Friday 29 February 2008

Kirsty Milczarek - Female Jockey

On 9 February I first mentioned this young lady as being a cut well above the average. Since then I have been backing any mount she rides which I think has a chance and which is a decent price. She cannot be expected to win with rank poor horses but as an apprentice jockey she has to accept rides.

Last Saturday she won on an 8-1 shot for William Jarvis; yesterday evening she brought home a 6-1 winner and today she had a double at 6-1 and 3-1 for different trainers. In her final race she came from last to first in the home straight which is some achievement on the all weather tracks. The girl rides with her brains.

She is a star in the making!

Thursday 28 February 2008

The NHS

I wonder if the Labour politicians who founded and fought for the NHS are turning in their graves at the antics of their successors. Today it was announced that C-Diff has increased by over 70% this year despite all the hype about so called 'deep cleaning'.

A few years ago I spent a prolonged spell in Glenfield Hospital Leicester and was absolutely appalled at the lack of a hygiene policy. There were two antiquated shower facilities for well over fifty patients on the ward dealing with males recovering from major operations.

At that time consultants would routinely pass from wound to wound without washing their hands. Whole families of Asians would arrive en masse and spend hours around one bed with their children running amok until late into the evening. Workers were allowed in straight off building sites. I could go for much longer but you get the picture.

This will not change until the Chief Executives of each NHS Trust are made personally responsible for tackling disease in hospital. They are earning a fortune by normal standards but are not held responsible when their mistakes contribute to what is effectively mass murder. If these people were named and shamed in a court of justice and punished accordingly our hospitals would sparkle within days!

Wednesday 27 February 2008

The Cost of Immigration

I read today that immigration is currently costing the tax payer £170 million pounds per annum and that 145,000 people mainly from Eastern Europe are now on benefits in this country! Excuse me how can this be allowed?

How can Gordon Brown and his Euro bosses ruin our economy by giving it to useless cretins from Eastern Europe. Now I don't mind a few hundred Polish plumbers plying their trade here because heaven only knows our government has hardly encouraged kids to take up a trade. But draw benefits!!?

It is always the same. If the politicians want something like, entry into a discredited EU system, a couple of wars which are none of our business, foreign aid to countries like Pakistan or massive perks for themselves then money is no object.

If the public want something like clean hospitals, decent care for the elderly, a good education for our kids or even a pension which helps the retired maintain a life style above subsistence; then there is never any money. How can they look at themselves in the mirror?

Protests in London - AT LAST!

Today the 'Iwantareferendum' protestors descended on London in numbers just at the same time that the 'No Third Runway at Heathrow' group breeched parliamentary security (so easily)and ended on the roof of Westminster!

Is this the beginning of active protests in this country? It is about time that these disgraceful Members of Parliament were shaken up. They will one day have to face their constituents on the streets and they will deserve all they get! Not all of them get the same level of security that Gordon Brown gets. I would say that they have reason to be afraid.

Tuesday 26 February 2008

Our State Police

Two completely unrelated items in the Daily Mail today really made me think. A reader from Accrington infomed us that the 999 emergency number had been replaced by an 0145 number unless your call was deemed life or death. His son had been robbed and beaten up but according to the The Plod that was not life or death because he survived to get home. So two potentially dangerous violent criminals disappeared because the police could not be bothered to follow up the complaint.

The papers today were full of the despicable Levi Bellfield who was found guilty of two accounts of murder and one account of attempted murder. He is also strongly suspected of being responsible for the well publicised murder of Milly Dowler. I was quite happy to applaud the efforts of the police in bringing him to justice until I read the facts.

Levi Bellfield in the two years prior to Milly Dowler's murder had been reported 93 times for alleged indecent assault, obscene phone calls and physical assault. Apparently all of this was ignored by our wonderful police force so that he was free to murder and of course he did. Now isn't this exactly what we found out about Ian Huntley after he killed the two little girls in Soham. The clues were all there but they could not be bothered to follow them up.

Levi Bellfield is absolutely typical of the thugs who the police ignore time and time again. He is large, powerful, aggressive Romany! These are characteristics which make him totally immune to arrest. This type of swaggering bully never get challenged by the police and I will go further if a 'Levi Bellfield' comes down the street the beat police vanish (that is when we see any).

Why should this be I asked myself? Well a 'Levi Bellfield' is only a threat to the general public. He does not threaten the government and so he is ignored until he murders someone and cannot be ignored any longer. The young thugs who swagger unchallenged through our streets only threaten the public.

If you challenge the government however, then there is little doubt that you will be manacled before you know it. If you don't pay your poll tax, if you have a radical opinion, if you complain about lack of police, if you don't sort out your litter correctly you will be clobbered and that is before you get into your car.

This leads me to just one conclusion. The police see their role as protecting the state as opposed to protecting the public. The last state police that I remember were the STASI in East Germany and I never thought that I would see them here.

Sunday 24 February 2008

The Speaker and his Resignation

The Sunday newspapers have been full today of the demise of the Speaker of the House of Commons one Michael Martin a so called working class Scotsman. He is supposed to be the guardian of parliamentary scrutiny but it now transpires that he has been misusing his expense account. Apparently what he has done is not illegal it is just audacious!

What is it about NoLab politicians that given a whiff of power they seem to be unable to cope with it. I get the same impression of so many of them, John Prescott, Tony Blair, Peter Mandelsson and the Kinnocks all seem to have become incredibly rich through their time in parliament. It just doesn't ring true that everything has been done in the best interests of the country. Of course I don't know sufficient about their affairs to accurately comment but it is the impression that they have created which stinks.

I have observed this particular Speaker in action and I must admit that he seems incapable of neutral behaviour. I get the feeling that he is fighting a personal class war and that is sadly unbecoming of any person in his position.

They should make Norman Baker the Lib Dem MP the Speaker as he is one of the few I would trust to occupy the position with fairness and dignity. In the meantime I hope that there are a few people in the background who will whisper in Mr Martin's ear that it is time to go. Will he? That is entirely another matter of course.

Friday 22 February 2008

The European Union

I can fully understand why Gordon Brown and Tony Blair have given our freedoms away to Europe. When this issue was first aired way back in the days of Ted Heath we really thought that it would be beneficial to the British because in Europe many goods were cheaper and we were generally taxed more heavily than th others. Little did we know that that part of the deal would not apply to us.

We have seen many things change in this country since then. I cannot think of one single thing that has been of benefit to the general public. The politicians on the other hand have another gravy train to join if they just happen to lose their seat or in the case of Peter Mandelsson if they have to resign because they have been caught out.

It was of no surprise therefore to learn that a LibDem EMP has uncovered an expenses fraud amongst his fellow Euro MPs running into £100 million. A secret internal audit has exposed alleged widespread irregularities. Apparently it is on such a scale that some of them should be candidates for jail sentences.

We have never had a referendum in this country on the European question because they know what the answer would be. Even we tolerant, apathetic British would vote against it because it does absolutely nothing for us and for that privilege we contribute billions every year. What we could do with that money.

The EU has not passed an audit for over a decade. It is horrendously biased against the British because we do not embrace the Euro. We should only be voting for parties who want to pull out and if we don't then we deserve everything that we get!

Rendition Flights and our Lying Politicians

Now I must make one thing clear when I Blog about this issue. If I thought that a prisoner had information which would save innocent lives then I have no compulsion that I would make every attempt to get him to spill the beans. Similarly if young 'British'males are found opposing our troops in a war zone then they should be regarded as the enemy and disposed of. War is war it is very unpleasant and lots of people get hurt but war is for keeps so if you don't want to suffer then keep away.

When the issue of these so called rendition flights landing on British territory was first aired my immediate thought was 'so what'. We are fighting side by side with the Americans so if they want our assistance then they can have it as far as I am concerned.

I only started to sit up and take notice when Jack Straw the then Foreign Secretary stood up in the Commons and denied that we had anything to do with it. Now I wouldn't trust Jack Straw to walk my dog across the road so I knew that there had to be a link. Nine days later (22 Dec 2005) Tony Blair said ' I have absolutely no evidence to suggest that anything illegal has been happening here at all...I don't know anything about it." That clinched it for me; we were definitely involved and we just had to wait for the truth to come out.

Now David Milliband (surely the least convincing Foreign Secretary ever in our history) has admitted that they both lied and it was indeed going on. Are we surprised? Tony Blair is long gone but Jack Straw is now the Justice Minister (Ha!). Surely he should be called to explain how he didn't know what was going on when he was Foreign Secretary? Well of course he should but don't hold your breath. You know what this lot are like.

Wednesday 20 February 2008

Richard Fitzmaurice - Non Payment of Council Tax

So 76 year old Richard Fitzmaurice is off to prison for non payment of council tax and he has made me feel slightly ashamed of myself. As a former career soldier this ex Warrant Officer Class One knew exactly what he was doing and I have nothing but admiration for him. He is making a one man stand against the disgraceful antics of his local council and the unprecedented rises in this horrendous tax which we all face.

As he is alone at the moment they will probably squeeze him into a prison place which they won't allocate to a young thug but it did make me wonder. What would happen if ten thousand pensioners refused to pay their council tax? Or even more? Let's face it part of this tax is used to fund the police and when did any of us last see a copper on the beat? Then what would the government do? If they created a concentration camp for pensioners after they have ignored the thugs it would reverberate around the world.

The reason that the Richard Fitzmaurices of this world are manacled before they are carted off is a warning to the rest of us not to try it. I just wonder how many more people are thinking along the same lines as I am when they read his story this morning.

Tuesday 19 February 2008

The Young and the Booze Culture!

I am watching the news and I cannot believe that we are all wringing our hands about the current youth booze culture that we have created. It is one more step down the road of the destruction of our once beloved country.

I am sorry and I know that I risk the abuse of the establishment but this is deliberate. We could stop this nonsense at a stroke but will Gordon Brown address the problem? No of course he won't, because he wants this breakdown of civilisation in this country.

The general public know the problems. We pay Council Tax and part of that tax pays for the policing of our community but when did anyone ever see a copper on the beat when we needed one. They have been taken off the beat by Gordon Brown and Tony Blair. Why?

Now we have the unbelievable problem that drunken teenagers are ruling their own particular patch. Confront them and you get your head kicked in! Report them and nobody turns up. Arrest them and they get a community sentence during which they come back and kick your head in again!

Now please, please somebody explain to me why our NoLab government cannot or refuses to address this problem. Why cannot our Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, or the previous one, John Reid, or Blunkett or Jack Straw or bloody anyone else get coppers on the street like the rest of us want. Hell it was the Tories who started all this so how can we trust them?

These uneducated kids from their deprived and destitute housing estates have no other way of flexing their muscle. They have no direction, leadership or parenthood to show them that there is a better way of life. Education in this country does not currently equate to a third world country. It is a disgrace that a language qualification does not include any oral examination. It proves that the education of our children is a nonsense.

They prowl our streets and cause untold damage because nobody has ever put aspiration into their heads. They have no other alternative. If you cannot express yourself without the use of the word 'like' then you have a disadvantage. If you know nothing about geography and history, or your heritage then you will be alienated from your society. Until Gordon Brown gives these youngsters 'hope' then they will just drink their young lives away.

In the whole history of our previously wonderful country whenever did our youth believe that drugs and booze are the only salvation to their lives. Please do not believe that this problem is restricted to our Council Estates. It is emdemic in our universitites as well. Will Gordon Brown tackle it? Are you joking? When has this despicable government tackled anything worthwhile?

Important Exam Results

On 10 January I wrote about my son and his so important forthcoming examinations. I explained how important it was for him as a mature student to keep producing the results and the pressure which that generates.

Well today I got a short text which confirmed all our hopes. He has succeeded in all subjects and gained a merit in one. I am absolutely delighted for him because this remarkable adventure now continues. Three years ago he was a lorry driver living in a one room bed sit in the East End of London and now he has a choice of an Honours Degree in Law or a Masters Degree!

Well done son we are all proud of you.

Monday 18 February 2008

An English Parliament

I hear today that the residents of Berwick upon Tweed voted in a referendum to align the town with Scotland. Are we really surprised? It is a well known statistic that the Scots these days have a better quality of life than the average Englishman. The problems north of the border seem to be minimal compared to those of the south.

My son lives in Edinburgh with his lovely wife and our granddaughter and life for them has nowhere near the problems that we seem to encounter in England. When I travel north through towns like Hawick and Galashiels it is almost like going back fifty years. They have not been touched by the Asian ghettos which so many towns south of the border now tolerate and now seem to reluctantly accept. I think that the presence of a parliament in Edinburgh (governed by an SNP leader) gives the Scots a security which the rest of us do not enjoy.

The Welsh and the Irish also have their own parliaments. These were set up by Tony Blair and in my opinion they were designed to destroy England. How can any person with integrity set up parliaments for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and then tell the English that Members of Parliament from all these other nations will vote on English affairs but conversely the English have no say on events in the other parts of the so called Great Britain. It is a sinister nonsense!

I find it worrying that the map designed by the EU recognises Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland but reduces England to regions! Yes, that's right, in the eyes of Europe the English will disappear! You may think that I have gone barmy but please explain to me why the other three nations who make up Great Britain have their own parliaments and the English do not. We did not engineer a break up of the British Union, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown did. They were the people who broke up the Union. If Scotland has its own Parliament then that is where Gordon Brown should be sitting.

Something is really not right! We do not seem to have any English leaders. I don't believe that the English landowners, the real aristocracy are ignoring the destruction of their country. They must be aware! What is going on? Will the race horse owners, the landowners, the hunt supporters and yes royalty, really stand by and watch their country disappear?

Where is the leadership?

Friday 15 February 2008

Kirsty Milczarek (Female Jockey)

A few days ago I wrote a piece on this apprentice jockey praising her talents. Since then she has had precious few rides and I was beginning to worry that I had put the hex on her. Today however, she had two rides at Lingfield and she justified everything that I wrote about her. In the first race, a race restricted to apprentices, she rode them all to sleep leading all the way and then kicking on up the home straight to win easily. In her second race she rode an absolute blinder to pull back four lengths up the home straight and blast past the leader. Prices? 9-2 and 6-1! This girl has got genuine talent but don't tell anyone.

Thursday 14 February 2008

The British Economy

I am becoming increasingly concerned for my family when I read the economic forecasts that are being bandied around the blogs. Some of them are forecasting dire times ahead for this country because Gordon Brown and the Chancellor of the Exchequer Alister Darling seem to have got their figures wrong.

I know nothing about high finance but experience tells me that the level of personal debt in this country is unsustainable. A whole generation has been encouraged not to worry about money and just stick it on the credit card. Student debt is horrific and someone has to pay for the armies of Civil Servants and non productive quangoes who have been recruited to protect the policies of the discredited and incompetent NoLab politicians.

It is my opinion that, apart from the fuel moguls, the High Street banks are probably the biggest enemy of the general public . For the past twenty five years they have sold things like endowment policies and then just opted out of the the agreements when the Stock Market did not perform as expected. They have charged their customers at every opportunity even though it would appear that some of the charges are now illegal. Their profits are disgraceful and only go to emphasise their greed. Now some of them have blown a lot of our money on an American scam which seemed like easy money but in effect left them in dire straits.

I think that the banks should fund their own disasters but in this instance the government has stepped in and apparently they have committed all of us to a desperate gamble in an effort to save a bank (Northern Rock) from a fate brought on by it's own greed.

This is the crux of the problem. Gordon Brown has been a disaster as a PM. He is all rhetoric and no substance and I cannot think of any other term of government where anyone has fiddled for so long and done nothing. We have desperate social problems! Young feral gangs running around killing honest men trying to protect their families. Cheap booze flooding the streets and in every direction a breakdown of our society never before seen in modern history.

House repossession is sky high, we have rampant unchecked immigration, an absent police force, an incompetent Civil Service, Social Services who cannot save abused children, a transport system close to gridlock, filthy hospitals and all they waffle about is climate change and recycling!

For ten years Gordon Brown has boasted about his financial competence and we have believed him even though we are taxed to the hilt and pay over the odds for almost everything. What happens if he was lying? Everything else is almost catastrophic so why do we believe him on the economy? I hope that I am wrong, I really do, but I have a horrible suspicion that by the time we get rid of NoLab it will be too late. Gordon will dash off to his job in Europe with his gold plated pension in his back pocket and we will be left to pick up the pieces.

Tuesday 12 February 2008

Government Targets

I have just seen the poor wife of Gary Newlove on ITV news and frankly my heart went out to her. How can our so called politicians watch that woman and not want to change our system of justice. She is right we MUST bring back the death penalty for brutal crime or treason. We MUST make the criminal fraternity frightened of their punishment. At present our criminal justice system is so flawed that the criminals are laughing all the way to the bank.

At the heart of the problem are government targets. This NoLab government are responsible for policies which are tearing the heart out of our country. Nobody can work in the Public Sector without Gordon Brown imposing targets on them. Police, Hospitals, Education, Welfare are all hamstrung by the targets required by Gordon Brown.

You notice that I continue to name our PM as the architect of the problem. I don't for one minute believe that this pathetic individual is responsible for the problem. He is actually only the front man who, for a short period in his life, will enjoy the trappings of his position. For that he will quite willingly sell his soul and ignore the pleas, views, feelings of Gary Newlove's wife and all those people who have lost their loved ones to teenage drunken violence in the last ten years.

Someone is destroying our country from within! I don't know who that person is or why they want to do it but I bet that Gordon Brown knows and so does Tony Blair. The trouble is that I'm not convinced that David Cameron is ignorant of this problem. He doesn't seem to want to change the system too much. The NoLab government is so despised (witness the booing of Gordon Brown at the Manchester football derby last Sunday) but the Tories have an open goal and seem really unwilling to take the penalty kick!

Do you know if I had the money to buy that kind of power and I really wanted to destroy a country from within then I would buy both political parties so that the electorate were irrelevant! Just a thought. Sleep well.

Monday 11 February 2008

British Muslims

Barely a day has passed since I wrote my piece about British Muslims and now Iain Dale, one of the top bloggers, states that Intellligence sources monitoring 'Taliban communications' are reporting Bradford and Brummie accents involved in their intercept take. Are we surprised? Not a lot but what are our glorious leaders going to do about it? Bring back the death penalty for treason... I doubt it!

Why not? Why should we put up with so called British Muslims killing and maiming British soldiers without any ultimate punishment. And don't tell me that their families do not know where they are and what they are doing.

That excellent columnist 'Littlejohn' of the 'Daily Mail' has been warning of the appeasement of the Muslim religion for many months. This is a serious threat folks do not be distracted by the really nice Muslims that you meet on a daily basis. They disguise the fanatics (probably in total innocence) but Muslim terrorism is the next huge threat to our society and the military know it!

British Law!

I am refusing to discuss the thoughts of the Archbishop of Canterbury because frankly I believe that the Church of England long ago abdicated their right to discuss the social deprivations of our country never mind the law of the country!

These out of touch clerics have let down their own Christians over many decades by rejecting the principles of their Christian origins, ignoring the problems of our civilisation, ignoring the social deprivations of so many of the ethnic English and electing to be political animals instead.

The cry has gone out that British Law is paramount when faced with Sharia Law. Where were all these defenders of British Law when Tony Blair introduced European Law? Most of us now know that European Law supercedes British Law. Our judges have to adhere by the dodgy decisions of the Sentencing Guidelines Committee who have allowed criminals to prosper. In effect British Law does not actually exist but then what does that matter if you are trying to con the gullible British public?

Sunday 10 February 2008

The Pakistani Muslim in the UK

Looking through the papers and the blogs recently I have found evidence to suggest that at long last people are beginning to understand the impact of mass immigration which has been hoist on us by our indolent politicians. In particular the impact of the immigrants coming from Pakistan is becoming highly disturbing.

The mainstream media report that there are more Pakistanis claiming benefit in the UK than there are claiming benefit in Pakistan! Some of our hospitals are also reporting an increase in the birth of Pakistani children with congenital defects. In every city in the land we see the poor Pakistani women and kids shuffling along still clothed in their traditional dress and unable to speak a word of English.

Now I expect a rush of people to condemn me as a racist and frankly I don't care! I have personally met people from Pakistan who have made a real success of their move to this country but unfortunately they are a minority. Most of those who live in the ghettos are so out of place in the UK it is sad. They just don't belong in a society which they don't understand and which they can't relate to.

The attitude of mind of the average Pakistani appears to be totally at odds to the mind of the indiginous Britain. Their culture is totally alien to ours and the gulf is vast. Their attitude to arranged marriages, honour killings, cousins marrying cousins and the way they treat women in general is something that we cannot begin to understand because it is feudal in our eyes.

Nowhere is the cultural differences highlighted more than on the cricket pitch. OK I know that recently there has been the row over 'the monkey' remark between India and Australia but almost every other international incident has involved Pakistan. We had the famous walk out which disgracefully culminated in the Australian umpire being pilloried. We've had dozens of ball tampering incidents, false appeals, allegations of drugged up fast bowlers and matches between England and Pakistan in particular are like war zones. Matches against the Australians are highly competitive but they don't have that undertone of nastiness that emanates from the tests against Pakistan.

Finally and this is the issue which grates more than anything else; why do so many of their young men hate the country which feeds them? So many are allowed to return to Pakistan for training in the Al Qaeda camps. They then return and our authorities allow them to do it. Daily our poor, ill-equipped troops are fighting against huge numbers of Muslim fighters from Pakistan who pour across the border into Afghanistan. Recently in a British court Muslims were tried for a failed plot to capture a British Muslim soldier with intent to behead him. Presumably to teach us all a lesson!

So what lesson does it teach us then? Well it teaches us that there is an element in our society who hate their hosts so passionately that they will kill them without a thought as illustrated by the London Tube bombings. They believe that they are at war. If we do not take them seriously
then one day soon we will really regret it.

I seriously think that we should be monitoring this community very strictly. They should only have a limited period on benefits and when it expires they should be returned to Pakistan. They should be made to prove their value to the country and if they cannot then they should be repatriated. Any who have arrived illegally should be sent back. We have not picked this fight they did. We gave them sanctuary when they needed it but unfortunately I think that they perceived this as weakness. In many cases they have taken advantage and how! Do not think that this will disappear. Do not think that this does not concern you. One day it will.

Saturday 9 February 2008

Kirsty Milczarek (Female Jockey)

I have been a keen racing enthusiast for over thirty years now. I enjoy studying the form book and trying to find the elusive long priced winner. I always bet what I can afford to bet and always back one horse to win (each way if it is a good price). In this way I do quite well mainly because I don't set my sights too high. My aim is a small profit which buys a few little luxuries from time to time and allows me to enjoy my sport most afternoons.

A friend of mine who dips into this blog now and then complained to me the other evening that I never give any racing tips! I might try one day if I see a good one just for an interest but I do have a tip. Watch the career of Kirsty Milczarek. At present she is a three pound claiming apprentice fighting desperately to get a toe hold on the lower echelons of the jockey ladder.

Since the winter all-weather season began she has booted home winner after winner and many of them at decent prices. She caught my eye because she almost always gets her horses into winning positions. She invariable gets a good position out of the gates and if she doesn't win it is because the horse is lacking not the jockey.

This girl rides with intelligence and she knows her horses. I will be watching very closely when the flat season comes around and the big boys ply their trade on the various grass courses. I just hope someone gives her a chance even when she loses her apprentice allowance because I really think she will be worth it.

Thursday 7 February 2008

'I Don't Believe It!'

Well here we go again in the make believe world of our beloved politicians. A UKIP member has taken Gordon Brown to court for failing to keep his manifesto commitment of giving us all a referendum on Europe. Brown's lawyer has said in an open court that a manifesto pledge is not the same as a promise. Can you believe that? Tell the electorate what you like until you get their votes and then say that you didn't mean a word of it! This lot are incorrigible but unfortunately I don't think that the Tories are that much better and NuLab (NoLab) will still poll millions of votes from people who can't be bothered to think about politics so what does it matter.

Wendy Alexander, the Gordon Brown of the Scottish NoLab party, was recently caught impersonating Peter Hain and not declaring all the money she received for her campaign fund. Today the Electoral Commission declared that it was 'not in the public interest' to pursue the matter even though she has routinely encouraged donators to donate just short of £1000 so that she doesn't have to declare the amounts (See Guido Fawkes' Blog for details). So next time that you fail to declare all your income on your tax form just quote the Electoral Commission. No wonder the Scottish National Party are blowing NoLab out of the water north of the border. The Scots have seen the light so perhaps we should be tuning into the BNP policies in England because frankly they cannot be worse than the current crowd.

Wednesday 6 February 2008

Capello's England!

Well we won but I'm afraid I wasn't really impressed. I know it was only a friendly and I know it was therefore only experimental and I also know that there are no easy victories in international football in this day and age but...I also know what good and attractive football looks like. I can also spot a good player and I want to see the players who can take us into the trenches in the next World Cup.

So who did we see tonight? Well I reckon that David Bentley is nailed on to take the old 'Beckham' role on the right flank. I also think that Joe Cole is in the Victor Meldrew's brother World Cup team and at this stage I will stop! I really believe that, of his type, Gareth Barry will probably come through because he can spot a pass and control a ball but I am not convinced about the rest.

I have a soft spot for Peter Crouch. He battles all the time and his freak stature makes him a problem for defences but he can also score goals from all angles which brings me to Wayne Rooney. Wazza is not a target man who can play alone up front. He plays off a target man (Crouch/Heskey/Dean Ashton/Kevin Davies) and we all know that he is effective at Premiership level. He has yet to prove in my eyes that he is an international player. His first touch is still dodgy and for all his power I would prefer to see some intelligence!

The same goes for Steven Gerard. He is all power, passion and pride but he needs to take a step back sometimes and produce the right pass at the right time. Joe Cole will produce a pass and so will Bentley and Barry but when does Gerard produce that killer ball?

So there it is, in my opinion we have 2/3 players ready for the next World Cup! Am I right? Does anyone care? My blank wall remains blank but never mind, when the time comes I will have the proof that I said it first (I hope!).

Monday 4 February 2008

Jack Straw

I have often thought that the Blair/Brown cartelle was probably the rottenest of all the political groups ever to grace our parliament. Everything about this crowd is absolutely foul and one by one they have been found out and dispensed with. Only two of the originals remain, the PM himself, who on a daily basis is being exposed as someone not up to the job and Jack Straw.

I well remember one occasion when NuLab was in opposition and Jack Straw was at the despatch box being slaughtered by the Tories when Tony Blair jumped up amd saved his arse. We all recognise that TB was a genius at parliamentary debating but Jack Straw was not.

He has been a disastrous Home Secretary, a disastrous Foreign Secretary and yet he survives year on year out probably because he knows where the bodies are buried. He is the last one left of the horrendous bunch who came to power when we were so fed up with the Tories.

Today we have a so called scandal that a Labour/Muslim MP has been bugged by the Security Services and nobody knows who gave the order to break the law. At the top of the tree is of course our glorious Justice Minister one Jack Straw. Now I just know a little bit more about bugging than the man in the street. I was after all a member of the Intelligence Corps in the dim and distant past. Heh, very dim and very distant!

I just have a very funny feeling that this bugging incident could lead directly to Jack Straw's front door... and about time too!!!

Sunday 3 February 2008

We Want a Referendum!

I was chatting to a friend of mine the other day and I mentioned how dischuffed I was about the current state of British politics. We have had sleaze after sleaze recently so I thought that he might be slightly interested. Now my friend is a really great guy. He would or could be patronizingly called the 'salt of the earth' because he is the epitome of that breed. He is a real man's man, now 70 years if age, and as honest as the day is born. His family means everything to him and yet he does not feel that politics is a subject which concerns him.

The average Englishman still abides by the principle that 'we don't talk about politics and religion'. The average man in the street feels uncomfortable if the issue of politics or religion is brought up in the general 'pub' conversation. Oh! Oh! The nutter is voicing his extreme views and so we have been conditioned that politics in the pub is a 'No-No'. In France and Germany politics is openly discussed and in the USA they are avid political fanatics as recently witnessed by the first 'Black Man' versus the first 'Lady' political confrontation for the Democratic nomination across the pond.

So why don't we care about our country? Why are we shy to express our political allegiances? Another friend of mine who I believe reads this blog every now and then told me that he was voting BNP. Now that took real courage in the company that we keep but because everyone respects and likes him nobody challenged his views. Why would a seventy year old wrap himself in a Union Jack and join the skinheads unless he actually was seriously concerned about the state of the country.

I have never ever marched anywhere for anyone. I am therefore part of the problem. I will not put myself out for the sake of my grandchildren. On 27 February people are marching for the sake of their families because they are going to London to lobby their MPs demanding 'We Want a Referendum' on this issue of Europe. This political union is purely a gravy train for failed politicians (Mandelsson, Kinnock etc etc.) It has done nothing for the British as a nation but it has given poorer nations like Eire, Portugal and Greece a much higher standard of living.

We are not here to prop up minority nations. We have always been able to stand alone on our talent and innovation. We do not need Europe; they need us and yet they do not like us. We are now the only country in the European Union who uses the Euro as currency. Why? They need our money that's why!

On 27 February I will be going to London to demand a referendum from my MP! They promised us a vote on this issue and Gordon Browns' lies about the latest treaty being different form the original one rejected by the French and the Dutch does not stand up to scrutiny.

Come on folks this could be your last chance to save the nation we all knew. Why don't you care? You have already seen the effect of this creeping towards a neutered England. All the other nations have a Parliament but the English have nothing to protect them. Our humour saw us through two World Wars but this is not a joke. For heaven's sake stand up for your country!!!