February 28, 2006
Look out! Toads!!!
There's little trust in politics and even less trust in politicians. That's one of the findings of the oddly incomplete Power Inquiry into political and democratic participation by the masses:
How can democracy survive when we feel politicians don’t listen?It's worse than not listening to us I'm afraid. It's also about not telling the truth. Alfie asks:
Can Simon Hughes explain why only a few months ago he declared his support for an English Parliament, only to jettison this view once he declared his intention to lead the LibDems.The reply?I thought politics was all about belief, passion and HONESTY - clearly I am mistaken.
Guess what, Simon said he’d always said he wanted EvoEM (English Votes on English Matters) – and he had always been up front about that…… Liar, liar, Hughes’ pants on fire….Remember now, the skin of some toads is poisonous. Avoid contact at all costs, but then again I don't need to tell you that. The Power Inquiry proves that you lot already know.
Oh the humanity of it all.
They don’t make them like they used to
Another tragic case of spontaneously igniting Union flags. Via Mark.
February 27, 2006
The adverts are on....
...which is why I have this opportunity to make this posting. I urge any incidental readers who catch this posting within the next few minutes to flick over to Channel 4 to catch what remains of the Dispatches documentary presented by Peter Hitchens on the state of liberty in Britain today. There's nothing new there for those of us that are all too aware of what has happened in recent years to Britain and the roll that the state and its agents have played in it but Hitchens brings much of it together in this compelling bit of television.
The state is not your friend.
February 25, 2006
He will probably rule with less authority
This is a cracking article from Brian Monteith in the Scotsman:
"How can there be a prime minister who is not accountable to the English electorate yet can choose a Cabinet, introduce legislation and then vote on it when he has no ability to so influence the same matters in his own seat in Scotland?"This line of attack plays to the growing sense of injustice in England fed by the Conservatives receiving the largest share of the English popular vote but resulting in a majority of Labour MPs being returned, together with the perception that the 25 per cent higher public spending in Scotland is paid for by the English taxpayer.
February 24, 2006
And STILL they continue to HUNT
Some disgraceful FOX HUNTING news just in. If you are easily OFFENDED by MINDLESS CRUELTY and needless VIOLENCE read no further:
On Tuesday, thirty-one animal rights activists launched a vicious attack on the East Sussex and Romney Marsh Hunt. The attack left one hunt follower in a serious condition in hospital, and several others injured.This had nothing to do with protest or sabotage. It was a vicious and unprovoked assault by a group of mindless thugs. No more, no less. Sussex constabulary have arrested seven people from London and Hertfordshire in connection with the incident.
February 23, 2006
Mile and Ounces castigate new style politics
David Mile, senior official at the Toadwatch Foundation, has written to the Toadish Policy Institute castigating Britain’s track record in modernising its politicians.
The people of Seahaven have shown the way and that is embarrassing for a modern and forward looking nation like Britain.Mr. Mile thinks that the current situation is confusing and a national embarrassment:
We have a halfway system in this country where on the one hand we have sensible politicians who are hardworking and in tune with the demands of the Great British public and on the other we have politicians like Lord Kinnock.Simon Half-Inch, policy researcher at the institute said:
Well, you have to admit Mr. Mile has a point. We have all kinds of politicians and dignitaries visiting this country and they don’t know from one minute to the next whether they will be dealing with a serious politician or a complete idiot. It’s awkward.Mile went further and drew upon the recent experiences of the Ounce family who recently held a dinner party to celebrate their return to Britain after more than a decade overseas:
I am in full agreement with the Ounces. Many politicians seem to not only have lost their way in recent years they also seem to have lost their minds.The Ounces are known for their outspoken remarks on the way the face of British politics has changed over the relatively short period they have been away.
It’s like a bad dream. When we first went to live abroad we thought the way their politicians did things was actually funny. Italy was a hoot and Sweden was like some kind of surreal dream. We felt sorry for the ordinary people having to put up with all that nonsense from their elected representatives. Well, the blood simply drained from our faces when we came back. It’s all gone mental.Lord Gram, a close friend and ally of Lord Kinnock remarked:
Well, you know, ummmmm.
Should Gordon Brown be Prime Minister?
The excellent preamble to this poll is provided by Gareth:
Gordon Brown seeks to become Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, but since devolution to Scotland and Wales the Kingdom is not quite as united as it once was. Opposition parties and constitutionalists have begun to ask whether it is right for an MP elected in a Scottish constituency to become prime minister and form a government to draft and administer legislation concerning only England.In Scotland the people elect a minister to the Scottish Parliament (MSP) to represent them on matters devolved to Scotland (health, education, transport, culture and sport). They also elect a Minister of Parliament (MP) to represent them at Westminster on 'reserved matters'. The people of Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath elected Gordon Brown on these reserved matters. No UK voter, whether they be English, Scottish, Irish or Welsh, elected Gordon Brown to represent them on health, education, transport, culture, sport, or any of the other policy areas that are delvoved to the Scottish Parliament.
Yet should Gordon Brown succeed Tony Blair to become prime minister, he will hand pick a UK cabinet government to govern England and run English domestic policy. He will select which MPs become ministers of English departments - ministers with English portfolios, to run, for example, the English NHS, or the Department of Health to give it its correct name. He will have no such power over the Scottish government that affects his own constituents in Scotland, the people to whom he is democratically accountable. This is the so called West Lothian Question writ large. The majority of people in Scotland and England believe that it is wrong for Scottish MPs to vote on English matters, and whether or not it is acceptable for a Scottish MP to become prime minister is related to this. Please let us know what you think.
February 22, 2006
This just in
Tory toad uses email to try and 'hack' web site figures. That in itself should exclude the toad from ever using the internet again. Surely there's a New Labour law that can be used to change this mans behaviour?
On the subject of the New Labour party the figures on MP responsiveness quoted in the article above is of no great surprise:
Overall, the writetothem website found that Conservatives recorded a 74% responsiveness rating, compared with 60% for Liberal Democrats and 58% for Labour.My emphasis, writetothem's statistics, New Labour's shame.
In other news this particular Tory makes a great deal of sense:
Mr Hague said: "Anyone who thinks that we can carry on legislating for England in exactly the same way as we did before devolution is clearly living in the past.Is this a sign that there's a conservative party in the making? Don't hold your breath unless, of course, you mean this one."When even senior Labour backbenchers have begun to recognise this, so should Gordon."
February 21, 2006
February 16, 2006
Don't forget to carry the one
Via LGF comes this:
LISBON (Reuters) - Iran’s ambassador to Portugal told a Portuguese radio interviewer it would have taken the Nazis 15 years to burn the corpses of 6 million people, a remark reflecting the denials of the Holocaust made by his president.Someone's been doing some calculations.
Toads to the left of me, toads to the right
I saw this BBC headline and thought it should have been categorised in to the politics section.
Toxic toads 'threaten disaster'
Then I clicked the link and realised it was about the amphibious kind.
Minsicule
Laban Tall invents a new word. Minsicule. Although it does not appear in any dictionary I have checked it is indeed a real word. I means a word suddenly, inexplicably and independently created by a million other people.
I like: "The power levels being used in England are minsicule". You said it!
See also: "He measured the motion of positively charged minsicule oil-droplets between horizontal plates". Hard to do I should think.
What Sci-Fi Profile are you
Cool, I'm Battlestar Galactica. Best TV Sci-Fi series in yonks by the way.
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You scored as Galactica (Battlestar: Galactica). You are leery of your surroundings, and with good reason. Anyone could be a cylon. But you have close friends and you know they would never hurt you. Now if only the damn XO would stop drinking.
Your Ultimate Sci-Fi Profile II: which sci-fi crew would you best fit in? (pics) created with QuizFarm.com |
Via Samizdata.
February 15, 2006
What a little trooper
It's fantastic really. Sitting down with the eight year old boy this evening for dinner we got to talking about various famous fighter planes as you do and he brought up the subject of the first world war.
"They had planes in the first world war didn't they daddy?"
"Yes, yes they did. Bi-planes, you know, the ones with two wings. The British had a famous one, oh what was it called. I can't remember."
"I think it was the Sopwith Camel daddy."
"Yes. Yes, that's the one."
For those that missed it the first time around the England Project family outing to the RAF museum at Hendon, London is available here.
No national voice, no national interest
University applications have fallen in England for the first time in six years. It’s no coincidence that this comes at the same time as higher fees are introduced across one country in the Union but not across the others:
Official figures from the University and Colleges Admissions Service (Ucas) show all applications to English universities are down by 3.7%, while applications to Scottish universities are up by 1.6% and to Welsh universities by 0.5%.
The biggest fall - of 4.5% - is amongst English students applying to English universities. By contrast the figure for English students applying to Scotland is up by 1.9%.
Meanwhile drugs available in some Union countries are being denied to patients in others.
February 14, 2006
Oh no, not that card again
Is Paul Linford really nearly equating the Campaign for and English parliament campaign with saloon-bar racism?:
Although I support the CEP's overall aims I think there is a rather unpleasant and personal overtone to this campaign. It doesn't seem so very far away from the sort of "send the buggers home" saloon-bar racism which still exists in some inner-city areas where racial tensions are high.I think Paul must be seeing something in the campaign that I have failed to see myself. Unless Paul is referring to the use of the Scottish tae in the image he uses in his posting or, perhaps, the homeward word neither of which I view as hitting anywhere near the mark on the racist barometer.
Granted, there has been the odd sporadic comment made by visitors which I haven't personally liked very much but I do not see that as the campaign. That's just someone commenting upon it.
I have yet to see anyone manage to argue a point against the campaign that actually holds up to close scrutiny by the supporters of equality within the Union. Supporters such as Gareth, one of the authors of the CEP blog.
Paul continues:
Gareth's argument is that until we have an English Parliament, we can't have a Scottish Prime Minister of the whole of the UK, but this seems a bizarre point of view to take if Gordon is the best candidate for PM in all other respects.Clearly that is not Gareth's argument. We clearly can have Gordon Brown as a PM. Gareth's position is that we shouldn't and it is a position that I agree with.
Let's blow this whole racism issue out of the water. Ask Gareth his opinion of Gordon Brown as a PM if he had been elected to represent a constituency in England. Same old Brown, same place of Birth, same ideas, same everything. Just a different mandate. He would be a prime minister that could represent his constituents on issues such as education and health instead of one that could affect the constituents of every other English MP on those issues but not his own.
You will find his answer enlightening.
It's nothing to do with racism and everything to do with equality.
Apparently commenting upon and trying to answer accusations of near saloon-bar racism is hostile. And dishing out such accusation of near racism isn't?
Now would be a good time to re-visit my 404 - English Parliament not Found page:
The racist card may have been played. Try reinstalling reality.
February 13, 2006
Two words Brown
Do you remember that old game of hang man where getting the words just right was all that stood between you and an uncomfortable end?
+------+
|/ O
| /|\
| /\
|
-+-
Gordon Brown clearly does.
Here are another two words that Brown might want to contemplate as he walks up to the scaffold. Devolution. Asymmetrical.
February 10, 2006
Brown pants Brown
Most excellent. I'm not a LibDem supporter but I do not not support them to a greater degree than I do New Labour. If you get what I mean.
The Beeb report government ministers saying the loss was due to "local issues". "Really?" I thought, "they would say that woudn't they?". Then I read this:
The chancellor, who lives in Dunfermline and West Fife himself, had been active in the by-election campaign.Oh, I see what you mean.
February 09, 2006
Who's sorry now?
F Dm7 Dm7-5 C C/B A7 You had your way, now you must pay;F G G7 C
I'm glad that you're sorry now.
I smell a rat. Do you smell a rat? There's definitely something ratty in the air.
Let me get this straight. There are rumours of plans to suspend local democracy in England during 2007 so that us cash cows don’t have to be bothered to vote for local representatives who might end up representing us for only one year. Only one year because New Labour is planning a significant shake up in local democracy by, they hope, some time in that very same year. Hmmmm…..
The New Labour Minister for Communities, Mr Miliband, has this to say about the shake up and the discussions they are having with our locally elected representatives:
"The debate on local government reorganisation is gathering pace - we are having a mature discussion with local government - and we will make our position clear in the Local Government White Paper in the middle of this year."Now the thing I want to get straight about this is that there is a chance that New Labour will fail to meet their deadline for the passing of their new law. There is a good chance that if we were given the opportunity to vote, as we have done for donkey’s years, on who our local representatives are New Labour would come out in a weaker position than they are now. Perhaps this local shift will change the tone of this mature conversation that Milband says he is having with our local chiefs. Perhaps this change in tone will reflect the feelings of the scruffy voters?
My spider senses are tingling. Tingling because I would not put it past New Labour to end up suspending the local elections until after a delayed new law has been passed using some excuse like they were going to be suspended anyway due to the restructuring they were expecting to happen and that it is only a few more weeks or months for us voters to wait.
The picture I have painted above has got to be wrong hasn’t it? It’s got to be.
February 07, 2006
It's that voting time again
Iain Dale is running a poll on the establishment of an English Parliament. Why not pop over and cast a vote.
Down and Out in Sheffield & Lincoln
Dom has finally put up chapter 4 of Down and Out in Sheffield & Lincoln:
Although such factional squabbling was rife it never really came to a head or went much further than the odd bitchy comment. The heavy metal scene was generally well behaved and actual fights were extremely rare. I can only recall two breaking out during my time in Sheffield – and I had one of them with a midget. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve nothing against midgets – I wouldn’t want to actually touch one but I bear them no ill will.The thing is a cracking read particularly if, like me, you dabbled in the heavy rock scene during your formative years.
Erm, chapter 4 is a bit rude. Well, a lot rude then. Don't say I didn't warn you.
I blame politics
The law is a fascinating subject made even more so by the simple fact that those who interpret it and in many cases understand it (law lords, judges etc) are not the same people who create it (elected politicians) who in turn are not the same people who enforce it (police) who are generally not the same people who chatter about it and sometimes suffer under it (the public).
The above is a very good reason why the law must be crafted very carefully, enforced equally and fairly and why it is in constant danger of being seen as an ass. Carefully crafted law is beyond the capability of our politicians in many instances and equal and fair enforcement seems, from the perspective of the pubic, sometimes to be beyond the capabilities of the police force.
Ask a man in the street what he thinks about the arrest of a young woman for reading out a list of dead soldiers at a war memorial and what he thinks about a police escort for marchers who call for the beheading of people who insult a religion and you will get a perfectly reasonable answer. Namely, that the law is an ass.
He has no interest in politically motivated demonstration exclusion zones and no interest in the finer points of legislative acts of parliament. All he is interested in is whether things seem fair. Reasonable. Right.
Increasingly they don’t seem to be and there is great danger in that because bad law, seemingly unfair law and seemingly inconsistently enforced law serves only to weaken the respect that people have for the law in general.
Those who are responsible for law in the United Kingdom used to know that, but they seem to have forgotten it somewhere along the line.
February 04, 2006
February 03, 2006
That's nice
Well, that's a turn up for the books. This blog was in The Times. Thanks for the linkage.
The End of England solution
Gareth notes and responds to a paper by Robert Hazell of the The Constitution Unit, University College London. Mr. Hazell’s paper effectively suggests that an English Parliament would not be a viable solution to the current constitutional mess in the UK caused by New Labour’s prejudicial devolution settlement where the English are the only people without political representation for their nation as a nation.
Mr. Hazell suggests that this is the case because there are too many people in England for their own parliament and because some other federal nations in history failed to pull off what Hazell considers similar settlements. ”No federation has operated successfully where one of the units is so dominant”, he says.
He is effectively saying that there are so many English people that they should not expect to be treated in the same way as a nation with fewer people. He is also asking the English to look back into history and learn a lesson, that lesson being that these other nations have failed and, consequently, so will you. Don’t even go there. You’re not that good.
His logic is that if we are to accept this history lesson on the terms mentioned we should break England up into smaller units, that way the problems with the unequal devolution settlement will be solvable. Of course the very thing that campaigners for proper political representation for the English want, their own parliament for England as a nation on a par with those given to other nations in the Union, will not be afforded to them. It is a solution that instead of solving the English question makes it a question that is impossible to ask because a united England will no longer in reality exist. Nice solution Mr. Hazell.
Hazell’s suggestion that the English consider history as a reasoned argument against equality is extraordinary. Extraordinary because he fails to do the very same thing when suggesting the End of England solution. I wonder how many lessons lie littered throughout the battlefield of history for Mr. Hazell to pick through. I mean this is not the first time that a nation’s people have been treated unequally in comparison with others. What lessons can history teach us about that? This is not the first time that balkanisation has been suggested or carried through. What lessons can history teach us about that? This is not the first time the demonstrated wishes of a nation have been ignored. There are skeletons everywhere in histories closet.
There is also one premise behind the paper that needs to be outed so we know where everyone stands. That premise is that if we had to choose between the Union and England the Union must take priority even if that means the transformation of England into a collection of regions. That’s what we are talking about and it is a choice that has come about entirely because of New Labour’s handiness with the parliamentary pink slip.
Fascinating really. The UK parliament has devolved issues to the Scottish parliament. It also represents a dominant force in Britain when compared to that very same Scottish parliament. They tell us it’s marvellous and, apparently, completely workable. Yet if the English were to have a parliament it would be too dominant. There’s a word Mr. Hazell ignores. Devolution. Some issues have been devolved to the Scottish parliament. How does Mr. Hazell expect the English to dominate the Scots on properly devolved issues when the UK parliament cannot?
Though it pains me to say this I cannot in all faith resist doing so. There are people who are intent on taking bites out of England and there is a Hazell nut in every one.
February 02, 2006
I do agree though that Whizzer & Chips was funnier
I've been avoiding blogging about that comic strip thingy that the blogosphere is awash with because it just seems so childish to me. A bunch of people complaining that they didn't like this or that particular cartoon or didn't get this or that particular joke just reminds me of my old school playground. I didn't find it interesting then and I don't find it interesting now. The kids that did find it interesting from an intellectual point of view went on to become Guardian readers and the kids doing the complaining eventually became deeply involved in the fast food industry.
However, this piece of blather from the BBC's Michael Buchanan has forced me out of my silence:
Denmark's reputation as an easy-going, consensual nation has been severely tarnished in recent days. All the Danes can do now is hope the repeated apologies for the offence caused, by both the government and the newspaper, will end this unseemly row.Here's the thing. Do you think someone pays him to so completely get the wrong end of the stick? I can't remember the last time I saw such a wrong headed analysis or opinion of a situation. Astonishing. Or perhaps I'm just turning into the type that doesn't get the joke.
God save our...zzzzzzzzzz
Yes Mat, you're right. It is crap.
Hehe, Gareth shakes it all about over at Anthem4England:
whilst this is all very interesting I must admit that I couldn’t give a rat’s arse what the British anthem is. If I had to pick something then it would be the hokey-cokey, not just for the pure entertainment value but also because it would be a fitting lyrical parody of the Government’s attitude towards British nationalism and identity.
