West of Westminster

It’s been a while

2011-11-23T13:50:00.000Z

It’s been a long time but now sir Humphrey is back with his opinions on politics and the news. Whilst I have been gone a lot has gone from the Arab spring to the news of the world closing due to corrupt and unethical practice. Andy coulson the chief Tory spindoctor had to resign as he was editor of news of the world when some of the worst infractions occurred. Liam Fox the defence secretary also had to resign because of his unethical relationship with Adam Werritty a business man who accompanied Dr Fox on many overseas trips. The Euro is now a pathetic joke of a currency but France and Germany are desperate to keep it alive because too much political capital has been staked on it.

How can such a fool be “justice” secretary?

2011-05-18T12:45:00.000+01:00

Ed Milliband has rightly called for Ken Clarke to be sacked as Justice Secretary quite how David Cameron could appoint such an incompetent fool be Justice Secretary is beyond me. Ken Clarke has been a constant failure in just about every role he has had in government and should have been out to pasture a long time ago. 15 Months is far too short a time for any sort of rape and the suggestion that it would encourage people to plead guilty is ridiculous as you would end up with the horrible situation of some people pleading guilty to a crime they have not committed. It would be as bad as the unjust plea bargaining you get in the American justice system. This is jsut another part of the dumbing down of Justice to save money highly immoral. This comment from baker 123456 sums it up nicely “The role of a politician is to protect the people they represent...letting violent criminals off with smaller sentences because they 'admit' it is absurd.
Note to politicians..I do not feel protected!!!”

The catholic Church's broken moral compass

2011-05-17T11:27:00.000+01:00

Sometime you give the Catholic Church the benefit of the doubt and that they might actually be blindly feeling their way to morality when they suggest that bishops should co operate with the police by reporting priests who rape and molest children. But then they go and invite one of the world’s most brutal dictators Robert Mugabe to the beatification of Pope John Paul II why is the Vatican’s moral compass so broken as to invite someone like Mugabe? Do they not realise that it is things like this and there policy of encouraging the spread of Aids in Africa by banning condoms that are driving people away from the Catholic Church. But perhaps what they have in common with Mugabe the Catholic Church and Mugabe are both responsible for the death of thousands of poor Africans. Apparently one of three people who were raised Catholic no longer identifies as Catholic the article doesn’t make it clear but I believe that statistic is for the USA.

PR is best but AV is better than FPTP

2011-05-04T18:51:00.000+01:00

It seems that one of the main reasons the AV referendum will fail is because a lot of people would rather have Proportional Representation. I would agree it is my preferred choice as well but AV is a big step in the right direction a definite improvement over FPTP which as we have seen from the No2av crowd has nothing to recommend it. Not once have they provided an argument in its favour instead resorting to ad hominem attacks and fear mongering lies. So don’t vote no just because it’s not PR vote yes to AV because it is a step towards PR and make PR more likely in the future.

A sickening story

2011-05-04T17:29:00.000+01:00

It appears from this blog that the no campaing have lying to the poorly educated and ill about the AV referendum. I thought there fear mongering lies where bad enough but this is low even for them.

The No campaign has been dishonest.

2011-05-04T16:54:00.003+01:00

Right from the very beginning the no campaign has tried to create fear uncertainty and disorder by lying about AV system claiming it is complicated and expensive AV is very simple. If you are literate then you can understand how AV works. They claim it would be expensive and pulled random numbers out of the air yet there is no reason to spend any more money on administering AV. When the politicians are lying through their teeth and creat personal attacks on Nick Clegg to try and get you to vote no then there is something wrong with the no vote.

First past the post produces hung parliaments

2011-05-04T16:53:00.002+01:00

First past the post produces hung parliaments. Since Australia introduced AV they have had less hung parliaments than we have had with FPTP.

First past the post is a loser’s charter.

2011-05-04T16:51:00.002+01:00

Under FPTP the most popular candidate is not necessarily the one who wins. In Canada’s recent general election 60% of the voters voted against the winning party. The party that should have lost because it couldn’t get a substantive majority in fact won.

First past the post is a politician’s fix

2011-05-04T16:48:00.000+01:00

A great many political careerists want you to vote no. They want you to vote no because under AV they would have to appeal to the majority not pander to the biggest special interests group like they do under FPTP. Under FPTP you don’t even have to win a substantive majority to be the winner. We used to use a AV system but it was replaced by with FPTP by politicians for politicians. AV breaks the cycle of voting for two monolithic parties and allows different ideas to have a chance rather than the same old situation off I like C’s ideas but I won’t vote for them because they can’t win so I will vote for A because I hate B. Even though what A proposes is the same as B.

Not politics but important

2011-04-21T17:45:00.000+01:00

This report shows why you should enver ever trust apple they are probably the most controlling company ever. Dont trust iBrother.

Why labour have to defend the failure that is Gordon Brown

2011-04-19T14:44:00.001+01:00

Gordon Brown might not have been the one who pulled the trigger on the “gun” that caused the recession but he is the one who supplied the bankers with the gun supplied them with the ammo and gave the nod wink that they could run riot with the economy without personal repercussions. Gordon Brown is economically short sighted and was happy to get small immediate gains in exchange for a recession that was going to happen as a result of his failed policies. Labour would have had no reason to try and defend Gordon Brown legacy if they had had the guts the honesty and the competency to get rid of him. But they acted like craven politicians rather than leaders and the weakest prime minister in living memory managed to fend of the feeblest of leadership challenges.
If you throw a drowning man a life ring and you where the one who pushed him in the first place you are no hero, Gordon Brown is as much a villain in this as the Bankers.

I have edited this to include and excellent comment made by John Williams on the BBC website. "Although a lifelong supporter of the labour party, I fully agree with David Cameron in that Gordon Brown should have known the risks he was taking with the British economy, but obviously did'nt. His attempt at the premiership was woefull and he shouldn't be let near a position of power or responsibility ever again."

It’s time for Cameron to grow a spine.

2011-04-19T14:19:00.000+01:00

The BBC reports the truly scary story that Gordon brown is one of the favourites to become head of the International monetary fund. Quite why anyone would think that the UK’s most incompetent chancellor in living memory should be in charge of one of the world most important financial institutes is anyone’s guess. Fortunately Britain has a veto in the IMF and David Cameron has hinted he may use it. He needs to do more than hint he needs to clearly state that Gordon Brown will not be head of the IMF. This is an area where he can be clear as hardly anyone but the most sycophantic and possibly insane labour support would think Brown is a good choice.

No to AVs three dishonest claims, actually they are outright lies.

2011-04-07T12:46:00.000+01:00

The No to AV campaign has 3 main reasons to vote no to AV. One a complete distortion the other two are outright lies. But the whole no to AV campaign has been one of dishonesty and fear mongering from the start.

AV is costly

“The change to AV will cost up to an additional £250 million. Local councils would have to waste money on costly electronic vote counting machines and expensive voter education campaigns. With ordinary families facing tough times can we really afford to spend a quarter of a billion pounds of taxpayers' money bringing in a new voting system? Schools and hospitals, or the Alternative Vote – that's the choice in this referendum.”

If they think a onetime £250 million cost is going to stop education or health care they have not got a clue about how much those actually cost. Healthcare costs £110 Billion a year or about 440X the one of cost for AV. Education costs are approximately £84 billion a year about 336X the one of cost of AV Clearly the claim that it is schools and hospitals or AV is a complete and disgraceful lie.

Cancelling the unnecessary trident replacement at a minimum would save a £24 Billion one of cost and who knows how much per year in maintenance. By doing so you could spend £250million on AV and have over £23 Billon extra to spend on schools and hospitals. Or use that money to buy conventional military equipment that has a genuine use and is under our control unlike trident and its potential replacement.

AV is complex and unfair

“The winner should be the candidate that comes first, but under AV the candidate who comes second or third can actually be elected. That’s why it is used by just three countries in the world – Fiji, Australia and Papua New Guinea. Voters should decide who the best candidate is, not the voting system. We can't afford to let the politicians off the hook by introducing a loser's charter.”

Under AV the most popular candidates win First past the post allows for unpopular and weak leaders who are elected with less than majority support. The reason only three countries use it is because it is an anathema to weak careerist politicians who rely on the first past the post system It would have taken heavy campaigning from the non political class to get AV passed in those countries. The suggestion that the politician who comes second or third gets in is ludicrous. Under AV a politician must get a substantive majority (over 50% of the vote) and therefore be a true winner, a truly popular leader. First past the post means a politician can get in with an un-substantive majority (under 50% of the vote) now that is a real losers charter.

AV is fairer and the suggestion it is too complicated is insulting the intelligence of everyone in this country. Filling out the census form is a lot more complicated and it’s not hard. Australians have been using it successfully sin 1918 they don’t think it is complicated at all.

AV is a politician's fix

“AV leads to more hung parliaments, backroom deals and broken promises like the Lib Dem tuition fees U-turn. Instead of the voters choosing the government, politicians would hold power. Under AV, the only vote that really counts is Nick Clegg's. We can't afford to let the politicians decide who runs our country.”

Australia introduced to alternative vote in 1918 since then they have had 2 hung parliaments in 1940 and 2010. Since 1918 our first past the post has also produced three hung parliaments in 1929, 1974 and 2010. Looking at the facts it shows a hung parliament is slightly less likely under AV not more likely. Therefore political deals are actually more likely under first past the post but that is why career politicians and extremists oppose AV. As for the suggestion that the only vote that counts is Nick Clegg is just a bizarre and outright lie.

Av is to the careerist and extremist politician as garlic is to a vampire that is why so many of the UK’s political failures and extremists are against it.
So there you have it the no to campaigns three main arguments against AV one distortion of reality two outright lies

Where have all the Christians gone?

2011-04-05T11:44:00.000+01:00

Pastor Terry Jones who has deliberately caused deaths by burning the Koran knows exactly what he is doing. He knows exactly what the results will be in the un-educated Muslim countries. He knows the local Politicians in those countries will fan the flames for political reasons much as American politicians fan the flames and encourage Christians to murder abortion doctors. Pastor Terry Jones this yet still carries on revelling in the deaths
This is just another example that the religion of Christ no longer exists and that those left who claim to be Christian are nothing more than passive aggressive attention seekers. It has been years since I have met or heard of anyone who claims to be Christian and who actually follows the most basic teachings of Christ, love thy neighbour would one or judge not lest you be judged would be appropriate.
Terry Jones is just a hate filled man who is deliberately provoking un-educated peasants by mocking their religion. It is a deliberate attempt to provoke protests and deaths and each death is his responsibility and I’m sure he is delighted by every single one. Can we end the charade that religion is a positive force in the world and accept the evidence that it’s just another excuse for people to hate each other. As Steven Weinberg said “Religion is an insult to human dignity. With or without it, you'd have good people doing good things and evil people doing bad things, but for good people to do bad things, it takes religion.”

self entitled careerist labour MP, Unelected government minister and the BNP all oppose democracy.

2011-03-30T15:54:00.002+01:00

As the Yes and No Campaigns about the referendum on AV hot up the no campaign have been more than a little dishonest. As an example Baroness Warsi has claimed that BNP would be boosted by AV. This is completely untrue as it may increase their votes slightly but popular parties would have an even greater increase and as you need a real majority to get elected it would mean significant losses in the European elections (a spring board for all extremist parties) for the BNP and other extremists. The BNP’s official position on AV is “The AV system is obviously a sleight of hand which is directed against the BNP and is not aimed at improving democracy in Britain. Rather, Mr Cameron and Mr Clegg’s sudden conversion to AV are an indication that they have now fully comprehended the meaning of the BNP’s surge in vote totals in last week’s election — and are desperate to undermine democracy even “The AV system is obviously a sleight of hand which is directed against the BNP and is not aimed at improving democracy in Britain. Rather, Mr Cameron and Mr Clegg’s sudden conversion to AV are an indication that they have now fully comprehended the meaning of the BNP’s surge in vote totals in last week’s election — and are desperate to undermine democracy even further.” IT is the last paragraph in the article.
When a self entitled careerist labour MP, authoritarian racists like the BNP and unelected Cabinet minister’s team up to say no to AV then you can be sure that AV is something that improves democracy making it harder for the extreme the corrupt and the undemocratic to gain power.
I am linking to a significant no to AV site. They have promised to provide a reason for no every week. As they do not allow comments, which is no surprise for an anti democracy site, I will be providing a response every week to them. There first that i am aware of was repeating Baroness Warsi’s fear mongering and outright lie that AV would benefit the BNP which has been answered in this post by pointing out the BNP oppose AV as it doesn’t benefit them.

Rattled David Cameron loses the plot has mini temper tantrum at Ed balls.

2011-03-30T14:02:00.000+01:00

David Cameron dubbed shadow chancellor Ed Balls "the most annoying person in modern politics" during angry Commons exchanges. "I wish the shadow chancellor would occasionally shut up and listen to the answer," said Mr Cameron. This is rather immature of the PM and is a classic example of not having answers to his questions. Rather than say "I wish the shadow chancellor would occasionally shut up and listen to the answer," answer him again if it is a good answer he will look bad. But by acting the way he did he ends up looking bad because it looks like he is avoiding the question. This is not way a Prime minister or national leader and certainly not a British one should behave. Ultimately he looked out of his depth and rattled, No Wonder Ed Balls was grinning at David Cameron’s reply.

Arts cuts not at all chilling.

2011-03-30T12:53:00.000+01:00

The Independent has a slightly dishonest headline “Funding cuts 'chilling' says arts chief” When it’s actually the Shadow Culture Secretary who said it. It’s a massive leap to call them a chief. Also whilst it is disappointing they have arts cuts it is by no means essential spending. The only things we should be spending much money on are education, the courts and police, healthcare, job creation and lastly defence. Everything else is frivolous and should be subject to big big cuts until the economy is back on its feet and tax revenues increase. Whilst people are losing their jobs and are going into debt spending much if any money on the arts is a slap in the face to those who are suffering due to the economic climate.

How can Bush be a great leader when he didn’t lead anyone at the end?

2011-03-30T10:38:00.001+01:00

The Telegraph has an amusingly childish piece trying to claim that George Bush was a more effective world leader than Barrack Obama. It would seem the author of this story has not got the first clue about good leadership. He claims that George Bush’s gung ho policy is far more effective than Obama’s one of listening to others. First an effective leader cannot lead without listening to those they lead he doesn’t always do what they want but he should always listen or he will lose his leadership position. By ignoring the majority of world opinion George Bush immediately stopped being a leader and become a loner with few friends. Like an ineffective school bully most ignored him and only a few weaklings and sycophants like Tony Blair followed him.
Take football as an example of leadership. There is a saying that a manager has lost the dressing room it basically means the managers has ignored his players opinions for so long that they no longer want to play for him. The manager is no longer a leader and either has to take great steps to be respected again or loss his job. Bush was not a great leader because he wasn’t a leader at all by the end of his presidency. After 9/11 he threw away the greatest amount of worldwide good feeling and sympathy towards America that there has ever been that is failed leadership right there.

Failure of the anarchists

2011-03-28T16:30:00.000+01:00

In what is becoming a more and more common theme violent anarchists hijack a peaceful protest to go on pointless rampage. Nothing says failed philosophy like using violence because you are unable to convince people you are right. Anarchism seems to attract bitter and self entitled individuals who have a might makes right philosophy not dissimilar from Ayn Rand’s one of irrational, selfish, self entitled behaviour.

Real protester organisers need to be on the lookout for these people in the future they must confront them, remove there masks and inform the police of their presence. Whilst no one except the Tory jester Boris Johnson believes that these anarchist where anything to do with the TUC’s protests protest organisers need to out the trouble makers for their own protest to be taken seriously.

Petrol stations pocketing the 1p fuel duty cut

2011-03-27T14:25:00.000+01:00

Petrol stations are not passing on the chancellors insultingly small cut to fuel duty. The Retail Motor Industry Federation (RMI) says many garages will delay implementing the cut until stocks of existing, more expensive fuel are gone. This is complete rubbish the duty is paid by the customer not the petrol station. They buy the fuel at a cost and then add VAT and fuel duty on afterwards for the customer to pay they don’t pay it themselves and any rise or fall in fuel duty makes no difference to what they pay. It is time to accept that deregulation or self regulation of industry does not work and cannot work. No business is going to put the customer above squeezing every last penny it can out of its customers and they will continue to do so until an independent regulator is created.

A Glimmer of hope

2011-03-27T13:46:00.000+01:00

The BBC reports a glimmer of good news for the future of humanity. According to a report religion may well become extinct in 9 countries surveyed for too long belief in the supernatural has damaged humanity and caused untold suffering in the name of fictional gods. It provides evil people a tool to control others and make them believe in evil things.
It is time to oppose those who believe they have the right and responsibility to control others because their imaginary friend said this is the way they wanted them to behave. I will leave you with this excellent video of Veena Malik shaming a Muslim cleric.

The path of protest

2011-03-22T14:05:00.000Z

The guardian has published and extremely interesting timeline of protests and revolution that have been happening throughout the Middle East and North Africa.

Whilst it is interesting not sure why they have included UAE, Kuwait and Israel in there unless they think that they will be next to experience protests and revolution.

Kaddafi forces declare immediate cease fire then immediately break it

2011-03-18T16:41:00.001Z

Libya's government has declared an immediate ceasefire after a UN Security Council resolution backed "all necessary measures" short of occupation to protect civilians in the country.
However reports from Aljazeera indicate that Kaddafi’s forces are still active against the Libyan rebels.

Tory MP Greg Hands wants to waste government time and money

2011-03-18T14:10:00.001Z

Tory MP Greg Hands seems to believe that there is nothing important going on in the UK or world. He has asked ministers to take the completely unnecessary step of declaring Foxes vermin.
Mr Hands said "Last summer a number of my constituents were attacked in their own homes by urban foxes," “Could you liaise with the Communities Secretary (Eric Pickles) to see if we could change the law so that urban foxes could be treated as vermin in the same way as rats and mice are?" This is a complete waste of time it is lawful for people to kill foxes by shooting, snaring or trapping them in a baited cage - although poisoning is not allowed. Declaring Foxes vermin would make no difference to this whatsoever and would just waste government time and money.

UN resolution imposes no fly zone in Libya and goes further

2011-03-18T13:15:00.001Z

The UN has finally voted for a no fly zone over Libya in fact it is more than a no fly zone the UN resolution authorises "all measures necessary" short of sending in ground troops. This means that not only will Khadafy not be able to use his airforce against the rebels but that the UN forces can attack Khadafy’s ground assets this makes the situation much more even removing Khadafy’s main advantages his airpower and armoured forces. If the rebels guingly have popular support against Khadafy then
Resolution 1973 imposes a "ban on all flights in Libyan airspace" except for aid planes. It also authorises member states to "take all necessary measures" to "protect civilians and civilian populated areas under threat of attack". Excludes occupation force and toughens the arms embargo by calling on all member states to "inspect, in their territory, vessels and aircraft bound to or from Libya". It also widens asset freeze to include Libyan Investment Authority, Central Bank of Libya and Libyan National Oil Company among others.