Tony Blair

One of the Daily Mail columnists, Stephen Glover, wrote a piece today which really made me sit up. He is really shocked at the speed that Tony Blair is cashing in on his status of former PM. He is linking Blair's support of the Bush inspired war in Iraq with Blair's enhanced financial position now. He also questions how Blair arranged the loans that he needed in order to purchase the properties he wanted in central London. His reported mortgage of more than £4 million was 25 times that of the PM's salary. Can you imagine you or I trying to convince a mortgage lender that we wanted 25 times the amount of our salary? Somehow he was able to do it so what did he know that we didn't?

Now I must confess that I voted for Blair the first time round because I, like most every other floating voter, was desperate to believe his 'things can only get better' platform. I am interested in politics and during his first term of office I became increasingly frustrated that NuLab was actually NoLab. The Labour party was founded on Socialist principles which means that the electorate are represented in parliament by a party looking after their interests. I soon became convinced that Blair was not a socialist PM. His party had no real policies which benefitted the man in the street. He then began to promote legislation that was designed to keep us in our place. The police disappeared off the streets, the Civil Service was politicised, he introduced the 'Human Rights Act' and suddenly our lives were changing.

What really disturbed me though was the publicity surrounding his 'freebie' holidays and his wife's shopping antics when she travelled abroad. British Prime Ministers should not put themselves into positions where they are 'owing favours' but Blair seemed to think nothing of it.

Many years ago I was taught that if you want to know the true character of a man then take a close look at his friends. Blair was very close to people like Peter Mandelsson, David Blunkett, and Sylvio Berlusconi all of whom were accused at some time or other of lining their own pockets at public expense.

The final episode was his excuse to go to war in Iraq. I studied missiles at GCHQ for three years in the seventies and even though it has all moved on I still doubted that a country like Iraq would be in possession of a missile that could reach the UK in 45 minutes! Blimey I doubt if the Americans have got one that quick (but of course I may be out of date)! Then of course along came Professor David Kelly and the rest is history.

Since Tony Blair came to power the standards of our modern politicians have plummeted to depths which would have been unthinkable twenty years ago. The country is crumbling and personally I agree with Stephen Glover. I am of the opinion that he sold his soul to the devil some time ago and every new grasping financial position that he accumulates proves it.

Expensive MPs

I am really quite chuffed with my little self chattering away to a blank wall. First of all I got onto the Peter Hain story before it really blew up and secondly I argued that Derek Conway should be kicked out of parliament and within 24 hours he had been deselected (ie kicked out!).

I bet that at this moment in time there are a good few MPs glancing nervously over their shoulders at who The Bloggers will out next! These outrageous expenses currently being claimed by the vast number of MPs should be scrutinised very keenly. If a spouse is working for a husband/wife then I think their work should be highly visible. They should be working office hours on a regular basis. I have had a quick scan through the annual expenses published on the website 'They Work for You' and the majority are claiming between £130000-£150000 a year on top of their annual salaries. Personally I cannot see how this can possibly be justified.

There is possibly some excuse for the MPs who travel extensively from the north of Scotland (although why they attend Westminster instead of Edinburgh beats me) but those who can commute by tube have no excuses. I think that this story has a long, long way to run.

It is reported in the Daily Mail that the Speaker has blocked a request under the Freedom of Information Act for a list of all MPs who employ relatives! Why? Who is he trying to protect?

"I don't believe it!"

Yes, we're back to brother Victor's immortal expression as the bloggers and the main stream media (MSM) continue to uncover more and more parliamentary sleaze. Despite all the warnings, despite so mnay leading politicians losing Cabinet Posts in the past few years they just have to try it one more time.

The past few days reads like this. A Tory MP named Derek Conway has been reprimanded by the Electoral Commission for paying his 19 year old son £40000 over four years to act as a researcher despite the fact that he was a full time student at Newcastle University. According to the adjudication there was no proof that the student did anything during that time. He has been fine £13000 but why not the full amount? Why are these people allowed to retain their seats?

Then we have Alan Johnson now defending himself against Hain like allegations that he failed to declare a donation. I just cannot understand how this can happen time and time. If these people cannot manage their own personal election accounts how can they manage the colossal budgets of a government department?

Arch Blogger Guido Fawkes who is rapidly becoming my hero has unearthed even more attempts by the Hain Camp to cover up his campaign expenses. An E-Mail has emerged which appears to indicate that the employees of Morgan Allen Moore who's chief, Steven Morgan, was closely associated with Hain's deputy Leadership campaign had been used to organise meetings. The salaries of these people, who don't come cheap. have never been declared and yet surely just to keep things nice and honest they should have been.

According to the MSM there are so many MP's now under police investigation for misuse of funds and the suchlike. I now know why we never see a proper copper on the streets. They are all investigating our members of parliament!

The Home Office

Recently I turned my attention to 'Common Purpose' the organisation which I think has gone a long way to bring our Civil Service down to a level where is is totally useless. Today another example appeared in the 'Daily Mail' and once again it was the Home Office who bore the brunt of a judge's contempt.

A sex offender and failed asylum seeker has been detained illegally awaiting deportation because the Home Office had failed to carry out regular reviews of his case as demanded by law. He now, according to the law, is set to receive thousands in compensation. He went ten months without a review of his case and his lawyers were assured by the Home Office that everything was in order. In practice his case should have been reviewed once a week during the first month and every month after that.

The only comment made by the Home Office was that ' they regretted the procedures were not followed at all times'. So they are incompetent, they lied to cover up their incompetence and yet nobody is brought before the court to explain how it happened and who was at fault. I bet Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, last heard of dining on a kebab one early evening in Peckham, is not called upon to explain this oversight in Parliament. Why not? She is ultimately responsible even though a less likely Home Secretary I have never seen. She reminds me of some overpromoted incompetent housewife and yet she runs probably the most important government department of them all.

Since 'Common Purpose' began to make an impact this country has had seven Home Secretaries in about fifteen years. They read, Ken Clarke, Michael Howard, Jack Straw, David Blunkett, Charles Clark, John Reid and now Jacqui Smith. That's one every two years and in all that time this country has come under more social pressure than at any time in its history. John Reid called the Home Office 'unfit for purpose' and yet nobody does anything about it. They get their name on the Honours Board, reap the trappings of authority for a couple of years and then piss off to another job! They all remain MP's still drawing their money and dipping into the expenses trough.

Meantime all hell is breaking use and the same culprits, shake their hands, draw their fat salaries and procede to let us all down again. It is high time that these Civil Servants were named, shamed and sacked. This 'jolly' which allows government officials to foul up time and time again must cease. Perhaps the compensation received by the prisoner should be paid from Jacqui Smith's personal salary. I bet she would soon root out the incompetent officials then.

Oh well let's just wait for the next incident to happen which wastes public money. After all it is only our money which this guy will take back to Zimbabwe (if he ever gets deported that is) so what do we care? Don't worry I'll be watching.

ITV News

I am currently watching the ITV news and I am absolutely horrified about the lead story which deals with the child criminals from Eastern Europe who are now resident in this country. So this is what we have come to? We ethnic English have a lot to answer for. We have allowed this to happen in our country because we have been so arrogant, complacent, indolent and lazy.

We know what is right and wrong. We know that successive governments (not just NuLab) have reneged on the protection of the ethnic population from mass immigration. We have stood by and watched as hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants have waltzed into our country and cost us millions which should have been used to give our elderly population a comfortable old age.

We have allowed the Blair/Brown alliance to con us that any protest is racist. The police have been withdrawn from the streets (unless they are protesting about pay). The troops have been committed to wars that have nothing to do with us so that we do not have any reserves to defend us.

When are we going to wake up and defend our country against the invasion that has been allowed to happen? We have amongst us people who do not recognize a civilized society. If they do not recognize civilisation then we should be uncivilized when dealing with them.

Fear is the only weapon that they recognise. Fear is the only weapon that a civilised society can use to defend against the uncivilised. We have to threaten our useless local MP's that unless they agitate for a total change of direction then they will lose their seats. We the ethnic English must forget party politics. We must forget that our parents voted Labour or Conservative or Liberal. They all preach the same message! We must be tolerant. We must be compliant. We must be European. We must welcome all the illegal immigrants. We must accept that young violent teenagers have to be understood/tolerated/pacified. BOLLOCKS!

I have had enough but have you? Come on post me, argue against me, talk to me. You my friends and family have ignored this BLOG for a long time but as long as you do I will try to be your conscience. Who will be the first/second (sorry Iain) person to post a comment or are you all too scared/complacent/indolent to care about your country! Do you not worry about the future of your children? I challenge any of you to post a comment and show that you care about your country or the future of your children!

The Honourable Gentleman.

I first mentioned the Peter Hain 'affair' just after I began this BLOG because the Guido Fawkes blog had been on the case for a couple of weeks or so. He is now being credited with being the first BLOG to bring down a Cabinet Minister.

At the time I wrote that Peter Hain would never resign voluntarily and that Gordon Brown would never sack Hain because he was too steeped in the NuLab culture. You can imagine there fore that when I saw the headline on SKY News that Gordon Brown was quoted as saying "Peter Hain had done the honourable thing" I nearly choked on my betting slips. Honourable? He clung on grimly by this fingertips until he was finally referred to the police before he bailed out. There was nothing honourable about this case.

I will therefore make another prediction. Peter Hain will not go to jail. He will be censored as to his future conduct and then he will head straight back into the cabinet at the earliest possible opportunity. I hope that I'm wrong but the law in this country is in a thoroughly rotten state at the moment and NuLab look after their own like no other political party in history.

Political sleaze!

Will it never end? Every way the man in the street looks there is incompetence and sleaze. I well remember the mood when Tony Blair was elected. It was euphoric and now we face so many accusations of corruption that it is difficult to address the subject.

Down in London there are reports that Ken Livingstone has been so corrupt that mates of his have creamed off millions from the London budget and the police or the auditors do not want to address the subject. The London Evening Standard has been campaigning for some time on this.
The prestigious position of Mayor of London will soon be contested by Red Ken and his opponents will be ...Boris Johnson (Tory) and Brian Paddick (LibDem). Wow! Boris is a well known Tory clown and Brian Paddick has made his name as the 'gay' copper. Give me strength!

A Tony Blair aide who, for some amazing coincidence is American, is charged with driving whilst using her mobile phone. When checked it transpires that she does not hold a valid driving licence which invalidates her insurance. She then hires an expensive lawyer who says that she did not know that her American licence was not valid in the UK. I suppose that is the reason that she applied for a Provisional licence! Oh come on, who believes that garbage? Apparently the judge believed her because whe got a three point penalty and a £250 fine! So that is the penalty for driving without licence and insurance? That is ridiculous but confirms what most of us think. There is one law for the rich and famous and another law for the rest of us.

The financial world apparently is in meltdown but our great and glorious PM appears on TV to bid fond farewell to Connie Huq of Blue Peter who is probably more famous for appearing at some kind of film premier with her chest hanging out! Hm are we surprised?

There is yet another story rumbling along about a free lance journalist who has asked, under the Freedom of Information Act , for a copy of the document which actually sent us to war in Iraq. Now frankly I think most of us agree that Blair conned everyone and 'conned' is a nice word. This journalist has been granted permission to view this document which surprise, surprise, was not written by the Intelligence Services but by a government aide! So far, despite the ruling by the relevant authorities, he has not received a copy of the ruling which has cost so many lives. Am I surprised? At one time I worked in a missile section of GCHQ and anyone who believes that Iraq had a missile which could hit the UK in 45 minutes needs a reality check.

And now we have the coppers on the streets of London... well that is something new.

How stupid could he get?

Another day and another parliamentary disaster. The time the Minister of Defence having to announce that hundreds and thousands of details of people who have shown an interest in joining HM Forces have been stolen. He announced that, although the military have an encryption system for this information and secure procedures for the transportation of this data an individual decrypted it, loaded it onto his laptop computer and then left the computer in his car overnight during which time it was stolen.

Have you ever heard of anything so utterly stupid? This has to be someone of considerable rank I surmise who really thought that he/she was above the law. No doubt we will never hear what has happened to him/her (national security you understand) but he/she really should be in the dock sometime in the near future. In today's climate where departments seem to be losing information as quick as they get it I cannot envisage anyone doing what this officer has done. Until they are named and shamed it will continue to happen.

The Immigration Shambles!

Only three days after I talked about 'Common Purpose' and its effect on the Civil Service a story appeared today in the Daily Mail which did not surprise me one jot. An asylum seeker had been employed by the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal for almost a year. The judge who jailed him could not understand how this could happen! Well I can tell him - it happens because nobody gives a tuppenny damn. If you are prepared to work for the Civil Service for the pittance that the government pays then you are welcome.

Security checks Ha! Enhanced security checks Ha! Ha! Look the whole immigration racket is such a shambles that if I were to tell you just the bits that I saw you wouldn't believe it. Everyone in the system is making money apart from the poor clerks at the bottom of the whole pile of dung.

This guy's case has been hanging around since 2002! That is now six years and let me tell you that this is nothing new or even extraordinary. The Home Office has been sitting on hundreds of thousands of files going back ten years or more. They have lost countless thousands and until 2000 when a back office opened and actually did quite a good tidying up exercise which included establishing a data base the whole system was unmanaged.

Dr John Reid famously declared that the Home Office was 'unfit for purpose' but only the people who have to deal with the Home Office knows just how 'unfit for purpose' it is. The adjudicators at the top of the pile are earning huge sums much of it down to their ability to adjourn cases at the drop of a hat. Two of them in the last year got into the newspapers for having an affair which involved an asylum seeker who they had employed. Upright reliable citizens eh? The Home Office representatives are famous for their incompetence and their lack of preparation prior to a case. The representatives who support the asylum seekers will do almost anything to delay the case and it did not surprise me when it was reported that they had supplied this particular asylum seeker who was working for the Leicester office with a fake passport.

The interpreters make fortunes out of the system particularly if they have knowledge of obscure African tribal dialects. It isn't sufficient these days to just speak Sudanese for example because the rep will insist that his particular client can only understand the dialect spoken by the people of Southern Darfur from the village of Abdurafan on the border of Chad. OK I exaggerate a tad but how they get around Britain with this limited ability to communicate beats me!

And now this individual floated around the Leicester office for a year and they wonder why his case never got to court. Ha! I could blog all day and still not cover the incompetence endemic in the Immigration system.

A chink of light in a world of madness!

A judge at Liverpool Crown Court yesterday did a remarkable thing. He blamed politicians for the current state of Law and Order in this country because bail is so readily available to young thugs who are habitually violent. He reckons that they are more concerned with 'rights' rather than duties and responsibilities. He called upon parents to take responsibility, community and faith leaders to stop excusing and condoning and the police to get back out onto the streets. Now we would probably all agree with that but what is so remarkable is that it is a judge who said it.

Contrast him with the magistrate and his two colleagues who told habitual criminal Adam Swellings with 11 violent offences behind him and admitting to yet another assault whilst obstructing a police officer that he would get a community service punishment. This meant that under current legislation it would be 'unfair' to keep him in custody until then. The legislation says there must be substantial grounds for refusing bail and so they let him out and he killed family man Gary Newlove.

Now pardon me but how many offences does he have to commit before he qualifies for a custodial sentence? Twelve violent offences and he is given community service? There is pandering to the politician and being downright stupid. What happens now? Can these magistrates look at themselves in the mirror? Will they resign? Will they be sacked? In a nutshell that tells us all what is wrong with our country. Magistrates with no scruples or principles are sentencing crooks with no scruples or principles and we all reap the reward.

Judge Ian Trigger deserves a pat on the back for his condemnation of this government and all the squalid little people who won't stand up and be counted but I bet the knives are already out for him. Well said sir that took courage.

Common Purpose

I left the army in 1987 and at the time I thought that I was returning into a reasonably sane world. In an attempt to cover all avenues I sat the Civil Service Open Entrance Examination for Executive Officer. The other candidates were generally 'A' level students and the exam was really quite tough. For the record I passed but opted for a better paid opportunity working locally.

Ten years later I opted for an enhanced pension and retired at 55. It was much too early and after two years of walking the dogs I re-entered the Civil Service after applying to join the Department of Employment (Job Centre). The test I took barely assessed if I could read and write even though it was for the Admin Officer grade. The simplicity of it all shocked me.

I soon realised that in 1997 the Civil Service had changed dramatically. Women, many of them part-time mothers, were totally in charge of the middle management structure. Their lack of any kind of man-management experience coupled with a dearth of an organisational and administrative background spelt calamity! Now I realise that I was really rather old to work being 58 at the time and I also realise that my military background where self discipline, professionalism and attention to detail was ingrained meant that I was rather out of date and a bit old hat. No matter how things change however the old brain instinctively tells you whether a person is up to the job.

The staff were routinely abused by their 'clients' but management steadfastly refused to ban anyone from the premises. People were clearly working as well as drawing benefits but nothing was in position to catch them. Foreigners who could not communicate in English were allowed to apply for jobs and we even assisted by issuing temporary National Insurance Numbers thus legitimising their presence in the country. After 18 months I transferred to the then Court Service to process asylum appeals. I just thought that my experience at the Job Centre was unfortunate but in fact I was jumping from the frying pan into the fire.

It soon became clear in my new job that only about 15% of the staff were male. Now don't get me wrong because I have got nothing against working with professional women but what I met in the Civil Service really shocked me. I had some lovely colleagues at desk level but above us it was chaotic! I soon realise in the 21st century English Civil Service it was possible for a recruit to enter without proven qualification and move up through the ranks without any real check on their ability and aptitude. The levels of literacy and numeracy were abysmal and planning was non existent. During my time at the Asylum Appeals centre I witnessed appalling neglect regarding the immigrants. If you think that the Home Office seems 'unfit for purpose' then you don't know the half of it. The type of person you get sorting things out at desk level and working the computers is paid about £13/14,000 per annum AND lives in London! No wonder discs got put into envelopes and disappeared!

All around me I witnessed incompetence at such a level it was difficult to ignore and I often wondered how our Civil Service could possibly have sunk so low between 1987 and 1997 . Now I think I know why.

In 1985 an organisation called 'Common Purpose' was formed. Why it was formed I can only hazard a guess but part of its remit appears to be imposing the doctrines of a United Europe on us. Its other aim appears to be to circumnavigate democracy so that the results of elections do not really matter.

I can only tell you what I have read on the Internet because I have never read a word about this organisation in the press. All these crusading journalists who will expose all manner of political corruption and not a word on an organisation which appears to be subverting our law enforcing bodies. It reminds me of the immortal line in the film 'Fight Club' you know the one; "The first rule of Fight Club is that you don't talk about Fight Club".

Just for the record though, it has members in the NHS, BBC, the police, the legal profession, the Civil Service, many of Britain's 7000 quangos, and Parliament. Now which bodies have changed the most in the last 20 years? All of the above are well in the running to be nominated for the organisation which does the least to meet what the public demand. All waste money at a phenomenal rate and all make decisions which are regarded by the man in the street as being beyond all reason.

The Chief Executive Officer of the Law Society, the Head of the Civil Service Commission and many of the heads of the Regional Development Agencies are reputedly members. So is Cressida Dick, the high ranking officer who according to press reports was responsible for the order 'Stop Him' prior to the killing of the Brazilian Jean de Menezes at Stockwell Tube Station.
Members were also behind the new Millenium Dome project during which project millions of pounds were diverted into a web of quangos set up by Common Purpose. So the next time you see something totally stupid being reported in the press you now have some idea of who is behind it. I tell you what though this is very serious and very, very, scary. I am beginning to believe that it won't matter who we elect from now on because we will still get Common Purpose - no wonder so many are getting out of this country.

The expenses of our local MP and the inflation rate

I stumbled across a very interesting web site a couple of days ago called 'They Work For You. com' which analyses the performance of each individual MP. It is very interesting so I looked up
my own MP who I worked with spasmodically when we were both employees of Leicestershire County Council some years ago.

The expenses of MP's have recently received a lot of press coverage and so out of curiosity I checked out how extravagant he had been. Now I don't think he is anything out of the ordinary but what struck me was that in the last five years his expenses have increased by almost £50,000! A fifty grand increase meaning that he received £142,544 last year alone!

I have no reason to believe that this individual is anything other than a decent guy but if he can clock up that kind of wonga in expenses alone what would an unscrupulous MP get up to? If an ex employee of LCC can now claim expenses of nearly £150,000 per annum surely it just has to affect one's lifestyle. It also makes the PM's claim to Andrew Marr that inflation has only gone up 2% look a bit sick. According to the expenses of just this one MP it is much closer to 10% which is what most of us think it is!!

Ibstock and Heather

Last Thursday an election for a place on the NW Leicestershire District Council took place at Ibstock and Heather an area close to Coalville in Leicestershire. The Tories apparently were quite confident that they would gain the seat from Labour. In the event Labour held onto the seat by 63 votes from... wait for it... the BNP!!

Now this interests me because I know a lot of people in Leicestershire who openly admit that, given the candidate, they too would vote BNP. I have visited the BNP web site and I must say that on the surface they want what many of us want. They particularly want to limit and control immigration and they also want to get out of Europe.

I realise that there are racial overtones when the BNP is discussed in the press and the term 'odious' often prefixes any mention of the party but there are no racial policies expressed in their manifesto. I agree that they promise to tackle some of the issues which need tackling and that it is likely they would put the indigenous population first.

They do however, appear to be the most organised of the small parties and I just wonder if the worm is about to turn and that the electorate are about to let mainstream politics know how they are regarded outside of Westminster (given that we ever get round to an election).

The Blogosphere

I firmly believe that the political spectrum is changing. I have always had an interest in the murkier side of British politics just because it is so utterly sleazy. Unfortunately we are so apathetic and complacent as an indiginous population that we are now going to pay dearly. Many cannot be bothered to vote, most of the younger generation haven't a clue about serious issues and the 'working class' have been conditioned to voting Labour for a variety of reasons most of it boiling down to laziness. Excuses like 'my family have always voted Labour' and 'I vote Labour because I am in the Trade Union' fell by the wayside the minute Brown and Blair arrived and turned Old Labour into New Conservative by ditching most of the principles upon which the original Labour Party had been formed.

The traditional press also line up largely on political grounds and the BBC has long since ceased to be a credible force when covering politics. This has created a void and in the last couple of years political bogs have emerged and are now being used to damaging effect.

The Peter Hain affair has seen them at their best and Guido Fawkes has been magnificent. He has christened the episode 'Donorgate' and has flushed out the organisation 'Progressive Policies Forum' as being used to launder money from people who Peter Hain did not want to be publicly associated with. I cannot possibly see how this discredited minister can possibly stay in office and surely he will join the long list of Labour ministers who have been blatantly caught breaking the law or morally cheating on their principles.

Guido has also been chasing Gordon Brown for some time now and I think that he is getting closer and closer to derailing this imposter. He is ably assisted and guided by Dizzy and Iain Dale's Diary all three leading the march of the political blogs.

It isn't just the Blogger who is important. The people who make the blogs are the contributors who often impart important snippets of information which they can contribute anonymously thus keeping their jobs! I welcome any comment even if it is a disagreement! Even better if it is a disagreement!

A really important examination.

Three years ago my son suddenly announced that he wanted to be a student. No big shock there except that he was 34 and an HGV1 driver with no educational background. Even so there are plenty of 'soft' subjects where a degree can be obtained but he chose Law!

By driving through the night and studying through the day at an East London College he passed the foundation course and went north to Edinburgh. By this time he had married, bought a house and a year later a dear little daughter arrived.

Next week he takes his second year exams. Now these exams are difficult enough to a student without other responsibilities but somehow he has kept everything afloat even though he has often done a 15 hour shift overnight and then gone to lectures.

He deserves to succeed but regardless of the outcome I just want him to know how proud I am of his efforts. I am not one for prayer but I will ask his sister who is a committed Christian to send up a few words on his behalf.

Good Luck Son!

Another dodgy stat from the PM!

The PM has almost made a career of talking like an accounts spreadsheet knowing that most of us either just switch off or gaze adoringly at the screen. People have now twigged this ploy and they are challenging his statements. Two more Daily Mail readers submitted letters today challenging the veracity of his figures. Apparently he announced on Radio 4 that Britain's inflation rate is 2% and compared it favourably with America 4% and Germany 3%. Once again the interrogators allowed him to escape scrutiny even though we all know that inflation in real terms is much higher than that.

Apparently the Office of National Statistics produces two sets of figures the Retail Price Index (4%) and the Consumer Price Index (2%) and the PM conveniently uses the lower rate but that only means that he is kidding himself and deluding us. Down here on planet Earth looking at the increase in fuel prices, rail fares and supermarket hikes for staple foodstuffs I reckon that neither figure is anywhere near the truth. Why can't we have one inflation rate which should also include Council Tax increases and let it come from an independent body and not a government agency.

Next time he quotes a figure I think that we should all be aware that it may not be as kosha as it sounds.

Peter Hain - the Bar is Raised!

I have only been doing this for a few days but already I am getting a buzz out of talking to the wall. A BLOG is really a blank sheet of paper and if Victor Meldrew's Brother wants to grumble about politics in the UK then the material is limitless. I picked two 'I don't believe it' stories and much to me surprise (or not as the case may be) they are both developing. When I wrote about Peter Hain not declaring £5000 donated towards his Deputy Leadership campaign I just thought how stupid he'd been considering the previous bad publicity gained by New Labour with regard to their alleged dodgy dealings linked to party funding.

Now the press are quoting something like £100,000 not being declared and forgive me but we are now in a different ball park! Nobody can ignore that much cash and if an incompetent administrator fails to declare it on your behalf and you know that you are spending vast sums on your campaign any sane person would check!

One newspaper has quoted that both Hain and Harriet Harman spent that amount on their respective campaigns and that left me with one further thought...WHY?!! Why would anyone spend that amount in an attempt to gain a political position? What is in it for them to justify that expenditure and what will the donors receive in return? I may be very naive but it absolutely stinks to high heaven.

If you want the full story go across to Guido Fawkes because unlike me he knows these people and is able to dig in depth.

Derby County

And still the players pour into the club! As I stated in my last post Robbie Savage has now signed but the next intriguing signing is on the horizon. Mile Serjovski was last seen playing in Turkey for a club with an unpronounceable name. He sounds Slavian and in fact emanates from Macedonia but came through the ranks in Australia and has played for Lille and Basle. Now hear this he has been capped for Australia 33 times and played in every game in the 2006 World Cup! Where does Paul Jewell find them?

I have never seen my club change so much in such a short time. When the late great Brian Clough arrived at Derby he changed the team in a very short time. He dipped into the lower leagues and discovered gems like Roy McFarland, John McGovern and Archie Gemmill. Today however the game has moved on and a manager must know the world market.

It is too early to be certain but the bookies are hesitating. Yesterday Mark Jarvis was offering 1-1000 for Derby to be relegated and so today I asked for a price for Derby to stay in the premiership. Back came the answer 16-1!!! Sixteen to bloody one? Someone seems to think that they might stay up and bookies don't give money away. You saw it here first folks!!!

Did the Prime Minister lie to Andrew Marr?

On Sunday morning I sat through the Andrew Marr show as he gently guided our Prime Minister through another party political broadcast. This is quite obviously a stage managed procedure designed to show the PM in the best possible light even though Marr is a so-called political commentator hired by the BBC to put forward a balanced view of politics (yeah I know!). During this cringeworthy performance the PM launched into his well know routine of spitting out loads of statistics which favour his party over the Tories.

This tactic is clearly designed to blind the electorate with science. He gambles that nobody will check up on him but today a Daily Mail reader from St Neots caught him out. According to the PM, inflation in the nineties under John Major's government was running at 10 per cent. Fair enough I hear you say but how many of us rushed out to check the facts? Well one did and lo and behold our PM was telling porkies! From 1991 to 1996 inflation ran at 5.9 3.7 1.6 2.0 3.5 and 2.4. Now this is a pretty large distortion of the facts. I could understand it if he had rounded it up a bit but 10 per cent for gawd's sake!

What I really cannot understand is why the Shadow Chancellor was not on the lunch time news screaming blue murder that the PM was lying through his teeth. Why did they not challenge him? Don't they want to win the next election?

This type of glib statement which Marr allowed to go unchallenged must cease. It ranks alongside the much trumpeted Tony Blair proclamations like, British education is the best in the world, crime is falling and oh yeah the Iraqis have a weapon of mass destruction which can reach us in 45 minutes.

Tony Blair handed power over to Gordon Brown but nothing has changed.

Peter Hain

Let me get my Victor Meldrew head on and declare that 'I don't believe it'. Cabinet Minister Peter Hain apparently has not declared all the donations he received for his Deputy Leadership campaign! Jesus Christ do they still not get it? There is a well known political BLOG run by a guy called Guido Fawkes who has been on this trail for a few days now. I could not believe that a New Labour Cabinet Minister would possibly leave himself open to any accusation of impropriety.

How many more? Our government gives the impression that they are totally out of control. One after another they are caught out trying to circumnavigate the rules and still their boss Gordon Brown comes onto the box attempting to appear that he is leading a normal, everyday political party. They are a rabble and we all know it. My only regret is that I am still not convinced that two/three party politics is the answer.

We are supposed to be a democracy but that is a nonsense. If I was elected to parliament tomorrow as an Independent I would be totally ineffectual because the system would guarantee that I would not get a voice. The two/three major parties have got everything stitched up.

There are shadowy figures who finance the two/three main parties. Why do they do this? There is only one reason and that is that they will gain influence and power without being elected. In our democracy money buys everything. In our society we cannot find any individual who will challenge the two main parties through the ballot box because money rules.

Who has decided that the British people should obey the extreme doctrines of Political Correctness? It sure wasn't the British people. Who has decreed that our once famous British humour which got us through two World Wars should be destroyed? It sure wasn't the British people. Who pays the piper calls the tune and neither of our three major parties seems to object to political correctness so someone is attacking our very existence.

If Peter Hain is guilty then he should resign but he won't because none of them ever do. Gordon Brown won't ask him to resign because Peter is so deeply entrenched in the New Labour programme which appears intent in destroying the culture of our country.

Friends!

A couple of days ago My wife and I received an invitation to a joint 60th birthday party. We have known Jenny and Dennis for close on 38 years because Dennis and I served together for many years in the army. We met on an army Russian language course. He was the course star and I was an also ran but then he is quite the most accomplished linguist that I ever met and believe you me I have met a few.

It got me thinking about friendships and how we can judge them. Real friends are people who you can see very rarely but when you meet again then the years are rolled back. There is never anything but pleasure when you meet them. You know that if they ever need you then you would be there unconditionally and the good thing is that you know it would be reciprocated. Service life breeds that kind of friendship.

It is bred out of hardship and adversity because you learn who you can trust and who will go that extra mile for you and for the job. Service friends are friends for life and I feel so lucky to have been part of it at one time of my life. It should be a great occasion.

Come on Derby!

Excuse me for getting a tad excited about the new players being signed by my beloved football club Derby County. I have been a Rams fan for almost sixty years and apart from a period in the seventies and a short burst in the nineties we have really suffered! Much to the surprise of most of us we scrambled into the premiership last May via the Play-Offs and since then we have won one match.

Now we have a new manager, a new Chief Executive and suddenly players are descending on Derby like confetti. Every day there are rumours and much to the credit of the club these rumours are being confirmed. It is a great time to be a supporter solely because we will have hope for the second half of the season!

The players coming in are a colourful crowd however and our manager Paul Jewell must have huge confidence in his ability to manage them. Firstly he signs an unknown Argentinian striker from Mexico called Emmanuel Villa. OK I'll believe him when he says that he will make the grade but many of the South American stars have in the past taken time to settle down.

Then Danny Mills breezes in from Manchester City. Danny is an intelligent and articulate footballer but I wouldn't like to share a pitch with him. His disciplinary record is riddled with brushes with the authorities and so I am concerned that he will prove to be a problem. He is a leader though and he can also play a bit.

We then take Frenchman Lauren Robert on some kind of short term contract. He is available because his former club Levante in Spain cancelled his contract. The reasons are not known but one other thing worries me; Sir Bobby Robson is quoted as saying that he was the most difficult player that he ever had to deal with when he was at Newcastle. Wow that is some indictment! He has a helluva left foot however so we will have to wait and see.

Waiting in the wings is the Egyptian Hossam Ghaly currently on the books of Tottenham and formerly with Feejenoord, the Dutch giants. He is not being played by the Spurs because he threw his shirt into the face of the former manager Martin Jol after he had just been substituted. He was then loaned out to Birmingham but last a matter of hours before he was sent packing after a row about training methods. If he settle however, he could become the best Rams midfielder since Stefano Eranio strutted his stuff.

Now to top it all we are on the verge of signing Robbie Savage! Can you imagine the dressing room at half time if they go in losing! You must also remember that we already have characters like Darren Moore, Andy Todd, Matt Oakley and Claude Davis. Oh for a glass on the dressing room wall!

I think we might lose our nickname of the Rams and become the Rabid Dogs but somehow I just think that it might work. Most of these guys are drinking in the Last Chance Saloon and there is nothing like that to motivate people with god given talent.

I see my local bookie is offering 1-1000 that Derby will be relegated. I bet I won't get 1000-1 that they stay up. The second half of the season could be very interesting.

"I DON'T BELIEVE IT!"

I retired last year and yet I still feel that I have a purpose in life. I have lived through unprecedented changes which have changed the character of my country completely and have left me with an enormous sense of frustration. England is not the country it once was and in my opinion it may never recover from the past twelve years. I have therefore set myself the task of trying to put a sense of perspective on the total nonsense which seems to surround me! Every day I pick up the newspaper and I am astounded at what I read. As my late great brother used to say 'I don't believe it' and this will be the theme of this blog.

I will be attempting to air common sense views on some of the political directives currently plagueing our society. It should not be difficult! I am not a politician, I am not a columnist, I am merely a member of the public who is fed up being ruled by people who appear to be residing in a political bubble enabling them to dip their snouts firmly into a financial trough created by our taxes. We, the public, must start to fight back. We must not accept that these people are unaccountable.

Almost everyone that I talk to has the same ambition for their families. Good education, reliable mental and physical healthcare, a sound transport system, a police force which will keep the law abiding safe and catch the criminals. We would then like a justice system which adequately had out punishments meant to deter these people from reoffending. Not much to ask for is it?

We are a very rich nation but somehow the money can never be accessed by the voter. If a politician wants something to happen then money is limitless. Tony wanted a war and Bingo a couple of lies later and our army is on the way to Iraq! He then wants another one and hey presto off we go into Afghanistan. They all want a politician's gravy train called Europe but what does that do for us? Most of us haven't a clue what it is all about and yet we spend billions on it and for what? Do we really need a foreign parliament to impose alien directives on us from afar. Isn't Westminster sufficient for our politicians? From the reports that I read it is rotten from top to bottom and hasn't passed an audit for many a year. How can our politicians justify inclusion in this pantomine which has underminded so much of our society. Why are they so determined to prevent a referendum? I think we all know the answer.

There is something else called Aid to Africa which I will never understand. Apparently we give countries like the Sudan millions of pounds in financial aid. Why do we do this when we are told almost daily that we cannot look after our own citizens? I don't mind a charitable project or two but when we, the electorate, ask for something there is never enough money left over for us.

I could go on and on (and probably will) and I will revisit these themes in the months to come. To be honest I don't expect anybody to be interested in the thoughts of mister grumpy old average male but I'm sure that I will personally feel a whole lot better.