Man in a Shed

Labour just keep sinking to new moral lows

2009-07-15T13:42:00.004+01:00

Brown continued insistence of trying to deceive people about his personal responsibility for the under equipment of our forces in Afghanistan is just par for such a snivelling coward of a man (see PMQs performance today).

His little helpers, wee Dougie Alexander in this case, are on the radio to repeat the sound bites - how do they sleep at night ?

Labour are morally corrupt and depraved. Short of time now - but go to Wat Tyler at Burning our money for the drift.

The causal nature of Brown and Labour's misdirection and deceit

2009-07-14T10:04:00.004+01:00

David Cameron has on a few occasions asked if the Brown is taking us for fools.

Its not hard now to see his point.

Yesterday Brown, our unelected Prime Minister, told everyone that the number of UK helicopters in Afghanistan had doubled in the last few years. ( Good you'd think -or you were meant to think ).

Then David Cameron pointed out that the number of troops had also doubled - hence the ratio of helicopters to troops hadn't changed. ( Not so good given the vulnerability of surface movements to road side bombs ).

We are so used to this government trying to deceive that we are almost to weary to respond. ( As Fraser Nelson has argued this is Labour's plan - keep repeating the lies and deceit until no one has the strength to respond ).

A child can see that Brown was essentially trying to deceive with his answer.

And yet Labour tolerate this sort of behaviour.

And here, Mr Tom Harris MP, is you answer as to why no moral person - especially a Christian - could support Labour. The lies and deceit are an integral part of the nature of the current Labour government. They're entire method of government revolves around keeping the truth from people ( via the narrative and media grid ), they are immoral and shameless.

Blogging on the Afghan War

2009-07-13T09:40:00.007+01:00

I've kept out of blogging on the Afghan war for a while now.

I've been sceptical about it for quite some time ( see my post Labour cynically fail our troops in Afghanistan Sept 2007). But the surge in Iraq showed that some success could be possible to a determined and resourced military ( American of course ). Its not me our there, nor my children, and you don't want to give the enemy succour by being over critical. But the government has tried to prevent information getting back from independent sources, and we can't rely on just official information any more. We can count the body bags however.

The government has used the troops as a form of human shield against criticism. They have offered great home comings, promised support "whatever you need" - then ordered officers not to ask for it.

We have the cynical exercise of an Armed Forces day, "Support the troops" starts to sound like "Support the government", but no where near enough helicopters and equipment for UK troops. ( I saw today that the US has 3 times as many helicopters for the number of troops deployed as we do ).

Brown is quick to use troops as back droops for photo ops of him making speeches ( and think about what bad manners that is with his back turned to them - also co-opting public servants for political window dressing ). But he never pays the required bill.

Labour resort yet again to spin, lies, deceit and misdirection. ( How can anyone deny that Labour are now essentially evil ? By their fruits shall you know them ). The truth is that even the equipment the forces now have has been worn out by the years of fighting. We haven't run a war time budget for defence - therefore our equipment is run down terribly. We may have to pull out to regroup.

But the worse of it is now becoming apparent that our leaders don't know what they are trying to do - except get themselves re-elected. ( See my post Mr Brown wants some peoples children to die in Afghanistan, maybe yours... ).

John Maples asked the question in PMQ's ( before Nick Clegg jumped on the bandwagon - hoping no doubt for a Charlie Kennedy anti Iraq type spike in the polls no doubt ).

Mr. John Maples (Stratford-on-Avon) (Con):

Ms Harman: The hon. Gentleman makes a very important point. We do not want anyone to be in any doubt about the importance of this mission in Afghanistan. It is important to ensure that in the mountainous regions surrounding Afghanistan and Pakistan, we do not have a crucible for the development of terrorism, which threatens people not only in those countries but in the wider region and, indeed, the whole world. This mission is also important for the education of people in Afghanistan. There are now 6 million children in school in that country, compared with only 1 million in early 2001. Our troops have paved the way, working with other international forces, to make that possible. They are paving the way for economic development and a more secure democracy as well as security in the region and the world. We want to make it clear to our soldiers, their families and the people of this country that we have no doubt about the importance of the mission in Afghanistan.

If that was an examination question then she would have scored zero as she answered another question all together. Maples asks something very specific. A question that anyone taking on the role of answering Prime Minister's questions during a time of war would be expected to know of the top of their head.

The truth is Labour have no idea what they are really doing - just that they don't intend to pay for it. The military is seen as "Tory" and hostile. Perhaps they even see weakening it and letting slowly bleed to death and a long term socialist policy objective ( since they won't answer the question when its put straight to them then we have to speculate ).

I suspect the truth is that Labour are in Afghanistan to keep in favour with the US. That's the military objective.

I wonder if Labour will allow "our boys" to vote in their general election - or through various tricks and changes int he voting regulations cheat many of them of their votes as well as their equipment and the support they deserve. Remember in 2005 65% of the overseas forces couldn't vote.

Finally can I take you back to July 2006 and my post on the situation then as we got into the mess in Helmand province whilst being promised that not a shot would need to be fired.

On Andy Coulson

2009-07-09T23:19:00.007+01:00

I'm just wondering who's media grid launching the political smear attack on Andy Coulson via the Guardian is on.

We know Labour have dirty tricks units setting up, and this sort of smear and innuendo stuff is just the sort of operation they have run in the past.

I have no idea of Mr Coulson's involvement in doing the electronic equivalent of going through peoples bins by tabloid journalists. However it now turns out that the Guardian had no new evidence and the police see nothing to make any further investigations about.

Right now this looks like muck racking from Labour.

Its going to be a dirty nasty campaign to eject the unelected Scottish socialist destroyer of our economy from office and all his nasty but expensive hangers on.

PS What are the odds on the Prince of Darkness being involved in this one ? It has his style.

How the government and BBC are brainwashing your children against Christianity

2009-07-08T11:10:00.003+01:00

Old Holborn has a guest post on the BBC's bit sized GCSE revision site.

Its incredible stuff - and maybe that's how they get away with it. ( The site can be viewed directly here ).

The BBC would like us to believe that religious programming can be left in the safe hands of a Muslim. The relative treatment of Christianity and Islam in these revision articles shows this is just not the case.

Warning: If you have a weak heart or underlying medical condition that will be made worse by a sudden rise in blood pressure then you'd better not follow the links.

The CEP: Gordon Brown puts Scotland first

2009-07-07T10:04:00.003+01:00

A bit behind already today, so here's a press release from the Campaign for an English Parliament - that has my support:

CEP Media Unit. for release: Tuesday 8am 7th July 2009

GORDON BROWN PUTS SCOTLAND FIRST, NOT BRITAIN.

“On the occasion of the 10^th anniversary of the Scottish Parliament last Wednesday July 1^st Gordon Brown published an article in the Scottish Daily Record,” stated Philippa Cullen of Lower Froyle in Hampshire in her end-of-month message to CEP members in the county. “It reeked with Scottish nationalism. Coming from a British Prime Minister who should put Britain first and speak equally of each nation of Britain it was outrageous. Yet it was totally very consistent indeed with his written pledge of March 31^st 1989 when as ‘one of the leaders of Labour’s campaign for devolution’ he had signed the Scottish Claim of Right vowing ‘to make the interests of the Scottish people paramount in everything he said and did’. His government, he says, ‘has never stopped focusing on delivering for the Scottish people’.

“In the article he celebrated ‘Scotland’s rich and vibrant political history’. Eerily he talked of ‘the bravery and brilliance of Scots in uniform’, no mention of the English who make up the vast bulk of the British Army, Navy and Air Force. He described how he ‘had campaigned for a fairer future for Scotland’ and how he had made policy that ‘pays off for Scots. Our decision to build two state-of-the-art aircraft carriers at shipyards including Govan, Scotstoun and Rosyth has secured thousands of jobs in Scotland and protected Scots’ hard-earned savings’. He omitted to mention that the preservation of shipbuilding jobs in Scotland had been at the deliberate expense of England's shipyards, particualry Devonport and Tyneside.

“He exhibited breathtaking effrontery by saying that ‘the Scottish people rightly felt frustrated in recent decades as unpopular decisions were made on health, education and policing’, while knowing full well that his fellow Scottish Labour MPs in the UK parliament have taken away English MPs’ choice on foundation hospitals and university tuition fees by voting against them and imposing these against English wishes.

“Unashamedly he boasts that the Scots can enjoy ‘influencing decisions in Westminster’ while making no mention of the West Lothian Question. He trumpets on about ‘Scottish solutions to Scottish issues on things such as free personal care for the elderly, tuition fees, free travel for the elderly and prescription charges’, as if England doesn’t have exactly the same issues; and as if he is unaware, which he most definitely is not, that in terms of tax revenue it is the English taxpayer who pays for the extra benefits the Scots nosw enjoy. In terms of tax revenue Scotland is unable to pay its own way. ‘The Union Government invests billions of pounds in Scotland beyond the Scottish Parliament’s £35 billion annual budget’ he writes. What he does not write is that 90% of the Union Government’s revenue comes the English taxpayer.

Because of devolution Brown writes, ‘Scots could finally start taking more control of our daily lives’. Note his use of the word ‘our’. He smugly says “For the first time in 300 years, Scotland once again had its own parliament’. There is no fiercer opponent of England having its own parliament and the English having ‘control of their daily lives’. than him; and he is using all the instruments of the British state to try to make sure it never happens. He boasts of ‘hosting a working dinner in my home in Fife for leaders from all the Holyrood parties’. Would he ever as much as think of getting representatives of the people of England together ‘to focus on delivering for the English people’?

As Brown so rightly says in the article, more truthfully than he realizes: ‘In short, devolution gives Scotland the best of both worlds’

Contacts: Phiippa Cullen: Tel: 01420 23216 Email: imarcher@lineonee.net

Michael Knowles, CEP Media Unit. Tel: 01260 271139. email: michael-knowles@tiscali.co.uk

The establishment is trying to warn us about our current plight

2009-07-06T11:26:00.007+01:00

Sometimes its too easy to rant about civil servants and the establishment, especially when they are quiet despite challenges which are a very clear and present threat to our country.

But I have noted a number of attempts by those who serve us, or did so, and are often beholden to the current government to warn us, or prepare on the quiet for the disaster when Gordon Brown debt time bomb goes off. Here are a few I've spotted floating by recently:

NHS Trusts currently planning for a 5% cut.
Civil servants secretly preparing plans for a 20% cut in departmental budgets.
Meryn King's warning about "Fiscal Stimulus" and more recently about plans to reduce the debt.
The failure of that gilts auction, that now has the bank of England printing money to fund the government.
John Major warning about VAT at 20% and a 5p raise in basic income tax ( whilst dismissing the Labour myth that just the rich can be taxed to cover things ).

There is a common message emerging to both parties that more radical action that is being currently openly discussed will be necessary.

This puts the dishonesty of Gordon Brown in talking about raising public spending into its correct perspective.

PS I wonder if the 20% doom's day plan isn't needed to be able to act intelligently to a rapid funding crisis, which must now be a real fear. You can see the scene - the government is unable to sell any more debt and is on the verge or actually becomes insolvent. The IMF steam in ( if we're lucky and they have enough money left ) and demand large cuts tomorrow. At least a plan would exist so the brutal surgery didn't cut too many arteries of the country. However perhaps the reported planning may be more extreme than necessary to force some sort of prioritisation out of each department and to avoid the fake efficiency savings and accountancy tricks being put forward to the Treasury.

Update Wat Tyler has some insight into civil service activities - and its worth talking a look at his analysis on the 20% cuts here.

We need to start really holding our politicians to account and jailing those who commit fraud by lying

2009-07-04T09:31:00.007+01:00

Just read the following in a great article by Peter Oborne:

Imagine, for example, that the chairman of one of our large private companies, such as BP, had conducted himself as Gordon Brown has done in recent weeks and lied to the Stock Market about BP’s future investment and spending plans. He’d have been forced out of his job by now.

Indeed, it is also highly likely that he would have been visited by the City of London fraud squad and be facing a jail sentence.

It occurs to me that this is precisely what's wrong right now. Gordon Brown should have been arrested by now and be on trial for fraud. In Labour's modernised without morales society they lie as they breath. There need to be consequences.

Brown has condemned our country to poverty for a generation - he should stand trial for the contested truths he spouts ( just as a company director would ) and assuming he gets convicted be sent to prison for a decade.

Sarah - hate to break it to you but its your husband who's exporting Gary McKinnon to a life in prison in the US

2009-07-04T08:45:00.005+01:00

The desperation and hypocrisy of Labour is getting beyond belief. Sarah Brown has the nerve to sympathise with the the campaign to stop the automatic extradition of Gary McKinnon - under legislation that Labour brought in !

Labour were warned about the consequences of their abandonment of the government sovereign rite to protect its citizens, but as ever they thought they knew better.

Instead of the crocodile tears, how about getting her husband to the dispatch box to apologise and beg for forgiveness for allowing such an unequal extradition arrangement to exist ( and the one with EU countries also ) and to beg the house to repeal the relevant Labour legislation ?

PS What won't Sarah Brown do to get headlines right now ? She is as guilty of the destruction and demise of the UK caused by her husband as any of the other in the gutless Labour group that allows the unlelcted prime minister to continue for one more day in office.

Crude Britannia - recommended politcal viewing

2009-07-02T10:35:00.007+01:00

A few days ago I watched the first episode of the BBC's documentary Crude Britannia - which despite BBC3's growing reputation is actually about the history of oil and gas exploration and production in the UK.

I guess I was drawn to it as its my industry, at least in part. I've spend a few months training to drill oil wells and being a rough neck, and what they tell you on the programme is all true - at least it was a decade ago ( some of the drilling process has become more automated on some rigs since ).

But you should watch it if your interested in politics. Whilst the slightly inevitable left of centre world view which the BBC is so justly famed for comes out, it doesn't spoil the background.

If your under 35 and you want to know what Thatcherism was really all about - look at what was happening to Britain before her.

Also if you have ever read Daniel Yergin's "The Prize" or seen the TV documentary version you'll realise that oil has been central to much of the macro economic battle between countries over 100 years.

In the early 1960's Britain was crippled with debt ( from the second world war - though Gordon has just created a similar amount today ) and had failing industries that couldn't compete ( not so dissimilar to today ).

The one bit of luck Britain had was North Sea Gas and Oil. The revenues gave the Thatcher government the breathing space to conduct its reforms. ( It does not bear thinking about what would have happened otherwise ).

Watching this documentary takes you back to our country at a time of high debt, with unsecured energy sources and when we were having problems paying its way in the world.

That's just where Gordon Brown has just put us back to.

Oil is a critical issue. There's a load of wishful thinking and triangulation about tree hugging energy sources, but they won't keep the lights on. And when the lights go of the truly desperate politics will follow. Most people in this country give little thought to the oil industry that in many ways has kept our country afloat. ( Compare to the coverage the coal mines get in popular culture ).

In the programme you see a pub operating by candle light - I can remember those days (just). However I bet with modern tills, electric beer pumps and health a safety laws they couldn't operate today in the dark. Neither could our massive chilled food supply chain. Which is a shame because its where we are heading right now.

The BBC iPlayer versions can be found below. I recommend an hour watching, especially if you under 35.

Its time we rediscovered what not paying your way in the world ultimately leads to, before its too late.

Episode 1 (recommended )
Episode 2 (Haven't seen yet )

Brown's desperate interview with Nick Robinson

2009-07-01T22:17:00.003+01:00

Every time it really starts to fall apart for Brown he phones up the BBC and gets a reporter over to do help get the message that is laughed out of court in parliament. At the 10pm news we had Nick Robinson asking the questions and Brown producing his usual smoke screen of obscurification and incredible answers (BBC post on this is available here - Nick Robinson did mange to get him to almost admit that cuts may happen ).

Having made the zero % increase gaff in PMQs he will have been desperate to divert attention. Such is the dishonest art of Labour spin doctoring and its obsession with news control and deceit of the electorate.

Brown still will not admit that the governments own figures indicate considerable cuts in departmental spending hiding behind the dishonourable fallacy that who knows the future ? Yet at the same time he smears his opponents by claiming he knows their policies with certainty - even when he doesn't know his own government's circumstances.

This man is just unfit for office. If he doesn't know that then its because he's deluded.

Is there nobody in the Labour party willing to put country before their career or fear of the No10 smear machine to save our country ?

Google Trends "Brown Liar"

2009-07-01T12:49:00.005+01:00

Haven't had time to watch PMQs yet - but from what I hear the Brown being economical with the Truth thing is going round again .... Google are now able top record the searches for "Brown Liar"

In the interest of fairness I used a comparison for the search term "Cameron Liar" just to get a sense of perspective.

Of course maybe Brown doesn't have to cut spending ...

2009-06-30T11:08:00.003+01:00

Everyone seems to assume that the only way to resolve the public sector finance disaster is to cut spending ( except Gordon Brown & co of course ).

But hold on a minute folks - Brown could keep spending going and no cause a financial collapse as lenders refuse to fund him if ....

..if Brown raises TAXES.

Why is no one thinking of this ?

My guess is self censorship - everyone assume that no one would be suicidally stupid enough to raise taxes yet further when the productive part of the economy was already on it knees.

But I'm not so sure.

Socialism benefits from misery and destitution - and this plan would create much more of both. You can see why Labour might favour it..

Don't say I didn't warn you.

David Melding AM is right - federalism can save the Union

2009-06-29T14:45:00.005+01:00

Just saw this article from a tweet from StGeorgeIsCross from Conservative assembly man David Melding, which reports on a book where he has suggested federalism for the UK, with England getting its political rights as a home nation.

This runs counter to Labour EU inspired balkanisation of England strategy and David Cameron's appeasement of Celtic nationalism strategy.

The reason is should work is that it creates symmetry, easily comprehended justice and equality of respect between the home nations.

The sooner it Conservative policy the better as far as I'm concerned.

Labour's plans are Evil and are intend to take us all for fools

2009-06-29T08:02:00.008+01:00

I just heard Lord Mandelson's broadcast on R4's Today this morning ( because it was more of a broadcast than an interview - despite the PoD complaining about Evan Davis trying to get him to focus on the question - Labour have never done this since New Labour started it, part of their plan for deceit and undermining democracy through lies and spin. They are now clearly the Evil party ).

Mandelson issued the new view of reality which explains why you shouldn't have the normal spending review before the general election in case it provides information to the electorate about what you are really going to do ( making the lies, smear, deceits and scheme's that his pupil Gordon Brown intends to rape our democracy with impossible to achieve - remember Labour are Evil .)

How do they intend to carry this off ?

evil

evil and direct breach of one of the 10 commandments

But then when you make the unelected Prince of Darkness effectively Prime Minister to hold up the defeated and unelected winner of the gutless coup what do you expect?

There will be some Labour party members who would support Labour if they made Pol Pot their leader, but there must still be some with a conscience and at least some decency who will put country before the careers of the demons in charge of Labour right now. There time to act is now.

PS I should add at one point in his R4 party political broadcast, because that's what interviews with Labour ~~demons~~ ministers now are, he accused the Conservatives of entering into a Faustian pact. Nice to see the PoD has a sense of humour ...., or was its a Freudian slip ?

Update: It seems a Treasury spokeswoman ( was refered to in BBC radio and online reports this lunch time see here ) has refused to confirm that the spending review which everyone believes will force cuts on any government will be delayed beyond the general election. Was Mandelson speaking without authority or is either Darling or Brown getting cold feet about the whole "lie to the electorate" thing ?

Weakness invites intimation - and the Labour government is very weak

2009-06-28T16:26:00.004+01:00

The history of the Iranian revolution is punctuated with taking advantage of weak foreign players, for domestic advantage.

So we had President Carter being humiliated with the US Embassy hostages, the UK and Royal Navy humiliated with the sailors who lost their iPod's disaster and now the harassment of the UK embassy and arrest of what I assume are Iranian nationals employed by the UK Embassy.

At the time of the US embassy invasion it was said that nobody would have dared interfere with the then Soviet embassy as they would have responded with spectacular and probably nuclear vengeance.

The UK responds with the gap year student David "Banana's" Miliband. You can see why the Iranian regime might think its on a winner with playing the UK's Labour government for fools again. ( After all what happened after the humilation of the Royal Navy ? )

These humiliations are a sign of the lose of face and respect that the run down of our defences and pathetic no entities that occupy Labour cabinet ministerial positions have left us with.

Labour are now hurting our country with every minute they shame us all by clinging to office with.

What about the legitimate pressure for self-government in England Mr Cameron ?

2009-06-27T11:31:00.005+01:00

David Cameron is doing one of those mea cupla type things that are all the rage amongst our political classes these days.

He has told a BBC documentary (to be shown in Scotland only of course ) - "But I think where we went wrong was we should have spent more time in government thinking, how do we give legitimate help to those people within our United Kingdom who want to have a greater expression of self-government?"

So what about England then Mr Cameron ? Where the vast majority of people consistently tells pollsters they want an English Parliament ?

Swine flue looks like its about to take off in the UK

2009-06-27T00:07:00.003+01:00

I was looking at the reasonably good Fergus on Flu blog on the BBC, specifically this post which show the escalation of cases in different countries.

It occurs to me that the UK is seeing the sharpest rise, with an accelerated exponential like increase.

Having looked at some of the epidemic escalation profiles this looks ominously like the start of the first big wave of the outbreak.

Perhaps the heat wave etc will knock it back, but I'm not so sure.

I wonder why the UK has such a sharp rise in cases now - compared to other countries ?

More lessons to be learnt perhaps.... lets all hope it continues to be mostly an inconvenience.

The anonymous briefings and smears against the Bank of England Governor

2009-06-26T23:52:00.004+01:00

So what's changed since Damian McBride was allowed to resign instead of being sacked ?

Not much - same Labour same dirty tricks, same willingness to destroy the country for their own selfish careers. ( They perhaps hope to bully Mervyn King into silence about the debt disaster that the arrogance of Gordon Brown has sold our lives and those of our children into. )

See the Daily Mail on the campaign against the one man in public office who has an interest in our country that goes beyond June 2010, Labour are so desperate and vindictive that they will even strip the Bank of England of its remaining powers to give them to Gordon Brown's monster FSA that failed the country so disastrously over the last two years just out of vicious spite.

I think we should be considering putting current ministers on trial for treason if they are shown to be destroying the country for party political or narrow selfish interest.

They are destroying the future for their present. They should be made to pay for it personally through the justice system - if new laws are required for that then fine lets have them.

Update: It seems to me that an independent Bank of England is fine whilst it agrees with Brown and Labour, and when it doesn't its needs to have powers stripped from it. That isn't indepenent at all !

Is Ed Balls telling a Brownie about the money he's cutting from the Education budget ?

2009-06-26T20:00:00.003+01:00

At about lunch time I wondered, on hearing radio 4 explain how Capita had a contract to ~~enforce~~ run the National Literacy and Numeracy scheme if saving money might also be a motive for Labour.

But then I heard Ed Balls being interviewed and my memory of that interview was he promised to pass the money ( which would be "ring fenced" on to schools to do the same job ).

Now I'm not quite sure what teachers need to spend the money on, but the Daily Mail tells this story as the government saving £100 million on spending on consultants.

Could Ed Balls be telling us a Brownie ?

The signs will be other government projects that involve consultants being cancelled as the money runs out. The Government has approved just 13 of 144 frozen further education projects – and every one in a Labour seat. The rest are swinging in the wind.

The money is running out, but being the shameless Labour party with the moral courage of sewer rats they may be dressing up what they have to do as a great initiative. Of course the Unions will love it - maybe they'll even help the Labour party out with its funding problems ?

This one needs watching closely - they have past form on this.

PS Also note that they rubbed Speaker Bercow's nose in the dirt by announcing to the media ( as they always have - only the shameless Labour party has done this - it has nothing to do with "the News cycle made me do it" excuse dished up by the back after scandal Peter Hain last week. Same old disgusting Labour types ruining our country as usual ).

Labour's adoption of Conservative education ideas is driven by electoral tactics not education strategy

2009-06-25T23:51:00.006+01:00

The Gordon Brown election fighting blue print is leading to a rerun of his standard election tactics.

Reduce the gap between the parties by copying as many of the Conservative policies as you can, and leaving a few chosen dividing lines.

Hence on education Ed Balls has been trying to create the equivalent of the Russian Concordski copy of the Tory Education Concorde.

Groups of schools are to be allowed to remove themselves from LEAs and now the national plans for teaching national strategies are being dropped.

Labour must know that the public is very dissatisfied with the current state of education with failing schools and worthless qualifications which 12 years of "education, education, education" have produced.

I suspect there is also a wish to smash the controls of state rather than hand them over to a Conservative government.

This is in part the explanation for why the Conservatives have kept much of their manifesto under raps. Brown just copies much of it and leaves his big lies to win the day.

Politics aside this looks like a good idea - if and only if - schools are given real control over their staff. I was talking to a teacher a week of two ago who told me that two teachers in their department were so hopeless that they weren't teaching any pupils, but because of the closed shop practices and Union domination in education couldn't be sacked. Hence the school and most of all the children are made to pay for left wing unions refusal to accept the norm int he productive sector of the economy that you do the job or you leave.

Personally I think Labour will fluff this necessary part of the reforms and leave a powder keg of Union resentment and educational inefficiency to go off on the Tory's watch. ( Like much else they are messing up and destroying right now. )

Referendums combined with general elections are a dirty trick and should be banned

2009-06-25T14:15:00.003+01:00

There have now been two suggested referendums to be combined with the next general election.

In both case ( electoral reform and Scottish independence ) its not the referendum question that's the motivation, but a desire to hold up the Labour vote.

It shows you the lengths that Labour will toy with to hang onto power.

The answer should be that no referendum is necessary with parties seeking election on manifesto's ( which could themselves include plans for subsequent referendums ).

The Conservatives should refuse to be bound by any such results and bring in laws to outlaw such cheap tactics in future elections.

Tax credit fiasco carries on - wasting my time

2009-06-25T09:37:00.003+01:00

Gordon Brown fiendishly complicated and bizarre Tax Credits scheme - designed to turn the middle classes into government hand out junkies just like the core support Labour abuses so happily for its votes - just gets worse each year.

First there were the happy adverts with "its money with your name in it", then came the mildly threatening adverts, now they just threaten to withdraw the tax rebate if you don't spend hours redoing your tax return ( but using gross rather than net figures - unlike your tax return ).

The fact that changes in circumstances are very hard to keep track of is another worry. So this morning I've been trying to phone them up to give them and estimate of this years income ( very different and a lot down on the previous year ). You can't get through - due to high demand - the recorded message then goes on to tell you the office hours during which they should, but won't be answering the phone.

Dear Mr Osborne - I suggest you just abolish the whole system on day one. Avoid the over head of gathering the money ( and paying people and their gold plate pensions to do it ), and then paying another army of people ( and paying for them and their gold plated public sector pensions to do it ) and annoying me every year as I have to spend hours getting my figures together (unpaid - pension losing 15-18% per years thanks to that insane economic criminal Gordon Brown).

Public sector employees get four times bigger pensions than private sector employees

2009-06-24T19:07:00.005+01:00

I think the interest in Ayn Rand's John Galt is only starting.

Apparently the Pru calculated that for the same pension contributions public sector employees can expect to gain four times higher pensions.

The stories on pension funding I've been reading over the last week are truly scary.

My own money purchase pensions have put in returns between -15 and -18% this year. Gordon Brown's stealth taxation and destruction of wealth is starting to be noticed.

How is a society going to insist on lavish taxpayer funded extortion to fund gold plated public sector pensions when those who earn the money we all spend in doing the productive things live out their retirements in poverty ?

Update: See Also John Redwood on "The death of the final salary pension fund - for the private sector"
Also note the government has just backed down on raising taxpayers contributions to MPs pensions - already some of the most generous in existence.

Banning the Burka and the BNP - the edge of tolerance

2009-06-24T09:48:00.008+01:00

Mr Sarkozy certainly knows how to stir things up. For a number of political reasons his statements about the form of dress from Afghanistan used to enforce visual apartheid between men and women ( mostly at the expense of the women - only Japanese Ninja's seem keen on covering up. If the visual sight of someone's face is such a problem how come its always the women who have to walk around in an inverted sack ? ).

Sarko has his argument thought through to some extent, pointing out that the burka didn't exist in the time of the religion of Islam's prophet Mohamed, which points out the hypocrisy nicely of some of the Islamacist movements people who's first question on anything is "What did Mohamed do ?" - which outlaws music, TV etc but not apparently RPG's or Kalashnikovs.

His logic appears to have been accepted by the UK pressure group the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) who counter in terms of feelings and perceptions, rather than an argument about their scriptures. After all this line of self generating grievance, where the self appointed victim can say their feelings are beyond question and must mean changes to everyone else's behaviour. One of the obvious counters to this is for the person with the opposite view to present themselves as a victim also with perceived hurt feelings - but all this does is put all sides into the power of the state to which the appeal to use its arbitrary overwhelming force to support their case ( note this is an anathema to a free society ).

Personally during the last elections I saw a woman covered from head to toe int he form of dress popular in Saudi Arabia come into the polling station. I found it intimidating and threatening, and yes I thought much less of Islam as a result. It made me think about if where the limits on toleration are.

Notice we have two competing forces here. Emotion made law - the perceived injustice case as argued by the MCB. A common minimum national standards - for example its still illegal to walk down the street naked.

At some point a nation may make laws which mean that some people in that nation find it intolerable to continue to live there. The case of covering women in cloth to hide them will either make life intolerable for Muslim women who don't wish to do so who are easily singled out and other people who live in Muslim areas, or some Muslim women who have genuine devote reasons for covering up may find an insistence not to do so intolerable.

It strikes me that the only answer to this is different nations in different locations with people free to move between the two.

Due to its history and heritage, which was clearly understood by voluntary immigrants over the last 500 years I would put England down in the non face covering category. There is no way everyone can be satisfied here and giving the impression that everything is to play for just encourages a whole series of grievances and counter grievances that will work against the cohesion of our nation.

What of applying the same argument to the move to neuter the BNP by applying new equality laws to its membership and employment strategies ?

I personally find the use of the law here very disturbing as the idea is to prevent a political party from being able to operate as it wishes. But using the same logic as before the UK has, in principle if not always practice, been a race blind country. Its a point that would be at the edge of our tolerance, in just the same was a Islamic female apartheid is. Perhaps the difference is that there are no other nations for the BNPs supporters to go of and live in.

In an ideal free society both forms of dress, peoples reactions to them and the political beliefs and how they wish to organise them would all be free. But we know that freedoms impinge on each other, and that obligations matter also.

If the BNP and Islamic separatist/colonists were minor issues with small number the English answer would always be as it started tolerance. But now the freedoms of others are being impinged by the actions of these groups.

I have no idea if Nicholas Sarkozy's statement will be enacted - denying some people either freedom of dress - or if the BNP will be closed down by legal action - denying its members their democratic right. But we are approaching the edge of tolerance, and these will be difficult times.

Update: See Saira Khan's take on this. She sees the Burka as an instrument of oppression .