Local thinking

Government minister David Miliband wants the electorate to ignore what's going on at Westminster and think local when it comes to voting in the council elections. I like to be helpful. Here are some local thoughts for you to think:

"Are any of the released murderers, rapists or child abusers in my local community?"

"I hope Prescott doesn't come round here to try and shag me."

Sad? Feeling down?

Then try reading free the duck, you bitch and make it so. You know you want to.

Hahahaha!

A very British politician

I am not one for enjoying other people’s suffering, it’s not part of my character. However, I am one for enjoying the demise of the powerful, particularly when they themselves don’t seem to regard the feelings of others as particularly important. Obviously these two character traits sometimes come into conflict with each other and eventually one wins.

So, onto John Prescott then. You remember him, he’s the politician who thumps egg throwers in self defence. He’s the politician who sticks two fingers up at the press and does so on camera while walking into number 10. He’s the politician who baits and goads demonstrators while on Labour Party business. He’s the politician who asks the people if they want the regionalisation of their country and then ignores the answer because he thinks it’s the wrong one. He’s the politician who responds to criticism about that point by saying that he asked the people if they wanted elected regional assemblies and because they said no they will get un-elected ones. He’s the politician who wants to tax your garden patio.

And now it turns out that he’s the politician who has used arguments about moral values and sleaze as part of his platform but doesn’t himself believe in those arguments or values. Certainly not enough to prevent him becoming what he was apparently once morally against.

This is a British politician. Quiet, measured, eloquent, restrained, truthful? None of those things. Hurtful, vexatious, prejudiced, rude, adulterer. We’re getting warmer.

When the news finally breaks of his other misdemeanour, and if he survives that as a minister, then we should take solace in the fact that history will judge him as twat whose main achievement after years in power was to fuck just about everything that he came into contact with.

What the Internet is for...

This young lady is in serious trouble. My thanks to Mr. FMFT.

Too funny

Holy smokes!

I'm prepared to bet that once Fleet Street's dogs of war start trawling through the Labour Party, the National Union of Seamen and the darker corners of the corridors of power, this will prove not to have been the first time Two Jags has dipped his fingers in the typing pool.

Baha! Read it all! Via blognoregis.

V for Vote

There's a very interesting poll over at Guido's place that you might want to take part in. Don't miss the comments, particularly the one by the morningstar.

England is in crisis - Christine Constable (EDP) visits the USA

Christine Constable (EDP) tells it like it is to our friends over the pond:

"England is in crisis and America needs to know what’s going on to their good friend across the pond..."

She's just come back from a week long flying tour of the states, lecturing in Universities, speaking on the radio, writing in the papers:

The openness of the press was a refreshing change. OK the quality and the adverts was a pain, but in terms of providing opportunities to speak I found the Americans open, interested and not shy of letting me use the media

The reaction she received was from a public shocked at what is happening:

Members of the public who phoned in were equally shocked about what they heard, and there was a real feeling of pain and sadness that England might, in the not too distant future pass into history. The most poignant aspect was America's disbelief that we could let this happen without even a vote - but this is modern day democracy in England - it does not exist.

Her visit report is available in full on the CoSG forums.

Are you a big game hunter?

Does anyone have an elephant gun? There's an elephant at the Home Office that's just about to bolt.........Public safety and all that.

Crazy bag lady

Art?:

Police have arrested a woman who said she placed the packages as works of art. She made the claim after walking into Hammersmith Police Station.

Don't waste your vote....vote fringe!

From the Telegraph:

David Cameron threw down the gauntlet to Eurosceptic Tory MPs yesterday by declaring that anyone who advocated withdrawal from the European Union would not serve on his front bench.

I am assuming that at least some of those MP’s made their position on the EU known in their constituencies. I wonder what Mr. Cameron has to say to these people?

One often comes across the phrase ”what a wasted vote” when discussing fringe politics with people over a drink or two. I’d just like to point out that wasted votes have been cast in the direction of the Tory party for years.

The Tory party is full of people alienated by its fruitcake leadership. Cameron confirms that this situation also extends to his parties own MPs.

(Via The Englishman).

This in The Times is worth reading.

Welcome to the party

From the Telegraph:

But then, of course, we forget that the same Charles Clarke who now acts like an old East European interior minister from the era of Honecker and Ceaucescu was once a fanatical student radical who enjoyed his visits to the Soviet Union and, clearly, learnt a lot from them. Equally clearly, he pines after a polity where the executive does what it likes and the media does what it is told.

Is this a new front opening up, a new area of friction where the media actually get serious about the issue of civil liberties in the face of a government that has been running pretty much unchecked for years?

The government has been able to quote its popularity and mandate from the masses as a good enough reason for it to what it wants. ID cards. Detention without trial. The Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill. Protests by appointment only outside parliament. Surges in the use of CCTV cameras. New police powers. On the spot fines or summary judgement light if you like. Databases. More databases. DNA sampling of free subjects. Anti-terror legislation that we were assured would be used appropriately but is now used to eject protesters, hassle hobby and professional photographers and scare old women cyclists.

All the while they quote that this is what's good for the people, this is what the people want. Everyone else is out of touch or stuck in the past. Well now that the media seem to have finally arrived at the party let's see how soon that 'popularity mandate' turns into a 'because we know better', one.

They've been getting away with it because they have not been on the radar of the ordinary public. It's about time that the MSM put it there and kept it there. Government jibes, bullying and insults can only be a good thing. If the media has the stomach for the fight.

They just don't get Jack Vettriano

I’ve always admired the work of Jack Vettriano which is why I understand his frustration with an art world that doesn’t seem to appreciate his work.

He has been called the Jeffrey Archer of the art world. A purveyor of "dim erotica". A dabbler in "badly conceived soft porn". A painter who "just colours in". Most cutting of all, the critic Duncan Macmillan delivered the patronising one-liner: "He's welcome to paint so long as nobody takes him seriously."

Now I appreciate and understand to some extent that the upper echelons of the art world dabble in a sublime world that most of us can only glimpse but their treatment of Vettriano cannot, I think, be explained away by that alone. Also, I think their attitude serves only to push away people that might otherwise seek to explore art further, having been introduced to it by Vettriano’s accessible work.

I look at art, the painted form, as I look at photography. Content is king. If you catch that magical moment, the one that is so hard to explain but you know it when you see it, then execution is secondary. Indeed, some of the most iconic photographs of the modern age, a young man standing alone in front of a tank for instance, are meaningless when discussed in terms of sharpness, exposure and to some extent composition but are, nevertheless, more emotive, moving and inspiring than most of the work worshiped in the learned towers of the art world.

That is what I think lies at the core of Vettriano’s success as a modern artist. His choice of subject matter and his rendering of it as an observation. It strikes a chord with people, ordinary people who want something beautiful to look at that makes them feel something or someway. An art world that tries to separate feeling from the object is not worth preserving. An art world that does not accept as a success a person whose work strikes a chord with ordinary people, whose work people love not for its execution but for its content might as well pull up the drawbridges and accept that making art accessible is not really what they are about after all.

Open letter to David Cameron

Here's a cracking open letter in the Observer addressed to David Cameron, leader of the Tory party and former conservative.

Sure, it's written by an unelected conservative Lord. But that doesn't make it any less true.

Via Bishop Hill.

Tesco EIBO branding

Another case of Tesco's English in, British Out branding, garnished with a little St. George's day relish:

Louder

Simon Heffer in the Telegraph:

Realising it was losing this argument, Labour tried to palm us off with regional assemblies. As an intelligent people, we did not fall for that. What we want, and deserve, is an English parliament at Westminster, where English matters are decided solely by representatives of the English people.

Louder

Tommy has the news. Read it here.

Quote of the day

From the Times:

"Something important is being said about democracy when the only legislative chamber to perform the functions that people expect — deliberation, revision, improvement — contained not a single elected politician." - Hugo Young

We are the mysterons, we know that you can hear us

I was listening to BBC Radio 5 Live the other day, shortly after the Home Secretary announced that payments made to victims of state imprisonment were to be reduced. There was a brief attempt at analysis of the new policy where the presenter asked why the reporter thought Clarke was introducing his new policy. The reply was, basically, no idea, perhaps there's some political gain in it or some such. I was not convinced, the presenter was not convinced and the reporter was not convinced but that was basically all that was on offer.

Cut to the blogosphere. Within a short period of reflection and keyboard clattering the general consensus, as highlighted in this excellent article in The Times by Tim Worstall and also on this blog, was that this new measure is an attempt at pre-empting future claims by those that fall foul of badly thought out government legislation helped by the lack of the checks and balances that good law making requires and that this government seems unable or unwilling to sponsor.

And that, I think, is one of the best features of the blogosphere. Not many of us may actually be front line reporters or news generators but on analysis there's no doubt that the blogosphere serves its purpose, often very well indeed.

The days of being able to pull the hoodie over the eyes of the critical public are numbered and the traditional tactics used by the various nasty pieces of work that eventually infest all governments are becoming less and less effective.

Next week, Clarke announces Internet word tax and blogging certification based on ID card membership and submission of all material for inclusion in public protection state databases.

Louder

From the Guardian Comment is Free resource, talk about England and devolution:

This position is sustainable only for as long as the English do not know, or care, much about it. My sense is that this is now, slowly but surely, beginning to change. The fact that there is no easy answer to the English Question - or even that some answers may be more troublesome than the question - will not stop it being increasingly asked. Just saying that it is one of life's little anomalies, as Lord Falconer suggested recently, will no longer be enough.

Yes, it is beginning to change. More people are asking what about England?, a question that the government is attempting to answer with a regional agenda. Like I've said before, that's an answer to a completely different question that the awakened have not asked and that's why it will never be accepted as a suitable solution.

She is a word slut and a charlatan

Carol Sarler is in today's Times. She's blathering on about the compensation culture and other peoples emotional or spiritual dysfunction of which, she says, people mostly don’t give a toss. Attention paid by people to others that they have a shared experience with is, according to Sarler, nothing more than a love-fest for self-pitying pussies and she suggests that they bottle it all up.

I have two observations to make about Sarler. Firstly I find it astonishing that she is writing for The Times. She is one of the worst breeds of journalists who, contrary to her evangelical calls for the bottling up of emotion, is on the bleeding edge of using emotion to belittle and victimise members of a minority group that she happens not to like very much.

Secondly, she is singularly responsible for opening my eyes to the moral corruption and lust for emotional spin that is deep rooted in much of the mainstream media. A media that I did not pay any significant attention to until the day I chanced upon a wicked and self important hate fest that she had published in the Daily Express, a paper I have not read since.

It is her, and people like her, coupled with the relatively recent ability for the ordinary person to scale the walls of the MSM ivory towers using new technologies that has inspired and morally encouraged many ordinary people to start blogging.

I’ve not met her personally so this, to use her MO, means that I am qualified to call her a vexatious charlatan of the worst kind. A word slut who seems intent on perverting the English language into a twisted and darkened figure of abhorrence when, instead, it should be something in which we rejoice. It is her, and people like her, who are responsible for disfiguring the MSM into the Grendel like creature that it has become today.

Two wrongs don't make a right

It’s remarkable really. The government is to reduce the compensation payments it makes to its victims so that it can increase the compensation payments it makes to other people’s victims.

Doesn’t that strike anyone as a little odd?

Yes, I know, the judiciary is independent of the state but you really don’t want to go through that territory. Down that road lies questions about culpability for believing the judiciary and imprisoning the innocent on their request. Only following orders? Yeah, that’s going to work.

It's hard to work out what the government is trying to achieve here given that the compensation figures are so low. Having said that, if you were a nasty piece of work in a government hell bent on removing the checks and balances that can prevent miscarriages of justice wouldn't you be looking for some pre-emptive way of reducing the impact of your mistakes in the future?

Just popping in to say...

....fantastic.

UKIP backgound reading

Ever since the Camaron remarks on UKIP I have been keeping an eye on the UKIP forums to see what might be found. This very recent posting, which seems to be a copy of an article written by By Gerard Batten (MEP), fills in some details on Dr Sked (UKIP's first leader) and the reasons why he left the party:

Among David Cameron's recent insults levelled at UKIP was the allegation that, "Dr Sked (UKIP's first leader) left the party because he thought it had been infiltrated by the far right". Mr Cameron speaks from a position of ignorance. As one of UKIP's founding members, the first Party Secretary from 1993 to 1997, one of Dr Sked's closest associates and a participant in these events, I would like to put the record straight.

Class:

UKIP said it would also be parking a Saracen armoured car outside the Conservative spring conference in Manchester on Saturday, in a publicity stunt designed to show "that UKIP's tanks are firmly parked on David Cameron's lawn".

Don't let your children read this

Up until the age of 5 or so your time is pretty much your own. If you were more conscious of the fact you would look back on this period fondly. From then on until the early twenties you are likely to be spending most of your time occupied with you education. This will require that most of the energetic hours of the day are spent in learning establishments with, perhaps, 20% of that time being constructive. From then on until the age of about 65 to 70 you will spend most of the prime periods of your day engaged in work. You may or may not enjoy this work but during these periods it is unlikely that you will develop potential in any other areas of your life in any significant way. You will likely not notice this fact and generally be content with a hobby or two and some comfort time in front of the TV. From 65ish onwards you will wonder where all the time went, wish you had developed some other kinds of interests to help you pass your time and then you will die.

Real News Online

This web site looks interesting. Lots of good stuff about the English question.

England, an emerging political force in Europe

Via the COSG forums comes this article:

Tracing through the impacts of Europe within the United Kingdom the European regions neatly classified under the EU NUTS regions are being perceived under the New Labour government’s clumsy efforts at devolution to be dismembering England as a country.

The article goes on to discuss the English Democrats in the main and delivers us the following conclusion:

The difference between the EDP and other British political parties, including the UKIP, is that it is focused on the English who make up majority of the population of the UK. It addresses the evolving and real issues which face the English in particular, without being distracted by Irish, Welsh or Scottish questions. The Conservatives, a Unionist party, has its hands tied by its own dogma, the Labour Party has done most damage to the English and the Liberal democrats have not understood the full significance of the emerging sense of injustice felt by the English. Observers and commentators expect the EDP to gain strength rapidly.

Britain’s water crisis worsens

Members of the public have expressed dismay over Britain’s worsening water crisis with 90% of voters saying they believe there's no longer enough clear blue water between the Tory party and New Labour.

Tories, what a funny lot

It's amusing really. A whole bunch of Conservatives defect from the Tory party to the UKIP only to be branded racists by the new Tory leader. This includes your host by the way who has been experimenting with UKIP voting in the hope that it would send some kind of message to the Tories. Well, message sent and response received. Nice.

I'm sure Peter Lilley MP will won't worry a jot about losing the votes of individuals such as myself, though I wish the Tory party would stop sending me all that information about local events, lunches, coffee mornings and dinner parties with posh after dinner speakers. I mean, why bother courting racists. I'd only turn up in my jack boots and start spouting nonsense that has no basis in fact and that's insulting to various groups of people. Hang on a minute, isn't that exactly the kind of behaviour that is being showcased by the New Tory leader?

Right then. I'm off to parliament to lobby to have my family sent back home to where they came from. I never did understand my mother; she talks funny and takes jobs from the locals.

Up down, up down, up down and stop

Later this year the England Project family are off on another grand tour. This one will be to the USA which I understand some people, including the mayor of London, have an irrational dislike for. It’s one of the reasons why we are going. To show our support and to spread some love.

This will be one of our longer grand tours as it will last about three weeks. During that time we will be enjoying suburban life with some friends in a small town called Ohio. We shall then visit what I understand to be a park called Yellowstone where we shall, no doubt, play on swings and eat a picnic. After that we will be off to the wilderness to live like cowboys for a week (no, seriously) and finally we shall spend some time in Florida taking in some Mickey Mouse entertainment.

We are all really looking forward to it.

We like to be prepared so in expectation of a week in the saddle we took some horse riding tuition over the weekend. It was my first time on a horse in thirty years (after having become proficient at the age of 11) and all I can say is that rising trot is just as ridiculous as I remember it being all those years ago.