They’re all rewarded though.  Seats are kept warm for them in global organisations: the IMF, the WTO, the EU, NATO.  They won’t be taxed to within an inch of their lives; they won’t feel a cut in public services (who was the last politician to catch a bus?) and the police will be on their doorstep like a shot if they report a crime.   The whole thing stinks.

Daily Telegraph 1
Daily Mail
Daily Telegraph 2
The Independent

Watch the language:

Do you really think this doesn’t apply to Britain too? Do you really think we are immune?

Next week at the Conservative Party conference and in three weeks when the Comprehensive Spending Review is detailed, does anyone think the government will say anything other than, ‘the previous govt is to blame’; ‘we must all tighten our belts’; ‘we’re all in this together’? I don’t. I don’t expect any meaningful reform of the banking sector either – even Carswell’s proposed Bank of England Act 2010 is only a half-way measure.

When our elected representatives suck up to indicted war criminals in the name of big business you have to wonder what happened to ethics and morality in government and how we can turn things around in a peaceful way.

PS I see that, amongst many other things, I haven’t mentioned corporatism in this post, so here it is: Corporatism.

“In politics, stupidity is not a handicap.” Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821),

Regards,
Greg L-W.
for all my contact details & Blogs: CLICK HERE  

British Politicians with pens and treachery, in pursuit of their own agenda and greed, have done more damage to the liberty, freedoms, rights and democracy of the British peoples than any army in over 1,000 years.

The disastrous effects of British politicians selling Britain into the thrall of foreign rule by the EU for their own personal rewards has damaged the well-being of Britain more than the armies of Hitler and the Franco – German – Italian axis of 1939 – 1945.

BankofEnglandAct.co.uk

Douglas Carswell MP leads the way on monetary reform Dear Greg, This Wednesday, Douglas Carswell MP (Conservative, Clacton) will introduce legislation into the UK parliament that takes the first step towards ending fractional reserve banking. As Steve Baker MP describes: ‘Douglas‘s Bill would assert property rights over demand deposits. Real savings – term deposits – would be loaned to entrepreneurs, delivering an economy built on save and invest.‘ This would have the effect of making fractional reserve banking impossible, requiring a shift to full-reserve banking (where the bank either lends your money, or keeps it safe, but doesn’t claim to do both at the same time!). In plain English, it would stop private banks being able to create money as debt. Steve Baker MP explains this in further detail here: http://conservativehome.blogs.com/centreright/2010/09/carswell-on-bank-reform.html Once Douglas Carswell has made his presentation in the House of Commons this Wednesday, I’ll send you the full text of the speech, and hopefully the video, along with some ways that we can support this move. We’ll have further news in the next few days as well. Ben Dyson, on behalf of the Bank of England Act team

 



“In politics, stupidity is not a handicap.” Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821),


Regards,
Greg L-W.


for all my contact details & Blogs: CLICK HERE


British Politicians with pens and treachery, in pursuit of their own agenda and greed, have done more damage to the liberty, freedoms, rights and democracy of the British peoples than any army in over 1,000 years.


The disastrous effects of British politicians selling Britain into the thrall of foreign rule by the EU for their own personal rewards has damaged the well-being of Britain more than the armies of Hitler and the Franco – German – Italian axis of 1939 – 1945.

From the Mail:

[Europe Minister, David] Lidington said: ‘The lock will mean that any future treaty amendment which seeks to transfer power from the UK to Brussels will require a referendum in this country.’

I don’t believe him, it’s as simple as that. The Lisbon Treaty gave Brussels all the power it needed.  In any event, there will be two hurdles to overcome before any referendum.

From the Telegraph:

British legal advisers in Brussels would determine whether a transfer of power had taken place. MPs would then be given the chance to vote on holding a referendum. If they vote in favour, a referendum would be held.

The Telegraph has also thrown its weight behind the In/Out referendum campaign.

An extract from Lidington’s Ministerial Statement:

The Government will introduce a Bill which would require that:
(a) any proposed future EU treaty, agreed by all EU Member States’ governments, including the UK government, which sought to transfer areas of power or competence from the United Kingdom to the European Union would be subject to a referendum of the British people; and,
(b) the use of ratchet clauses or passerelles, provisions in the existing EU Treaties, which allow the rules of the EU to be modified or expand without the need for a formal Treaty change, would require an Act of Parliament before the Government could agree to its use.

Note that passerelles will need only an Act of Parliament, not a referendum.

Douglas Carswell asks whether we’re being taken for fools.

A ‘political strategist’  explains why we don’t need a referendum and is given a royal kicking in the comments.

Lidington interview:

Hannan explains why we need an In/Out referendum:

In other news today:
Government cancels 2011 Queen’s Speech – an urgent question will be asked in the House later today.
Mark Andrews released on bail pending appeal
Lawyer smokes pages of the Bible & the Koran – YouTube delete video
And, last but definitely not least: FORMER ICELAND PM TO BE TRIED FOR ECONOMIC NEGLIGENCE

A special investigation committee, known popularly as the Truth Commission, recommended that Geir Haarde, the former prime minister, stand trial, along with Björgvin Sigurdsson, the former minister of commerce, and Árni Mathiesen, the former minister of finance.

It found during an 18-month inquiry that the three men showed recklessness in their handling of Iceland’s financial crisis, which brought down its three banks and crippled the currency in October 2008.

If only we had a similar legal mechanism in the UK.

It’s part of the remarkable work of The Cobden Centre which stands for honest money and social progress!!!

I came across it thanks to Steve Baker MP who supports Douglas Carswell MP in his 10 minute rule bill to lead the way on bank reform.

There can be little doubt that even after the Legg and Kennedy investigations and the formation of IPSA to oversee parliamentary allowances it’s still a chaotic, unmanageable and essentially unaccountable mess.

Fhs, raise their c£65k salaries and be done with it. No more expenses, no more ‘allowances’, no more subsidised cafes, restaurants and bars, no more communications budgets, no more gold-plated pensions on generous terms.

At a time when public finances are under pressure,  when people are being told to work until they drop and welfare benefits are about to undergo the biggest shake-up since their introduction there’s no earthly reason why MPs’ perks should be exempt from scrutiny. And while we’re at it, stop the insulting practice of elevating some of the pigs (eg Prescott, Martin) to the Lords to continue taking the mickey.

When MPs’ claims were put under the spotlight last year they were miraculously able to collectively make savings of £2m on 2nd home allowances in the last six months of 2009 (down from £5m in the last six months of 2008).

Partial details have been released showing that kicked-out Shahid Malik (Lab, Dewsbury) and Margaret Moran (Lab, Luton South) milked the system and the taxpayer right up to the last possible minute:

Malik – £2,950 for 6 months’ worth of food
Moran – c£14,500 fees paid to employment agencies as she looked for a new job.
John Prescott – £10k in mortgage interest repayments.
Barbara Follett – £3k contents insurance and £35k private security guards.
Diane Abbott – £40 monthly iPhone tariff.
Damian Green – c£3,600 for purchasing ‘image licences’ for his website.
David Cameron – 24p for stationery.
Chris Huhne – 14p for stationery plus two claims for phone bills of 38p and 40p.
Michael Moore – 84p electricity bill.
Danny Alexander – c£25k.
David Laws – c£24k in the six months to December, of which £7,559 went on the 2nd home he shared with his partner James Lundie.

Douglas Carswell (Con, Clacton) is calling for a spreadsheet to be made available to allow the public to easily compare their MP’s expenses with others but so far only limited receipts will be produced later this year – and those will be redacted.

It’s beyond a joke. Cameron must push this to the top of his ‘list of things to do’ and further investigations must be carried out by the Police with a view to bringing charges. As Gordon Brown would no doubt say: Justice must be seen to be done – it’s the right thing to do in the interests of all hard-working families; British justice for British MPs!

Full article
Also: Michael Winner – Heigh-Ho! heigh-ho! It’s off to work we go. With a shovel and a pick and a rhubarb stick …

UPDATE: Thanks to the Guardian’s Comment is Free for sending me lots of new visitors today by including this post in their top 5 Best of the Web section.  I can only think it’s been a slow news day and everyone else is watching the football.

The long grass of democracy

I’d hoped that this coalition would grow on me.  I was waiting for the action, not the words because we all know that words mean only what the politicians want them to mean – see Clegg’s sudden discovery that what the Libdems and the Conservatives meant by ‘Big Society’ were the the same thing after all and that they really shouldn’t have been arguing about it in the run-up to the election, oh goodness me no, we’re all friends now.

I didn’t like Clegg before and I like him even less now.  He’s an in-the-pocket, paid-for, dyed-in-the-wool EU f/wit and that, by extension, means he doesn’t tell the truth.  Like all British politicians over the decades he doesn’t tell the truth about the government stance on the EU; the government pursue their own agenda for their own reasons while telling the people that it doesn’t really mean anything and to go back to sleep and not worry our little heads about it – this is big boys’ stuff.  I wonder what successive generations of politicians have been promised in return for selling the country down the river?  I wonder if Ted Heath died a happy man?

The other thing I don’t like about Clegg is how he seems to have taken over Carswell and Hannan’s idea of the Grand Repeal Bill for himself and his Party so they will get any kudos if (big ‘if’) anything of any consequence is actually repealed.

Cameron was weak in Opposition and he’s weak now – a strong leader of the Conservative Party, sure of his position and a true belief in the principles of the Party, wouldn’t have been so quick to fall into bed with a bunch of eco-internationalists who retain a belief in social engineering and wealth redistribution.

The only thing the LibServatives agree on is that Labour’s repressive laws have gone too far and need rolling back.  I’ll eat my red hat if they do anything about RIPA or the Civil Contingencies Act and as for the Human Rights Act which the Conservatives repeatedly pledged to repeal and put in their election manifesto, well, we can forget that too.  I wouldn’t count on changes to the Digital Economy Bill or anti-terror legislation either.  As for cctv, they’re not actually taking any of them down they’re just saying that any more must be paid for by local councils and that any revenue from them will now be forwarded to central government.

Am I cynical?  You bet.  I have more faith in the new Home Secretary, Theresa May, when she says they’re considering repealing Labour’s 24-hr licensing laws and taking the decision whether to prosecute or not away from the CPS and giving it back to the Police.  Whoever thought that 24-hr drinking would make the British adopt ‘a European cafe culture’ should be sectioned.

One other point is that all these ‘little nudges’ from the Red Tories and the Red LibDems will bring is into line (or, if you prefer, ‘harmony’) with the grand concept of the EU.  Layer upon layer of bureaucracy with everything driven by ‘localism’ but all that does is drive actual, real power away from the people to an unelected body in Brussels.  Nothing will get rid of the fact that we are ruled from Brussels, whether we elect our Police Chiefs or not, or have local petitions about our MP.  I’ve written before about the likes of Hannan and Carswell being ‘useful idiots’ – I’d rather not believe it but when their ideas dovetail nicely with the overall scheme for the EU, you can’t really blame me.

I’ve just remembered  something else.  Who remembers when Clegg said that the Conservative Party in Europe was allied to a bunch of ‘nutters and homophobes’ since it left the EPP?

The leader of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, Belgian MEP Guy Verhofstadt, wants to abolish the nation state.  He wants a ‘United States of Europe’ – taking over responsibility for justice and security policy, taxation and creating ‘a European army’.  The LibDems are also in bed with the Feminist Initiative from Sweden – one of the party’s policies is to abolish marriage and create ‘ genderneutral’ names.  Then we have the Latvians – one of its leaders equated gays to paedophiles and the party regards homosexuals as ‘degenerates’.   By Clegg’s own reasoning he’s not only nutty and homophobic but hypocritical too.  I wonder how long it will be before Cameron’s Conservatives re-join the EPP?

The upshot of all this is that no, I’m not applauding Clegg and Cameron.

References:
Panem et circenses – vote for an English Anthem
Telegraph – Clegg: tell us what should be scrapped
Guardian – Clegg:  democracy shake-up
Daily Mail – Clegg: Human Rights Act
Daily Mail – Clegg: Grand Reform Act
Guardian – Theresa May speaking to the Police Federation
Old Andrew Pierce article

Here are some fellow bloggers’ posts that had me bug-eyed and asking wtf is going on?

Mr Witterings on Cameron’s proposals to reveal energy consumption to neighbours.  WTF?
Hookie at The Final Redoubt on the arrest of a yet another photographer.  WTF?
Burning Our Money who doesn’t seem to have enabled permalinks to individual posts.  The post is Debt Trap – Lessons From History, Monday 22nd.  WTF?
Sarah, Maid of Albion on the arrest of EDL members.  WTF?
Phekkwitz Ahoy!!!!!!!!!  has totally lost me on this one – it’s bad enough dealing with the present, let alone a past-present-future time continuum.   WTF?
Andrew Brons on an immigrant being allowed to stay in the UK simply because she draws benefits.  Ruling courtesy of the ECJ.  WTF?
Woman Honour Thyself on why history reflects our future.  WTF?
Even Taiwan is taking the piss – although their animation of Brown looks rather too much like Cameron for my liking:

As for the rest of it, there’s just too much to mention in the economics and ‘news’ pages of the msm.  I can’t raise the energy to start on Woolas – an intellectually-deficient prat of the first order who should be fucked off back to oblivion at the first opportunity.

Here’s some good news:
Arrse on Argentina – perhaps.

Lone Voices:
Carswell
Redwood

The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that police powers of stop & search under terrorism laws, without grounds for suspicion, are illegal.

The court said the stop and search powers were “not sufficiently circumscribed” and there were not “adequate legal safeguards against abuse”.
It also concluded that “the risks of the discriminatory use of the powers” were “a very real consideration”.

The case was pursued by two people detained at the London Arms Fair in 2003; they were awarded costs.

The government is “disappointed” and considering an Appeal but these badly-drafted and rushed laws should go back to Parliament for proper scrutiny and amendment.  In fact, let’s have a thorough scrutiny of all the c.4,000 new laws introduced by Labour since 1997 and then introduce Douglas Carswell’s Grand Repeal Bill  so the country can put this period of surveillance and oppression behind us.  We have to stop the criminalisation of the innocent and make ‘innocent until proven guilty’ a meaningful phrase again.

Meanwhile, as one chain snaps another is forged as the first criminal trial without jury for over 350years  goes ahead amid fears of ‘jury tampering’.

The trial will be the first crown court case in England and Wales to be heard by a judge alone using powers under Sections 44 and 46 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003, which came into force in July 2007.

In June, Lord Judge said the cost of measures such as police protection for jurors was too high and, in any event, might not be effective.

Lord Chief Justice Lord Judge aka W*nker in a Wig.

UPDATE: Spy Blog asks:  “Will this obstinate, increasingly authoritarian Government and bureaucracy, simply ignore this ECHR Judgment, like they have done with the retention of innocent people’s DNA Marper case, which they lost over a year ago?

Will some (but not all), Police Constables in Uniform, Police Community Support Officers and jobswoth private security guards, continue to ignore the memos from their superiors, and continue to abuse this counterproductive legal power, to harass Photographers, Tourists, Trainspotters and even Members of Parliament ?”

Good questions; who’s holding their breath?

Really, it should be blog of the month because we have two for the price of one this week, both courtesy of Ian Parker-Joseph.

The first is about Cameron’s attitude to a referendum on the EU.  Cameron seems to be saying he doesn’t want a referendum because the result would be an ‘Out’ vote.  Where’s Democratic Dave gone?  What happened to the much-vaunted localism and returning power to the people?  There are valid questions to answer here.

No referendum – no vote

The second is an excellent article that echoes my own misgivings about Conservative plans to devolve power to the regions and the localism referred to above.  While it sounds fine in theoretical soundbites: power to the people; referenda for all, elected Police Chiefs etc, it’s always slotted in too easily with the EU’s own jigsaw.

Hannan & Carswell as stalking horses?

For me, anyone wanting to get my vote at the next GE will have to be unequivocally clear on policy and, so far, Cameron doesn’t cut it. I’ll be damned if I’m willing to go through more years of lies and deceit.  I will not be manipulated by schemers & subversives, people who claim to represent me but in fact represent no-one but themselves, corporate bodies and a global elite.   Btw, telling me that a vote for anyone except the LibLabCon is wasted won’t cut it any more either.

This morning during the Speaker’s Conference (which, btw, Brown appears to have bottled in its original format),  he described under-representation of women and ethnic minorities as “a real problem – a real problem for parliament and for my party”.  His answer is for CCHQ to choose ‘suitable’ candidates to put before voters, possibly in open primaries.  Suddenly, we’re back in black, one-legged lesbian territory again.  Cameron can’t pay lip service to people power by adopting the Fabians favourite tactic of smiling to your face but then stabbing you in the back.

This is from  ConHome:
This quote is typical from ConHome feedback from Associations involved in using them:

“We have to have the same number of women on the shortlist even if three or four times as many men apply. To be one of the shortlisted men you have to be very special. To be one of the shortlisted women you do not. Every Association suspects that the members of gender-balanced shortlists are not of equal talent.”

and this:

It seems to me that Carswell (Open source politics means hands off) and Hannan  (How to make Parliament representative) are rowing upstream.

Also:  Cameron is told  not to abuse powers of patronage and Carswell has tabled an EDM: Parliamentary Elections (Recall & Primaries) Bill which at the moment appears to have only one signature – his own.  He asks that readers of his blog urge their MPs to sign up.

UPDATE:  From Quentin Letts 21.10.09

This conference affair is run under the auspices of the Speaker, currently a white man (not a very good one) called John Bercow. Given the high profile of yesterday’s witnesses, Mr Bercow turned up to chair the session himself. He declared that it was ‘a very important occasion for the future of the House of Commons’.   As he said this he lifted his coal-scuttle jaw to the wind and darted his eyes side to side.

“I propose we all vote en masse for Douglas Carswell, the MP for Harwich and Clacton, and co-author of The Plan. This is the man who managed to oust Speaker Martin, and has consistently pushed for a more Libertarian agenda within his own Conservative party.

“I can think of no worthier winner amongst today’s Parliamentarians, and a win for Carswell will send out a strong, clear message not just to the Conservative party that they must continue to take a more Libertarian approach to their policies if we are to really clean up Britain, it will also make sure the Left know the game is finally up.

“We need men of good principle to be taking the lead in the fight against the powers of darkness in this country, and Douglas Carswell is one such man.

“Vote for Carswell here – and please post this on your own blogs. Let’s send that message!”

It would depend what the question is but if it is answer to the recent controversy over expenses, I think that this is a red herring.  This is one of those issues where my views have remained constant from when I was a teenage member of the Labour Party to now as a Conservative Parliamentary Candidate.

I accept that the First Past the Post system is not perfect but I still maintain that it is the least worst of all the options.  Despite the recent disasterous behaviour and subsequent stories about MPs, I still fundamentally believe in someone being elected to represent a defined geographical area.  Those people can be removed at an election if the electorate are not happy with them.

I am not supportive of Multi-Member systems either.

Interesting to note of another issue where Alan Keen and I agree!

This time he was in Rossendale launching the Euro-election campaign as an opportunity to demand a General Election now as the only way to fix a Parliamentary system damaged by the casual expense claims of a large number of MPs. Well done to Douglas Carswell (again!) for getting rid of a particularly poor Speaker, but David Cameron was right to point out that this is only the beginning and cannot be enough. We need a new Parliament to give the country a fresh start, with the public choosing people in whom they can have confidence. This government is finished. Why must we partake in its slow, agonising death when we need a vibrant and healthy replacement to deal with the problems to which Gordon Brown has left us vulnerable?

If you want a General Election now, sign the petition and vote Conservative on 4th June.

Back at the ranch, the consultation on the Green Paper is over, and Her Majesty is getting ready for the annual trip to the palace of Westminster where she tells everyone what her government are going to be up to. The Councils, Police Authorities, Partnerships and others have, almost to a man, been telling anyone who would listen what a tremendously bad idea elected Crime and Policing Representatives would be, and it is time for someone to make a decision. So here goes - 

1) I predict that the Government will go ahead with elected Crime and Policing Representatives. They’ve gone too far in including them in their draft legislative programme, and telling us in the Green paper how wonderful they will be. It would be too embarrassing to be found on the road to Damascus on this one, especially if it leaves the Conservatives looking like the only democrats.

2) However, it will also be too embarrassing to have all that fairly unified criticism and to ignore it, so I predict that the Government will compromise slightly, by maintaining the elected role’s involvement with policing, but taking away the very local role of chairing the Partnerships.

3) Finally, I predict that this will create a need for the Conservatives to put “clear blue water” between themselves and Labour. Having just one person elected as the effective police authority would be different, but not the “eye catching initiative” that Tony Blair, election-winning machine that he was, used to be so fond of – and so I predict that the idea of one local Justice Commissioner, extending beyond the cops and into other parts of the criminal justice system, will find favour in the Conservative manifesto for the next general election.