departments for ideas was said to have been underwhelming. Civil servants privately admit it is hard to motivate officials to devise policies for a government whose term has less than a year to run and that could soon be out of office."

I think the expression "Dead Man Walking" sums up Gordon Brown at the moment.

A most peculiar article

Read Rachel Sylvester in The Times and see if you also think there is something odd about the article. Is Rachel Sylvester alluding to something unsaid, indeed unmentionable?

The Sun and Labour

George Pascoe-Watson has really turned on Labour with today's piece:

"LABOUR was in chaos over spending last night after accusing the Tories of planning cuts — only to admit they will have to do the same.

Children’s secretary Ed Balls said Labour would INCREASE spending on schools and hospitals after 2011 by cutting payments to other areas like defence.

But he was slapped down by one of his own Cabinet colleagues — with Deputy Chancellor Liam Byrne saying Mr Balls had no “crystal ball” and was WRONG to make the guarantee.

The amazing clash came as Labour was accused of LYING over its plans. "

Do read it all.

An end to the era of spin

I seem to remember Gordon Brown promising that his time as PM would mark an end to the era of spin, or some such verbal rubbish. So I was interested to read that:

"Gordon Brown has hired the public relations man who helped revive the Queen’s image after the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, to try to restore his own battered reputation.

Simon Lewis, a suave spin doctor whose services have been sought by Buckingham Palace, Centrica and Vodafone, will begin work at Downing St at the end of July

He is an old acquaintance of Peter Mandelson, business secretary, who is charged with overhauling Mr Brown’s media operation and improving government strategic planning.

...

Like Alistair Campbell, another holder of the post, he is expected to take on a powerful strategic communications role.

...

His brother, William Lewis, is editor of the Daily Telegraph"

The brother of The Telegraph's editor, a friend of Peter Mandelson; a good choice for PR man. For myself this is pretty much the last straw, I think I will have to move back from The Telegraph to The Times.


NB: I believe Tony Blair's sidekick was Alastair Campbell not Alistair Campbell.

How unfortunate

I see that:

"MPs on the justice select committee were supposed to be going to South Africa - to find out more about prisons - on a five-day trip next week.

It’s purely a “co-incidence” that they would have been there for the Lions tour of SA, according to officials. Naturally.

But sport-loving MPs may now be rather unhappy that the trip has been cancelled because of the Speaker’s election."

The timing of the visit was coincidental I am sure!

What has got into Diane Abbot

Laughter isn't the first emotion that I associate with seeing or listening to the odious Keith Vaz, but then I'm not Diane Abbott.

How evil; deporting illegal migrant workers.

LabourList report that:

"Students at SOAS have occupied the university in protest at the treatment of their cleaners. SOAS contracted their cleaning out to the private company ISS. Early on Friday 12th June ISS called a meeting ostensibly on sick pay. ISS and the SOAS management were hiding forty camouflage-clad Immigration and Border Police, who went on to arrest nine cleaners, four of whom have already been deported, one of whom was heavily pregnant. They were not allowed any legal or trade union representation."

So SOAS students are occupying their university in support for illegal economic migrants. I wonder if Johnny Darlington is involved.

Students; don't you just love them? Not all of those from SOAS, no. Here is a report on the anti-Israel sentiments openly expresses at SOAS -

"an article published in SOAS Spirit, the glossy student magazine. The article, "When Only Violence Will Do," scoffs at the concept of "innocent" Israeli victims, describes the whole of Israel as a Jewish colony that should be dismantled and calls for all Zionists to be "exposed.""

"CIA report: Israel will fall in 20 years"

Press TV report that:

"A study conducted by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has cast doubt over Israel's survival beyond the next 20 years.

The CIA report predicts "an inexorable movement away from a two-state to a one-state solution, as the most viable model based on democratic principles of full equality that sheds the looming specter of colonial Apartheid while allowing for the return of the 1947/1948 and 1967 refugees. The latter being the precondition for sustainable peace in the region."

The study, which has been made available only to a certain number of individuals, further forecasts the return of all Palestinian refugees to the occupied territories, and the exodus of two million Israeli - who would move to the US in the next fifteen years.

"There is over 500,000 Israelis with American passports and more than 300,000 living in the area of just California," International lawyer Franklin Lamb said in an interview with Press TV on Friday, adding that those who do not have American or western passport, have already applied for them.

"So I think the handwriting at least among the public in Israel is on the wall...[which] suggests history will reject the colonial enterprise sooner or later," Lamb stressed.

He said CIA, in its report, alludes to the unexpectedly quick fall of the apartheid government in South Africa and recalls the disintegration of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, suggesting the end to the dream of an 'Israeli land' would happen 'way sooner' than later.

The study further predicts the return of over one and a half million Israelis to Russia and other parts of Europe, and denotes a decline in Israeli births whereas a rise in the Palestinian population.

Lamb said given the Israeli conduct toward the Palestinians and the Gaza strip in particular, the American public -- which has been voicing its protest against Tel Aviv's measures in the last 25 years -- may 'not take it anymore'.

Some members of the US Senate Intelligence Committee have been informed of the report."

For what it's worth, I think the report may be correct. Demographics and geopolitics mean that Israel will become increasingly isolated and with Barack Obama in the White House I fear for the immediate future of Israel.

The Iranian election

Take a read of Press TV's Iran election articles for an interesting point of view.

"Report Says Crisis Curbs Need for Democracy"

"The UK does not need to move toward greater democracy because the financial crisis requires strong leadership, a think tank close to the labour Party said in a report.

The report appears to pour cold water on PM Gordon Brown's declared intentions of cautiously reforming the UK's tightly controlled political system.

"It would be more honest and realistic to say that the democratization of the UK's political system in the near future cannot be a priority. ... The priority for now is good governance," the Government Democratic Council which is headed by senior Minister Peter Mandelson, said in the report released last week.

...

Brown has carefully cultivated an image as a liberal since his election, though analysts say he has made very few substantive changes so far.

...

"In times of war and crisis, a successful political system becomes charismatic and therefore inevitably more authoritarian. A storm requires a captain," the report said.

...

"It's pretty clear a mass-scale democratization will never take place in the UK," said..."

Powerful stuff! Actually some of the words have been changed from the original article in the Moscow Times. Do read the original, but the parallels are quite scary. It is odd to be living in an age where comparisons between authoritarian governments like that in Russia can be made to the Labour UK government with people nodding and saying 'yes, you have a point'

An unbiased Speaker?

Margaret Beckett has put herself forward for the post of Speaker of the House of Commons. She claimed that she would be an impartial Speaker.

Here's Margaret Beckett from the Labour Party's YouTube channel in a piece of video summarised as

"Margaret Beckett talks about the choice between Labour's commitment to investment and the Tories' commitment to cuts "

Unbiased?

Stuff democracy, we're Labour...

I see on LabourList that elements of Labour are considering entrenching Labour "values" into law so as to make it harder for the Conservatives, if elected, to move away from Labour policies. The shamelessness is almost unbelievable until one realises that to the Labour mind, Labour is right, Tories are evil and so any act to kepp the Tories out of power is the right thing to do.

As the general election nears and the prospect of defeat looms large, you can expect much more labour skulduggery and dirty tricks.

"Lord Drayson declined to comment."

The Mail report that:

"A Labour donor made a vast personal fortune on the back of a £20million handout of taxpayers' money, an inquiry has found.

Lord Drayson had threatened to pull his PowderJect company out of Britain unless it was given public cash.

In 2003 the vaccine manufacturer was offered the £20million to build a factory by a government-run regional development board.

Just two months later he sold the subsidised company to its U.S. rival Chiron, landing a profit for himself and his family estimated at £80million.

He is now a science minister and, following last week's reshuffle, also a defence minister attending Cabinet meetings. The affair raises disturbing questions over Labour's burgeoning quango network and the way it handles large sums of public money in deep secrecy."

The key phrases in the article are these:

"An official report on the PowderJect deal, which the North West RDA commissioned but unsurprisingly decided not to publish, finds that the takeover which made Lord Drayson's fortune was 'significantly influenced' by the handout from the quango.

It adds that the grant produced a less-than- expected return for the public.

The controversial peer's dealings with Downing Street, Whitehall and the Labour Party have been under scrutiny since when, as Dr Paul Drayson, he made donations totalling £100,000 to Labour funds during 2001 and 2002.

Shortly afterwards PowderJect was handed a £32.5million Government contract to supply smallpox vaccine.

Made a peer by Tony Blair in 2004, Lord Drayson joined the Government the following year and became Gordon Brown's science minister last October. "

"However no research lab was built. The report says it is unlikely that the facility will ever materialise and that future state development contracts should ensure companies are held to their commitments."

and of course "Lord Drayson declined to comment."

Peter Mandelson and Oleg Deripaska

I see that even the EU realise that something needs to be done regarding its code of conduct.

More taser video from the UK

I opposed the introduction of tasers into the UK and this video is a good example of their apparent misuse. Do read The Telegraph article on this case. Do also note the way that one of the policemen shoves the bystander near the end of the video.

The composition of the Iraq inquiry

The Guardian reports that the members of the Iraq inquiry are:

"Sir John Chilcott, the former permanent secretary at the Northern Ireland Office, who was a member of the Butler inquiry into intelligence on weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Other inquiry members are: Sir Roderic Lyne, the foreign affairs private secretary to John Major in 2003; Sir Martin Gilbert, a historian much favoured by Brown; and Sir Lawrence Freedman, who was credited with writing large parts of Tony Blair's speech in Chicago in 1999 making the case for liberal military intervention, and has described the Bush administration's conduct of the war as "dysfunctional". The final member is the crossbench peer and chair of the judicial appointments commission, Baroness Usha Prashar."

So that all looks fair and straightforward. Maybe an inquiry is needed into how Gordon Brown selected the members of the Iraq inquiry.

More on the sub-prime crisis

Back in March I blogged about President Bill Clinton's Community Reinvestment Act and its, by design, effect on the US mortgage market. Back then I posted the text of a New York Times article from 30 September 1999 about the reasons for and the predicted effects of this "easing (of) the credit requirements on loans" by instituting a policy that "will encourage those banks to extend home mortgages to individuals whose credit is generally not good enough to qualify for conventional loans.".
Today I found elsewhere on the web a .bmp of the New York Times article which I reproduce here...



For more on the Community Reinvestment Act take a read here and remember this information the next time the banks and Republicans are blamed for the banking crisis. This part of the banking crisis is directly attributable to Bill Clinton and his attempts at social engineering.

The Iraq Inquiry - Bob Ainsworth didn't sound very convincing

When the BBC put up tonight's 5pm PM programme, do take a listen to the interview with Bob Ainsworth. Eddie Mair (not Carolyn Quinn as scheduled asked the questions I would have wanted asking and Bob Ainsworth tries to first defend the indefensible and then attack the interviewer "dripping with sarcasm" was, I believe, the charge laid against Eddie Mair. I did like the way Eddie Mair repeated the point that this inquiry would be in private, would not apportion blame, could not compel witnesses to intend and witnesses would not be on oath in a less sarcastic voice; a nice touch.

This Iraq inquiry is designed to try and push the Iraq issue out of the election equation and so regain at least some of the voters who have left Labour for the LibDems, to help convince the Muslim vote that Labour is still the natural home for their votes and to ensure that the real truth behind the Iraq war does not come out.

"throughout history, Islam has demonstrated through words and deeds the possibilities of religious tolerance and racial equality."

So spoke Barack Obama in his address to the "Muslim world", whatever that is. Here is another example of that religious tolerance in action:

"International Christian Concern (ICC) has learned that radical Muslims running a tea stall beat a Christian man to death for using a cup designated for Muslims on May 9. The young man, Ishtiaq Masih, had ordered tea at a roadside stall in Machharkay village, Punjab, Pakistan, after his bus stopped to allow passengers to relieve themselves.

When Ishtiaq went to pay for his tea, the owner noticed that he was wearing a necklace with a cross and grabbed him, calling for his employees to bring anything available to beat him for violating a sign posted on the stall warning non-Muslims to declare their religion before being served. Ishtiaq had not noticed the warning sign before ordering his tea, as he ordered with a group of his fellow passengers.

The owner and 14 of his employees beat Ishtiaq with stones, iron rods and clubs, and stabbed him multiple times with kitchen knives as Ishtiaq pleaded for mercy.

The other bus passengers and other passers-by finally intervened and took Ishtiaq to the Rural Health Center in the village. There Ishtiaq died as a result of spinal, head, and chest injuries. The doctor who took Ishtiaq's case told ICC that Ishtiaq had excessive internal and external bleeding, a fractured skull, and brain injuries.

Makah Tea Stall is located on the Sukheki-Lahore highway and is owned by Mubarak Ali, a 42-year-old radical Muslim. ICC's correspondent visited the tea stall and observed that a large red warning sign with a death's head symbol was posted which read, "All non-Muslims should introduce their faith prior to ordering tea. This tea stall serves Muslims only." The warning also threatened anyone who violated the rule with "dire consequences."

A neighboring shopkeeper told ICC on condition of anonymity that Ali is a fundamentalist Muslim and all his employees a! re forme r students of radical Muslim madrassas (seminaries). Ali kept separate sets of cooking-ware for Muslims and non-Muslims at his stall.

Ishtiaq's family said that they immediately reported the incident to the police and filed a case against Ali. Though the police registered their case, no action has been taken to apprehend Ali or his employees.

When ICC asked the Pindi Bhatian Saddar police station about the murder, the police chief said that investigations were underway and they are treating it as a faith-based murder by biased Muslims. When asked about Ali's warning sign, police chief Muhammad Iftikhar Bajwa claimed that he could not take it down.

However, the constitution of Pakistan explicitly prohibits such discrimination, and the police could take strong action against the warning sign. But because the police are also Muslim, Ishtiaq's father claims that they are being derelict in their duties to prosecute the murderers who are still freely operating the tea stall."

Just imagine the furore if a Christian stallholder in England had a sign demanding Muslims identify themselves as such before they purchased anything from his stall. Now imagine the protests across the "Muslim world" if the stall holder and some associates beat up and killed a Muslim who did not identify himself to them. Can you imagine the BBC's apologetic and sorrowful reporting of such an incident? Now try and find any coverage of this incident in Pakistan on the BBC news website.

The Iraq inquiry - update

As I predicted the Iraq inquiry will be in private and as the BBC report Gordon Brown said its aim will be to identify "lessons learned" and not to "apportion blame". Of course the key admission is that it would take more than a year to report, so any embarrassing details would be kept back until after any general election.

More protruding nipples

Following this recent piece I cannot seem to escape "protruding nipples", today I spotted these on Theo Spark's site, that's Heather Graham and Megan Fox:

Mark Steyn on the "Nanny State"

Mark Steyn exposes "The smothering embrace of nanny government". Do read the whole piece but here's an extract

"there is a cost to governmentalizing every responsibility of adulthood – and it is, in Lord Whitelaw's phrase, the stirring up of apathy. If you wander 'round Liverpool or Antwerp, Hamburg or Lyons, the fatalism is palpable. In Britain, once the crucible of freedom, civic life is all but dead: In Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland, some three-quarters of the economy is government spending; a malign alliance between state bureaucrats and state dependents has corroded democracy, perhaps irreparably. In England, the ground ceded to the worst sociopathic pathologies advances every day – and the latest report on "the seven evils" afflicting an ever more unlovely land blames "poverty" and "individualism," failing to understand that if you remove the burdens of individual responsibility while loosening all restraint on individual hedonism the vaporization of the public space is all but inevitable. In Ontario, Christine Elliott, a candidate for the leadership of the so-called "Conservative" party, is praised by the media for offering a more emollient conservatism predicated on "the need to take care of vulnerable people.""

Et tu Ed?

An incredible story in The News of The World, apparently:

"GORDON Brown's closest ally Ed Balls is hatching a sensational plot to get rid of the Prime Minister, the News of the World can reveal.

The Schools Secretary has stunned Labour MPs by confiding that unless the polls show a miraculous recovery HE will tell Mr Brown he must quit.

Backbenchers were shocked to hear Brown's most trusted henchman, thought to be completely loyal, say he is prepared to oust the PM at Labour's annual conference in September. "

And Ed Balls is meant to be a loyal close friend of Gordon Brown...

Elsewhere in the NOTW's article is this quotation:

"One Labour MP told us: "The people around Brown-like Balls-are incredibly loyal to him. But their first loyalty is to the Labour party. "

Am I alone in thinking that it would be nice if the people around Gordon Brown and Ed Balls were loyal first to the Country rather than the Labour party, but I suppose that is too much to hope for; nice to have it acknowledged in print though...

The Iraq inquiry - a difference of opinion

News that Gordon Brown is to announce an inquiry into the Iraq war is reported rather differently by The Telegraph which states

"Like the Franks Inquiry, which was overseen by privy counsellors, it will hear its evidence behind closed doors. "

. Whilst the BBC state

"watching closely to see whether the long-awaited inquiry is to be held in public or private. "

My prediction is that like most Gordon Brown "initiatives", this will be more smoke and mirrors. There is no way that Gordon Brown and Jack Straw will allow a full public inquiry into the events leading up to the Iraq war. Cabinet papers that would show what if any objections were raised by Gordon Brown and Jack Straw will not be released and the whole story of Lord Goldsmith's changing advice will also be kept from the eyes of voters. This inquiry will have, just like the the Butler and Hutton inquiries before it, a carefully restrictive terms of reference.

Gordon Brown on YouTube

OK it's Rory Bremner but be honest is it any more/less ridiculous than the original?

Life on the streets of "democratic" Iran

Less than 1 hour to go....

Iranian elections

From Twitter -

"4pm all across IRAN RT @persiankiwi tomorrow we march. Will biggest in world history. 10 mill march tomorrow. #iranelection"

4pm in Tehran is 12:30 in London... We will see what happens. Will this be another Tiananmen Square type massacre or a repeat of the 1979 revolution.

By the way has anyone heard a peep on Iran from our Foreign Secretary David "Boy" Miliband or Barack "Hope" Obama?

Vulcan XH558

Yesterday at RAF Cosford XH558 flew again and what an incredible sight it was...




Well done to Vulcan to the sky and all who supported them. This plane must keep flying, it's what it was made to do.

I know that Sterling is suffering but surely it's not litter - yet!

I read that:

"Arthritis sufferer Stewart Smith had just left a charity shop when he was called back by two policemen, who pointed to the note and a till receipt lying on the pavement.

Stewart thought he'd put the money, part of his change from buying a T-shirt, in his back pocket, but it must have fallen out.

Thanking the officers, he retrieved the note and prepared to go about his lawful business. Not so fast, chummy.

The cops informed Stewart he had committed an offence and gave him a £50 fixed-penalty notice for littering.

...

Stewart, a former warehouse worker who has to live on disability payments because of his arthritis, was stunned. A £50 fine would eat up more than half his weekly benefit.

He tried telling them it was an honest mistake. No one in his position can afford to wander the streets throwing £10 notes away. But the ever-vigilant McPlod were having none of it.

Police in Ayr operate a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to littering. Stewart has been told that unless he pays up, he could face further action.

His solicitor is calling for the fine to be rescinded and an apology issued, describing the incident as 'a scandalous use of police resources'.

But Strathclyde constabulary is refusing to back down. No doubt the Case of the Felonious Tenner counts as another crime 'solved', another box ticked, another target achieved.

...

...nicking someone for accidentally dropping a £10 note is just the latest manifestation of our pettifogging punishment culture. The only surprise is that Stewart Smith was collared by a couple of proper, warrant card-carrying policemen. You don't often stumble across a pair of them on foot patrol. "

Yet another example of the result of Labour's obsession with box ticking in the public services. For the police that is a crime committed, solved and punished - a 100% record and so much easier than finding a burglar or mugger, and of course Stewart Smith was unlikely to fight back unlike a member of the UK's feral youth.

Muslim does not equal Arab

The BBC seem a little confused this morning. Last week they were happy to refer to Barack Obama's speech to the "Muslim world", despite there being no such entity. Today the Radio 4 news in reporting Benjamin Netanyahu' speech, decided that Barack Obama's speech was to the "Arab world". I would have thought that someone at the BBC would have known that whilst most Arabs are Muslims, not all Muslims are Arabs. Most Iranians would not be happy to referred to as Arabs, I believe the Arab population of Iran is around 3% of the total. Likewise the Muslim countries of Pakistan and Afghanistan are not Arab countries and I doubt that the citizens of Indonesia, the most populous Muslim country in the world, consider themselves Arabs. I won't even start to differentiate between Muslims and Arabs in Africa.

Whilst the BBC seem ready to pontificate on matters of international relations, I might take them slightly more seriously if they seemed to understand the basics.

"Cover her breasts; I'm a man, flesh and blood"

That line from Steve Martin's "The Man with two brains" came to me when I read on Theo Spark's site that:

The Kinnocks

The Mail and others concentrate on how much Neil and Glenys Kinnock are earning from the UK and the EU. Yes it is disgusting quite how much money this loathsome duo are earning, made even more vile since Neil Kinnock was a failure as a UK politician before moving to the EU and helping to prevent investigations into the EU lack of financial controls.

However what annoys me more is that the Kinnocks are now both unelected members of the House of Lords who will have input on UK legislation, and in Glenys Kinnock's case be intimately involved with EU related policy. As the Kinnocks are due to receive between them EU pensions worth around £120,000 a year they should know, and the UK public should be regularly reminded, that the EU can remove this pension, if in the view of the Commission or the Luxembourg Court, the recipient "fail(s) to uphold the interests of the European Communities".?
So do Neil and Glenys Kinnock's EU pensions affect their loyalty to the UK in any conflict of interest with the EU?

The NHS deep clean seems to have been a great success

I read that cases of MRSA are still rising in 10% of hospital trusts and C.diff in 20%. The National Audit Office report a "lamentable lack of progress" on measuring other infections. "Lamentable" just about sums up this Labour government.

As if there wasn't enough to worry about

I read that:

"A 14-year-old German lad survived a close encounter with a meteorite when a pea-sized piece of rock travelling at 30,000 mph left him with nothing more than a "nasty" three-inch gash on his hand.

According to the Telegraph, Gerrit Blank was on his way to school in Essen when a bright light in the sky heralded the arrival of the red-hot space rock. It bounced off his hand before embedding itself in a foot-wide crater in the ground."

I think she meant "double play"

More here at "The 10 Funniest Freudian Slips In TV History "

The debt crisis has further to run

The Bank of England have reported that 1.1 million UK households are in negative equity. This means that we have reached the 1990s peak in 18 months not the 6 years it took then. You have to hand it to Labour their economic crises really are spectacular.

Sexy prospective MEP

Not according to me but to Terrible Tory Girl.

What delightful people

The Mail reports that:

"The body of a Palestinian boy was found hanging in a barn after his relatives confessed to killing him over possible links to Israel.

Palestinian police spokesman Adnan Damiri says the 15-year-old boy's father, uncle and cousin confessed to the slaying over suspicions the teenager had collaborated with the Israeli army."

Does anyone seriously believe that these sort of people want peace with Israel?

Sexual harrassment "tit for tat"

Jon Lovitz grabs a Jamie Lee Curtis breast and Jamie Lee Curtis has a go herself...


You can see more of this type of thing here at "The 10 Greatest Moments In Celebrity Boob Grabbing History", that one was number 7.

The forty-first weekly "No shit, Sherlock" award

This week's winner goes to the Daily Mail who seem amazed to report that: "Money, not marriage, is the motive" in the Russian bride market.

"No shit, Sherlock"

The Ronaldo Law

Alex Masterley explains why the big football stars may follow Ronaldo from English football to Spain. The answer is money, or rather tax.

The Iranian elections and the elephant in the room

The BBC seem determined to convey the impression that the Iranian presidential elections are in some way democratic. What is almost never mentioned and indeed appears only at the very end of one of the BBC's web pieces is that:

"All candidates are vetted by the powerful conservative-controlled Guardian Council, which also has the power to veto legislation it deems inconsistent with revolutionary principles."

In other words the only candidates standing are those that the Guardian Council have approved to stand. It would be like the UK having a directly elected Prime Minister but only candidates approved by the Labour NEC being allowed to stand.

I was going to make a joke about how in those circumstances we might have a choice just between Gordon Brown, Harriet Harman, David Miliband and Alan Johnson BUT then I realised that we wouldn't even have that choice as Gordon and Peter would ensure that there was just the one candidate - Gordon Brown.

The unasked question on child poverty

BBC Radio4 One o'clock news had a piece on child poverty and they had a fairly long interview with a woman who was raising five children on benefits. Interestingly the interviewer did not ask why a woman without a job had had five children, I would have thought that that would have been pertinent.

Peter Mandelson and the Euro

I see that Peter Mandelson was asked in Berlin whether the UK would join the Euro and replied

"Does it remain an important objective for Britain to find itself in the same currency as that single market in which it interacts? Obviously yes."

I wonder if anyone asked him two follow-up questions:
1. Will the UK public be given the referendum that they were promised and, according to opinion polls, want?
2. Since you are (or will be) in receipt of an EU pension and that EU pensions are paid on the understanding that the EU can remove this pension, if in the view of the Commission or the Luxembourg Court, the recipient "fail(s) to uphold the interests of the European Communities", does that affect what should be your primary loyalty to the UK?

William Hague in fine form on Peter Mandelson

You can read the whole text of William Hague's speech in Hansard here but here's a few extracts:

"In mentioning Lord Mandelson, I did not mean to send a chill down the spine of Ministers, but it is now impossible to discuss the operation of government or Parliament without reference to his opinions. The unelected Prime Minister has managed to produce the most powerful unelected deputy since Henry VIII appointed Cardinal Wolsey—except that Cardinal Wolsey was more sensitive in his handling of colleagues than the noble Lord Mandelson is. His personal retinue of 11 Ministers, six of whom attend on him in the House of Lords, is the largest in the Government. The growth of the unelected portion of Her Majesty’s Government is further evidence of the need for the dissolution of Parliament. We also need the fresh air of electoral competition to blow through the dark recesses of several Departments.

The Prime Minister who lectures us all on democratic renewal is appointing peers to positions of power on a scale unknown for decades. There are now more peers attending the Cabinet than at any time since the days of Harold Macmillan. Half the Ministers in the Foreign Office now sit in the House of Lords or are about to do so, including no less a figure than the new Minister for Europe. So after years in which hon. Members in all parts of the House have called for better democratic scrutiny of EU decision making, we have arrived at a situation where elected Members of Parliament will be unable to question the Minister for Europe at all and where, a week before an important EU summit, the Minister is not available to either House of Parliament. That is not democratic renewal, but democratic reversal by the Prime Minister.

...

The Lord Mandelson, denied the opportunity to become Foreign Secretary by the sad combination of a Prime Minister too weak to remove his Foreign Secretary and, equally, a Foreign Secretary too weak to challenge the Prime Minister, has gone around instead collecting titles and even whole Departments to add to his name. His title now adds up to, “The right hon. the Baron Mandelson of Foy in the county of Herefordshire and Hartlepool in the county of Durham, First Secretary of State, Lord President of the Privy Council and Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills”. It would be no surprise to wake up in the morning and find that he had become an archbishop— [Laughter]. That is exactly what happened with Cardinal Wolsey.

We are left with a Government held together solely by fear. The Prime Minister is unable to remove Ministers in whom he has lost faith, for fear that they will quit altogether; Ministers are unwilling to challenge a Prime Minister in whom they have lost faith, for fear that they will no longer be Ministers; Labour Back Benchers are unwilling to remove a Prime Minister in whom they have certainly lost faith, for fear of having to have an election—and all of them are living in fear of one Minister with a very long title for whom, at the last election, no one in the country ever voted at all."

Labour cuts?

Two articles that you need to read today. Both are from The Guardian and both show that Gordon Brown isn't even fooling his own supporters with his "Tory cuts v Labour investment" spiel.

The first reports Conservative claims that:

" Labour (is)... planning to impose swingeing spending cuts on a series of government departments, including the Ministry of Defence, immediately after the general election.

In an intensification of the battle over spending, the Tories released figures which showed 12 departments, dubbed the "dirty dozen", that will see their spending cut by billions of pounds in real terms during the final year of the current spending period in 2010-11.

The MoD will see a real terms cuts of £2.9bn while the communities department will see its spending cut by £2.8bn."

The second is comparison by Carl Emmerson, deputy director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies of Labour and Conservative spending plans. Carl Emmerson's conclusion is that

"The budget set out plans for total public spending increasing over the three years from April 2011 in cash terms, but by less than the expected rate of inflation. This leaves Labour implying an estimated £26bn cut in central government spending. If the Tories wish to spend less – to reduce borrowing faster or deliver a tax cut – then they will need to cut by more than this."

Maybe someone could question Gordon Brown about the £26 billion of planned Labour cuts.

Has the Labour government given up pretending

The local and EU election results seem to have shaken Labour. Whereas before they feared losing the next general election but thought the situation was recoverable, now they fear it isn't. So we see Gordon Brown talking about changing the electoral system (to favour Labour), Labour trying to get a new Speaker of their choosing in place (who will favour Labour) and today I read that importing Labour supporting voters is on the agenda. Apparently:

"Migrants will win fast-track passports if they stand on picket lines or knock on doors asking people to vote Labour, it emerged last night.

The Home Office says trade union activism and political canvassing should count towards the planned new system of 'earned citizenship'.

Migrants who complete 50 hours of voluntary work will be entitled to receive British citizenship after six years - two years earlier than if they do nothing.

Ministers had originally given examples such as running a local scout group rather than helping unions such as the RMT, which this week inflicted crippling strike action on London."

Democracy? Under this Labour government democracy means voting Labour and if you don't vote labour then the rules will have to be changed to ensure a Labour government. There are too many people in the labour party who seriously believe that Labour is right and Tories are evil and that if the public don't see that then in the tradition of "socialist" totalitarian governments, the public must be re-educated.

The Government Democratic Council or the National Democratic Renewal Council (NDRC)

Just one question, who is on The Government Democratic Council / The National Democratic Renewal Council (NDRC)? Might us plebs be told who is to decide the future of our country's democracy or is that too much to ask?

Words

“It is important that one does not impose one’s own understanding upon others, but one shows understanding and compassion for others, their needs and their views, especially in an open communal space and in a country where Muslims are living as a minority.”

Is the speaker calling for Muslims, living in a minority, to to show understanding and compassion for others and advising Muslims not to impose their understanding upon others? Or is the speaker calling on non-Muslims to show understanding and compassion for Muslims who are a minority in the country and advising the majority population not to impose their understanding upon Muslims? If is the former, and I am not 100% the case, will that advice change when Muslims are no longer a minority?

The quotation is from Mufti Zubair Butt, Shar’ia advisor to Muslim Spiritual Care Provision in the NHS. The context is the story that:

"A driver told a blind cancer sufferer to get off his bus when a woman and her children became hysterical at the sight of his guide dog.

George Herridge, 71, told how the mum flew into a rage and shouted at him in a foreign language. A passenger explained she wanted him to get off the bus during the incident on May 20.

Mr Herridge, from Tern Close, Tilehurst, said: “Her child was kicking and screaming and someone off the bus told me her child was frightened of my dog. The driver said, ‘Look mate, can’t you get off?’

“I stood my ground. I had not done anything, my dog had not done anything and I was getting off the bus for no one.”

The retired NHS worker claimed he was forced off a bus by a driver after a similar encounter last summer.

And a day after the latest bus incident an lady began screaming “I don’t like dirty dogs” at Mr Herridge at the Royal Berkshire Hospital.

A week earlier he faced further animosity from a couple at Asda in The Meadway, he said.

He is unsure what has provoked outbursts but said he thinks some have come from Asian people and that it may be due to religious or cultural differences.

If the people who were upset were Muslim, they consider dogs to be ritually unclean.

Some may have them as pets but keep them in a separate living area. Anything coming into contact with its saliva, such as clothes, must be washed seven times if they intend to pray in those clothes.

Mr Herridge said: “I do not expect any special treatment but just to be left in peace and live my life the best I can.”"

It is odd that when Britons go to a Muslim country they are expected to fit in with the cultural and legal systems of the host country, as an example think of the English woman imprisoned in Dubai for committing adultery. However when people come to live in the UK then the host population is expected to make the alterations to behaviour.

Cameron Diaz gets it

The Mail reports that:

"Hollywood star Cameron Diaz has spoken out in defence of women who don't want children.

The 36-year-old Hollywood actress said there were already enough people living on the planet.

But she also said she was not ruling out having children herself.

Diaz told Cosmopolitan magazine: 'I think women are afraid to say that they don't want children because they're going to get shunned.

'But I think that's changing too now. I have more girlfriends who don't have kids than those that do.

'And honestly? We don't need any more kids. We have plenty of people on this planet.'"

Well said that woman.

What is the real public debt figure?

Don't ask Gordon Brown, he won't tell you the whole truth. Instead take a read of Policy Exchange's "Public Sector Pensions - The UK's second national debt". Here's the summary, you may want to sit down before reading this:

"A new report from Policy Exchange today reveals the true extent of the public sector pension debt, which until now has been kept hidden and out of official figures. The cost of these schemes is much larger even the publicly acknowledged national debt.

Taken into account with net public sector debt, this second national debt brings the total the Government owes to £1.854 trillion, or 150 per cent of GDP."

Anyone fancy raising this with Gordon Brown? If you do, I predict the answer will involve the following phrases: "Choice between Tory cuts and Labour investment", "lowest national debt in Europe", "democratic renewal", "choice between Labour investment and Tory cuts", "tax cuts for the 3,000 richest families in Britain"...

Fed-up with "Downfall" parodies? How about a "Trainspotting" parody instead?

It's "Financial Gain Spotting" by BeauBoDOr.

Is the recession "over"

There is much speculation in the media that the UK is experiencing small positive increases in GDP and so the Recession is over. This is of course b****cks, we have a lot more pain to come. As Edmund Conway writes in The Telegraph:

"The recession may be over but the pain has just begun... we have not dealt with the massive overhang of debt racked up by individuals and governments over the past decade or so. In the 1930s, the flipside of mass bankruptcy, bank failures and record unemployment was that in a relatively short time private debt levels dropped back down to manageable levels. This time, we have avoided the bankruptcy; the consequence is that we still need to repay the debt.... As George Osborne pointed out in his speech to the Association of British Insurers this week, the biggest challenge in the coming decade is how to bring down the national debt. Britain has three options: default on the debt (fatal for our long-term prospects), inflate it away (near fatal, but feasible) or pay it back through a long period of austerity. The latter course is by no means easy. The Tories insist it can be done through spending cuts, but they will almost certainly also have to raise taxes to get the books back in order. Don't be surprised if VAT is higher than 17.5 per cent before long. This week, London has been crippled by Tube strikes that presage the next few years, which will be peppered with clashes between heavily unionised public-sector workers and a government with no choice but to bring down costs. It really is 1979 all over again – and perhaps even worse. I don't know whether that is something David Cameron is relishing or dreading, but I hope he knows what he's in for. "

Thanks Gordon, thanks Tony; thanks for f***ing up the UK economy so badly that I and Mrs NotaSheep will have to go through a decade or more of financial pain because of your incompetent/reckless mismanagement of the economy. Thanks and I hope you both choke on your gold-plated publicly funded final salary pension schemes.

Changes to the Freedom Of Information Act regarding Cabinet Papers

That Gordon Brown, you have to admire him, well his cheek anyway. It would appear that his reforming of the FOI could convey major benefits to the Labour Government... I know what a shock. Apparently:

"Under the new plans, cabinet papers would be absolutely exempt from FOI for a period of 20 years. This would include records relating to cabinet sub-committees.

This would be significantly tighter than the current position, where for most cabinet documents the decision on whether to release them depends on the "public interest test" - whether it is more in the public interest to disclose them in response to an FOI request or to keep them secret.

...

This will be accompanied by greater openness for government papers apart from cabinet and royal documents, reducing the "30 year rule" which governs when most of them will be open to the public to 20 years. This is the government's response to the recent Dacre review of the rule. "

So if I am right, Government papers up until 1989 will be released, thus opening all sorts of lines of attack up for Labour on the Conservatives re the miners strike, the Falklands etc. Meanwhile, Cabinet papers for the period of the current Labour government would be completely exempt from the FOI for 20 years. How convenient, how slippery, how Gordon & Peter.

As an aside, since the Government is already able to deny release of documents if they deem it "not in the public interest". Therefore surely this law will only block the release of documents that are in the public interest. Am I right?

The Dead Tree Press finally catch up with the blogosphere

I note that The Telegraph have finally caught up with the Gordon Brown as Adolph Hitler in "Downfall" video meme. Today they report that:

"A spoof video depicting Gordon Brown as Adolf Hitler in the film 'Downfall' has become a YouTube hit."

Have they not noticed the previous "Downfall" parodies?

Are all BNP voters "racists"?

"If voting BNP makes you a racist, will the Labour party be prepared to welcome back voters who abandoned then for the BNP?"

So asks Al Jahom.



Thanks to Mrs Rigby for the spot.