Happy New Year

A Happy New Year to one and all

Let's raise a glass to a better year

Almost There

While others make predictions or compile a 2009 round-up of horrors I thought I'd just replay my favourite video of the year and console myself that there's only a few more months until the election.

Fuck You Gordon Brown
a wheelbarrow full of sherbert dib-dabs and dolly mixtures to GrumpyOldTwat

A Change Of Pace

Silly Billy Mili Vanilli

I heard an interview on the radio with the father of Peter Moore, the freed hostage, in which he called David Miliband a liar and said the first they knew of Peter's release was from the tv news. However, I've decided not to write about that - go here instead and see the sort of day some others have had.  Three guesses what FML means.

UPDATE: 1.1.10 "Miliband a waste of space".  The Times has more detail.

What Has Europe Done For Us?

Unified law across the European Union is taking another step forward with the news that the EU’s commissioner for justice and fundamental rights has set her sights on re-working Contract Law, which  could form the basis of a European Civil Code: a long-standing objective of supporters of deeper EU integration.

National civil codes encompass property, contracts, tort and general obligations at the core of civic life, which stem directly from the traditions of each country. They also govern family or employment relations, areas in which the EU’s competences are strictly limited.

A European Civil Code would represent a substantial step forward for the EU’s internal market, allowing companies and consumers to operate more easily in another country without having to face different laws.   But it is likely to face strong resistance in countries like Britain, as it would make the EU appear more of a ’superstate’ than a loose confederation of nations.

 The Electronic Journal of Comparitive Law (EJCL) held lectures on the European Civil Code in 2000 and has further info on Ius Commune.

'History shows that major communities have generally adopted standard codes of civil law.'  The document then mentions the continental European legal systems as examples and the United Kingdom as a notable exception. It continues: 'However, it is safe to say that a position of economic supremacy can only be attained if there is a certain degree of "legal rationality".

Differences between common law and civil law systems

It's perfectly reasonable and not surprising; criminal law is already being 'harmonised' and now England's Common Law looks set to be 'rationalised' too. "It is likely to face strong resistance in...Britain": I doubt it.

There Are More Things In Heaven & Earth...

Jesse Ventura's style is definitely ott to British ears but his four videos on HAARP (High Frequency Active Auroral Research Programme) are worth watching.  What they essentially add up to is an ability to control the climate and minds.

HAARP home page here.
Dr Nick Begich: Vandalism in the Sky

"Thus, this invention provides the ability to put unprecedented amounts of power in the Earth's atmosphere at strategic locations and to maintain the power injection level particularly if random pulsing is employed, in a manner far more precise and better controlled than heretofore accomplished by the prior art, particularly by detonation of nuclear devices of various yields at various altitudes... "

"Weather modification is possible by, for example, altering upper atmosphere wind patterns by constructing one or more plumes of atmospheric particles which will act as a lens or focusing device.

... molecular modifications of the atmosphere can take place so that positive environmental effects can be achieved. Besides actually changing the molecular composition of an atmospheric region, a particular molecule or molecules can be chosen for increased presence. For example, ozone, nitrogen, etc., concentrations in the atmosphere could be artificially increased."

 DARPA: manipulating lightning ( Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency)

Here's Part 1 of Ventura's videos:


Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
UPDATE:  UK goes hi-tech too:
MoD seeks bids for robotic stealth 'raygun' aircraft.  "The "novel air concept" would be able to operate "within urban canyons" and deploy radical new weapons such as microwave or laser rayguns."

Another 'Bomber' Hunted

We've had the war on terror, the war on climate change so could 2010  be the year of the war on speed cameras? Police in Eastleigh, Hampshire are hunting a motorist who blew up a speed camera. Is this how rebellions begin?

Map showing speed cameras in the UK
PS: I almost forgot, has anyone else heard the news that petrol is going up by as much as 10p a litre? That's about 46p per gallon. All tax.

Govt Appropriates NHS Donations

This doesn't smell right: the government is bringing in changes to accounting methods within the NHS which means that all charitable donations must be declared alongside Treasury funding.

Charities also fear that the change, due to come into effect in April, will be used as a smokescreen to hide cuts in health spending, with ministers reducing funds for organisations such as children’s hospitals that have successful charitable arms...

Ministers were banned from counting charitable donations towards the central NHS budget under the original legislation that created the NHS in 1948.  But this looks set to be reversed after the Treasury agreed to implement International Accounting Standard (IAS) 27. Now all NHS Trusts whose trustees have the “power to control” their charitable arm look likely to be forced to consolidate both sets of accounts in one.

Money raised by fun runners for NHS charities could be "nationalised"

How fundraising has changed since 1948

£115k pw

I'm sorry to shatter the sublime music of EF but...should we really be paying this amount of money for Tony Blair's security?

It comes from Scotland Yard and the Home Office - ie you and me.
Click to enlarge

Does Music Die?

Dissonance...

...

Ostrich with honey and black pepper sauce

I'm still here and some of you might be wondering what's going on... perhaps not ... but here it is anyway: it's still blog-lite because I'm expletive deleted here in Spain.  Let's just say some documentation went missing (though not from my filing cabinet) so I missed Christmas ...   It will continue to be blog-lite until I get back. In fact, the way things are shaping up I could be acquainted with the inside of a Spanish jail in the not too distant future - don't ask me, I don't know, the solicitor's on holiday.  It's just one of those things - sod's law in action again.  If they're anything like British prisons I'm quite looking forward to it and only hope that, if it's going to happen, I get in there in time for the Festival of the Three Kings on the 6th.  Grapes, humour  & bons vivants - what could be better?

What made me pensive today was reading the broadsheets but finding nothing significant and then reading the Daily Mail - where I found one article.  It wasn't the news report itself that was interesting because it's pretty old news - it was the comments.

Reading the comments you'd be forgiven for thinking that England and the rest of the UK was up in arms with the support & encouragement of the rest of the world.  It isn't so - nobody cares about you.  In the ex-pat EU community life's good and people only say, "thank goodness I left that British sh*thole in time."  No help will come from outside.  Not from America, not from the EU.

The majority of comments make Brits sound like a bunch of rottweiller-owning, baseball-playing EDL supporters ready to riot outside Parliament.  There's some sort of disconnect between reality and perception.  What's happened, I think (note the neat caveat), is that people have played on the strengths of the British and turned them into weaknesses.  That so many people say, in effect, eff off, is fine when writing a comment in a newspaper, but it isn't being seen on the streets.  What I'm saying to DM readers is: don't believe the commenters who say they agree with you are who they say they are. 

We all remember the 'Poll Tax Riots' which led to Margaret Thatcher's downfall, yet we've ended up with something more inequitable.  Who was behind the riots?  Embedding has been disabled - click here for a reminder. Only the left/anarchists instigate riots (see the UAF & Climate Change); the right never have; the right vote instead.   I thought it was interesting that in 1990 it was the left vilifying the Police whereas today, after 13yrs of socialist government, they get it from all directions.

Will Cameron uphold our values as Leader of the Conservative Party, if they win the GE?  To my mind, the Cons agree with Lab and make a bed ready for the LibDems; they agree with far too many government policies in an effort to be seen as consensual and so ingratiate themselves with what they think the electorate want while at the same time denying it - much like Labour.  We need a Grand Repeal Act along the lines put forward by Douglas Carswell but  I'd put more faith  in this if we heard more about it from Cameron in the msm .  From what I read in the Daily Mail, it would be a vote-winner so why isn't Cameron pursuing the idea? 

For what it's worth, so many people in so many countries governed by an unelected 'elite' will only lead to violence.

Media disinformation: "War Memorial vandalised by the far-right". Somehow I can't see the BNP or UKIP scrawling a slogan about Islam dominating the world, can you? Wtf is 'the far right' in media-speak? It seems to me that this government and extreme Islam have more in common than they would like to be broadcast.

WordVer Back

I'm weary of anonymongs leaving their foreign language adverts for viagra & cialis on the blog so I'm reinstating word verification.  At least Blogger works better than the comment mod in the Independent which has featured some fantastic bargains in shoes and handbags lately.

Sunday Reflection

Sunday Round-Up

Questions raised over quality of intelligence. "MI5...will be spending the next few weeks frantically trying to discover whether Abdulmutallab had, at any time, appeared on their radar. The service will want to know whether he was a complete unknown or if he was one of the 2,000-plus "persons of interest" MI5 currently has on its books and who are believed to be associated with al-Qaeda in some capacity."
Britain's jihadis.  "For years now, Islamic extremists wanted on terror charges in their own country have taken sanctuary in Britain. Our judges (not our politicians) say it would be cruel to send them back to their own countries, in case they're tortured.  Result? People actually convicted for terror attacks in countries like Libya can live freely here"
Cynical election ploy as Labour steal another Tory policy: "Gordon Brown is preparing to pitch Labour as the party of marriage and the family in an audacious bid for core Tory votes."
Talk of Labour in-fighting heats up. "Jack Straw is leading a group of five rebel Cabinet Ministers who want Gordon Brown to step down as Labour leader before the General Election, it was claimed last night. And Peter Mandelson was accused of ‘sulking’ after it emerged that Schools Secretary Ed Balls has ousted him as Mr Brown’s unofficial deputy."
Conservatives to give police chiefs option to scrap PCSOs. "...some police officers have always been sceptical of the effectiveness of PCSOs and argue that the public is ill-served by supposed police officers who do not have the same training as full officers and fewer powers. The Police Federation has accused the Labour Government of undermining the role of constable and "policing on the cheap".
Telecoms firms speak out against 'East German Stasi' plans. ‘It would be extremely ironic if we at T-Mobile (UK) Ltd had to acquire the surveillance functionality envisaged by the Consultation Document at the same time that our parent company, headquartered in Germany, was celebrating the 20th anniversary of the demise of the equivalent systems established by the Stasi in the federal states of the former East Germany.’
Cameron recalls Eurosceptic & Thatcherite. "...will unveil new policies on health, welfare and law and order. The move, due for the first week of January, comes after the surprise recall of Mr Cameron’s former political director, George Bridges."
Civil Servants exert undue influence on criminal justice system. "It [Napo] said it found examples that officials at the National Offender Management Service had ordered frontline probation staff to exclude potentially mitigating factors when writing pre-sentencing reports, to change the length of supervision orders and to alter risk assessments carried out on offenders who had left prison."
The mafia make themselves at home in Britain "But while Panzuto has now given us names of his British accomplices, which we passed on to British authorities earlier this year, the British do not seem to be that interested."

For The Children

Shelter From The Storm

This is what 'globalisation' has brought us; there has to be a better way of co-operating.

Homework for tonight: write an essay (not exceeding 250 words) on the subject of Globalisation -v- Appeasement.

A while back there was mention of EU Ministers sitting in our govt's Cabinet meetings. Today we have a revised proposal of MEPs advising MPs on the Foreign Affairs Committee and sitting in the House of Commons at least once a year.

What I Did On My Holidays #2

By GV aged 21 (still)
Class: Must try harder
Language: Unacceptable

I awoke this morning to another awesome thunderstorm, more pelting rain and the news that some Nigerian screwball, Abdul Farouk Abdulmutallab, an Engineering graduate at University College London, had tried to blow up a plane en route to America. I switched on Sky News but there was no mention of him studying in London. It was actually almost half past twelve before this British link was mentioned on tv news. Is there any wonder we can’t trust their lacklustre reporting? All I can say is thank goodness the Americans have him because if this had happened in British jurisdiction it doesn’t bear thinking about. The footage of Sky interviews with passengers on the flight doesn’t need words to describe their experience; you can see it in their eyes. Thank goodness so many extremists are thick b@st@rds who couldn’t take out the lights in a slaughterhouse.

The one that really made my blood boil was news of a renewed campaign backed by that well-known vegetarian MP, Secretary of the Environment, Hilary Benn, plus various no-cereb-slebs. Aw, shame = good; yah, boo = bad. Tony Robinson, Jenny Seagrove, Patrick Stewart et al: please stfu & stick to acting.  What next? No fish and chips?

I doubt I'm the only one who feels that ‘celebrities’ should butt out of politics and mind their own business rather than trying to influence government. I set out my thoughts on this when I started the blog and I haven’t changed my mind. Veggies should remember that the livelihood and well-being of human beings must take precedence. I was a vegetarian for years so old habits die hard but I have to say to Benn & Co, it ain’t gonna happen guys, not in this lifetime.  Cameron's calling for a free vote and I hope he gets it.

Unsurprisingly, I disliked the ads as well. I’ve always f-fwd through them if I've had to because they’re just not relevant but I suffered some yesterday and earlier today thanks to the storms. If I have to listen to another ad from govt-sponsored Gloria Hunniford telling me to buy more Benecol because the "European Commission" says it’s beneficial and therefore "there’s no debate” I’ll throw LBC out of the window. Another sad voice-over ad is from the WWF about dying polar bears. I know times are hard for media corps (*ahem, cough, splutter*) but is government propaganda a suitable substitute for good, honest reporting? WTF happened to ethics? Bombarded day and night by govt messages!    Perhaps if the tv media reported honestly they'd have more advertisers willing to sign up.

Has anyone else noticed how references to the EU have increased since the Czechs signed the Lisbon Treaty? Even the BBC, sly pocketeer of grants and loans, mentions them now.  More radio/tv ads mentioning the EC are coming our way.  Slowly-slowly and all that...

What I Did On My Holidays #1

By GV, aged 21 (again)
Class:  Could do better.

After a Christmas Day with lots of carols, food and phone calls this year’s Boxing Day is rather strange but I can’t put my finger on why. Instead of being locked up for rushing out into the street, shaking my fists heavenward in frustration and telling the world to eff off (I told you it was a weird feeling) I thought I’d come and vent my frustration here. You’ve been warned – not because of any bad language but because you may find it self-indulgently tedious.  Guess what?

Yesterday started well; Christmas is a feeling and a smell as well as a family occasion and a religious event. The feeling was inside and, if I closed my eyes, the smell was there too. The radio was good and the Carol Service from St Ormond’s Street Children’s Hospital (on LBC) was fantastic. First indication of a problem was when I started to sing along as I shoved the old bird in the oven: I could barely complete a line, let alone a verse. My throat strangled my voice and my eyes welled up out of the blue – for no apparent reason at all. It was a happy, peaceful morning (and I smelled delicious, having showered in Shalimar), I’d avoided Sky/BBC News and everything was quite jolly; Jazz & Suki were purring round my feet in anticipation of the aroma emanating from the kitchen and all was well.  So what the heck's going on with the singing?

It's not just that though; I seem to have morphed into a real Weepy Winnie lately.  When I read the papers online or listen to it on the tv I just choke sometimes.  I weep for the missing children, the fallen soldiers, the lost England, the lies and the betrayal.  It's like having constant pms or being pregnant (nope!)  - I think mums will remember the feeling of hormones being all over the place and weeping for the sins of the world - please don't say it was just me!

It has to be said that the weather doesn’t help: it’s been raining stair rods all week, the skies have been dark and the thunderstorms spectacular – yesterday was no different and it must have blown the Sky box except I didn’t find out until I wanted to watch the programmes I’d recorded – ‘failed’.   The router was decidedly dodgy too and took ages to right itself after the power was re-connected. I struggled for a good hour or two to fix the Sky problem: on, off, leave it alone, on, disconnect, press the buttons, hold your breath, swear, but every time it sprang into life another black cloud would knock it out and I’d have to start all over again. The router was fine in the end for which I’m grateful since I’d be lost without it because I use it to speak to my boys in England and the digibox is behaving better today, though Sky News is one of the few programmes I can receive with minimum disruption.

So, those are essentially the feelings from Christmas Day; not bad necessarily; just sod’s law.

However, Boxing Day is definitely a different kettle of fish and #2 follows shortly.

Guess What?

Typical isn't it?  Christmas Day - bah humbug!
Lifted from here, just in case it helps anyone else.
"WARNING - following this advice is totally at your discretion and anything which happens to your digibox as a result is your responsibility, not mine. You will lose all recorded programmes from your Sky+ Planner.

Sky tech support can talk you through performing a system restore over the phone. To do this yourself, press 'services' on your Sky plus remote, then select option 4. Next press 0, 1, select - you should now see the engineer's menu. Choose option 8, 'Full System Reset'. The box will now take a few minutes to reset itself.

Try pausing or recording again, and if the problem persists disconnect the digibox from the mains power. Press and hold the 'left' and 'right' navigation buttons on the front of the digibox whilst you reconnect the mains power. Continue holding the buttons in for about 20 seconds, and when the ring of light on the front comes on, press the 'select' button on the front of the digibox (between the left and right buttons you were holding). The Sky+ recording logo lights will spin backwards and, according to the Sky engineer, this will "clear the hard drive".

Once this is done, disconnect the digibox from the mains power again and this time press and hold the 'back up' button whilst you reconnect the mains power. Continue holding it for about 15 seconds until 3 lights on the front of the box come on and you get a full-screen message saying "Updating system software. Do not disconnect mains supply or satellite dish."

Leave the digibox doing its thing for about 10 minutes and it should be fixed! Try pausing and recording things again... hopefully you've just saved yourself the callout charge.

If you've not been so lucky, you'll have to get Sky to fix it for you. Some people report that if you ask to cancel your subscription Sky sometimes offer a free callout to fix the problem - you're more valuable to them as a paying customer than the cost of an engineer callout."

I hope you don't need it.

What Are You Doing For Christmas?

Oh Come All Ye Faithful

For Unto Us A Child Is Born

For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given, and the government shall be upon His shoulder; and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9:6)

God Bless

God bless our Armed Forces every single day of the year.

Wherever you are and whatever you do, we're with you.  We appreciate you and love you all - come home safely.

Hark! The Herald Angels Sing

The Penultimate Post

For today at least:

Here's a pic of some of the female bloggers who've also had enough of this govt.  Admit it: you knew you weren't all men didn't you?

Actually, we're not like that at all; some of us are more like this:

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to one and all.

(Fausty is on the left, SubRosa is in the middle and Muffled Vociferation is on the right)

Aimless Wandering

I've put these on to write this post - you might want to get yours out too.

I was minding my own business, following links where they took me (the internet equivalent of a Lucky Dip on a cold day of dark skies and torrential rain) when I came across this:  Imerys China Clay Community.  Imerys is a French mineral-mining company (share info here) listed on the Euronext Stock Exchange, formerly known as Imetal and owned by the Rothschilds.

I'm just wondering why this French mining company has been short-listed by the government to build an 'eco-town' of 5,000 new homes on the site of old Cornish china clay mines. When did it branch out into building new towns?  What expertise does this French mining company have that British construction firms don't?

I've now become so inured to this government stitching us up at every opportunity - and in many cases instigating the stitching-up while disguising it with a Gallic shrug - that I question everything they do; it's very wearing.  The government has not only engineered a mish-mash of multi-culti society, they've created a multi-culti corporate business wonderland too.  All-comers are welcome to a piece of England, so long as you're not actually British.  Dilution of the nation-state.

There is undoubtedly something nasty in the woodshed, which isn't being openly reported by the msm, and 22% voted for it at the last election.

Here's what expletive-deleted Gordon Brown has to say on global ethics and national interest:


What a fat, button-popping, chair-swivelling, swaggering, no-neck, self-satisfied g!t of the first order the man is. Never mind eh? Mustn't grumble...let's put the kettle on and have a nice cup of tea.

UPDATE:  Perhaps I should have said that TED is part of the  global communication project.  One message; one world.

Commitment?

This squalid government, made up of lying, thieving, cockwaffling Fabian scum, continues to sink lower.  Not one word they utter is true.  They smile while lying; it's their own form of Taqqiyah. With the help of a weak Opposition and the LibDems they have destroyed this country's institutions and called it 'progress'.   The country has been changed  beyond recognition in the name of 'modernisation'.  Yes, they have a 'commitment', but it isn't to this country or our country's Armed Forces.  Suddenly, being voted out of office (or as they like to call it, power) at the GE, is too good for them - it's too fair, too 'British'.

Major NATO training exercises cancelled.

In what must rank as one of the most fatuous responses ever, Bill Rammell, AF Minister, said:  “Given our current commitments we must ensure that activity is focused on preparing our Forces for the challenges they will face. Any suggestion that Service personnel are not ready to respond to the unexpected is nonsense, as was seen in the fast and effective response to the flooding in the North of England last month.” 

It's tough when people are concerned with hanging on to jobs and homes (more businesses have gone to the wall in this recession than did in the 90s) but more of us need to spare a moment to see the bigger picture and the destination.  EuroGendFor is looming.  Does anyone remember the saying:  You can't see the wood for the trees?

Angels From The Realms Of Glory

Are You Having A Bad Day?

I've been trying to avoid politics today so if you think you've had a bad day  console yourselves with these pics.  The first one shows an Adventure Holiday designed exclusively for certain MPs:

The Climate Change Taliban

Those who challenge AGW theories and cap & trade have been labelled flat-earthers, deniers and now accessories to terrorism and drug-running:

Why Girls Need Parents

Once In Royal David's City

The First Nowell

Prat Of The Week

Ken Livingstone, ex-Mayor of London:  "Britain's financial sector is so big compared to the size of population that it is dragging us down."

He's said this twice today on LBC Radio but, try as he might, he's not managed to get any of his 'experts' to agree with him.

Here's a link to Brown's 2006 Mansion House speech, when he was Chancellor of the Exchequer:

"...Mr Lord Mayor, we will not forget that the first and foremost duty of government – as the governor has reminded us – is to maintain and indeed to strengthen the monetary and fiscal stability that has enabled us, successively, to grow and remain free of recession over the last decade, even when facing the Asia crisis, the American downturn and now the rapidly rising oil and commodity prices of the last 3 years.

I can assure you that through the vigilance of the Bank and our determination to ensure future public sector pay settlements are founded on our 2 per cent inflation target, we will maintain our anti-inflation discipline.

And even at a time of global uncertainty, government debt in Britain is lower than France, Germany, Italy, America and Japan and growth in Britain is strengthening - growth expected to be stronger this year than last, and stronger next year than this..."

Same old same old Gordon Brown, cheque-bouncer and party-crasher.

Livingstone read out an email which he described as 'nasty' because the author opposed his views and said Livingstone was wrong - it seemed quite reasonable to me: the man worked hard and didn't like to see his increasing taxes going to support crass govt schemes.  According to Livingstone he'd received "a surprising number of texts and emails supporting the bankers" - unfortunately, he said, they were too long to read out which was my cue to hit the power-off button.

I'm looking forward to the historic 3-Leaders Debate on Sky, ITV and BBC if only to hear Alastair Campbell's script-writing team and to have a good laugh. It promises to be more political than HIGNFY.

Interview: Tory Candidate

He's new to me and I think it's fair to say that this comedian is equal-handed in his treatment of Conservatives and Labour:

Whatever Turns You On

If I were more technologically savvy I know whose face I'd superimpose on the phantom bottom sniffer of old Plymouth town.

Beggaring Belief

Leaving aside the legal ethics and philosophical debate, I read this story with incredulity.  A vicar in York has said that it's okay to steal if you're poor.   Reverend Tim Jones offers a weaselly justification for his Sunday sermon:

“I would ask that they do not steal from small family businesses but from large national businesses, knowing that the costs are ultimately passed on to the rest of us in the form of higher prices. I would ask them not to take any more than they need, for any longer than they need.."

Rev Jones said that shoplifting was a better option than burglary, prostitution or 'mugging' for hard-pressed parishioners but the Ten Commandments makes it quite clear, in two places, that he's mistaken:

1. Thou shalt not steal
2. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's oxen

If this is the calibre of thinking within the Church of England  there's no wonder it's going down the pan and there's a growing movement for disestablishment.

In The Bleak Midwinter

Sign Found

The incredibly talented TractorStats does it again:

Say It Ain't So

This is all we need:  Marrakesh Mandy may run for London Mayoralty.  Apparently, a former Labour minister has given Ken Livingstone a “friendly tip-off” about a formidable possible challenger. “He gave me a warning that I should take the Mandelson thing seriously. It was not an attempt to turn me off, just a warning he would go for it,” he said.

In a way it would make some sort of sense; the London Mayor is currently one of the most powerful men in England, after the PM.  When England is fully regionalised it could be the EU's strong anchor from Brussels.  On the other hand, which self-respecting Londoner would vote for this twice-sacked lowlife politician?

Happy Mondays

There's such a lot in today's press that made me choke on my cornflakes so I thought I'd do a round-up and get the misery over with as quickly as possible instead of spreading it out over the day:

Troughiteering, racketeering Peers.  Labour Lord Peston of Mile End: “Having spent 10 years slogging my guts out on the opposition Front Benches at great personal cost, I do not think that, if I were the same age again, I would remotely consider it my duty.”  Good; p*ss off now then.

The feckless Baroness Adams of Craigielea  has spoken only once in the House in four years, her Maiden Speech, yet has claimed £200,000. On being asked to comment this expensive waste of space said: “I’m not interested.” Of course, she's one of Blair's Baubled Babes.

Regional Police Forces  via the backdoor are on the cards again.  When has this government ever done what it says on the tin?  Why are the British people always given a can of worms to open?  The Policing & Crime Act goes beyond encouragement of collaboration and gives the Home Secretary the power to compel joint working. It states that a Home Secretary “may give chief officers or police authorities directions about collaboration agreements or related matters”.   I've been mentioning this on and off since March; it's all in the interests of EU 'harmonisation'.  A supra-national body cannot function effectively unless its institutions are harmonised and uniform across all countries.  It's worth noting that it's supported by the Conservative Party.

Marrakesh Mandy plays the Puritan card. In its own impact assessment the Govt admits it will cost voluntary groups £20m a year and will be "highly detrimental". Some organisations will "cease playing music" because they cannot afford a license, and it will hit a quarter of a million organisations - 140,000 charities, 6,750 charity shops, 66,440 sports clubs, 4,000 community buildings, 5,000 rural halls and 45,000 religious buildings.  However, the police seem to be able to find the money: they are paying hundreds of thousands of pounds a year to allow officers to listen to music at their desks, in canteens and even in cell blocks...Figures show that across the UK, forces are paying more than £800,000 a year for the licences, dubbed "iPlod".

Two on Copenhagen, which must have resembled a Whitehall Farce: Latin American delegate slashed herself in protest at lack of progress and Danish PM said, "I don't want to know what you do next"  to Brown, Rudd, Calderon & Co. Meanwhile, busy little beaver Brown is drawing up plans for the EU to be the world policeman on climate change. He feels we need a new global body dedicated to environmental stewardship to prevent a repeat of the Copenhagen deadlock. He thinks the UN’s consensual method of negotiation, which requires all 192 countries to reach agreement, needs to be reformed to ensure that the will of the majority prevails. Obama also suggested using spy satellites (as previously mentioned somewhere on the blog, the EU has a stack of them waiting to be used).  Bloody International Socialists.  They just do whatever the heck they want to do and to hell with giving people a voice about their own futures.

Somalia is moving up the radar.  As Islamic extremists find life more difficult in Afghanistan and Iraq, they're setting up shop in Somalia and the Yemen, though the latter isn't mentioned, yet.  How much money will the West throw at Somalia in order to quieten them down and instigate building and educational projects for the benefit of the people?  And, when that fails, how many more wars?  I've got a better idea - all their sympathisers in the UK should be deported to Somalia and our borders should then be closed against them, implacably and forever.  Perhaps that way at least the UK could live without the type of warning put out yesterday by the Met Police (see 1st item, Sunday round-up).

Perhaps we could make a small start by sending this Egyptian back to Egypt?  Walid Salem boasts, "The law can't touch me."   He's the chap who, with two other scumbags, broke into a house, tied up the occupants and threatened to kill them for which he got a two-year suspended sentence while the householder was jailed for two and a half years for using 'excessive force' in self-defence.

There's more on the Great British Quangocracy .  Some are earning up to £5,000 per day, part-time, jumping from state job to state job with the help of Government patronage.  The TaxPayer's Alliance said: "Our study suggests that instead of serving taxpayers' interests, some non- executive members and chairs may put their quango's interests first."  I like the ironic use of the word "may".

A new watchdog is being set up by Ed 'So What' Balls which will give pupils the right to complain about any aspect of school life or if they suffer an injustice:  "Injustice can be defined as hurt feelings, distress, worry, inconvenience and a detrimental effect on their education or happiness."

Civil Enforcement Officers (traffic wardens to you and me) are to be issued with head cameras.

A Council apologises: ''An issue in relation to bin deliveries was attributable to the educational background and literacy of some of the crew members.  It appeared that they did not read maps or addresses and that they relied entirely on visual memory."

One in three violent crimes receives a Caution.  Data disclosed in a parliamentary answer showed that many crimes go unsolved by police, and even when offenders are identified, they are often dealt with by “out of court” penalties like cautions and fines.  Last month, it was revealed that more than half a million serial criminals have been let off with repeated cautions.  

That should make for interesting reading when the Quality of Life report cards are published in England.  I wonder if this scheme could in any way be tied to the re-jigging of the Council Tax which was proposed a while back - the one where you pay extra for the view, the terrace, the schools and bus route etc.  There's a post somewhere on the blog about it - probably under Return of the Window Tax or something similar.

Finally, it seems that the proscribed organisation Hamas are behind attempts to prosecute Israelis for war crimes in Britain.  Now, there's a surprise.

So there you have it; I hope you're as thoroughly ticked off with the whole damn thing as I am.

"The Saxon is not like us Normans, His manners are not so polite.
But he never means anything serious till he talks about justice and right.
When he stands like an ox in the furrow with his sullen eyes set on your own,
And grumbles, "This isn't fair dealings," my son, leave the Saxon alone.

Graveyard Desecrated: Media Silence

I don't know who this chap is but it seems Manchester has its troubles and the msm aren't willing to report on it:


With thanks to Radio Free Britain for the news & video.

Green Islands (1954)

It's sobering to consider the change of pace and the degradation of some aspects of society wreaked in just fifty-five years. Nowadays the voice-over wouldn't do at all - far too sexist, m'dear. There were no 'security guards' in high-viz jackets confiscating parents' cameras or demanding to see CRB checks and no-one threatening to arrest the man feeding the ducks on the grounds that he was littering (yes; it happened). There's been a collective, national, loss of innocence; progress is essential and wonderful but not at the expense of a country's heart and soul - there are things we can still learn from the past.

Sunday Reflection

A Christmas edition and one of my favourite carols - fond memories of the children singing while I played piano:

Labour's Hot Air

Not really suitable for a traditional Sunday but what the heck, it's Christmas:

With thanks and extra stuffing for Ollie at The Red Rag 

Sunday Round-Up

What's going on here? “Mumbai is coming to London..." "The exercise brought out to those taking part that the capability doesn’t exist to deal with that situation should it arise.”
And here? GE is using London libel courts to gag a senior radiologist after he raised the alarm over potentially fatal risks of one of its drugs. Link to ProPublica, an independent, non-profit making US site for investigative journalism which originally broke the story.
Another Labour shake-up for the Armed Forces: “This new unit will be nothing more than an amputee battalion – soldiers will feel singled out and will be much easier targets for forcible retirement by the MoD."
Only the British don't love Blair, says Blair  The comments section says otherwise.  Hello Australia, Holland, Austria, India, America, Canada, Spain ...
Government u-turn on banning Happy Hour - not because of concerns over public health but because of pressure from drinks industry.
Innocents to stay on police database
Civil Servants have stolen £12m+ in three years "However, not all the perpetrators were reported to the police or confronted with internal disciplinary action." Why not?
MPs & their exclusive £10 per head New Year's Eve party
Defiant Hogg uses Estoppel law to challenge expenses repayment
A chippy Fabian tries to perpetuate 'class war'

Finally, three from yesterday's Telegraph: The hypocrisy of Copenhagen
The vested interests of Copenhagen
The sacred nature of the New World Order

My Precious EU

Double rations to The Final Redoubt

World's First 'Carbon Billionaire': Guess Who

Gore's conflict of interest.

Guido's Christmas Special

Merry Christmas

The music, the poetry, has been trawled over centuries; the words have been spoken and the blogs have been written.

I've nothing left to say about this decadent government. Happy Christmas everyone.

Karajan & Beethoven

We will win.

Friday Post

Friday Post comes from 13th Spitfire and it concerns new figures which show that 70% of our population takes more from 'the state', ie the taxpayer purse, than it contributes. No wonder we're sinking fast. As 13th says, it's not really a bloody surprise, is it?

With Gordon Brown's convoluted system of Tax Credits and Global Wealth Distribution who the hell knows who's paying what? I still think we should be aiming for no tax credits whatsoever with no tax paid below £12-15k to encourage a work ethic. This government has been a f*cking disaster for our country, economically and socially. Someone has to grasp this tiger's tail.

UPDATE: Just for SNP commenters:

Tale Of A Troughiteer

Never Knowingly Underfed

State Banquet for 'world leaders' at Cop15

One Thursday afternoon a government Minister was heading back to his Constituency after a hard week at Westminster.  He was relaxing in the back of his chauffeur-driven car when he saw two of his constituents at the roadside eating grass.  He was concerned by this so he told his driver to stop and he got out to investigate.

He asked one man, 'Why are you eating grass?'

'We've fallen on hard times and don't have any money for food this week,' the man replied. 'We have to eat grass.'

'Well, then, you can come with me to my house and I'll feed you,' the Minister said.

'But I have a wife and two children with me. They're over there, under that tree.'

'Bring them along,' the politician replied.  Turning to the other poor man he said, 'You come with us too.'

The second man, in a pitiful voice, then said, ' I also have a wife and two children with me!'

'Bring them all as well,' the Minister answered

They all squeezed into the car, which was no easy task, even for a car as large as the Minister's.

Once underway, one of the poor constituents turned to the politician and said, 'Sir, you are too kind.  Thank you for taking all of us with you.'

The politician replied, 'I'm glad to do it.  You'll really love my place.... ...






'...the grass is almost a foot high'

Look Into My Eyes

This is wonderful: Hypnosis courses for police officers 

It is being organised by Constable Mark Hughes, an investigative skills trainer with Cheshire Constabulary.  ‘Putting people in a receptive brainwave state makes it likelier that the truth would come out,’ PC Hughes told Police Review.  ‘Forensic hypnosis does not prove guilt but it can give new lines of inquiry when traditional methods have failed. For me it is the next logical step for investigators to take. It is the next frontier.’

Derek Barnett, president-elect of the Superintendents’ Association, said the idea was innovative. He said: ‘If people never took risks we would never have progressed beyond fingerprints.’

It's probably time for PC Hughes to be relieved of his duties as 'investigative skills trainer'.  I've rarely heard anything so ludicrous, 'receptive brainwave state indeed'!  The article states that taxpayers will be picking up the bill, of course, but only that it will cost "thousands of pounds."  I can't see it taking off here but, if it did, there's one aspect of it that will have women queuing up to shake the local beat bobby's hand.

Today's Climate Change Round-up

Cherry-picking data - who would have thought it?
Same story, more detail from Delingpole
Al Gore admits spinning on polar ice cap
Africa settles for less cash
UK's green taxes rise to £26.4bn
Monbiot writes Obama's speech
AGW hypocrites taken to task

PS

There's so much talk from Brown, Barroso et al of the Copenhagen talks not producing anything productive or meaningful that I think we may be about to be scammed, again.

PMQs: Verdict

I suppose this should be the Jingle Bells Edition - everyone seemed to have a florid face, nose or bonce.  I must remember to turn down the colour for the next PMQs in January.

The beguilingly shiny-mop-topped Harman stood in for Brown, arguably making a better fist of it; at least those of us who watched it found PMQ's Bingo more unpredictable.  William Hague (Wath upon Dearn Comprehensive, Magdelen Oxford) subbed for Cameron but, alas, he is no attack dog.  He was civil, one might say he was almost deferential, but he forgets that Harman is no lady.  Given the opportunity Harman (St Paul's, University of York) would eat him up and spit him out, likewise Brown who hates the Conservative Party with an idealistic passion.  No reason, no debate, no quarter.  Why are the Conservatives so conciliatory, so sweetly consensual?

Anyway, on to the nitty-gritty:  Oxfam-beaded Harriet was flanked by Shaun Woodward (Cambridge University) and Bob Ainsworth (Foxford Comprehensive & Trades Unionist).  She opened with "profound condolences" to the families of the two soldiers killed in Afghanistan yesterday, "especially at this time of year."   I've always thought that a strange turn of phrase because it's not as if the pain would be lessened at any other time of year.  The govt has made a mess of Defence; the Labour Party was founded on a policy of appeasement and has never had any feeling for our Armed Forces hence the wars/international interventions and under-funding.  All for the good of the cause.

The first question was from Andrew Mackay (Con. Bracknell) about the BA cabin crew strike seeking assurances that Harman "would use her considerable influences" to ensure the strike was called off asap.

Harman replied that the PM and ' the whole House' would like to see the strike called off in the long-term interests of BA.  No-one in this government is going to rush to save a company called British Airways - it's just not European enough, dahlink.

Next off the blocks was Judy Mallaber (Labour, Amber Valley) who could reasonably be a Shona McIsaac stand-in whenever a government-planted question is needed.  It was nice to see Jacqui Smith gazing up at Mallaber from the seat beside her.  Hopefully, after the GE Smith and all those like her, of which there are so very many, will never grace our screens again.  The question itself was essentially about the Conservative Party not being fit to govern because they are not at the heart of Europe.  Hmmm, let me think about that... ...  Nope, I think she's wrong: they are and they will.

Much Christmas merriment from the Cons followed Harman's description of the PM being "at the centre of events" in Copenhagen - according to Harriet he was "the first world leader to decide personally to go to Copenhagen".  I love that word 'personally', it's as if it somehow makes things so much more moral.

Here's the first seven minutes, courtesy of Mr Swiss Bob at the DTP:

Hague had three things on his mind: climate change,  Ban Ki Moon and Rain Forests.  The Cons propose that "additional, significant EU financial support" should be given to developing nations to halt deforestion "set an example" and make "the import, possession and distribution of illegally-harvested timber an offence under UK law."

Harman responded that the govt is doing all that can possibly be thought of and then some more and that Hague should pay attention to his own Party. I think I've used the words 'trite shite' before - but they have quite a nice ring to them, don't you think?

Hague then went on to Livny and the warrant issued for her arrest.  From what Harman said, I couldn't deduce an answer - she simply agreed that Britain couldn't be party to Middle-East peace negotiations if this sort of thing went on.  No answer how to correct the situation.

Meanwhile, good old George Osborne (St Paul's; Magdalen, Oxford)looks like he has a bad case of the Marrakesh Munchies - Osborne, sort yourself out and stop looking so amenable.  Jack Straw (Brentwood Grammar School; Leeds Uni) (read his Wiki entry) sat to the right of Woodward.  It would be funny if only they didn't use us to assuage their self-imposed 'guilt'.

Meanwhile Miliband Maximus (Wiki entry) skewed his head around to gaze at Harriet with index finger thoughtfully poised on lips.  David's been very pensive since he found out that Foreign Secretaries aren't welcome in Brussels now we have a Glorious High Representative in the form of the unelected Baroness Ashton.  Still, his tie was rather fetching and I'm sure that brought him some consolation.

The Best of the Rest were:
Jim Devine (Lab. Livingstone, Scotland)
Heathcote-Amory (Con)
Munn (Lab)
Howarth(Con)
Mark Francois Shadow Minister for Europe but still a backbencher.
Mackinlay (Lab) - aggressive questioning of Dr David Kelly - though that seems to be his style, ie obnoxious at times.
Arbuthnot (Con) lost his way and would do well to remember the saying, 'Sweet & Sour'.  He was far too kind in his meandering question  = ineffectual.

All in all, PMQ's is just a fairyland, it's somewhere over the rainbow and a land of make-believe where we, the people, believe that this government is acting in our best interest.  It patently is not.  It's the only debate that sees a half-decent attendance by MPs; perhaps it's time to place more emphasis on the Committee meetings?  A voice inside me tells me it will make no difference: if politicians don't even listen to feedback from PMQs, what will they listen to?

My pendulum is swinging wildly and if I had my way this is what all MPs would sing at Recess on pain of a poker, which I volunteer to administer:

*PMQs: Live Chat

Since Brown is 'Crusading against Climate Change in Copenhagen' it will probably be Harriet Harman this week. Can't wait.

The Daily Politics Live Chat at 11.30am & PMQs from twelve noon, Christmas recess from 12.30.

Live Parliament.

MorOn CO2

It's clear that there is nothing Gordon Brown will not do to make his presence felt on the World Stage.  He's preparing to give a reported £1bn to yet another international fund to combat climate change, this time to encourage 'poorer countries' to limit deforestation.

Who is lending the UK all this money that Brown is gaily helicoptering all over the world?  What are the interest rates UK taxpayers are expected to pay?   The UK has already borrowed £178bn this year and national debt is set to reach £1.5trillion - who, apart from Brown & Co, cannot see the stupidity of borrowing money to give away when you're already over your head in debt?

As he arrived in Copenhagen, Mr Brown painted an apocalyptic picture of the consequences of failure at the summit, saying that the world economy would suffer an unprecedented “catastrophe” if temperatures rise too far.
"If we do not act to tackle climate change, the costs to our standard of living will be huge - a reduction in our national income of up to 20%, an economic catastrophe equivalent in this century to the impact of two world wars and the great depression in the last."

He's actually revelling in this.  No doubt he goes to bed at night assured of his own righteousness and consoling himself with a passage in the Bible: 'a prophet is not without honour, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house'.  Poor old Brown; he's just misunderstood.

Number of signatories so far: 2,607
Please spread around.

Albion Alliance Progress Report

 We are pleased to announce the Albion Alliance 2010 Candidate Database, correspondence and response page.

As MP’s and Prospective Parliamentary Candidates are written to, and responses are received, we will be making available to the public via our database the details of that correspondence as and when they are received. In order to view that correspondence, you may enter the searchable database here, (initially arranged in constituency order), scroll down or use the search facility to find the candidate or constituency of your choice, and then scroll across the page to the correspondence columns. The highlighted link (if there is one) will take you to all the correspondence sent and received for that candidate.

If you have written to your MP or Parliamentary Candidate concerning the Albion Alliance pledge, or received a reply from them, please forward it on to us by email, or as a scanned attachment if it is a hard copy letter, so that we may include that correspondence into the database.
But don’t stop there, write another letter, to another candidate, or get your friends to write as well. The more letters that are written to Parliamentary Candidates the more pressure that this campaign can exert.

The Albion Alliance would wish to place on record their appreciation and thanks to both existing MPs standing for re-election, and Prospective Parliamentary Candidates, who have already responded to e-mails and letters.

Parliamentary Protocol:
Please remember that the Albion Alliance campaign is a National matter, not a Constituency matter. It has come to our attention that MPs – and some PPCs – have resorted to not responding to letters and e-mails from members of the public, who live outside their constituency, on the basis that ‘Parliamentary Protocol’ prohibits an MP from providing an opinion on matters that do not affect his/her constituency. This ‘defence’ is nothing but obfuscation on the part of MPs who are standing for re-election, and Parliamentary Candidates, from passing an opinion on ‘national’ matters. They need to be reminded that, all too often, they are only too happy to pass comment on ‘national’ matters in the hope that it provides publicity for them, together with a ’soundbite’. The Albion Alliance would remind everyone that whilst such a ‘protocol’ may exist for purely constituency matters, it does not apply for matters of National interest. The Albion Alliance hope that those writing and e-mailing candidates will press for a reply on the basic question that is being asked and in this respect please refer to ‘Draft Letters‘ where a suggested response has been posted.


Updates:
The Candidate Database has been compiled from publicly available information and is as complete as we are able at this time to make it. There are still political parties to declare candidates for many constituencies, or to make their lists of candidates publicly available, and these will be added to the database as and when the information becomes available. 

If you are aware of any omissions or errors, we would be pleased if you could let us know by using the ‘Report any Data Errors’ button inside the database.

To Enter the Albion Alliance Database of Parliamentary Candidates please click here.

Monckton -v- Greenpeace

Lifted from SubRosa  - watch Lord Monckton confound the greenies:

How Socialist Governments Always End

Dan Hannan interviewed by Neil Cavuto on tax harmonisation and bankers' bonuses: