Politics Archive

Here’s a fantastic new campaign from the people behind The Taxpayer’s Alliance – Big Brother Watch.

Not only do they have stories about Labour’s never-ending intrusion into our lives (e.g. spying on its own citizens computer use), but they have a fun competition: send off for your free stickers, slap one on the most heinous piece of Big Brother interference you can find, take a photo of it and send it in

H/T to Old Holborn

I found this via The Devil’s Kitchen (fruity language, be warned), a chance to receive a free book (first 5,000 ordered) on how Britain could be better off out of the EU in ten years time, when the book is set:

Ten Years On: Britain Without the European Union – click for a free copy

Franky, I’d love to leave it – I perceive no benefit whatsoever.

I’ve never seen so many people living in a bubble. On the same day Gordon was spouting off Labour’s achievements with the passion he reserves for tractor statisics, the police were doing a piss-poor job of apologising for not helping a mother and her daughter (who both committed suicide) after years of harassment by the very yobs Labour have helped breed. I note that that Gordon did not mention the £800 BILLION debt he’s saddled us with, which wll take YEARS to clear.

The Labour Party is truly through the looking glass: political interviewers will state clearly what ills face Britain, and then the Labour party stooge will swear blind that it’s not true, it isn’t happening, when clearly it is, e.g. “24-hour drinking was been a complete disaster”, “no it hasn’t”. Why aren’t the interviewers calling them out on it? The line about 500,000 children lifted out of poverty is bogus but no-one pushes them for facts.

As for all the wonderful new ideas (stronger ASBOs, gulags for slags, care homes), either: 1) why haven’t you done it before or 2) where’s the money coming from, we’re broke?

Here’s my take: cut welfare massively (I’m even fine with losing child support), stop making the poor breed kids they don’t love just for child allowance, only give child allowance for the first two children, stop all the public sector pension disparity, review council salaries, cut down the Whitehall staff (I notice Andy “guyliner” Burnham was going on about Gershon-style “efficiency” drives – again, you’ve been in twelve years, why haven’t you done it?)… There’s loads more I could suggest, but it’s slightly to the right of Ghengis Khan

Anyway, Labour losing the support of The Sun is excellent news and has annoyed Gordon no end, which is good. There’s also rumours about that say Labour may cease to be a political force after the next election as they’re broke, out of money, choked – especially if their paymasters, the unions, withdraw their support. That said, I wouldn’t want the propping up the Conservatives and expecting things in return as no doubt they would.

Anyway, nice to see Gordon looking so happy:

Kay Burley’s face says it all at the end, H/T to Guido Fawkes

From the excellent V For Vendetta:

Now, rise up and throw out this rotten, incompetent Labour government, who have ruined Britain.

From The Telegraph: All parents to sign ‘behaviour contracts’

Wow. Just, wow. In addition to being probed, monitored, pestered and harassed by the ever-burgeoning state, Labour are proposing that all parents sign these contracts before the start of term. More than likely, each term. Parents face fines (which is all Labour know) if they break these contracts, which I sincerely doubt would stand up in court.

I am lucky (well, luck’s got nothing to do with it) to have a son who is well-behaved 90% of the time. I expect the school to discipline the very moment he steps out of line, rather than leave it up to me well after the event. I do, of course, also discipline him as well. These contracts are being foisted on people because some lazy, ignorant, stupid parents are unable to teach their children how to behave and teach them what is expected of them. Then again, they are probably Labour’s core vote.

Also, these “contracts” will have to be monitored and enforced, which means (you guessed it!) more State jobs – as if we didn’t have enough already. The State has expanded massively under Labour, busybodies that they are.

Dear Government: Sod off and leave me alone.

It’s about damn time – now scrap the entire scheme and save upwards of £10 billion…

H/T the Daily Telegraph

So, the open government promised by Tony Blair all those years ago is upon us, with MPs’ expenses being published this week in full. Apart from the bits you can’t read, like addresses, amounts, goods and services, stuff like that. Indeed, with various parts of the expenses redacted, we the people (and employers of the 646) would not have found out about the “flipping” of second homes done by Hazel Blears, Alistair Darling, Geoff Hoon, et al.

The Telegraph has done a tremendous public service in publishing the full, unredacted set of expenses and I am pleased to see thieving gits resigning and paying money back. I’d be happier if most of the MPs were also had up on charges of fraud, such as the claims made on a non-existent mortgage by Elliot Morley (Lab), or by MPs avoiding capital gains tax. At least HMRC have launched an open-ended investigation into ax avoidance by MPs…

Here’s some good links to what’s going on today with the expenses:

• Blackout by the Telegraph, the paper that started it all
• Rolling blog post on the more interesting revelations by The Taxpayers’ Alliance
• The Point of No Return at the Spectator’s Coffee House
• And a “bunch of blankers” (almost right) from (ugh) The Sun

Happy reading, but do remember that not all MPs are on the fiddle…

Although I can think of far more descriptive things to call Gordon Brown than Houdini (Iain Dale referring to Gordon Brown being amazingly let off the hook).

Labour have had their worst results for almost a century, are widely reviled by the general public, allowed the BNP to gain a foothold (although I do hope Nick Griffin does expose the EU accounts as promised), Gordon’s had five cabinet ministers resign plus other junior ministers, and what do Labour do? They applaud him as he entered the PLP – although that was allegedly Gordon’s “crowd control”, i.e. enforcers.

Not many people seem prepared to stand up to this odious oaf, and the country would be all the better for it – and even better if we had a general election. Labour, by keeping Gordon in, have put party before country, and should be ashamed.

Deservedly so, Labour are having an absolute kicking in the council elections. We have ministers resigning mid-press conference, withering attacks, all good fun.

Like Old Holborn, I hope this weeks PMQs was Gordon’s Last. Brown is stuffing the cabinet with unelected peers (and creating a peer in the form of the reality tv star Alan Sugar), which is very shady, in my opinion. Unelected people in cabinet is not a good thing…

And three amazing, WTF moments: Glenys bloody Kinnock back as Minister for Europe, Peter Hain back despite being a money-laundering git and (wait for it) PETER MANDELSON as Deputy (!) Prime Minister…

What a shower of sh*t.

Let’s hope Brown either is pushed, quits, or shoots himself (I really don’t care), we get a new PM whose very first task is to call a general election – I really can’t see Brown continuing for much longer…

A very good day for the Conservatives despite Gordon Brown’s handpuppet Nick Robinson advising the Conservatives not to crack open the champage – I think they should

I just saw on BBC News (ugh) an interview with Gordon Brown (a;hole) where he was talking about getting on with the job, etc. He then opined that he didn’t think that people would vote for fringe parties.

According to recent polls, Labour are tied with the Lib Dems (the Lib Dems, FFS!) and one poll has them below the Lib Dems.

As my wife pointed out, “Who’s the fringe party now?”

And please make Ed Balls chancellor, then we can be guaranteed to be rid of this incompetent, mendacious, foolish, rotten, corrupt, stasi-like Labour government for even longer than last time.

The Telegraph has it all, including a wonderful picture of Ed Balls looking like Hitler – minus the moustache.

In essence, they “flipped” their second home a three times, raking in a £1million property portfolio on the backs of the British taxpayer. They “accidentally” double-claimed twice, were referred to the parliamentary sleaze watchdog over the designation of their second home, claimed £600 a month for food (for a family of four), etc. This, despite being on a “basic” salary of £141,866 – each.

The greedy, class-a, copper-bottomed shits.

WHERE’S THE GENERAL ELECTION?

Hmmm, let’s see: if I go and burgle an old lady, get caught on the way home and then offer to repay said old lady, should I be let off?

I’m only asking, as that’s what many of the MPs are now doing. Having been caught with fraudulent claims (i.e. hands in the till), the guilty MPs want to show contrition and pay some of it back. I would prefer to see them deselected, have the whip removed, sacked, etc. Criminals do not get the right to avoid sentencing by paying it back, why should MPs?

“The Green Book, the spirit of which these expenses claims are apparently within, states clearly that the fundamental principles underpinning the allowance regime to which MPs must adhere are based on the concepts of honesty, integrity, selflessness, accountability, openness and leadership. Claims should be above reproach, must only be for expenses necessarily incurred in the performance of parliamentary duties and must not give rise or appear to give rise to improper personal financial benefit.” (H/T The Times). Since when does claiming for manure, moat-dredging, etc. constitute parliamentary duties?

David Cameron should have gone further and withdrawn the whip from pretty much everyone who ripped the taxpayer off. That said, the rules he is enforcing on his own party are a good start, e.g. no more claiming for food on the ACA.

I’m not going to comment on Gordon Brown’s apology as it was far too late. I was watching the PM being interviewed last night, and the interviewer mentioned a couple of times about the bill for cleaning he shares with his brother. The interviewer should have asked the following: “PM, with your salary, is it really necessary to make the taxpayer pay for your cleaning?” Why should MPs be able to claim for such things on top of their salary? I have to make do with my salary to get me through life, why can’t MPs? I mean, £400 a month for food as claimed for by single man James Purnell? If he ate that much, he’d be bigger than John Prescott! For comparison, our food bill is £240 a month for a family of three.

Also, rushing through changes in response to this scandal is probably going to lead to some new loopholes to be exploited, instead of resignations which I think the public want – I know I do.

Matthew D’Anacona put it best in his article for the Spectator: “the British polity had slipped backwards on the moral evolutionary path from a “guilt cultureâ€? (governed by moral conscience) to a “shame cultureâ€? (governed only by fear of discovery)” – very true.

Anyway, I’ve just started trawling through the Lib Dems claims, and they are just as bad. I think the Tories have come out of it the worst, due to the fact that they have “country estates” to maintain. It sounds bad, but people should realise that is the background of most Tories – rich, educated, large estates, etc., and there is nothing wrong with that. I would prefer to be governed by a party that is well-educated, have been a success in business (instead of being a career politician like most in the Labour cabinet), etc. That said, the hell if I’m paying for the upkeep of these places, it is totally wrong. Let’s hope David Cameron sacks a few who have made the most egregious claims.

Great post by Fraser Nelson at The Spectator, who quotes from Plato’s The Republic. I’ve reproduced the quote here (because I can):

“We also have to make sure the guardians do not become like sheep dogs that turn into wolves and abuse their power to harm their fellow citizens. Therefore the guardians will have no private property, they will live transparently, they will be provided for out of taxes, and they will live together communally. First, none of them should possess any private property beyond what is wholly necessary. Second, none of them should have a house or storeroom that isn’t open for all to enter at will. Third, whatever sustenance moderate and courageous warrior-athletes require in order to have neither shortfall nor surplus in a given year they’ll receive by taxation on the other citizens as a salary for their guardianship. Fourth, they’ll have common messes and live together like soldiers in a camp. We’ll tell them that they always have gold and silver of a divine sort in their souls as a gift from the gods and so have no further need of human gold. Indeed, we’ll tell them it’s impious for them to defile this divine possession by any admixture of such gold… Hence, for them alone … it is unlawful for them to touch or handle gold or silver… In this way they’d save both themselves and the city. But if they acquire private land, houses, and currency themselves, they’ll be household managers and farmers instead of guardians – hostile masters of the other citizens instead of their allies. They’ll spend their whole lives hating and being hated, plotting and being plotted against, more afraid of internal than external enemies, and they’ll hasten both themselves and the whole city to almost immediate ruin.“

The Spectator’s Coffee House blog does an excellent job of covering what’s coming out of Westminster, well worth a read / RSS subscription.

Gordon Brown, despite having a grace and favour pad available to him as Chancellor (er, Number 11 Downing Street), moved his second home from a small flat in Westminster to his home in Scotland and then was able to “claim most of the running costs of the detached property in North Queensferry, Fife, including a gardener and cleaner, and carry out extensive repairs and redec­­­oration at public expense“. He did this on 17th Sep 2006, ten days after Tony Blair announced he would resign the following year.

What a thieving git – where’s my General Election?

EDIT: Gordon Brown claimed for some Noah’s Ark blinds!!! Why am I paying for Gordon Brown’s bedroom furnishings? How much does he earn? Can he not pay for them himself? I have to pay for everything out of my wages? GAH! NOW I’M MAD!