Mr Brown...Your time is up!

IT is time to have a general election. 65% of the public think it is time to vote. If things get worse, Im a going to start the revolution myself!!!

Government climb-down on secret inquests

(London – 15 May 2009) Human rights group Liberty today claimed victory for victims after the Government announced that the secret inquest provisions in the Coroners and Justice bill would be dropped. The controversial proposals have generated widespread concern about the consequences for bereaved families and the negative impact on public trust and confidence.

Shami Chakrabarti, Director of Liberty, said:

"We welcome this sane and humble climb-down by the Lord Chancellor. It was completely bizarre for a Government that has spent over a decade lecturing the public about victims' rights to attempt to exclude bereaved families from open justice.

Secret courts and parallel legal systems have mushroomed under New Labour but as we have learned in recent days there is no accountability without transparency."

Despite last minute amendments, the Government’s proposals would gravely limit transparency and increase executive control over the inquest process and could exclude bereaved families, their legal representatives and the public at large from the investigation process. This could include inquests into highly contentious deaths such as deaths in custody or deaths of individuals where issues of the state’s broader conduct are raised for example an inquest into the death of a soldier killed in Iraq or the inquest into the death of Dr David Kelly.

Labour Party Gets a Good Bashing - From Within

Peter Hain was on the news over the weekend saying that more of New Labour would loose the Labour Party the next election in what appears to be a bit of "I told you so"ism before the event. This publicity stunt I think is a display of his willingness to throw his hat in the ring again when it comes to party leadership election time after the generals whenever they come (presuming of course that Brown doesn't do a Chavez in the dark). Not that I don't think that Hain would make a good Labour Party leader, he does have an admirable pedigree but I cannot understand why anyone with any political savvy would want to take the helm after Brown.

This move definitely marks the start of the public implosion of the New Labour movement as it will begin to tear itself apart in lieu of certain failure at the next general election. It happened to the Conservative party during Major's term and it took them 3 leaders and ten years after loosing power to rebuild a veneer of cohesion. What the older wiser guys should really be thinking of doing is letting someone like Milliband take the reigns, screw it up and decapitate himself politically before they step in and reunite the party with traditional values, which after two terms of Conservative reign, the UK will probably be ready for again.

It will be interesting to watch and measure the degree to which they will destroy themselves though. Harman already looks like she's already on a leadership campaign as well and I wonder what Straw, Mandelson and others will be up to behind the scenes. One thing I can say is that it's going to be an awful lot better than Saturday night TV, that's for sure!!!

Primary Education Review Wrongly Rubbished by Government

One thing that I have noticed about the Labour Government we have been lumbered with for the past decade is that they love an enquiry. Were there WMD? "Couldn't possibly comment 'til the enquiry reports", have MPs been steeling from the tax payer by fiddling their expenses? "We need to wait 'til the enquiry delivers its report", what about the economy, knife crime, torture, Jean Charles de Menezes, NHS dentistry, social housing, Baby P, banking bonuses, drug and alcohol abuse...."enquiry, enquiry, enquiry!!!"

The problem is that the enquiry rarely if ever achieves anything. It has been used consistently by failing cabinet ministers to avoid answering tough questions on real and current issues as they arise. They cost an arm and a leg because they are always conducted by very experienced and highly decorated individuals and when the results are published, if there is anything which could be construed to be contrary to policy or performance the government rubbishes the findings.

Sometimes charities commission reports instead of the government which you would think the gov. would be happy about considering they don't have to pay for these reports themselves. The interim report by the Cambridge Primary Review on primary school education is a good example of such an enquiry. Its interim report, published recently however was dismissed and branded as "insulting to children and teachers" by the government. How can this be? This is an independent report and is the biggest review of primary education in the UK for 40 years. It is well overdue. Common sense suggests that one of the big reasons why UK society is in such a sorry state is because of the repeated failure of successive governments over the last 40 years to address the issue of primary education in a sensible fashion and give kids the right start in life. This being so, I find it hard to comprehend why the government, particularly in light of the fact that they don't have any plausible ideas or policies in this area anyway would rubbish this report with such strong language.

The Cambridge Primary Review is funded by the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation who's aim is to "improve the quality of life for people and communities in the UK, both now and in the future". Call me crazy but I thought that this was also what the government was supposed to do amongst other things. It becomes clear that the reason why the government is attacking the report is because it is doing what the government should be doing...but isn't and for reasons that the government should be doing it for...but isn't. Therefore the only reasonable position available for this self-serving self-destructing regime to take is one of attack. It also highlights the major fundamental flaw in the New Labour movement; the fact that they cannot and will not admit to any wrong whatsoever, whether its primary education, social services, crime reduction, the economy, MP expenses, war, cash for honours, NHS dentistry, torture or anything for that matter...and that makes me mad!

Full report can be seen at: http://www.primaryreview.org.uk/index.html

Witches of Leftwick are Two Down, One Up.

Two of the three "Witches of Leftwick" who stood so united and confident last year as a defiant shield for Gordon Brown during his comic handling of the election that never was, appear to be victims of a bit of reverse voodoo.

Jacqui Smith's Home Office policies are being absolutely slated in the press, from nanny state to extremist expulsions. She's also about to be scrutinised by the standards commissioner about the dodgy goings on with her commons expenses. She'll presumably have to explain why she resembles a New York city mobster in Havana at about the time Castro deposed Batista, trying to get as much cash from his casino out of the country as he can before the rebels move in and put a stop to it.

Poor old Tessa Jowell is breaking the law by employing "local" Eastern Europeans to build the Olympic Stadium in Stratford and paying them under the National minimum wage. Everyone's moaning (except the French of course who are presently scoffing) about the cost and the financial legacy of the Olympics in light of the unexpected recession/depression. Her husband has just been sentenced to four and a half years in jail in Italy for corruption, which it should be noted also involved the Prime Minister of Italy (who is somehow exempt from trial on this issue).

The third witch, Harriet Harman, however appears to be keeping a bit of a low profile at the moment...or is she? She is conspicuous by her squeaky cleanliness. No rows over expenses, no lies about torture, no crooks in her family.... I can't even really remember the last time I saw her on the news. However, scratch the surface and it seems as though she's been a bit busy. There are in fact, it seems ripples of leadership aspirations coming from 'Arri's camp. It has been alleged that her office leaked the information about PM Brown going to work for Merkel as an international banking watchdog (It occurs to me that Brown in light of his inability to watch and regulate the UK banking system would actually be the worst choice one could possibly make...but that's a different story). She appears to be trying to upstage the G20 in April and is in fact hosting an International Woman's Conference on the same day (wonder if Hillary will be there!). She has also disrupted cabinet meetings with rants against "bonus culture" in the banks in a cynical attempt to garner support from traditional lefties.

Apparently all this activity is beginning to upset those around her a bit, presumably people like Milliband, Old Father Brown himself (of course), Balls, Darling and others. I wonder however if she's the only one in the New Labour camp that is actually thinking about the future and survival of the party opposed to self. Whilst others in the government it seems have given up on producing new ideas and initiatives let alone even trying to implement current policy; whilst others seem to be squirreling away as much cash and perks as possible and asking their mates around the world for a job...'Arri looks at face value at least to be standing up for traditional Labour ideals and values and past the confines of her offshore bank accounts.

I always assumed that she was as shallow as the rest of her piers. She may be, but unlike her piers, she seems to have maintained at least some political integrity even if her rosettes are the wrong colour. I always thought that a woman leader of the labour party and possibly country made more sense than a woman leader of the Conservatives for some reason.

Milliband Cements Place in Rogues Gallery

Over my 35 years there are probably only a handful of people who I have taken an instant dislike to. I don't just mean a bad feeling or a suspicion that something might not be quite right, but I mean an absolute loathing from day one to the point of utter revulsion. I have never had these feelings about people I have met personally (although there were a few that came close). Rather, they have always been reserved it seems for people on the tele or in the news. Amongst them are the following; Davina (go to the bloody toilet if you need to woman and speak in sentences not just bloody words) McCall, Tony (& Cherie)(where are the celebrities? where are the cameras? where's my mirror & where's my cash) Blair, Gwenith (please don't get me started on her) Paltrow, Opera Winfrey, Delia Smith, Mr & Mrs Beckham, Shane Warne, Roman Abramovich, Kate Moss, Liam and Noel, Lilly Allen and lastly but by no means leastly Jonathan Ross.

A very worthy and recent addition to my rogues gallery is of course David Milliband. I haven't been able to give any rational reasons for my burning hatred of this politician until now. Ask me and I can justify the reasons in detail why I believe that all of the others with the possible exception of Warne have contributed negatively on society, but until recently, I have only been able to say that my dislike for Milliband is based on instinct. However I feel that my instincts have been confirmed via the recent attempt by Milliband's office to cover up the British government's involvement in the torture of a terrorist suspect held at Guantanamo Bay. The reports in the papers seem to suggest that the man is not only deceitful and a bully but also professionally incompetent.

So...I think my instincts have been fairly accurate on this one all along although if I'm not mistaken, these seem to be the very qualities that New Labour was built and run on by its original architects. This means that Milliband is just a product of his environment. Does it mean I dislike him any less...not really!

Cam & Ozzy: Stan & Olly

As may be quite obvious, I am a bit of a Tory. I detest everything about the New Labour movement that there is to hate and I do so with a passion. Endless failure and scandal after scandal has marked the government since Blair first stepped into Downing Street and I will be glad to see back of them covered in tomatos or spoiled root veggies when they eventually go.

Their going however is now seeming to be potentially much further away than I was beginning to think and rejoice over. David and George, the fabulous bluo duo are actually doing worse in the polls at the moment than the architect of our financial woes, Gordon Brown and his Darling poodle. How can that be? How is it that everyone trusts Gordon? This is a man who has been in bed with the city as the recipient of good hard fiscal screwing on behalf of the British people since his rise to power with Blair. This is a man who has spent all the money he ever had and then got himself...well...actually us, into serious serious debt. How is it that David and his team can't capitalise properly on this situation and bury the New Labour Abomination once and for all?

I am beginning to think that there is nothing worth-while left in politics or in deed politicians any more if political capital can't be taken against a government who has managed its own and the country's finances and resources in such an appaling way. I can't help but think that perhaps David doesn't have what it takes and that perhaps he couldn't organise an anti-social alcohol fuelled rampage in Croydon, Romford or Wakefield city centre. I am beginning to think that there is a very strong chance that Labour might win a fourth term in office.....and that really really makes me mad!!! Bring on Boris the Giant Killer and lets have done it once and for all.

Non Binge-Drinkers: Kiss Your Rights Goodbye Too.

Anyone with an incling of interest in their fundamental freedom will of course have been concerned by the missuse of terrorism legislation since it was introduced by our Labour government. As well as being used to combat what we're force fed to believe by the government to be an omnipresent terrorist threat, the legislation has been used to curtail the right to protest and assembly. It's been used to increase detention powers of the police despite a total lack of justification and it's been used by local councils to investigate ambitious parents wishing to send their children to certain over-achieving or even just over-subscribed schools.

It should also then be of great concern to many that under proposed legislation to tackle binge drinking and presumably alcohol related anti-social behaviour in general that the government is proposing to allow the police to stop and demand ID from people on the street without any suspission of a crime being committed whatsoever. Presumably those "viz their papers in order" will be allowed to continue to go about their presumably sobre business. What worries me is what would happen to those "vizout their papers in order".

The net effect is that one could be walking along the street minding one's own business and doing nothing wrong, could be stopped and arrested or maybe fined for not having ID. If arrested, one could then be held under terrorist legislation for up to 28 days without charge. Now I don't know about anyone else but in an environment where targets are imposed on our police force by the government in a bid to prove to us, the public that things are actually being done, this has the potential to shift the balance of freedom even further away from us and that makes me livid.

The Great Pretender - Don't Be Fooled!

I'm usually quite a passive kind of a guy but there are certain things that make me mad and I'm talking about jump up and down, thump your fists in the air kind of mad. One such thing is when people take over...lets say...a project while the project is beginning to do well. They run the project and take all the credit for its success...claiming that that project could never have been as good as it is without themselves. In effect they steel credit for something they haven't done.

Then, if the project begins to fail they start to blame just about everyone else under the sun for the demise except themselves. Not only that but when they actually do some work and put badly planned and considered knee-jerk provisions in place to save the project (or in fact their ego) they then claim credit for saving the project which in actual fact wouldn't have been failing had they done their job properly in the first place. When these badly thought out provisions fail, they again revert and continue to blame everyone under the sun except themselves.

Now as an employer, I would not be happy employing such a person and in fact I do and have actively avoided these people like the plague because they are usually wholly dishonest and can add nothing of value to an organisation. I wonder how Gordon Brown would feel should anything like the above mentioned example happen whilst he was in power. I am sure that as the prudent and shrewd operator we know him to be, he would not stand for it either and make all haste to remove such a person from any positions of trust and responsibility for the good of the country and its people.

Broken Silence: Broken Economy

I have been away for a bit which has meant that I have neglected this site to an extent. However I don't think that I have been as negligent as some (in power and in finance) have recently been so I'm going to let myself off and er... what the hell, I'll give myself a sizable pay rise, bonus, fantastic perks and a holiday too!!!

Anyway, I have been going out of my mind with anger and rage recently about all this business to do with the economy and the stock markets. I have to say that I think that a great deal of the problem and the rising lack in confidence in the UK and world wide economy is a result of the constant 24hr jabbering of the media who appear to be in something of a feeding frenzy at the moment. However, irrespective of the media slathering at the prospect of planetary economic meltdown, governments actually seem to be panicking at the thought of recession and are running around like headless chickens trying to be seen to be "prudent" in solving the problem.

All governments including that of the UK who previously and apparently had no money are all bending over backwards to pump money into the banks to remedy the problem. This, I think is a fundamental mistake and should be avoided at all costs. Why? The money will disappear and it will not solve the problem. Regardless of any money old Gordon throws at this, we are going into recession and any attempt to stop the inevitable natural cycle of the economy can only be likened to attempts by King Canute to hold back the tides.

The fact is that the present government has for years, unnaturally prolonged the boom part of the cycle and in so doing have claimed economic mastery and genius. Gordon and Tony revelled in good figures like swine in swill for years and our current incumbent actually believes that he was and is a top economist. In his desperation to keep this reputation in tact he is in danger of pushing the UK into the worst and longest recession in history and instead of dealing with the problem logically and rationally he is addressing the problems from a popularity point of view.

Rather than looking at what caused the problem (and in truth a lot of the problems in our society) he appears to be set on reinforcing and restoring policies and practices that caused the problem in the first place. The problem is greed accompanied with a means. It's wrong to blame bankers for the problem because whilst they have undoubtedly been acting like wolves the whole time, it takes two to Tango and in fact it actually takes three. People without any financial security or appreciation have been exposed to cheap and readily accessible credit and have been allowed to borrow without full understanding of the risks and consequences. This has been encouraged by the banks absolutely and it seems encouraged too by the government who have allowed its people to live beyond their natural means and whose regulatory institution, the FSA has done nothing to fulfil their statutory mission. The fact is that all of the players involved have been blinded by greed and all are equally to blame.

This being so, if the banks are given cash to stimulate more borrowing then nobody will learn any lessons and the problem will crystallise in the future. The solution also goes against the laws of natural selection, capitalism and democracy. If banks have misbehaved then they should go to the wall. If people have irresponsibly over borrowed then they should also face the consequences and learn lessons. Government both central and the FSA should also be made to pay. Gordon and cronies will undoubtedly and finally face the firing squad over the next year and a half depending on how long they manage to stretch things out. The FSA in reality has failed, perhaps even worse than the Child Support Agency and should be scrapped, reinstating the statutory regulatory bodies that existed prior to its inception. We need to realise the extent of the mess that New Labour has left this country in and find a way to unpick the tangle that has been created. Not sure if Dave is the man to do it because he seems to be backing the government in some weird attempt to look as prudent as the PM perhaps (who got us into this mess in the first place).

All things said and done, we have to accept that the recession is coming. Like a snake sheds its skin to grow so too must the economy. What is vital is that we accept the loss of things dead in life. in order to go forward. If we don't then we will become constricted or worse become stagnant and infected. Nature must be allowed to take its course.

The Week's Shiny Bits

Funny things happen in politics every day. Some things make you feel frustrated, some things laeve you confused, some things make you mad and sometimes, only sometimes things really make you smile. This week has presented the whole spectrum of feelings for me.

Frustrated...with the refusal and silence of Thabo Mbeki over the elections and violence in Zimbabwe. Frustrated also by a pittyful show of gesturing and posturing by world leaders. Everyone seems to be very keen to condemn Mugabe but as usual, nobody seems to be in any rush to actually do anything...Quelle surprise!!!

Confused...by the Nelson Mandella concert in London last night. I think the idea was actually brilliant but I was enraged by the decision by the TV channel that aired it to intersperse the music with inane interviews by inane presenters with inane artistes (some of whom could hardly string a sentence together and I would be very surprised if they were even aware of things like the Sowheto uprisings). I was enraged by the fact that every time someone farts on TV on Saturday night, they bring out the same prepubescent looking slip of a lass (Fearn Cotton) to jump all over the place, ask crap questions and oversell the occurrence almost to the point of orgasm. Surely this style of presentation would be better suited to children’s TV, QVC or ITV’s This Morning. Coincidentally I believe that’s where the other presenter of the evening cut his teeth.

I was also perplexed as to why poor Nelson was sat in what appeared to be a darkened tent on his own except for the company of Gordon Brown!!!???.... possibly one of the most boring men on the planet. What I mean to say is that Nelson, 90 years old and celebrating his birthday at a massive rock concert in possibly one of the most exciting places in the world was sat with possibly one of the most boring people in the world, a failing politician who probably only wanted to be there for his own image or to pester him for some kind of overt sign of public support, affection or endorsement. It would be like popping into Macky Dee’s or Thornton’s with your personal trainer or watching sex on TV with your parents; it just isn’t fun.

Disheartened...by stories from Italy that they re proposing to fingerprint every gypsy in the country so that they can keep control over them in some way. I find it a wholly shameful thing that what the Italians are planning to do is absolutely reminiscent of what the Nazis did to the Gypsies and the Jews before they made them wear badges, put them in ghettos and then liquidated them (ghettos then inhabitants). Where’s the condemnation from the leaders of Europe and the rest of the world on this one? Bloody nowhere!!!

Happy...about the resignation by the crook Wendy Alexander. It is bout time she went for the good of the country. Lets hope that her boss takes a positive lesson from her example and does likewise...sooner rather than later.

Attenborough does the Labour Chimps

Watching the political landscape at the moment is a bit like watching a wildlife program. I could probably use any species of animals that have been striped of their privacy for our entertainment over the decades but for the purposes of this article, I am going to use the politicians themselves on location because I think the halls of Westminster have become just as dangerous as the Serengeti plains of Africa.

Gordon Brown, the alfa politician from the red troop looks out over the lands of his territory and stretches. The sun is up and it will be a hot day today before the rains arrive in the afternoon just after PMs question time according to Carol from the BBC. He has enjoyed his dominance over the troop as the old alfa politician's second in command and recently the old alfa retired allowing Gordon to become the king of the plains.

Gordon has a few problems though. The first problem for Gordon and his dominant troop is that for the last couple of years another troop who was feeding at the fringes of his territory has begun to increase its numbers and has been getting bolder and bolder in challenging the new red troop alfa. The old alfa was always quick to crush their attempts for dominance and chase them back to the fringes but Gordon has allowed them establish their footing. Another "yellow" group has also emerged and is beginning to look more and more confident every day. For Gordon, survival has become difficult because he and his troop are constantly under attack from all sides in a struggle for the rich plains of the United Kingdom.

As troops go, this would normally not present such a big risk to his power because they are still numerically superior. The biggest problem that Gordon faces, however is that there is now an increasing number of Betas in the troop who are starting to challenge the authority of their leader. They are young, inexperienced and all highly flattered, if not blinded by the media attention they have been getting over the last couple of months. They are well groomed and turn up on all the right TV shows. They are hungry for the attention and they are absolutely hungry for power which they seem to have been given very quickly. People like the Milliband brothers, Punrel and the two Alexanders find themselves in positions of power way ahead of their time or as it seems ability. They also appear to be politicians of the worst kind because their youth, inexperience and burning ambition turns any kind of political savvy they may have into something that looks like smarm of the highest order.

The fact is that these betas, deliberately or not are undermining their alfa on an alarmingly regular basis and I think some have become more of a liability that Gordon himself. Any one of the other troops vying for power at the moment will be able to use this situation to their advantage and are making their moves for power as we speak. The blue troop is way ahead in the polls. The yellow is not far off the reds at the moment. Either or both alfas are in a position to crush the reds if they are ruthless enough to do so, by exploiting and manipulating the situation as it is.

The new red troop alfa needs to act quickly if he wants to survive the rainy season. He will need to face these betas in a violent showdown to pull his troop together again. Insurgency will only bring them demise. He needs to fight and he needs to win. He then needs to banish the defeated and concentrate on tightening his remaining members for battle in the inevitable showdown with the blues and the yellows whenever it comes and when ever he is ready for it.

Gordon Brown: Totally Insane or a Conviction Politician?

"Labour is always ready to listen to people's concerns, and take action on them." according to Gordon Brown.

He also said the government had listened to people's demands that police "come down hard" on gangs.

What on earth is this man going on about? Has he lost the plot and does he actually believe that he is in touch with the people or does he actually believe that the people will believe that he is in touch with them. Lets just have a quick look at labour's record on listening to the people.

The first instance I remember being hugely significant was the war on Iraq. Nobody wanted it but Tony and George had to do it because of all the WMD that Saddam was building & hiding which would presumably be used to destroy Israel and the west some day. Then after they invaded and it was discovered that in fact the Iraqis didn't have WMD, we were told that it was all about regime change to rid the oppressed Iraqi people of the evil dictator Saddam. Either way it never occurred to the government that the people, either them or us might not be behind them. In fact as I recall ,there was even resignations from the then government. Still they marched onwards.

I think that there was also a petrol demonstration early on at some point which was pretty much ignored but the next big thing I remember was the European Constitution which we were going to be given a vote on. Good old Tony never had to give it to us because I think the French and/or the Germans turned it down before we even got a look in. Then they changed the name of it from a constitution to a treaty & Gordon himself decided that we no longer needed any input because it wasn't a constitutional issue. Perhaps someone should point out to our unelected PM that an apple is still an apple whether you call it an apple or not.

The government told everyone that dental care would become easier and cheaper. They messed that one up too. The refused to listen to the BDA and their concerns about the new system of charging and now huge numbers of people cannot find an NHS dentist.

The fact is that the list goes on and on. This government does not listen to the people. It never has and the fact is that is has never had to because of the size of its majority in the House that it has enjoyed and exploited for ten years now. If Gordon is serious about keeping his job, he needs to chop his PR machine because they are doing him no favours. They are making him look like a liar or that he has actually lost the plot. He and his party need to realise that although Blair was popular and did a lot for the renaissance of the Labour party, the fact is that they won their huge majority because people were sick to death of the Conservatives. Blair happened to turn up at the right time with a bit of razzle dazzle.

When people began to see through the razzle dazzle however and realised that there really was no substance ot the man, Blair was clever enough to depart. I think that the British people are beginning to expect more from their politicians than PR and marketing and would like to see candidates who could actually govern the country in the right direction, which at this point in time is in any direction away from the direction in which we are headed, thanks to Blair and New Labour.

In a way, I admire Gordon for sticking around, because that could mean that he is in fact a conviction politician and is ready to actually ride out the rough and do what is right for the people, in which case good luck to him. On the other hand it could also mean that he is oblivious to what people actually think and therefore a bad judge of circumstances and fact or even worse a raving loon. Gladly, I do not think that it will take us long to figure it out.

Teachers? Solidarity Brothers & Sisters.

I am going to come out on this issue from the start. I am in favour of giving the teachers of the NUT what they want. They are striking today because they find themselves in a position where they cannot afford to live and probably particularly in London. At a starting salary of £20k they are expected to work and live in often extreme conditions for long hours. Now if you look back to my article about poor Leona Lewis who was complaining that she was struggling to survive in London and get a decent home for around the £500k mark, I think it puts things into context.


For a teacher to afford a property, one would need to borrow 25 times that salary in order to find somewhere nice to live; not likely either now or a year ago when the banks were falling over themselves to lend money. So realistically what could a teacher afford? Well based on maybe three and a half times their salary they could afford a property worth c.£66k with a 10% deposit. Now the last time I looked in the paper, in 1996 this was possible, however today for a teacher to buy a property on his/her own, is an impossibility.


The fact is, these striking teachers are not asking for wage hikes allowing them to afford properties worth anywhere near £500k or even really a quarter of that. They are asking for their pay rise to be in line with inflation. What is wrong with that? Do these people not perform a valuable service on societies behalf? Do our children and did not we ourselves (or some of us anyway) give teachers a hard time at school every day and at every opportunity? Their student loans are linked to inflation and I don't understand why their salary cannot be too. I don't understand what anyone would have against someone being paid enough to justify going to work and doing the job they have chosen to do.


I get the impression that as long as you are paid from the public purse, you are expected to work for peanuts. The same can be said about nurses and the armed forces, who have all been utterly exploited and taken for granted for years if not centuries. I think that this is an awful indictment on our society that our public servants are expected to survive on the breadline only for the reason that they have a sense of civic duty which compels them to serve the rest of us and provide services that society cannot do without.


It makes my so angry to hear about the inconvenience that this strike has caused. I think that this is an utterly selfish point of view and amounts to nothing less than emotional blackmail. As far as I am aware, the purpose of a strike, as an action of last resort is in fact to cause disruption. I fail to see the personal inconvenience of having to look after the kids for an extra day. I personally cherish every day I have with my family so from my point of view that argument stinks. I understand that it causes businesses problems because they have to allow for absenteeism. Big deal! if the business hasn't been built to survive minor blips like this then it deserves to go bust because it is a bad business. I understand that it might affect some peoples money if they are forced to take time off work but again, if you haven't planned to deal with blips then I can offer no sympathy. Perhaps an insight into what it is like to have less money will demonstrate to those who do lose out what it is like to be a teacher.


The interesting thing about all of this however is the silence from Downing Street on the issue. The government and Prime Minister who sailed into power with cries of "Education, Education, Education" appear to be a bit quiet on the issue. Is it that they are still recovering from the battering they took in parliament yesterday and in the papers today? Are they sitting back, waiting to see what the popular opinion is on this issue before they commit to a course of action. They need to get it right because the local and mayoral elections are round the corner so I suppose I can understand their hesitation. I would've thought though as the name of the party suggests and the support, both financially and politically that they receive from the trade unions that they have no choice but to support the TUC. However as we've all come to expect from New Labour, they seem to be more worried about the City and economic effects of the strike than its social cause and effects. What really confuses me is why the opposition has failed to come out and take the high ground in Labour's reluctance to do so.

John Prescott: Rodeo Clown

When I was young and on a visit to the US, I was taken to a rodeo. I watched the cowboys mount angry bulls which were then released together into the arena. A violent dance then began with the bull trying to buck the cowboy from his back and the cowboy holding on for dear life or at least for dear prize money or bravado. If the bull was successful and the cowboy came crashing to the ground, the bull would then turn to the cowboy with the intention to trample and/or gouge him. This is when the rodeo clowns came in. They were there to distract the bull from the recovering cowboy on the ground so that he could escape the irate bovine. There were always a few of them, enough to confuse the bull if they worked as a team. Most people will have seen similar in cowboy films and a good example is Stir Crazy with Gene Wilder and the late Richard Prior.

John Prescott announced yesterday that he has battled with Bulemia Nervosa throughout his political career. Before I continue, I have to admit to not having too huge a problem with Prescott in fact I would probably like him if it wasn't for his politics. I am of the opinion that Prescott didn't try as hard as the others to be something he wasn't. I also know a little bit about Bulemia and its effects on sufferers and those around them so I feel sorry for him that he suffered with it. I am also aware that the reason it came to light is that he has written and is starting to promote his book.

However, I cant help being at least a little sceptical about the timing and nature of the announcement. Ever since Jo Moore a labour party press officer told the party that it would be a good idea to bury bad news on 9/11, I am incredibly sceptical about the content and timing of pretty much anything labour releases or says. I think I'm probably more sceptical about what they say after ten years of Blair though. The fact is, the government has not had a good time lately and one could draw similarities from my story of the rodeo.

Brown is a cowboy...or should that be...Brown is the cowboy? I know my own thoughts. He's been on the bull (the British people or alternatively maybe his party) and it was released. It's also thrown him though and at the moment he is down on the floor (look at the polls). What happens next? In comes the rodeo clown(s) to deflect the bull's attention away from him. Cue Prescott with his eating disorder. Now again, I am not trying to trivialise his illness, but I would've thought that this man would've had a bit more interesting stuff happen in his life than that. He's been the deputy PM for years after all and has always appeared to be a little more colourful than the rest of his dreary party. However here we are faced with the "fat" guy on the team revealing his struggles with an eating disorder traditionally (although incorrectly) associated with teenage girls.

The distraction worked. However it could only ever have worked for the shortest of time. In comparison, the tax crisis, credit crunch, falling house prices, rising gun crime, hospital super bugs, immigration (and the list goes on and on) are all problems that are likely to be with us for years into the future thanks to government policy over the last ten years. Gordon's problem is not now that he is on the floor because the first of the clowns has appeared and it probably won't be long before others arrive. The problem is that now he's not on top of the bull any more, he cannot remain in the bull ring forever and he should really try to find a way to escape the bull before it starts to ignore the clowns and refocuses on the cowboy who tried to wear it down in the first place.

A Political Assassination in the Making

Political assassination is always an interesting thing to watch. I remembered seeing it happen to Thatcher and its effects made long lasting and deep, near fatal wounds on the conservative party. They never recovered even after Major won a general election after Thatcher's departure and it is only now, 18 years after her departure that they are beginning to look like a united party again. The obvious explanation for their sudden and long overdue cohesion is that they are doing well in the polls again. A renaissance is upon them although I think it is more likely as a result of a poor performing government than the brilliant leadership style and innovative ideas of Mr. David Cameron.

Labour has had a rough time lately and is doing what the conservatives did after too long in power; it is imploding. It's seeming invincibility is being crushed by it's own previous success. This was a government which was held together by an uneasy but iron partnership of Blair and Brown who despite all the media waffle about hatred and fighting between them, always backed each other unfalteringly on every occasion. It was in fact a very successful marriage. Now that Blair has left his political wife, the power of the marriage has vanished along with him.

With the power seemingly gone, together with any credibility it held for Gordon, those amongst the party who, drunk with power and full of ambition appear to be sharpening their knives for a bit of old fashioned political back-stabbing and assassination. I think that Lord Desai took the first gouge earlier this week, likening Gordon Brown's leadership style to porridge or haggis and even suggested a replacement, David Milliband. Suddenly, confronted with the prospect of becoming the next leader of his party, Milliband came out in the papers today undermining his leader in the process, calling for unity over the tax debacle and saying that it was important to admit mistakes when mistakes had been made. He obviously believes Lord Desai that he is going to inherit the earth and thinks he's up and ready for it. He also obviously believes that Gordon has made mistakes otherwise he wouldn't be suggesting apologies to the nation.

Gordon is obviously a different man to Blair and certainly much different to Thatcher but he is going to have to be as strong as both of them here if he wants to survive. It is too late to start apologising for things now and I don't believe that he would want to, after all where and when would it ever end. He has a bigger problem though because he has dissent within his ranks to deal with and if he fails to deal with it appropriately he will look feeble and more will follow. I think Milliband young, niaive and ambitious as he is, may have been duped into being offered as a sacrificial lamb here by other yet unseen shadows in the party. Brown really has little alternative than to sack Milliband or at least discipline him publically for his public criticism. If he does he will look like a brute but the vultures will be less keen to descend and feast upon his carcass for the time being. If he lets this go then his party will tear him apart. From the conservative point of view, it looks like things can only get better.

Lord Desai, Half Right about Labour.

Lord Desai came out today and said what we are all probably thinking about unelected PM Gordon Brown. That he is indecisive and weak. However he got the next bit wrong because he claimed that Gordon was put on earth to remind us how good Blair was and this is where I started to get angry.

I want to make it perfectly clear from here that I think and have always thought that the whole New Labour exercise was nothing more than a re-branding exercise backed up with good, almost genius manipulation of the media and NOTHING MORE. They have not improved our lives since they have been in power. They have also lied about all sorts of things (least of all the reasons for going to war). The guys at the top are all involved in political corruption through cash for honours and Saudi warplanes. We have been told repeatedly that Britain is recession proof, that crime is lower, immigration is great and that hospitals are fantastic because of all the money that has been poured into the NHS black hole. But the thing to remember is that it is not entirely Gordon Brown's fault.

Yes he was there. Yes he stood shoulder to shoulder with Blair throughout and made wild statements that we were supposed to believe without question, but he was working for Blair. Blair was in charge of the country for 10 years and the state of things must fall firmly on Blair's shoulders, not Brown's. Contrary to what Lord Desai says about Brown, I actually think more correctly that Gordon Brown was put on earth to remind us of just how bad Mr. Blair was and how hollow his 10 years in power actually were.

It was also suggested by Desai that Brown's successor should be the current foreign secretary David Milliband. Now this I agree with. Being a supporter of the other side, I think that the choice has to be absolutely the best from the conservative party point of view too. Blair was a smug super confident man who could oil his way through anything and appear half credible to the type of people who voted for him. Milliband is also unbelievably smug too and Lord Desai is probably thinking that Milliband is another Blair. However, I don't think that I have spoken to a labour supporter and I have spoken to a few, who is not reviled by Milliband. In fact most people seem to positively dislike him citing his inability to be sincere about anything together with his smugness as the main reason for their dislike. At least with Blair, he seemed to care about things even if it did all turn out to be a great acting performance from a man who actually cares for nothing but his own political advancement and personal "legacy".

Anyway, I actually started to smile at the end after I found myself defending Gordon Brown for some strange reason. I think defending Gordon Brown would be a bit like defending Goering at Nuremberg. Fact is Brown was at the top of Blair's government and has been a major contributing player in the utter incompetence that has been running this country since Labour got into power. Brown has been left holding the bag though and it is natural that he will look like the villain, after all Blair jumped ship before we started to discover the sticky tape that is holding this Labour government and its actions for the last ten years precariously in place.

If Labour loses badly in the local elections and loses London, I think that Lord Desai is right, Labour will start to panic and I think that people like him are going to start it. I think that this is exactly what we saw from the conservative party after they lost to labour originally and until quite recently, panic and disorganisation caused by a great deal of back and front stabbing from factions within the party. The result of this "panic" is political loss and humiliation" so I think that I am quite confident that we are going to see a good spanking at the next general election. Ah, revenge will be so sweet and I will look forward to another ten year stint by a conservative government until they screw things up and whilst New Labour send Milliband to Hollywood or at least the local drama school to learn how to act with the sincerity that got Blair into power (it'll take him a while unfortunately). Once He learns to say "look" a lot and use his hands and gesticulate in a more forceful way, he will be in a position to lie properly to the country and convince them that he is the man for the job.