Could Gordon Brown be more of an embarrassment?

Guido Fawkes has the details and Sky's video.

It's sexy female politician time (again)

This time courtesy of Guido Fawkes we have "Berlusconi’s Euro-Babes"; file under sexy female politicians.

And just for you, here's a reminder of Luciana Leon and Mara Carfagna...

"The markets" confuse me

Japan's industrial production goes up for first time in 6 months and yet the Yen is down against Sterling. Swine Fever nears pandemic levels and yet the price of gold falls.... I am glad I don't "play the markets".

Ramp up the fear and build up the PM

I see that the BBC are still pushing the swine fever scare factor by explaining that: "The World Health Organization raises the alert over swine flu to level five - a strong signal a pandemic is imminent, it says." and pushing that: " Britain will see "many, many more cases" of swine flu but most people will recover, a chief government adviser says.". Of course the BBC are keen to reassure us that Gordon "Father of the Nation" Brown was taking "the precautions to prevent the incidence of this disease in this country".

Meanwhile in the Number 10 bunker do I detect the slight smell of urine as Gordon Brown gets excited at the prospect of being able to cancel postpone
the June elections and maybe, just maybe, use the Civil Contingencies Act to keep his snotty little fingers on the levers of power.

Are these the death throes of this Labour Government

I was rather near the action the night of the Vote of No Confidence in 1979 so the parallels with the Gurkhas vote are interesting. Not as serious obviously but it could be the beginning of the end for Gordon Brown and his rabble of a government; we can but hope.

Discrimination is officially OK, so long as it's not pro white men

Harriet Harman needs to be stopped, I think she may be nearing Gordon Brown levels of insanity. The Mail reports that:

"Employers will be given legal powers to discriminate in favour of women and black job candidates under a controversial equality shake-up.

Harriet Harman unveiled plans for firms to choose them ahead of equally-qualified white male applicants without risking being sued.

Miss Harman, Labour's deputy leader, hopes to boost the proportion of female and ethnic minority staff, as well as pushing more of them into senior roles. "

I am not going to go over the arguments as to why Harriet Harman is wrong, wrong, wrong about the gender pay gap; they are too well known and Harriet Harman is not interested in facts just her agenda.

Calorie-free chocolate

Finally some good news for chocoholics like myself, The Telegraph report that:

"A new inhaler - dubbed Le Whif - has been developed by scientists, allowing chocoholics to enjoy all the treats they can handle for zero calories. "

Le Whif goes on sale tomorrow, I will be in the queue.

Judge them by what they say

This is copied from the latest Palestinian Media Watch Bulletin as I think it worthy of spreading.

"The widespread condemnation of Iranian President Ahmadinejad's speech attacking Israel and Zionists at the UN's "Durban II" conference in Geneva made headlines around the world. But Western leaders and media seem reluctant to take the next step: Recognizing that the Iranian leader's views are not an isolated phenomenon, but are widespread in the Muslim world.

PMW director Itamar Marcus and associate director Barbara Crook examined this issue in an article published in The Ottawa Citizen.
When Hatemongering is Common Currency
Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook

Ottawa Citizen, April 24, 2009 (online edition), April 27, 2009 (print edition)

The world reacted with outrage at the speech by Iranian President Ahmadinejad at the Durban Review Conference on Racism in Geneva. European countries stormed out of his talk and released an array of statements condemning his words.

But the real problem is not that an Ahmadinejad exists, or that he proudly and vociferously spews hatred against Jews and blames Zionism for the world's evils. The problem is that his views are anything but unique in the Muslim world.

Tragically, it seems that Western leaders are using Ahmadinejad as their radical Islamic whipping boy in order to content themselves that they are doing all they can to fight growing radical Islamic racism, its calls for a world without Israel and genocide of Jews, and its espousal of Holocaust denial.

In reality, the strong media and government reactions to Ahmadinejad's hate promotion serve only to highlight their hypocrisy in ignoring the same ideology when it's expressed by Arab leaders who have succeeded in making the Western world's list of "good guys."

Saudi King Abdullah - whom President George W. Bush kissed and to whom President Barack Obama bowed earlier this month -- has blamed Israel for terror attacks in Saudi Arabia: "We can be certain that Zionism is behind everything ... I don't say 100 percent, but 95 percent." [Saudi 1 Television, May 2, 2004]

Grade 9 children in Saudi Arabia are taught that "the hour [of judgment] will not come until the Muslims fight the Jews and kill them, until the Jew hides behind rocks and trees, until the rocks or the trees say, 'O Muslim! O servant of God! There is a Jew behind me. Come and kill him!"

Earlier this year, the head of the Department of Islamic Studies at Saud University pronounced that "Jews are the enemies of Allah." Dr. Walid Al-Rashudi also prayed for the extermination of all Jews: "Kill them one by one and don't leave even one." [Al-Aqsa (Hamas) TV, Jan. 12, 2009.

It is the very existence of the Jews, not their actions or even their Zionism, that fuels the rhetoric of many Islamic political and religious leaders.

"If the Jews left Palestine to us, would we start loving them? Of course not. . . . They are enemies not because they occupied Palestine. They would have been enemies even if they did not occupy a thing," said Egyptian cleric Muhammad Hussein Ya'qoub.

". . . You must believe that we will fight, defeat, and annihilate them, until not a single Jew remains on the face of the Earth." [Al-Rahma TV (Egypt), Jan. 17, 2009]

Is this any different from Ahmadinejad's calls for a world without Israel?

And look at Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas, depicted by the West as a moderate to whom Israel is supposed to offer statehood. But the TV channel directly controlled by Abbas's office regularly runs educational programs to teach Palestinian adults and children alike that there is no state called Israel, and that all Israel's land is actually "occupied Palestine."

Palestinian children are taught that Israeli cities throughout the entire country - from Haifa in the North, to Jaffa (part of Tel Aviv), to Eilat in the south, are all actually Palestinian cities. Videos feature songs about a "Palestine" that erases Israel and a future when the Israeli cities Jaffa and Haifa will be "liberated."

Hamas, which has convinced many Western leaders and journalists that it spends more time building schools than bombing civilians, broadcast a sermon earlier this month depicting the Jews as enemies of humanity, inherently evil, seeking to rule the world and a dangerous threat to Muslims.

"The time will come, by Allah's will, when their property will be destroyed and their children will be exterminated, and no Jew or Zionist will be left on the face of this earth." [Hamas (Al-Aqsa) TV, April 3, 2009]

Why is Ahmadinejad's Holocaust denial so passionately denounced when Palestinian Holocaust denial is so utterly ignored? Hamas TV broadcast a special documentary last year, explaining that the Holocaust was a Zionist scheme to rid the world of elderly and handicapped, and to gain world sympathy. Fatah's PA TV broadcast a children's program that said explicitly that Israel burned Palestinians in ovens. (Click to view)

So why is Abbas presented as a peace partner, Egypt as a peace broker and Abdullah as a friend of the West? Why does the world not react with outrage to calls for "extermination" of Jews from anyone other than Ahmadinejad?

If the West is serious about peace, then all hatred must be condemned. And we must recognize that the real enemies of peace are not only the Ahmadinejads of the world, but the "friends" who have mastered the doublespeak of calling for peace in English while inciting hatred in Arabic."

Why won't the world listen to what Muslim political and religious leaders say to their own people as well as what they say to the outside world?

Plotting the march of Swine Flu via Google maps

Google does it all, including mapping the new swine fever pandemic... Isn't technology marvellous, we can spot all the deaths and see where they are as we sit huddled in our houses awaiting our own deaths.


Thanks to Dizzy Thinks for the spot.

Ordered!

The BBC like the partly EU funded organisation that it is sees nothing wrong in reporting that:

"The European Union has ordered France, Spain, Ireland and Greece to reduce their budget deficits - the difference between their spending and tax take. "

Ordered? Well at least we know where the power lies in the EU, and it's not with the nation states.

The BBC article continues:

"Countries that use the euro are supposed to restrict deficits to 3% of their gross domestic product (GDP).

But bank bailouts and falling tax revenues have taken their toll and seen budgets fall out of its range.

The UK was also urged to cut its deficit but as it has not adopted the euro it does not face EU sanctions. "

And that concludes the first paragraph which is all most people read and indeed may see on their PC monitor (depending upon screen resolution). The next sentence is very interesting and surely worthy of being the lead-in sentence being as it relates to the UK:

"The UK expects its deficit will balloon to 11.9% of GDP next year before falling to 5.5% by 2012/13. "

Two things strike me; first that the UK's deficit will be four times that allowed for members of the Eurozone and second how readily the BBC parrot the Labour Budget spin that the UK deficit will fall to 5.5% by 2012/13. It is also amusing that this rise and subsequent fall are apparently the expectations of the UK; surely it would be more accurate to say that Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling claim that the deficit will fall to 5.5% as I do not know of any independent economics forecaster who would agree with them.

Gold update

The BBC report sotto voce that:

"China has reported that it has been secretly increasing its gold reserves.

It was able to keep it secret by buying domestically produced metal, almost doubling the amount of gold it holds to more than 1,000 tons.

China has the biggest foreign exchange reserves in the world, totalling almost $2,000bn (£1.373bn).

An estimated two thirds is held in US dollars, though China has been backing away from the dollar as a reserve currency for a while. "

My views on gold as an investment are well known but it nice to see them being confirmed by the next world superpower, albeit one that I detest.

Gloabl Warming - Finally a British newspaper reports an inconvenient "fact"

The Independent normally obsessed with the "fact" of Global Warming has published a piece in its Science section about the lack of sunspots, something that has been common knowledge in the blogosphere for some years now. Here's the start of the article but do note the part I emphasise; often I think that belief in Climate Change has more in common with a religious cult than science:

"Could the Sun play a greater role in recent climate change than has been believed? Climatologists had dismissed the idea and some solar scientists have been reticent about it because of its connections with those who those who deny climate change. But now the speculation has grown louder because of what is happening to our Sun. No living scientist has seen it behave this way. There are no sunspots.

The disappearance of sunspots happens every few years, but this time it’s gone on far longer than anyone expected – and there is no sign of the Sun waking up. “This is the lowest we’ve ever seen. We thought we’d be out of it by now, but we’re not,” says Marc Hairston of the University of Texas. And it’s not just the sunspots that are causing concern. There is also the so-called solar wind – streams of particles the Sun pours out – that is at its weakest since records began. In addition, the Sun’s magnetic axis is tilted to an unusual degree. “This is the quietest Sun we’ve seen in almost a century,” says NASA solar scientist David Hathaway. But this is not just a scientific curiosity. It could affect everyone on Earth and force what for many is the unthinkable: a reappraisal of the science behind recent global warming.

Our Sun is the primary force of the Earth’s climate system, driving atmospheric and oceanic circulation patterns. It lies behind every aspect of the Earth’s climate and is, of course, a key component of the greenhouse effect. But there is another factor to be considered. When the Sun has gone quiet like this before, it coincided with the earth cooling slightly and there is speculation that a similar thing could happen now. If so, it could alter all our predictions of climate change, and show that our understanding of climate change might not be anywhere near as good as we thought."

I am still awaiting a BBC report along these lines but somehow I doubt that anything as inconvenient as facts will be allowed to sully their environmentalist agenda.

In Downing Street are they asking "Could we?"

The BBC are faithfully reporting the latest Swine Fever news as their main headline, ramping up the fear and maybe starting a panic. Meanwhile, I wonder if in Downing Street Gordon Brown and his officials are wondering how bad Swine Fever needs to get (or more accurately the fear of it needs to get) before they could use the Civil Contingencies Act to legitimise rule by decree and the suspension of democracy. I wonder if the mere thought of this untrammelled power soothes the brow of our otherwise stressed out Prime Minister. There are EU and local elections in just over a month; elections which Labour seem likely to do very badly in, elections which Gordon Brown may prefer to postpone for a while (maybe a long while). Could he?

It's not just about oil but also freedom so I presume our Labour government will not act

I see that the Argentinians are back on the claiming the Falklands meme. I wonder if our Labour masters have the bottle to protect its own citizens against invasion? Looking at the Cabinet somehow I doubt that they have.

Is this bribery?

The Mail reports that:

"Gordon Brown is offering MPs a bribe of up to £5,000 to back his failing bid to reform their expenses.

The Prime Minister has decided to junk his plan to let MPs pocket up to £25,000 a year simply for turning up to work and has instead come up with a last ditch alternative.

But Mr Brown and his senior aides are so short of support - even in their own party - that they are trying to win votes for the compromise proposals by promising MPs a large cash bung to co-operate.

MPs worried that they will be out of pocket over the summer recess before the new system comes into force have been told that they could get an 'interim payment' to tide them over.

They say Commons leader Harriet Harman has been twisting the arms of Labour members by promising them a one-off sum of between £2,000 and £5,000. "

Gordon Brown and Harriet Harman must go and go soon. Have you signed this petition yet?

EU and Sharia law

This Mail article has got me rather riled this morning. I have warned about the dangers of Sharia law being introduced into the UK via the backdoor and railed against Sharia law in general. The EU is a menace to freedom, and if you want to know why then I suggest you read this book, here's the Amazon lead-in:

"Product Description
This provocative and disturbing book is about the transformation of Europe into "Eurabia," a cultural and political appendage of the Arab/Muslim world. Eurabia is fundamentally anti-Christian, anti-Western, anti-American, and antisemitic, while striving for Israel's disappearance and the vilification and isolation of America. The institution responsible for this transformation, and that continues to propagate its ideological message, is the Euro-Arab Dialogue, developed by European and Arab politicians and intellectuals over the past thirty years. With all the drama of a master writer, Bat Ye'or presents a wide range of historical and contemporary documents and facts to tell the story of how the European Union is being subverted by Islamic hostility to the very ethics and values of Europe itself. Readers who seek a fair resolution of the Arab-Israel conflict will be shocked by the evidence produced in these pages of unfair pressures and deliberate distortions. Europe's independence of spirit is shown in the process of being undermined. This book challenges the current demonization of Israel and should be essential reading for everyone interested in true peace in the Middle East

About the Author
Bat Ye'or, born in Cairo, became a stateless refugee in 1957 and a British citizen in 1959. She is the author of three best-selling books on relations between Muslims and non-Muslims: The Dhimmi: Jews and Christians under Islam, The Decline of Eastern Christianity under Islam: From Jihad to Dhimmitude, and Islam and Dhimmitude: Where Civilization Collide."

More class war from Labour allied with some sex war

Harriet Harman is at it again, this time The Equality Bill which allegedly aims to tackle discrimination against a range of groups including women, the elderly, and those from lower social classes. Apparently it also will make it a legal duty of public bodies in England and Wales to address social inequalities.

Harriet what more rubbish do you want to foist on the UK before you and your party are kicked out of office?

"Shame on this Prime Minister..."

Tory Bear has another of Daniel Hannan's speeches and it's a good one, do watch it all.

What is Tessa Jowell up to now?

What a team Tessa Jowell and her "estranged" husband David Mills make. Here is the latest on Tessa Jowell as The Mail claim that

"Tessa Jowell 'offered Olympic cash in bid to get family friend seat in parliament'"

Could all the eco-warriors, that it is my misfortune to meet on a regular basis, please take a look at some facts rather than relying on the fictions that you have been fed.

Here's a teaser...

Don't read if easily depressed

Ambrose Evans-Pritchard has, once again, scared the crap out of me with his analysis of the world debt crisis:

"The world is running out of capital. We cannot take it for granted that the global bond markets will prove deep enough to fund the $6 trillion or so needed for the Obama fiscal package, US-European bank bail-outs, and ballooning deficits almost everywhere.

Unless this capital is forthcoming, a clutch of countries will prove unable to roll over their debts at a bearable cost. Those that cannot print money to tide them through, either because they no longer have a national currency (Ireland, Club Med), or because they borrowed abroad (East Europe), run the biggest risk of default.

Traders already whisper that some governments are buying their own debt through proxies at bond auctions to keep up illusions – not to be confused with transparent buying by central banks under quantitative easing. This cannot continue for long. "

Read the whole article and wonder what the world is coming to.

What a lovely day, the news is so cheery

I see that the Erith and Thamesmead election of a Labour candidate is bringing to fore the matter of vote-rigging. I note that the BBC have yet to cover this story, although if it was happening in the Conservative party it would be headline news, however the story must become more prominent soon...

The BBC do manage to report the news that

"Lingerie tycoon Michelle Mone has withdrawn her support for Labour in anger at its economic policies.

The Scottish boss of the Ultimo bra empire said the UK Government's recent moves risked alienating business and damaging the economy.

The 37-year-old branded the new 50p top rate of tax "a disgrace".

Leading Scots QC Paul McBride also announced he had abandoned lifelong support for Labour and joined the Conservatives.... Mr McBride said Labour were now "mendacious and incompetent", relying on smears rather than policy."

More of this sort of news will come every week now as people realise how doomed Labour are.


The Times report that:

"TWO Labour peers at the centre of the lords for hire scandal have been found guilty of misconduct by a sleaze inquiry and face suspension from parliament, according to senior House of Lords sources.

Senior peers have concluded that Lord Taylor of Blackburn and Lord Truscott have broken the code of conduct of members of the upper house.

The investigation began after undercover Sunday Times reporters posing as lobbyists found that the two peers were prepared to help to amend legislation in return for cash.

They could now be barred from parliament for up to a year and lose tax-free allowances of up to £335 a day.

A senior Lords source said: “The committee has taken the allegations very seriously and is determined that a message is sent out that this sort of behaviour will not be tolerated.” "

I don't like the "up to a year" phrase and am unsure as to why they should get off so lightly. Their actions make them unworthy to sit n our Upper House and they should have been expelled from it.

Finally The News of the World reports

"GORDON Brown has been warned he will lose the next General Election because of the scandal of MP expenses.

New Labour Party internal polling shows the public are completely SICK of MPs twisting the rules over their allowances to claim tens of thousands of pounds.

...

The internal polling - based on polls and focus groups carried out over the past two weeks - are grim reading.

They show:

* Labour CANNOT win the next General Election.

* Voters think Labour are now SLEAZIER than the Tories.

* Even if Brown fixes the economy, voters still don’t want another Labour government.

One senior Labour insider told the News of the World: “This is an awful toxic mix for us. The research shows we have lost the one advantage we had over the Tories.

“People always thought Labour stood for helping other people, for social justice, while the Tories stood for self interest.

“Now they think we are sleazier than the Tories.”

Amazingly, the polling also revealed the MP expenses scandal was more damaging than the Damian McBride scandal, where Brown’s top advisor was forced to quit after plotting to smear Tories via a website.

Voters were asked for the main reason they no longer supported Labour - the expenses scandal, McBride, the Economy, Afghanistan or Brown’s leadership style.

They told researchers their top problem was expenses, followed by Brown’s leadership, then the economy and McBride. "

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear; I am finding it hard not to jump for joy at the thought of how depressed and angry Gordon Brown must be. The man who has done so much to destroy the UK's economy must be in anguish at all of this bad news and it bloody well serves him right.

Music Parody Time - Part 8

Katy Brand does the Ting Tings

"I try to write songs that are interesting,
I want hunks and trendies to say I'm refreshing,
I bought some quirky boots and got rock chick hair,
But I'm just like all the other indie girls out there,
We all look just the sa-eh-uh-eh,
They call me White Stripes,
They call me Goldfrapp,
They call me Robyn,
They call me Peaches,
We look the same,
We look the same,
We look the same,
We look the same,
We're cool and moody and on the scene,
We had a great review in NME!
We make lonely male music writers gooey and soppy,
So they don't notice that we're ripping off Blondie
Our songs all sound the sa-uh-uh-uh,
You call me Debbie,
You call me Pixie,
You call me Aggie,
We think we're quirky,
We're all the same,
We look the same,
We sound the same,
We're all the same!! "

Watch out for flying Nokias

I read that:

"Tony Blair believes the new 50 per cent top rate of income tax introduced by Gordon Brown is a "terrible mistake", the Daily Telegraph has learned. "

Somehow I don't think that Gordon Brown will be chucking only Nokias tonight...

Damian McBride update

I am sorry to report that Damian McBride's nightmare will continue, that's sorry as in bloody delighted. First PR Week report that:

"Damian McBride could be hauled before a Parliamentary committee to explain his role as Gordon Brown's chief media adviser, PRWeek has learned.


Sources on the Commons public administration select committee told PRWeek that the committee would investigate the role played by McBride and other special advisers in Government.

The committee could also attempt to look into Downing Street email records.

One committee source said: ‘There will be an evidence session to look at the role of special advisers. We’d like to do it as soon as possible.’ "

Second the BBC report that:

"Tory MP Nadine Dorries is taking legal action over allegations contained in e-mails sent by Gordon Brown's former special adviser, she has announced.

Ms Dorries was one of a number of Conservative MPs named in e-mails sent by Downing Street aide Damian McBride.

Mr McBride sent the unfounded smears to ex-spin doctor Derek Draper who was planning to set up a website. He resigned after they were made public.

A statement on Ms Dorries' website said she had "proceeded with legal action".

"I am not going to say anything at all at this stage, other than that," she added. "

As Battery Sergeant-Major Tudor Bryn Williams used to say in It ain't half hot mum - Oh dear, how sad, never mind.

Here comes the pretext...

The BBC are faithfully reporting that: "A new flu virus suspected of killing up to 81 people in Mexico has the potential to become a pandemic, the UN says. " and that:

"Health officials in the UK say they are closely monitoring the deadly outbreak of swine flu in Mexico and the US, amid fears of a potential pandemic.

The Health Protection Agency (HPA) said it was working with the government to assess any threat posed to public health in the UK.

It described the outbreak as "unusual" and warranting "further investigation and vigilance" by other countries."

Just as Tony Blair used Foot and Mouth as a reason to postpone local elections, is this Gordon Brown's chance to postpone the upcoming EU and local elections? Might a panic over this "pandemic" be reason enough to postpone a general election? Is the Civil Contingencies Act being readied for use? Is this the start of the end-game?

New alternative national anthem

Archbishop Cranmer has found the BBC's idea of a National Anthem for England; that's England the Country that the BBC hate and think of as racist, so here we go...


"New alternative national anthem

I am England, England is inside of me.
I am England, England is what I want her to be,
I am England, I am English, I am England to my core,
And wherever you may find me, you'll find England.
England Forever More!
England, my England, she never lets me down,
Hustle bustle, urban tussle, dancing through the crowds,
Or out in the country, a fresh place for me to breathe,
England my England is always home to me!
Fish and chips in paper, with mushy peas,
Balti chicken, naan bread and onion bhajis,
A cup of tea and toast, roast beef and Yorkshire pudding,
Tastes of our culture, tastes like England to me!
Swing low sweet chariot, God Save The Queen!
Land of hope and glory and of pleasant mountains green,
England's future, past and today live in our minds on St George's Day,
England, England, my country!"

Yes you did just read the lines

"Fish and chips in paper, with mushy peas,
Balti chicken, naan bread and onion bhajis,
A cup of tea and toast, roast beef and Yorkshire pudding,
Tastes of our culture, tastes like England to me!"

Don't you just love political correctness, I can see this being foisted on schools as part of the latest brainwashing scheme that our Labour masters love to introduce.

I think England should have its own National Anthem so as to show that England and the UK are not synonymous but would vote for Land of Hope and Glory.

Music Parody Time - Part 7

Katy Brand does Lily Allen - "My life, my life" - "keeping it real"

Gurkhas not welcome here

The government are scum, they have once again turned their back on the Gurkhas, no doubt they don't want loyal ex-soldiers coming to the UK taking valuable space away from free-loading Islamic terrorists.

Who should I vote for at the EU elections?

Apparently I should vote for UKIP, but I won't be.

What's happened to the UK?

I read this article with a heavy heart. It appears that this authoritarian Labour government have enacted a law that means that a fast food shop can be given three days to close down because it is within 400 yards of a school. Regardless of the fact that the shop is not selling greasy fish and chips or burgers containing little real meat, but is selling the finest Caribbean jerk chicken (presumably with side orders of rice 'n' peas and plantain), this is a disgrace and unless the people of the UK stand up to the little Hitlers who now rule us I see no way back for the UK.

13 years of Labour misrule have destroyed the backbone of this Country and we need to fight back.

Alistair Darling talking bollocks

Alistair Darling tries to defend Gordon Brown and his running of the UK economy. Even Nick Robinson can't hide his incredulity although he is far politer to Alistair Darling than he would be to George Osborne or David Cameron. To my ears Alistair Darling just refused to answer certain questions and was clearly lying about the state of the economy and what might happen in the future.

A petition you should sign up to

"We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to resign".

Go on, maybe it might make a difference and if not it will annoy then shit out of him.

Music Parody Time - Part 6

Dawn French is Bjork

Those budget big numbers in perspective

Alex Masterley puts the UK debt into perspective.

"The UK government will try to issue more than £200bn worth of gilts this financial year, about £50 billion more than the Debt Management Office estimated last month.

About £25 billion of gilts fall due for redemption in the same period, so public borrowing is set to rise by £175 billion in the year.

Spread equally across the whole population, the proportionate share of the additional debt for a typical family of four would be equal to the cost of buying an extra TV license.

Twice.

Every week for a year."

US Treasury caught lying - I am not shocked

Market Ticker reports that:

"Last night Hal Turner (who has a reputation that is best described as heavily-adorned with Reynolds Wrap) published this:

The Turner Radio Network has obtained "stress test" results for the top 19 Banks in the USA.

....

1) Of the top nineteen (19) banks in the nation, sixteen (16) are already technically insolvent.

2) Of the 16 banks that are already technically insolvent, not even one can withstand any disruption of cash flow at all or any further deterioration in non-paying loans.

3) If any two of the 16 insolvent banks go under, they will totally wipe out all remaining FDIC insurance funding.

4) Of the top 19 banks in the nation, the top five (5) largest banks are under capitalized so dangerously, there is serious doubt about their ability to continue as ongoing businesses.

He then goes on to list things that we know to be factual, including derivatives exposure (mostly in interest-rate swaps and similar.)

This appears to have led to Treasury issuing the following statement this morning:

The U.S. Treasury Department has not yet received the results of "stress tests'' on the health of the nation's 19 top banks, spokesman Andrew Williams said Monday, after a blog said it had obtained the test results and some U.S. bank shares moved lower.

That's a lie.

How do we know its a lie?

Because of this from April 10th:

April 10 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Federal Reserve has told Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Citigroup Inc. and other banks to keep mum on the results of “stress tests” that will gauge their ability to weather the recession, people familiar with the matter said.

The Fed wants to ensure that the report cards don’t leak during earnings conference calls scheduled for this month. Such a scenario might push stock prices lower for banks perceived as weak and interfere with the government’s plan to release the results in an orderly fashion later this month.

How can you be ordered not to release something you don't have?

Since that was published on the 10th of April, we therefore know that the results exist and Treasury, the banks involved and The Fed have them, as The Fed was concerned that some banks might try to use them (perhaps in a misleading fashion) during their first quarter conference calls and earnings releases.

Sorry guys, but whether Hal Turner has the real results or not is no longer material. What's material is the claim that Treasury doesn't have them, since they told the banks on the 10th not to release them, and you can't release what you don't have.

The problem with lying is that eventually you forget your previous lies and thus get caught when you contradict yourself."

The US Treasury lying to the public, how different from the UK Treasury!

A rather late Happy St George's Day

It's been an odd day hence this rather late posting but today is the English National Day, a day that most on the Left would rather went uncommemorated as they continue the social and political destruction of England. Ken Livingstone always gave me the impression that he would rather not acknowledge St George's day, preferring to fund the celebrations of St Patrick's Day, the Mela and any other multi-cultural event his advisers could find to fund. Boris Johnson is a different kettle of fish and he celebrates St George's day in word and deed:

"That is why the flag of St George will fly above City Hall today. I will be getting on a Routemaster bus and going across the river to the famous Leadenhall Market to join traders and Londoners in celebration.

Last weekend, the Globe Theatre held a celebration event to mark Shakespeare's birthday. This weekend, there will be an English music festival in Trafalgar Square."

How the tax system works

I know that I have posted this before but somehow in the aftermath of Gordon Brown's "tactical" budget it seems quite pertinent.


HOW THE TAX SYSTEM WORKS

Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to £100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:

The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay £1
The sixth would pay £3
The seventh would pay £7
The eighth would pay £12
The ninth would pay £18
The tenth man (the richest) would pay £59

So, that's what they decided to do.

The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve. 'Since you are all such good customers,' he said, 'I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by £20.' Drinks for the ten now cost just £80.

The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes so the first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free. But what about the other six men - the paying customers? How could they divide the £20 windfall so that everyone would get his 'fair share?'

They realized that £20 divided by six is £3.33. But if they subtracted that from everyone's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer. So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.

And so:

The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).
The sixth now paid £2 instead of £3 (33%savings).
The seventh now pay £5 instead of £7 (28%savings).
The eighth now paid £9 instead of £12 (25% savings).
The ninth now paid £14 instead of £18 (22% savings).
The tenth now paid £49 instead of £59 (16% savings).

Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to drink for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings.

'I only got a pound out of the £20,' declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man, 'but he got £10!'

'Yes, that's right,' exclaimed the fifth man. 'I only saved a pound, too. It's unfair that he got ten times more than I did'

'That's true!!' shouted the seventh man. 'Why should he get £10 back when I got only two? The wealthy get all the breaks'

'Wait a minute,' yelled the first four men in unison. 'We didn't get anything at all. The system exploits the poor'

The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.

The next night the tenth man didn't show up for drinks, so the nine sat down and had beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn't have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, journalists and college professors, is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up any more. In fact, they might start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier and weather is nicer.

Music Parody Time - Part 5

Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders are Sonny and Cher

Thought for the day

"My formula for success is rise early, work late, and strike oil."

John Paul Getty

Tax them until the pips squeak (a reprise of an old song)

The news of a 50% upper tax rate is according the Gordon Brown's BBC mouthpiece, Nick Robinson, "a political trap":

"The new 50% top tax rate for those earning over £150,000 is designed to put the Tories on the spot - do they back it or pledge to reverse it? Since it will be introduced before the next election, they will have to say.

If they attempt to swerve this political trap they will face criticism from some in their own party and in the Tory press who will demand that they protect "our people"."

That's OK is is Nick? Playing politics as the economy tanks?

Of course the top rate of tax is far higher than 50%, as you must take into account Gordon Brown/Alistair Darling's sneaky cut in personal allowances for those earning over £100,000 a year alongside the previously announced increase in Employees NIC on high incomes. I make that a "tax rate" of over 60%, for NIC is Income Tax by another name. Add to the above Employers NIC and I calculate the government are taking around 66% of a high paid employee's gross salary. Make the pips squeak and all to try and position the Tories as the party of the rich. How about positioning Labour as the party of incompetence, lies and spin? What say you Nick Robinson, or do you need to check with the Labour spin machine first?

Anyway, how much will this tax increase raise? £1bn? Maybe £1.5bn? Does that really help the economy that Labour screwed? Of course not but as Nick Robinson parrots, it's "a political trap" and so worth doing. Heaven help us from the BBC/Labour alliance.

The foreign exchange markets have digested the Budget

The foreign exchange markets have digested the Budget and the results are:
Sterling down 1.32% against the $US
Sterling down 1.75% against the EURO
Sterling down 1.96% against the Yen

Rearrange these words into a coherent sentence: fucked is sterling completely.

For the sake of the UK, Gordon Brown call an election and give us all some hope.

Music Parody Time - Part 4

Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders are Fleetwood Mac. Dawn is Stevie Nicks and Jennifer as Christine McVie, but the real star is Rowland Rivron as drummer Mick Fleetwood - an uncanny impersonation.

A repeated warning and suggestion

I predicted a while ago that the BBC pro-Labour bias would be ramped up in the run up to a general election. The BBC are so "in the bag" for Labour that they have no alternative but to keep going. If the Conservative party manage to defeat Labour and the BBC at the next election then I suggest that they conduct an investigation into political bias at the BBC since 1990 (20 years) and force disciplinary action for breaking the BBC charter against all found to have exhibited bias. I suggest Norman Tebbit as the man to lead the investigation, maybe backed up by Richard Littlejohn.

Perhaps when James Naughtie, John Humphrys, Peter Allen, Victoria Derbyshire etc. are sacked and replaced by unbiased journalists and presenters we will have a BBC worth paying the licence fee for.

Weirder by the day

Is Gordon Brown capable of appearing human? This video shows all the fake smiles and odd expressions he is now famous for. What a revolting specimen; I hope the Labour MPs who fell for the Gordon Brown "charm" in 2007 are suitable embarrassed.

What?

Alistair Darling announces that the UK economy will shrink by its biggest amount in modern times and UK debt rises to unimaginable levels and the FTSE goes up! We are indeed living in strange times.

Take it from me the UK economy is more screwed than almost anyone can imagine, deflation will turn into inflation before long and then we will realise quite how much damage Gordon Brown has done to this Country. When the truth comes out, I hope the bastard is made to pay; both figuratively and literally - I would like to see Gordon Brown made to live off a single state pension until he has paid off the UK debt - ie: forever...

30 years on

30 years today since Samir Kuntar and his three associates launched their murderous attack on an innocent Israeli family.

An anniversary worth commemorating, a "man" who should never have been released from prison.

" The World Should Know What He Did to My Family
By Smadar Haran Kaiser
Sunday, May 18, 2003

Abu Abbas, the former head of a Palestinian terrorist group who was captured in Iraq on April 15, is infamous for masterminding the 1985 hijacking of the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro. But there are probably few who remember why Abbas's terrorists held the ship and its 400-plus passengers hostage for two days. It was to gain the release of a Lebanese terrorist named Samir Kuntar, who is locked up in an Israeli prison for life. Kuntar's name is all but unknown to the world. But I know it well. Because almost a quarter of a century ago, Kuntar murdered my family.

It was a murder of unimaginable cruelty, crueler even than the murder of Leon Klinghoffer, the American tourist who was shot on the Achille Lauro and dumped overboard in his wheelchair. Kuntar's mission against my family, which never made world headlines, was also masterminded by Abu Abbas. And my wish now is that this terrorist leader should be prosecuted in the United States, so that the world may know of all his terrorist acts, not the least of which is what he did to my family on April 22, 1979.

It had been a peaceful Sabbath day. My husband, Danny, and I had picnicked with our little girls, Einat, 4, and Yael, 2, on the beach not far from our home in Nahariya, a city on the northern coast of Israel, about six miles south of the Lebanese border. Around midnight, we were asleep in our apartment when four terrorists, sent by Abu Abbas from Lebanon, landed in a rubber boat on the beach two blocks away. Gunfire and exploding grenades awakened us as the terrorists burst into our building. They had already killed a police officer. As they charged up to the floor above ours, I opened the door to our apartment. In the moment before the hall light went off, they turned and saw me. As they moved on, our neighbor from the upper floor came running down the stairs. I grabbed her and pushed her inside our apartment and slammed the door.

Outside, we could hear the men storming about. Desperately, we sought to hide. Danny helped our neighbor climb into a crawl space above our bedroom; I went in behind her with Yael in my arms. Then Danny grabbed Einat and was dashing out the front door to take refuge in an underground shelter when the terrorists came crashing into our flat. They held Danny and Einat while they searched for me and Yael, knowing there were more people in the apartment. I will never forget the joy and the hatred in their voices as they swaggered about hunting for us, firing their guns and throwing grenades. I knew that if Yael cried out, the terrorists would toss a grenade into the crawl space and we would be killed. So I kept my hand over her mouth, hoping she could breathe. As I lay there, I remembered my mother telling me how she had hidden from the Nazis during the Holocaust. "This is just like what happened to my mother," I thought. As police began to arrive, the terrorists took Danny and Einat down to the beach. There, according to eyewitnesses, one of them shot Danny in front of Einat so that his death would be the last sight she would ever see. Then he smashed my little girl's skull in against a rock with his rifle butt.
That terrorist was Samir Kuntar.

By the time we were rescued from the crawl space, hours later, Yael, too, was dead. In trying to save all our lives, I had smothered her.

The next day, Abu Abbas announced from Beirut that the terrorist attack in Nahariya had been carried out "to protest the signing of the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty" at Camp David the previous year. Abbas seems to have a gift for charming journalists, but imagine the character of a man who protests an act of peace by committing an act of slaughter.
Two of Abbas's terrorists had been killed by police on the beach. The other two were captured, convicted and sentenced to life in prison. Despite my protests, one was released in a prisoner exchange for Israeli POWs several months before the Achille Lauro hijacking. Abu Abbas was determined to find a way to free Kuntar as well. So he engineered the hijacking of the Achille Lauro off the coast of Egypt and demanded the release of 50 Arab terrorists from Israeli jails. The only one of those prisoners actually named was Samir Kuntar. The plight of hundreds held hostage on a cruise ship for two days at sea lent itself to massive international media coverage. The attack on Nahariya, by contrast, had taken less than an hour in the middle of the night. So what happened then was hardly noticed outside of Israel.

One hears the terrorists and their excusers say that they are driven to kill out of desperation. But there is always a choice. Even when you have suffered, you can choose whether to kill and ruin another's life, or whether to go on and rebuild. Even after my family was murdered, I never dreamed of taking revenge on any Arab. But I am determined that Samir Kuntar should never be released from prison. In 1984, I had to fight my own government not to release him as part of an exchange for several Israeli soldiers who were POWs in Lebanon. I understood, of course, that the families of those POWs would gladly have agreed to the release of an Arab terrorist to get their sons back. But I told Yitzhak Rabin, then defense minister, that the blood of my family was as red as that of the POWs. Israel had always taken a position of refusing to negotiate with terrorists. If they were going to make an exception, let it be for a terrorist who was not as cruel as Kuntar. "Your job is not to be emotional," I told Rabin, "but to act rationally." And he did.

So Kuntar remains in prison. I have been shocked to learn that he has married an Israeli Arab woman who is an activist on behalf of terrorist prisoners. As the wife of a prisoner, she gets a monthly stipend from the government. I'm not too happy about that.

In recent years, Abu Abbas started telling journalists that he had renounced terrorism and that killing Leon Klinghoffer had been a mistake. But he has never said that killing my family was a mistake. He was a terrorist once, and a terrorist, I believe, he remains. Why else did he spend these last years, as the Israeli press has reported, free as a bird in Baghdad, passing rewards of $25,000 from Saddam Hussein to families of Palestinian suicide bombers? More than words, that kind of cash prize, which is a fortune to poor families, was a way of urging more suicide bombers. The fortunate thing about Abbas's attaching himself to Hussein is that it set him up for capture.
Some say that Italy should have first crack at Abbas. It had already convicted him of the Achille Lauro hijacking in absentia in 1986. Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi now wants Abbas handed over so that he can begin serving his life sentence. But it's also true that in 1985, the Italians had Abbas in their hands after U.S. fighter jets forced his plane to land in Sicily. And yet they let him go. So while I trust Berlusconi, who knows if a future Italian government might not again wash its hands of Abbas?

In 1995, Rabin, then our prime minister, asked me to join him on his trip to the White House, where he was to sign a peace agreement with Yasser Arafat, which I supported. I believe that he wanted me to represent all Israeli victims of terrorism. Rabin dreaded shaking hands with Arafat, knowing that those hands were bloody. At first, I agreed to make the trip, but at the last minute, I declined. As prime minister, Rabin had to shake hands with Arafat for political reasons. As a private person, I did not. So I stayed here.

Now I am ready and willing to come to the United States to testify against Abu Abbas if he is tried for terrorism. The daughters of Leon Klinghoffer have said they are ready to do the same. Unlike Klinghoffer, Danny, Einat and Yael were not American citizens. But Klinghoffer was killed on an Italian ship in Abbas's attempt to free the killer of my family in Israel. We are all connected by the international web of terrorism woven by Abbas. Let the truth come out in a new and public trial. And let it be in the United States"

Another Iran v Israel proxy war

This time Eritrea. The world id getting more and more dabgerous and with Barack Obama in charge of the USA I fear for our futures.

The BBC reporting Sri Lanka and Israel

Once again a big story breaks in Sri Lanka and the BBC report it:

"The Tamil Tigers have accused the Sri Lankan government of killing about 1,000 civilians and injuring many more during its military offensive.

The government has denied the allegations, in turn accusing the rebel group of targeting civilians. "

However the page doesn't even appear as a link on the UK news page. Somewhat different to the huge coverage of any anti-Israel story.

Interestingly the video on the BBC page is credited thus "Footage released by pro-Tamil group Media 2000/Act Now". I don't recall the BBC being so keen to credit Palestinian groups for the Pallygate style videos that they show so readily.


Whilst we look at BBC news reporting inconsistencies, here's another. The BBC hide away another report of inter-group murder in a place far away. But as it is black Africans killing black Africans and no evil Israelis are involved, the BBC don't think the British people need to know.

The BBC shilling for Islam and denigrating Israel; it's what they do.

The interfering Labour nanny statists find another way to interefere in our lives

"Speed kills" and so 20mph limits are to brought into effect on most urban roads and the speed limit on single carriage A roads will be generally reduced from 60mph to 50mph. These reductions will presumably be enforced by new average speed check cameras on the A roads and area entry/exit average speed systems in urban areas.

Speed does not kill, bad driving kills, and the Government's own statistics show this BUT that does not raise revenue and keep the bleeding heart social worker element of the Labour party happy so here come the speed reductions, the fines and the overwhelming feeling that this just isn't a free Country any more.

"Labour thinks that we are sheep that need to be driven, not goats who need to be led"

So says Hugo Rifkind, albeit quoting Terry Pratchett. I am certainly not a sheep that needs to be driven and I am not sure if I am a goat that needs to be lead; maybe I am a touch too independent for that.

The article is well worth a read as it gets under the skin of Gordon Brown's control-freak team.

Vote rigging in the Labour party

I see that

"Labour was plunged into fresh chaos last night after a ballot box containing votes for a key parliamentary selection contest was broken into at its national headquarters in London.

Party bosses were forced to scrap yesterday’s selection meeting for the Erith and Thamesmead constituency after discovering that postal votes in the sealed box – stored at Labour’s base opposite Scotland Yard – had been ripped up.

Labour chiefs launched an inquiry but ‘control freak’ party officials were accused of trying to cover up the scandal by threatening to ban any candidates from standing in a re-run of the contest if they spoke to the media about the incident."

This was an internal Labour party election but I have warned about the coming spate of vote rigging in elections as some Labour activists do all they can to keep their hands on power and the benefits that accrue to that power.

Holocaust Remembrance Day

Today is Holocaust Remembrance Day, somehow I don't think that Egyptian cleric Amin Al-Ansari will not be shedding too many tears. Here's some video from 26 January that contains some horrific images of the holocaust and some almost as horrific comments by Amin Al-Ansari:



"Note the humiliation on his face, Allah be praised"

"This is what we hope will happen, but, Allah willing, at the hand of the Muslims"


What a delightful person this man of god is, a real charmer. Somehow I doubt that the BBC will be reporting on his views as they prefer to portray Islam as a religion of peace and Muslim clerics as peaceful people.

Music Parody Time - Part 3

Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders are The Mamas and the Papas. With help from the incomparable Rowland Rivron.

Nick Robinson's back

The Labour Party have been in trouble both over its "running" of the economy and "smeargate"; so Nick Robinson the BBC's Political supremo informs us that:

"I spent the past two weeks not just out of the country but away from virtually all sources of news. I left Britain the day after Gordon Brown's G20 "triumph" - words of praise from presidents and prime ministers were still ringing in his ears - and I returned to a series of polls confirming the damage done to him and to Labour by those e-mails."

There's nothing like dedication to the job is there?

Now Nick's back he can give us the benefit of his years of experience and so pass on the message that:

"Odd though it is to say, the Budget will come as a relief for government despite the fact that it will confirm the scale of the recession, the biggest rise in borrowing in peace time and, perhaps, the fastest rise in unemployment. It will mark a return to the people's priorities rather than Westminster's sordid dealings."

So good to have you back Nick, however did we manage without your "expertise" and "insight". The UK has moved on and it is the blogospehere that is now trusted to deliver news, opinion and results rather than tired old has-been kournalists who in reality are little more than mouthpieces for the Labour Government.

The Glenrothes by-election

I blogged about the Glenrothes by-election several times: first the BBC joy at the result, then the initial suspicions over the Labour win and then as part of a piece on postal voting fraud in the UK. Now I read an interesting piece on the Glenrothes by-election that makes some incredible claims; do take a read and decide for yourself what you believe.

For myself I am increasingly convinced as I have been saying for some time now that postal voting was introduced deliberately to muddy the electoral waters and to aid the Labour Party. Remember The Times reporting that Richard Mawrey, QC, had said that postal voting on demand was “lethal to the democratic process” and that the current system made “wholesale electoral fraud both easy and profitable” and accused politicians of failing to act after past scandals. He urged sweeping reforms to electoral law dealing with corruption."

Remember Newsnight's expose of Labour electoral fraud in Birmingham from October 2007, here are just some key phrases from the report - "Banana Republic", "told lies", "bribe their way into power", "city wide election fraud", "thousands of £s bribing voters", "£20 per postal vote", Asian drug addicts paid to impersonate voters in multiple polling stations - 25 times at £5 a go, "corrupt and illegal practices". So that's the same man found guilty in 2004 (although cleared on a procedural appeal) and up before the electoral court again in 2007.

Remember Alan Duncan's warning that "The greatest problem with all-postal ballots lies in the loss of confidence caused by the massive scope that exists for electoral malpractice. Under the traditional system, there was perhaps a minor chance that someone would be able to impersonate someone else, and exercise another person’s right to vote. Under all-postal voting, there is massive scope for fraud and undue influence. It is, at every turn, open to fiddles. So much can go amiss between the ballot paper being sent out by the returning officer and it coming back to him. Votes can be gathered up when lying on the doorstep or in flats."

As I wrote in March:

"Some of the Labour Party's supporters will fight very very dirty at the General Election, should Gordon Brown dare to allow us one and electoral fraud will be a live issue."

You might also want to keep an eye on Opt2Vote and their role in the upcoming General Election.

When the Sun turns on you

A while ago I explained the importance of the Sun newspaper and Rupert Murdoch's support and how when the full power of The Sun was turned against Gordon Brown that you would know "time was up". Today I read Trevor Kavanagh writing that

"The PM stands revealed as an insecure bully who relies on ruthless and unscrupulous henchmen to poison his rivals.... “We’re down to 26 per cent, but there is nothing to stop it going lower,” said an ex-Cabinet minister. “We are in freefall.

“People accused Tony of telling lies but Gordon is the biggest liar in modern politics. "

Trevor Kavanagh calls for Alistair Darling to do something:

"The Chancellor is no assassin. But he has it in his power to do something for the Government and for Britain.

And as he struggles to make his Budget numbers add up, he knows where the blame lies.

He was landed with an economy in crisis, borrowing out of control and nothing in the kitty to pay the bills.

Huge sums of precious cash have been squandered.

Painful cuts will have to be made — including to the sacred NHS.

It would be an act of vandalism to leave this mess to fester for another year.

As Shadow Chancellor George Osborne points out, these will not be Tory cuts.

The debts have been left by Gordon Brown.

Any savings required to clear them will be Gordon Brown’s cuts — whoever is in power. "

I don't believe that Alistair Darling has the integrity or bravery of Geoffrey Howe. Alistair Darling will continue to do his master's bidding and take this Country into a full economic collapse.

Smeargate update

Guido Fawkes has the best updates on this and saves me having to buy papers such as the News of the World. You can read extracts from the NOTW's findings about who really knew about RedFlag's formation and it wasn'y just Derek Draper and Damian McBride:

"A new email shows that Labour’s General Secretary Ray Collins chaired a secret meeting to create the Red Rag website now ensnared in the Smeargate scandal.

The email’s existence links the dirty tricks site to the very TOP of the Labour Party.

And it exposes the LIE, put out by Downing Street, and repeated by government ministers this week, that the smears project was just a minor aberration cooked up by a couple of renegades acting alone—and which would never have seen light of day.

The new email, written by Labour’s then internet campaign chief Derek Draper, PROVES that the meeting took place, reveals WHO was there, WHERE it was held and WHAT was on the agenda. It shows that Collins travelled across Westminster for a summit in the offices of trade union bigwig Charlie Whelan. Whelan, one of Gordon Brown’s closest friends and his former chief spin doctor, was described last night by a Labour insider as the Prime Minister’s “unofficial Mr Fix-It”.

Joining Collins and Whelan at the meeting were the two men whose leaked smear emails later brought the scandal to light: Damian McBride and Draper."

This piece is even more interesting, if true it takes the RedFlag idea and its way of operating to the heart of Gordon Brown's inner circle.

Meanwhile The Times claims that (and I am trying to sound surprised at this "revelation") :

"ED BALLS, the schools secretary, used Damian McBride, the disgraced spin doctor, to smear ministerial rivals and advance his own ambitions, a Downing Street whistleblower has claimed.
In an explosive new twist to the e-mail affair, a No 10 insider has revealed that Balls was the mastermind behind a “dark arts” operation by McBride to undermine colleagues. He claims the education secretary is running a destabilising “shadow operation” inside Downing Street to clear his path for the party leadership if Labour loses the next election.

The insider said: “There is now an operation within an operation at No 10 and it answers to Ed Balls.” The whistleblower, who has had a ringside seat on the power struggles inside No 10, claims that Balls:

— Engineered McBride’s move from civil servant to special adviser
— Repeatedly protected McBride when colleagues called for him to be sacked
— Was in constant contact with McBride, sending him up to 20 e-mails a day
— Instructed McBride to brief against cabinet rivals
— Exploits a weekly “strategy” meeting, which he chairs at Downing Street, to shore up his power base.

The whistleblower claims the prime minister is “strangely naive” about Balls’s activities: “He doesn’t see what’s going on. He unwittingly helps Ed by sidelining the ministers Ed sees as a threat.” All the claims are denied by Balls, who labelled them “completely fabricated and malevolent nonsense”. A spokesman for Brown also dismissed the claims.

Senior Labour figures have confirmed there is widespread anxiety about Balls’s activities. The revelations will fuel concern that the government is in terminal decline, with senior ministers more worried about positioning themselves for life after defeat than about rescuing the economy. The whistleblower, who has never spoken to the media before, was prompted to speak out through loyalty to Brown and the Labour party. He was angered by an interview given by Balls last week in which he distanced himself from McBride, who was forced to resign over plans to spread scurrilous rumours about senior Tories."

I say 'let Ed Balls take over from Gordon Brown'; I can think of few Labour "big beasts" who are as unlovable as Ed Balls (Harriet Harman) excepted of course.

Labour cuts

For years Gordon Brown and his team of supporters at the BBC attacked the Conservative party claiming that they would cut this, that or the other service. It was all rubbish but the BBC eagerly pushed the "Tory cuts narrative". Now the BBC have no choice to reporrt that

"Alistair Darling is set to announce £15bn of Whitehall spending cuts over the next few years in his Budget."

However these won't be nasty "Tory Cuts" but easy Labour ones; the BBC are even pushing the line that they can be "paid for in efficiency savings." and that

"Gordon Brown insisted the recession was an "enormous opportunity" for the UK."

The truth is Gordon Brown has lead the UK into economic meltdown and the levels of public borrowing, £100bn, £150bn, or more are unsustainable; the UK is not just heading for "the worst recession since 1945", it is heading for bankruptcy. We have been prepared for this by talk that going to the IMF and begging for money now carries no stigma and is like a visit to a spa. We are being spun a line by our Labour "masters" and it is as usual a lie, built on an untruth, constructed on incompetence.

Music Parody Time - Part 2

Jennifer Saunders as "Aimless Morris Minor" singing "Bless You", any resemblance to Alanis Morisette singing "Thank You" is entirely accidental - nice pubes by the way.

What is poverty?

According to Barnardos:

"The main poverty line used in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development and the European Union is a relative poverty measure, a level of income set at 60 per cent of the median household income."

So for Barnados poverty is a relative measure, which makes the end of the Barnados article all the more interesting:

"In 1999, the then Prime Minister, Rt Hon Tony Blair MP, made an historic pledge to end child poverty within a generation – by 2020. The milestones along the way involve reducing child poverty by 25 per cent by 2004/05 and halving it by 2010."

If poverty is a relative measure then how can child poverty be ended? Presumably Tony Blair was as serious about this promise as most of his others...

Barnados then report on "How are we doing?":

"* The first target to lift 1 million children out of poverty by 2004/05, was missed by 300,000. It will now be even harder to reduce poverty as the easiest to reach families have already been helped.
* To meet the 2010 target, the number of children in poverty must fall to 1.7 million, currently 2.9 million (before housing costs). On current policies this will not be achieved."

How appalling, the UK is failing to meet an artificially set impossible target to cut poverty. So why set the target? The answer come next: "What else do we need to do?"

"* In order to meet the 2010 target, £3 billion must be invested in tax credits. In order to meet the target, this money must, at the very latest, be committed in the 2009 budget.
* Meeting the 2020 target will take much more than simple redistribution. Focusing on making work pay; sustainable and progressive jobs; and adequate, appropriate and affordable childcare will be vital."

Some good old-fashioned Labour redistribution of income allied with increasing the size of Gordon Brown's Labour voting client-state; doesn't it make you proud to be British?

Frank Field continues his move towards the Conservative Party

Frank Field says:

" The 30 per cent fall in sterling over the past year is cheerfully presented as opening up huge new export opportunities. While these opportunities seem somewhat delayed in registering in the balance of payments, its inflationary stimulus is already all too apparent. Despite the ever-present predictions of deflation, three of the four official price measurements are now on an upward path. The first signs of difficulty in raising any of the new walloping tranches of debt will not only result in long-term interest rates rising, no matter what the Bank of England gets up to in printing money, but will push sterling into yet another nosedive. Rising long-term interest rates and a collapse in sterling will place a firm grip around the government’s throat...

The government not only has a moral duty now to cut public expenditure, but may be forced to do so by its inability to borrow on the scale necessary. The price demanded for a continual and adequate supply of credit will be to begin now — and not after the next election — the Herculean task of bringing government spending nearer to what it can raise in taxes.

...

The threat to the country’s solvency is now so serious that both opposition and government need to use next week’s Budget on what needs to be done this year to begin rebuilding the country’s solvency."

As I wrote the other day

"Come on Frank, take courage and make the move. A move now could also guarantee a junior ministerial role under David Cameron and when he asks you to "think the unthinkable", unlike Tony Blair and Gordon Brown he might actually be prepared to take note of your findings. "

Googling (update 29)

google.com - odd breasts - This blog comes in at number 6

Isn't the internet odd?


This site, unsurprisingly, is at position 1.

If you read nothing else today...

Read David Davis in The Independent asking "How can Jacqui Smith escape responsibility for this outrage?
It's astonishing that she didn't know what was going on with Damian Green" and Tory Bear asking about the disappearing Mirror article and what's happened to Derek Draper's PC.

Too little, too late

The latest in a long line of authoritarian Home Secretaries, Jacqui Smith, has decided to loosen up a little on the restrictive cloak that covers the UK. The BBC faithfully report their master's voice and inform us that:

"Councils in England and Wales should not use surveillance powers for minor offences such as allowing dogs to foul pavements, the home secretary has said.

Jacqui Smith was speaking as the Home Office launched a review of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act.

The act allows the use of methods such as hidden cameras to detect crimes such as benefit fraud but councils have been accused of targeting minor offences.

The Tories and Lib Dems say Ripa is a "snoopers' charter" which needs reform. "

Too little, too late Jacqui and the same goes for your predecessors who have turned a once free Country into a database state where the public are under surveillance more than they would be in any other Country but where crime keeps rising - well done this Labour government, you have proved to be even more inept than I thought possible.

Smeargate - Guido Fawkes explains all in The Times

Take a read of Guido Fawkes's piece in The Times which explains why he published the story, attacks the Gordon Brown spin machine and the "Lobby", here's a rather powerful extract:

"For the past five years my blog has squarely blamed lobby journalists for failing democracy. Though the fourth estate may not have a formal constitutional role, its task is real. Journalists are to there to “speak truth unto power”, not trade favours for tittle tattle, not report spin as truth. From the start of this era of spin the lobby pack have been willing accomplices. It is hard to name journalists who can hold their heads high. There are only a handful of political reporters who can do so - victims of Mr Brown's war room such as Martin Bright, hounded off the New Statesman for failing to yield sufficiently to Downing Street.

Cowardice and cronyism run right through the lobby, who are fearful of being taken off the teat of prepackaged stories served to them. That is not journalism; that is copytaking. The many stories filed this week that reveal just how horrible Mr Brown's cabal have been are of mere historical interest. They would have been brave if they had been written before McPoison was toppled. They knew - and wrote nothing of it. They knew - and went along with it. Their revelatory articles of the past few days are merely confessions of previous personal professional cowardice.

It is not as if it was a secret. As an outsider, my blog, which is devoured daily by the lobby, has been campaigning for them to get some backbone and stand up to the spin machine. That has at times been met with a ferocious counter-attack. It is all right for you, they would tell me, you don't have to file copy to a deadline or worry about the mortgage. They forget that 50,000 readers every day can be demanding; no sub-editor corrects my copy; no editor proffers counsel; no shadowy backer pays for my bandwith. My advertisers want readers, who in turn want news and gossip. "

Do read the whole piece and, like me, read Guido Fawkes every day.

Gordon Brown is shocked

Apparently Gordon Brown claimed that he was "horrified" and "shocked" and "very angry indeed" about the smears emanating from his Head of Strategic Planning. It's odd that Gordon Brown should be horrified and shocked as his team have been smearing people for years; Daniel Finkelstein in The Times lists some of the most recent examples: "Harriet Harman, David Miliband, Ed Miliband, James Purnell, Stephen Byers, Ivan Lewis and Alistair Darling etc. etc.

Yes I can see that Gordon Brown would be "horrified" and "shocked" by his Head of Strategic Planning sending smearing emails about Conservatives; didn't he realise it was his job to smear Labour opponents?

The BBC and Israel

Just a quick post; I was listening to the Radio 4 Today programme yesterday morning and there was a piece about Israel and peace talks (I think with Barack Obama's administration, I was quite tired and angry at the time) and the reporter managed to sneer "right wing" as a description of Benjamin Netanyahu several times.

Two things struck me; first do the BBC ever describe Hugo Chavez and his ilk as left-wing and second why do the BBC try so hard to pronounce Ahmadinejad so correctly but not Binyamin Netanyahu?

The BBC - sneering at anyone not of the left and only respecting those on the left.

Snakes on a plane for real

Snakes on a Plane is one of the best/worst films of recent times so this news did not help my fear of flying:

"An Australian airliner was grounded after four baby pythons escaped from their container in the aircraft's hold.

The snakes, just six inches long, were among 12 Stimson's pythons being flown from Alice Springs to Melbourne."

You mean they do transport snakes on passenger planes...

Sorry seems to be the hardest word

The Conservatives have been asking Gordon Brown to apologise for the smear campaign that was discussed by Derek Draper and one or more others. The BBC are reporting under the heading "Brown 'sorry' over e-mail slurs" that:

"Prime Minister Gordon Brown has apologised over e-mails sent by his former aide Damian McBride.

Speaking on a visit Glasgow, Mr Brown said he was "sorry about what happened" and took "full responsibility". "

Now call me picky but has Gordon Brown said sorry for the slurs or just "what happened"? Is "what happened" the slur emails or the discovery of them?


The line that really made me laugh though was this one:

"The prime minister added: "I take full responsibility for what happens. That's why the person responsible went immediately.""

So Gordon Brown takes "full responsibility for what happens" and that is "why the person responsible went immediately". Surely if Gordon Brown takes full responsibility he should go immediately; no?


I am also a little confused by this; I have heard it reported that Gordon Brown said that all that could be done about Smeargate had been done and that the role of Tom Watson MP in this scandal had been explained. I am not sure that either of these statements is true; a full independent enquiry would get to the bottom of "smeargate" and the role of Tom Watson MP in this scandal has not been fully explored; until copies of all emails between Derek Draper and Damian McBride have been made public along with their distribution lists, I would say that many questions still remain unanswered.

I understand that Cabinet Secretary Sir Gus O’Donnell has ruled out an inquiry into whether Tom Watson knew about the "Smeargate" emails. Apparently he is happy to accept the minister’s denials and so the case is closed. Is anyone else (apart from Gordon Brown and Tom Watson) happy at this verdict? Do I smell the whiff of whitewash?


The prime minister added: "I take full responsibility for what happens. That's why the person responsible went immediately."

"natural traffic calming"

The BBC report that:

"An Essex parish council wants potholes to be left unfilled for longer to act as a "natural traffic calming" measure.

Navestock parish councillors claim repairing potholes is costly and allows motorists to drive faster.

Critics say uneven roads are a danger to cyclists and motorbike riders and could lead to more insurance claims.

Essex County Council said most people wanted potholes repaired and it would be making arrangements to fill those in Navestock as quickly as possible.

Parish councillor Richard Folkson said: "It takes a lot of time and resources to chase the county council to maintain the roads around the village.

"Potholes are natural traffic calming. If you fill them in, it just allows people to drive faster down these roads.

"If they're not filled, they have to slow down." "

I don't think I even need to comment on the sheer stupidity of this idea.

In America anyone can become President

It is laudable how in America any man from whatever race, colour or creed can become President so long as he is filthy rich. Even the massively pro-Obama BBC could not ignore the story that:

"US President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle earned $2.66m (£1.78m) in 2008, according to annual tax returns released by the White House."

The BBC do helpfully point out that

"The figures also show the president and first lady gave $172,050 to various charities and paid $933,000 in taxes. "

I like that sentence, it really shows the BBC's bias up. The point about giving to charity is a fair one but the point about paying taxes? I don't remember the BBC pointing out how much anyone else has paid in tax. Do the BBC point out how much tax William Hague has to pay on his earnings from speech-making? Do the BBC explain how much tax "City fat cats" pay?

I suppose the tax paid comment could be seen as a well deserved dig at the way so many of Barack Obama's appointees have had problems paying tax themselves in the past, but somehow I doubt it was meant that way.

That's odd, why have the BBC done that?

The BBC's report that

"Civil servants exaggerated the seriousness of Home Office leaks which led to the arrest of Tory MP Damian Green, a committee of MPs has said."

has obviously distressed an organisation eager to move an anti-Tory story up the news agenda. For why else would one of their " DAMIAN GREEN ARREST - KEY STORIES" be "MP arrest officer accuses Tories">. The BBC do also reference reference Bob Quick's subsequent apology:

"The head of Britain's counter-terror squad has apologised "unreservedly" to the Conservative Party.

Met Police Assistant Commissioner Bob Quick claimed on Sunday the party had mobilised the press against him.

But on Monday he said he had reflected on his comments and apologised "for any offence or embarrassment" caused.

The Tories have accepted the apology for the "deluded comments" from Mr Quick, who is heading a probe into the Home Office leaks to the Tories.

Shadow home secretary Dominic Grieve said the apology "draws a line under the matter"."

I also note that two of the other stories that the BBC choose to highlight around this story both try to show their hated Boris Johnson, the man who defeated the BBC's favourite "cuddly" Ken Livingstone, in as bad a light as possible - "Johnson 'F-word tirade' at MP Vaz" and "Johnson evidence 'deep concerns'".

The BBC doing their best to help Gordon Brown's Labour government, but is it beyond help?

Another great Barack Obama appointment

I realise that the Obamemessiah is running out of people he can appoint as so many of his preferred appointees seem to have problems remembering to pay tax, but his latest appointee is wild even for him. Barack Obama has appointed as an adviser to Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Michelle Fluornoy, one Rosa Brooks. Rosa Brooks has, as they say, form and plenty of it. She described George W. Bush as "our torturer in chief" and compared the Bush Administration's legal arguments on the war on terror with Adolf Hitler's use of political propaganda. Writing in the LA Times, Brooks compared being a citizen in George W. Bush's America "to being a passenger in a car driven by a drunk driver," and compared the Bush Administration ("our local authoritarians") to the leaders of North Korea or Iran.

Another great appointment by the man who is exceeding even my expectations for how poor a President he would be. I think within a few years even I may even remember the incompetent that was Jimmy Carter with fondness. Jimmy Carter was a fool and many of his views still disgust me but he was not as dangerous as Barack Obama is.

Bye bye Derek

It seems that Derek Draper is out of favour with the Labour party and is to be "investigated independently by the British Association of Counsellors and Psychotherapists to reveal if he really is guilty of the allegations made about him, what the background and details of the story are, and how all of this affects his standing as a therapist."

Is this the end for Derek Draper or will he make another comeback?

"U.S. failed to use best radar for N. Korea missile"

The Washington Post reports that (my emphasis):

"Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates denied permission for the U.S. Northern Command to use the Pentagon's most powerful sea-based radar to monitor North Korea's recent missile launch, precluding officials from collecting finely detailed launch data or testing the radar in a real-time crisis, current and former defense officials said.

Jamie Graybeal, Northcom public affairs director, confirmed to The Washington Times that Air Force Gen. Gene Renuart, the Northcom commander, requested the radar's use but referred all other questions to the Pentagon.

...

SBX, deployed in 2005, can track and identify warheads, decoys and debris in space with very high precision. Officials said the radar is so powerful it could detect a baseball hit out of a ballpark from more than 3,000 miles away, and that other radars used by the U.S. would not be able to provide the same level of detail about North Korea's missile capabilities.

One current and two former specialists in strategic defenses said the administration rejected the request because it feared that moving the huge floating radar system would be viewed by North Korea as provocative and upset diplomatic efforts aimed at restarting six-nation nuclear talks.

Those talks do not appear likely to resume any time soon."

Words all but fail me, how stupid are Barack Obama and his team? How craven in the face of threats?

The UK is less free than Jordan

I see that

"Geert Wilders has travelled to Jordan on the next leg of his Fitna World Tour. His day will start at the Royal Palace where he will be giving a special screening of his short film Fitna to His Majesty King Abdullah II. He will then give a speech about his film in Amman’s newly completed ‘Freedom Square’. Unfortunately he will not have the opportunity to pray, as originally planned, at the famous Abu Darweesh Mosque which is closed for renovations."

What a great day for the UK when we prevent someone from showing a film, nay from even entering the Country, in case his mere presence inflame some to violence; whilst he is allowed free entry and can even make a speech in Jordan. Any comments Jacqui Smith?

Whitewash at the BBC?

The BBC Trust have investigated complaints against their Middle East Editor, Jeremy Bowen, and whilst they have as usual not upheld most of the complaints they have actually upheld some including one of "the article breached the impartiality guidelines."

You can read the whole adjudication here, it is rather lengthy.

For some commentary the ever excellent Harry's Place has an article which you can read here.


For myself there is no smoking gun and Jeremy Bowen will probably not have to resign or lose his role as Middle East Editor BUT it does raise the question once again of when will the BBC publish the Balen Report.

Barack Obama and the media explained

The Onion beautifully satirise the media's "Barack Obama can do no wrong" attitudes with their piece entitled "Media Having Trouble Finding Right Angle On Obama's Double-Homicide". Do read the whole piece but here's an extract:

"More than a week after President Barack Obama's cold-blooded killing of a local couple, members of the American news media admitted Tuesday that they were still trying to find the best angle for covering the gruesome crime.

...

Since the killings took place, reporters across the country have struggled to come up with an appropriate take on the ruthless crime, with some wondering whether it warrants front-page coverage, and others questioning its relevance in a fast-changing media landscape.

"What exactly is the news hook here?" asked Rick Kaplan, executive producer of the CBS Evening News. "Is this an upbeat human-interest story about a 'day in the life' of a bloodthirsty president who likes to kill people? Or is it more of an examination of how Obama's unusual upbringing in Hawaii helped to shape the way he would one day viciously butcher two helpless citizens in their own home?"

"Or maybe the story is just that murder is cool now," Kaplan continued. "I don't know. There are a million different angles on this one.""

Satire or rather too close to the truth?