The One That Says 'Mind Your Own Bloody Business'. . .

The latest in health and lifestyle choice advice centres, earlier today.

Some people I could quite happily hit in the face with a frying pan, in a 'Bottom' style. The repeated clang and manic Ade Edmonson grin would be most theraputic.

Pravda South East was leading with this story tonight:

Caroline Williams was 23 weeks pregnant with her second child when she was asked to leave the Sussex Cricketers pub in Hove, East Sussex last Saturday.

The 26-year-old hairdresser said she felt humiliated and accused the pub staff of acting like "drink police."

"I was on a rare night out with some friends. I had a pint of lager and a friend offered to get me another half – that was going to be my limit.

"He was refused service because it was for me. When I later took a sip from another friend's glass, the assistant manageress asked me and my friends to leave.

It is perhaps not surprising that the assistant manager stands by her decision, she obviously knows what is best for everyone else, and her beliefs must take precedence over those of all others.

A pub spokeswoman said Mrs Williams, "a heavily pregnant lady who was drinking alcohol", and her friends had been asked to leave because the assistant manager was concerned.

Ahhh, ain't that nice? You go out for a drink and the people you pay to serve you beer take such a concern for your wellbeing that they then tell you to do one.

Liberties, as spoken of yesterday; The proprietors are well within their rights to decide who may and may not patronise their establishment. Those patrons are well within their rights to walk right past this pub in Hove, and to go and spend their money somewhere else.

With so many pubs closing each week, you'd have thought that the managers of The Sussex Cricketer would have been keen to have held on to as many customers as possible.

When the Righteous are in official positions it is difficult to do much about them, directly. When they are in private enterprise, you just take your cash elsewhere. I hope this party and many others do.

What a lackwit this manager is, not only sanctimonious and hectoring, but also lacking any business acumen. Their future doesn't look great, does it?

The One That Was Genuinely Sad. . .

It's not too often I praise the BBC, but I believe that credit is due where it is due and so I will take the unusual step of saying how impressed I was with the last two episodes (I missed those that preceded them) of 'The Lost World of Communism'. The last two editions featuring the artistic, well, Bohemian and dignified disobedience of Vaclav Havel and his mates in the former Czechoslovakia and latterly the family run business of the Ceaucescus in Romania.

Something Leg Iron has posted tonight about the over 40's being 'invited' to go for a health 'MOT' prodded at a point that I found most disturbing when watching the show last night.

I fail to understand why people attach themselves to Socialism, there will always be the situation in Socialism where the rights, views and ideals of person A trumps the rights, views and ideals of person B. I do not believe that anyone's rights (and I prefer the word Liberties) can be more important than anyone else's. When one person's needs are overriding someone else's then the only outcome will be resentment, and we're seeing the consequences of that ourselves.

Socialism is not Communism, it is embryonic Communism. As far as I'm concerned, being a Socialist is akin to only being racist against Chinese people. Only a little bit racist. But that undesirable aspect is still there.

The BBC show portrayed, without amplification and without sympathy, the soul crushing misery that a collective system like Communism produces. It wasn't the imprisonment for daring to criticise or lampoon the authorities, the restrictions on travel, having your house bulldozed in front of your eyes and being moved into a freshly built hovel with no windows, doors, heating or water, it wasn't the big things that filled me with despair for the people who had to exist in those conditions, for that is what it was, an existence rather than a life. It was the little things that made me feel so very, very angry; grandparents being forced to queue for 14 hours for half a pat of butter for their grandchild, having your ID confiscated by the police because you were male and had long hair, having to hold a Christening for your child in secret, lest the Securitate find out. To subject people to such inhuman indignity is unspeakable.

Leg-Iron's tirade against the 'health MOT' reminded me of the monthly intimate inspections visited upon women of childbearing age in Communist Romania, to check they had not had an abortion. In the world of State ownership, not even a women's uterus is her own.

A 'health MOT' and an intimate monthly inspection are not the same things, but they are of the same essence. The difference between the two is the same as the difference between a burger and a filet mignon, but the similarity is that they are both beef.

Socialists and Communists in the UK would maintain that what happened in Romania could never happen here, but I think they are naive. I don't hate them, I would never embark on some McCarthyist campaign, but to look at the list, China, North Korea, USSR, Cuba, Poland, Romania, East Germany, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Albania, Cambodia, good God, Cambodia, anyone who thinks that a British Socialist utopia would be different is living in a dream world.

The problem with a system where there is no accountability will always end up with one person sitting at the top imposing their own beliefs on everybody else. It is a sad fact of life that politics and especially high office, attract people who are convinced of their own infallibility, their mission from God or their quest to change the world into something in their own image. It will be done for our own good, if we disagree we are either mad or idiots, either way we are not worthy of listening to. Where this kind of person takes indefinite charge of a country, misery is the only outcome, it is human nature and a lack of recognition of human nature has always been Communism's biggest failing both in the governing and the governed.

Examine Brown's reaction to the attack on him in the Dan Hannan video, he sits there grinning away. He isn't grinning because if he doesn't he'll be scowling on the front page of every paper, he's grinning because he really, honestly thinks that most people share his thoughts during the speech. 'Jeez, listen to this guy, he's absolutely barking, he thinks I'm screwing it up! Boy is he going to look silly on the news tonight.' Brown thinks he's winning and that the moonbat will be held up as the nutter's nutter.

In the case of Communism, there must be conformity, there must be a working towards the common purpose, the easiest way to ensure conformity is to stifle and remove dissent.

When I look at what we have here in the UK, and perhaps more importantly, in the EU, I see shades of that Communism, of that obligation to conform, to do as I am told for my own good. I see a burger, but as I look down the table I see that fillet steak and realise it's made of the same stuff as the patty in front of me.

The One That Is Pleased They Got It Right. . .

A few days ago, I reproduced a very eloquently written account of why the RNLI are one of the good charities, and one that I support wholeheartedly. This doesn't mean they are always right and in the case of Bilbo, the inappropriately named 90kg Newfoundland, they got it wrong.

Newfies are just amazing animals, the size of a bear and with a temprament as gentle as it is big, this dog is made for water and it is all owners can do to prevent them from jumping into rivers, pools, the sea, any body of water to rescue people who are out for a swim, whether they need rescuing or not.

Bilbo has been working the beat as a lifeguard on the beach at Sennen in Cornwall for a while now, but the RNLI banned him from working on H&S grounds. I would imagine that if you are becoming exhausted as you try to swim against a rip tide, the last thing on your mind as a mountainous rescue dog languidly paddles his way out to you is going to be, 'I hope I don't have an allergic reaction to this dog's fur' or 'His owner had better clean up after him when he craps on the beach.'

Thankfully common sense has prevailed and the RNLI have agreed that Bilbo can work the beach. Everyone seems very happy about it, and he's a great tool for educating the kids about how to look after yourself in the wet stuff, I think every swimming beach should have a Bilbo. They're cheap, don't spend all day checking out the passing talent when they should be keeping an eye on the shoreline and don't need to go on expensive diversity courses.

Speaking of which, how long before some arseclown starts complaining that a drowning Muslim would find being rescued by dog offensive?

The One That Wonders Why It Didn't Kick Off. . .

Amazing scenes in news rooms up and down the country today as editors wandered around with shell-shocked looks on their faces, as reporters emailed in copy and beamed in TV reports that showed today's demonstrations in London which spectacularly failed to 'kick-off'.

Brown must be crapping himself, if it doesn't kick off during the G20 meeting, or at any point between now and May next year, he'll have to go the polls, and won't be able to postpone it with the Civil Contingencies Act.

Somewhere there's a shabbily dressed, one-eyed Scot with a quivering arsehole. Why can't the proles be trusted to rise up when provoked? Perhaps it was because the weather was so shitty today. . .

The One That Says 'Ooooh, They've Done It Now'. . .

I can't work out if this government is actually barking mad or really wants to lose the next election. Such is the rate at which things designed to piss people off are trotted out, that I'm starting to think it is the latter, there must be something big and very very bad 18 months down the road, so bad that not even Labour with their sociopathic desire for power want to be a part of it.

It really is the only conclusion to draw. Can they really be so divorced from reality that they think telling people that their Facebook, Bebo and MySpace activities must be monitored will win them support? The anti-crime and anti-terror excuse is pathetic. 'Osama Bin Laden is planning a fiery death for the infidel, lol' 'Fingers Freddie is turning over the NatWest tonight! OMFG!' No, I don't think so.

In the grand scheme of things this is a tiny issue, especially when records of all our phone calls, emails and browsing history will be kept, just in case we do something wrong, even if that something wrong is perfectly legal now. However what hasn't happened thus far is any real coverage in the MSM, there's been a couple of flickers (or should that be flickr? Sorry) but nothing to really suggest that this might, you know, be a bad thing.

Well, look at the comments on the Pravda article about this story, as I write this there's only one comment which doesn't have a problem with this. We'll see how Pravda's moderation policy balances this out.

Have Labour learned nothing from the last few months? A very large number of the votes picked up by Obama in the American election were won in the blogosphere and on social networking sites. As each General Election here becomes more like a Presidential election you'd have thought that the Labour spin doctors would have realised that cyberspace is the new battleground, not against terrorism but for votes.

How many people between 18-30 turn out to vote? How many from that same age range use social networking, blogging and email as one of their primary methods of communication? The internet has always been about liberty, it empowers the media consumer and gives the individual a voice. In the case of this blog, it may only be that 20 or so people a day hear my voice, but if every one of those 20 people speak to 20 more people themselves and so forth, that is a huge number of people.

Recently the outcry amongst social networking site users about the rights to uploaded photographs caused these sites to back down. Internet users have real power, perhaps that is what really scares the government, there's no boozy paper editor with a skeleton or two in the cupboard that can be leant on or manipulated, instead there is a large collection of individuals who will say and write what they want, not what they are told.

I'll tell you this, you can piss around with recording people's itinerary when they go abroad, put chips in their bin and so on, but piss around with their Facebook and they'll mobilise in their tens of thousands; you're screwed.

Labour, you are so screwed. But please, tell me, why are you doing it on purpose?

The One That Says They've Got It Wrong, Wrong, Wrong. . .

The Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust has released a document about the 'database state'. The report opens with a preamble detailing the loss of data by HMRC and goes on to make the claim that many of these Government databases are illegal.

You'll get no argument from me on that point.

What is disappointing is the way that these charities always have to have an angle. I don't know much about the Joseph Rowntree Trust as a whole, other than the fact that they have many strings to their bow, I know nothing of their funding nor their political affiliations or leanings.

It is heartening to see that they have decided to speak out against this mania for measuring, recording and controlling every facet of our lives, but they haven't half gone about it in a half-arsed way.

They've spoken about how these databases present a danger to young black men, single parents and children. Well, yes. That's correct, but why pick on the dog-whistle groups? These databases and the appalling security record of the public sector in the field of data security pose a danger to every single one of us.

Come on, use your brain, this paternalistic and patronising attitude has to stop if there is to be any credibility about your report. Don't fall into the Righteous trap, speak out for all of us, not just those who you feel are incapable of speaking out for themselves. I am neither black, a child, nor a parent, single or otherwise. Were it not for my civil liberties interest, I would have looked at these headlines and decided 'Doesn't apply to me, not interested, next.'

If the headlines said that this poses a threat to you, no matter who you are, you'd find interest was much higher.

Perhaps if we spent more time focusing on what binds us together rather than that which seperates us, we'd have a much more cohesive voice. It is in the interests of the status quo for our differences to be pointed out and amplified at every turn.

Must do better.

The One That Hates To Agree With Them . . .

The BNP really are starting to emerge (as one correspondent, I think at OH's place, put it) from being a big little party, to a little big party. It gives me no pleasure to say it, but I shall resist the dog whistle reaction and attempt to address the issue in an emotionally detached manner.

In one respect, that being our departure from the EU, I agree with the BNP. I do not think I agree with them on any other subject.

Pravda report that there is an anti-BNP rally being planned in the delightful Kentish town of Chatham, it seems to be an attempt to shame people into not voting BNP. That is bad campaigning, I want to know why I should vote for a party, not that party saying why I shouldn't vote for their competitors.

A BNP spokesman said the rally was run by "Labour front" groups trying to "pull the wool over people's eyes". And it's hard not to agree with him. I had a conversation on this subject with a young lady this afternoon. She reacted with horror when I said I wanted us to leave the EU. In her mind, I was shutting the doors to the world, no trade in, no trade out, no-one moving between the UK and anywhere else.

That simply isn't the case, but the big 3 and MSM condition you to think that if you aren't pro-EU you are a rabid racist/isolationist.

I put my point of view in fairly simplistic, but effective terms. Knowing she doesn't drink it, I offered the young lady a cup of coffee. She said she didn't want a cup of coffee. I them immediately set about brow-beating her for being a drunkard, drinking nothing but vodka and getting pissed up all the time.

She quite reasonably pointed out that she'd like a cup of tea. Of course it doesn't follow that if you don't like coffee you drink your weight in vodka every day, there are alternatives. Well, the EU is that cup of coffee I don't want. I'll settle for a cup of tea as well.

Pravda also report that Merseyside PC, Steve Bettley has been given the gooner following his name being discovered on the infamous BNP member list that was leaked a little while ago. I disagree with police officers being prohibited from membership of any party, but believe that all police officers should check their political affiliations at the door when they walk into the station. It's a shame that senior officers can't do this. But it was ever thus, one rule for us, one for them.

Bettley has denied being a member (well, he would, wouldn't he?), and the BNP has waded in, with spokesman Simon Darby saying 'We are well on the way to being a totalitarian state.'

Well, yes. Labour, Tories, LibDems are bad. Think the BNP would be any different? Not for one moment.

The One That Is Shocked To See This Example Set. . .

. . . by a politician, and a socialist one, no-less.

Pravda (who have provided rich pickings this evening) report that the Hungarian PM has stood down after telling his party's congress that:

'I hear that I am the obstacle to the co-operation required for changes, for a stable governing majority. . . I hope it is this way, that it is only me that is the obstacle, because if so, then I am eliminating this obstacle now. I propose that we form a new government under a new prime minister.'

Do any of you have any suggestions for a 'leader' that could make the same speech without a whisper of dissent being heard?

Let me think. . .

The One That Fails To See The Logic. . .

Welcome to the UK.

Now give us your money.

You'll already be taxed for landing at or taking off from a UK airport, one can only wonder how long it will be before the same is extended to British sea-ports and the Eurostar stations. People coming to the UK for tourism and business already pay the government for the privilege of landing here.

So people that are coming here to spend money have their wallets prised open before they even make it to the baggage reclaim area. Nice.

Now those who come here to pay through the nose for our services, or to work and pay tax are to be relieved of £50 at the stage where they apply for their visas (any non-EU national must have a visa to enter the UK for a period longer than 6 months).

Pravda reports that:

People from outside the EU moving to the UK to work or study will have to pay £50 extra for visas to help areas struggling to cope with immigration.

The £70m raised by the two-year scheme, announced by Communities Secretary Hazel Blears, will help fund more police support and translators.

Right let us set aside that this has been announced by Hazel Blears, a creature who is living on borrowed time as far as I'm concerned.

Let us set aside the fact that we don't need more police, we just need them to be left alone to get on with their jobs rather than filling in forms and attending endless political indoctrination courses. Let us set aside the fact that people who come here to study and work are unlikely to need translators as they'll probably speak English anyway.

Let us concentrate instead on the fact that these people who are coming here to make something of themselves, and through the money they pay for their studies and the tax they pay on their earnings, are being pickpocketed to pay for those who arrive on false passports, in the backs of lorries or in the boots of cars.

Labour have fallen into the BNP trap again. They've decided that all immigrants are bad, and must be punished. So much for social justice.

Make no mistake about it, the clandestine entrants to the UK are economic migrants (believe me, I know more than the average bear on the subject of immigration), they queue up outside the ports of Calais, Dunkerque and Coquelles and cast envious glances at the departing trains and ferries. For the (admittedly falling) number who make it across the water without being discovered by the French Police, private security firms and British immigration who now work in France, the first question they ask is 'When do I get my house?' this is normally followed up by 'When do you give me money?'

You see international law states that those seeking political asylum (and that's the only sort) must claim their rights under the 1951 UN Convention in the first safe country they arrive in. If you're coming from Iran, I'll accept Iraq isn't safe. Ditto for Afghans going into Pakistan or Eritreans going into Ethiopia, but when you are in France, and many of the countries en route, you're safe. The EU and UN agree and have certified it as a safe country. The Taliban and Iranian extremists are a rare sight on the beaches of Cannes and the vineyards of Burgundy.

So I'm not going to entertain the idea that those in Calais are fleeing for their life. Persecution in Calais doesn't seem to go much beyond punchups between different ethnic groups. Hardly the state sponsored persecution you must prove to qualify for refugee status.

These people have made a lifestyle choice to get to the UK and live on the freebies from the public purse. Those coming here to contribute will have to foot the bill for them, even though they've nothing to do with them.

Don't worry Japanese students, Indian chemists, American lecturers, South African geologists and Pakistani doctors - you've just been assimilated. You are just like us.

You see, I have nothing to do with the British who choose not to work, who choose to squeeze out kids like a queen bee spits out eggs and who choose to sit back and let the State support them. I've nothing to do with them or their lifestyle at all, and yet I still have to foot the bill, to the detriment of my lifestyle.

Doesn't really seem fair, does it?

The One That Makes No Apology. . .

. . . for posting this in its entirety from Old Holborn's place. If only we had people of this calibre at the helm of our country.

By Ronald Neil, formerly of the BBC (extract)The Pentland Firth is one of
the most dangerous stretches of water in the world. Powerful currents and tidal
races compete with each other and when whipped up by a driving gale the seas can
be awesome.And on the winter’s night of March 18 1969 the eight-mile wide strait
separating the Orkney Islands from the Scottish mainland was at her most
treacherous.

A Force 9 south-east gale had been blowing for three days. It was snowing.
Visibility was virtually zero, and the tidal races were running at 10 knots
against the wind.It was into this fearsome mountain of sea that coxswain Dan
Kirkpatrick launched the Longhope lifeboat TGB in a bid to rescue the crew of a
stricken tanker, Irene.The situation was a deadly one. An immense flood tide
running like a millrace south-east out of the firth and meeting the seas pouring
down the east side of South Ronaldsay … both of them opposed by the south-east
gale. One Orcadian commented afterwards: “It was the way into Death’s dark vale
if ever there was one.”

In trying to convey to viewers in the comfort of their own homes some sense
of the scale of the storm that night, I said in a report for BBC News that the
waves the Longhope crew faced were the height of four double-decker buses,
stacked one on top of the other… upwards of 60 feet.In fact the freak wave that
took her was said to be all of 100 feet high. It is reckoned that the lifeboat
climbed this mountainous lump of sea, and then toppled over backwards.

Wick radio reports only silence

By 10 o’clock that night Wick radio could get no reply from the TGB … there
was only silence. When I arrived on the Orkney island of Hoy with a news camera
team the next day, the community was already fearing the worst.The RNLI honorary
secretary on the island, Jackie Groat, agreed to an interview. His comment at
that time was remarkable. If the lifeboat was lost then they must have a new
one, for it had been their task down the generations to police the seas of the
Pentland Firth.

We flew back with the film to Aberdeen for insert into the national news.
As the plane bucked and slewed a few hundred feet above the Pentland Firth we
spotted below us the most awful sight of all… the TGB floating upside down,
being tossed and thrown by the unforgiving seas.That was the image that 10
million BBC viewers saw on their teatime news that night.

Behind us we had left an island community devastated by the disaster. All
but one of the lifeboat crew were found in the upturned hull. Coxswain Dan
Kirkpatrick was still at the helm. Not one had survived.The community was to
learn that the crew of the Irene had not required the lifeboat after all. They
had all been safely taken ashore by breeches buoy.

Amazingly, when the RNLI inspector called at each home to break the
terrible news, one of the first questions he was asked by every one of the
Longhope widows was about the crew of the Irene. Without exception they all said
their husbands would have been so pleased to have known they were safe…….

No official ceremonies of remembrance were held today, with victims'
families preferring to mark the occasion privately.Tony Trickett, operations
manager of the Longhope lifeboat, said islanders would remember the tragedy in
their "own quiet way".

He said: "There are still some widows on the island and they decided they
would rather not do anything specific today - they live within sight of the
lifeboat shed and see it every day."We will commemorate the tragedy in our own
quiet way as we have done for many years.
"We in the lifeboat service will always remember this and my own flag is
flying at half mast today."It was the most dreadful of tragedies and is still
very much in people's minds."But support for the lifeboat remains - we are a
lifeboat community and have been since 1874."

There is a website, www.fakecharities.org which is administered by DK, if ever there was an example of a real charity, the RNLI is it.

The One That Is Only An Occasional Drinker. . .

The government's top medical adviser has drawn up plans for a minimum price for alcohol which would double the cost of some drinks in England.

FUCK

OFF

YOU

CUNTS

That plain enough for you?

The One That LOVES Red Nose Day. . .

It's great, I had cause to walk into town to post a letter. Normally I would have gone to the Post Office, but in Canterbury, despite the fact it was always full of people, it has closed so I had to go to WHShits instead.

I make it a policy not to deviate from the route in and the route out, not a second's browsing takes place.

Anyhow, enough of the deviation from the subject in hand. The town was full of people wearing red noses and doing kerrrrrazzeee things like wearing odd socks and big red afro wigs, it was HILARIOUS!

[/sarcasm]

Also some bastard from a carpet cleaning firm keeps calling my mobile, I've got a dirty great hairy dog and laminate flooring. He can fuck off. If he calls again, I'll tell him I'll find out where he lives and set fire to his kids.

For charidee.

The One That Is Concerned. . .

A bad day for our police.

I hate saying things about the police on here. I have worked with a large number of police officers in the past and I have always found the vast, vast majority of them to be hard working people who really do want to make a positive influence on their community and catch and lock up the bad guys. If only the people at the top would leave them to police according to the Peelian Principles, then I think everyone would be much happier.

Firstly, a LimpDem study has criticised the tactics employed at the Kingsnorth Powerstation protest in Kent last year. I don't subscribe to the views of the protesters, but absolutely support their right to shout and jump up and down about it. When information about wasp stings and sunstroke being reported as injuries and protesters having their crayons and clown costumes confiscated hits the media, it just looks a bit twattish.

Secondly, there was this poor old sod who found himself face down on the M25 with a gun at his head in a case of mistaken identity following a robbery.

Mr Demeni, 44, who is Kurdish, said there were about 20 police cars involved in the incident, and at least 10 officers with machine guns.

A police helicopter circled overhead with a searchlight directed on him, he said.

"The whole motorway was with flashing lights and there was police pointing a gun," added Mr Demeni, who lives in Arundel Avenue.

OK, robbery is bad. But all that kit for £200? Come on, someone fairly senior must have authorised that. Once again the PC on the front line looks a wazzock, but he's not paid to make the decisions like deployment of aircraft.

And finally there is the case of Victor Anichebe, the young Everton striker (who is of Nigerian descent) who was stopped with his mate (who was cuffed) for the heinous offence of looking into a jeweller's shop window. A case of a bad bit of front line policing there. But perhaps if the officers involved were sent on policing courses rather than diversity and community cohesion outreach programmes, things like that wouldn't happen so much.

*Sigh*

The One That Is Showering With Praise . . .

I blogged a few days ago about mad-cap local authority plans to fill empty stores with what amounted to little more tax-payer funded propaganda and exhibition centres. Hardly the sort of thing to get the cash flowing down the High Street again.

I said what a shame it was that the identity of the High Street differed very little from town to town, with the same shops (or indeed now, the same empty shops) everywhere you go.

Huge kudos to former manager of the Dorchester branch of Woolies, Claire Robertson, who off her own back took over the vacant store with some of the old staff and opened 'Wellworths'. I doubt the queues will be out of the door every day as they are in the picture above, but I wish her all the best in her venture. People like her make me think that all is perhaps not lost. If only people like her were left the hell alone to get on with it.

I'm not in retail business, but I'm betting there's some penalty, obstacle or objection to her playing her part in keeping Dorchester High Street alive, employing some local people, and making a few quid. More power to her.

The One That Is Hurling Abuse. . .

Dr. David Walker, he's a prick.

Thankfully, a load of other Scottish doctors think he's a prick as well.

Increased tax on chocolate? Give me strength. The duty on cigarettes has gone up pretty much every year since, I don't know, anyone? A bloody long time. But people still buy them.

Listen you stupid bastards, if people want to eat chocolate, that's their business. If people eat so much chocolate passing hippos make amorous advances towards them, that's their look out. Keep your nose out of my fucking business, and your hands out of my fucking wallet. We've got to lose this obsession with taking money off people because they do something that perhaps you don't think is very wise.

Right, I'm off to write a letter to my MP suggesting that doctors have too much time on their hands for the money they get, and that perhaps if they were taxed every time they opened their mouths and said something bloody stupid, fatuous or demonstrated that they know better than everyone on every subject (A disturbingly common trait in doctors, and teachers.) then they wouldn't do it so often.

The One That Wants To Know What It Is He Is Supposed To Have Done. . .

Reports all over the local media yesterday and this morning that LimpDem Councillor on Canterbury City Council, Roger Matthews has been arrested following an 'anti-corruption probe' by Kent Police and subsequently charged and bailed to appear before Maidstone magistrates on March 26th. I look forward to the outcome with relish, hopefully he'll be remanded in custody before appearing in Crown Court.

The thing is, that neither Pravda nor the local media, actually detail what it is he is supposed to have done. Well why is this? Any other case with local or national interest would carry details of the allegations, so why is it different here?

In this article, he gives a direct quote:

"I cannot see why it would affect my day-to-day council duties.

"I don't see why it should."

And that, dear reader, is what is wrong with the political class in this country. If a policeman were charged with armed robbery, would you expect him to continue in his job whilst awaiting a trial? What if a teacher were accused of doing inappropriate things to his charges, would the line 'I cannot see why it would affect my day-to-day teaching duties' hold any water? I don't think so.

It is all very well Alex 'Porky' Perkins (a worse example of LimpDem simpering, holier-than-thou, preachyness it is hard to imagine) saying that 'we would urge people to remember that in this country you are innocent until proven guilty.' But I would expect to be suspended from duty at least if I found myself in this sort of pickle. It would happen in pretty much any other job from brain surgeon to road sweeper, so again, why is it different here?

If the arrogant and (alleged) corrupt old bastard won't do the decent thing and step back until what is bound to be portrayed as an 'honest mistake' or 'a moment of madness/weakness' is cleared up, then his party could at least withdraw the whip. Unfortunatley the anger on the inside in this case is not directed towards Matthews for doing whatever it is he is supposed to have done. Only a slither will be directed at him for getting caught doing whatever it is he is supposed to have done. A little bit more will be directed to the media for reporting it. Most of the anger will be reserved for Joe Soap for daring to ask what is going on here.

As far as they are concerned, they are our masters. I've said it a number of times, don't vote for the Big 3, vote for anyone, anyone other than these people who belittle us, cheat us, lie to us, use us as chattels and serfs, feather their own nests at our expense and show us nothing but total and complete contempt.

Vote Libertarian, vote for the Indie who wants a hedgehog underpass, vote UKIP, vote Natural Law Party, hell even vote BNP if you feel you must. Just make sure that these venal fuckers know that you're screaming 'I'M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE.'

The One That Will Examine Some Points. . .

I was directed by (I think) Obo the Clown towards Tom Harris' blog (he's a Labour MP for a Glasgow constituency) where he said some, frankly, amazing things on the subject of benefits. Attracting scorn from some of his party colleagues, but a good deal more praise from a wider range of readers. It was Tom who so nonchalantly batted away the message contained in his copy of 1984 that all MPs received as part of a Libertarian Party campaign. I've found it almost impossible to agree with anything he's said in the past, until the other day. Suggestions that he's been taking brave pills whilst his boss has been tucking his trousers into his socks, not getting his makeup done properly, not having a press conference with Obama and addressing a load of wonks bussed into the Capitol Building in DC are pure conjecture.

I for one will be delighted if he keeps it up.

Anyhow, in my rather jokey posting below, a correspondent named 'Andromeda' posted a link and a list of points for consideration my responses are underneath each point:

(a) deprive a single mother of child benefit if she cannot produce a marriage certificate
Marriage is irrelevant, just because you get hitched doesn't mean you're a fit mother or that you're not going to screw the system for what you can get. It isn't a magical cure, people who think it is are living in the 19th Century.

(b) fine the single mother for producing an illegitimate baby, say £1000, if she does not name the father
Irrelevant. I am proof that being brought up by a single parent (although in my case it was my father's death that caused this) does not mean it is going to be a disaster. This is about stopping paying out sums to those who do not deserve it. Why is there this obsession with taking money off people? The State arbitrarily taking cash from people because they do not comply with their moral code is no better than people demanding the State support their lifestyle choices. Stop it.

(c) require her parent(s) to pay this sum if she cannot or will not
See point b above.

(d) fine the father of an illegitimate child a sum of money, say £1000
See point a above. Legitimacy of birth doesn't matter. A bit of paper does not make anyone a model parent.

(e) require the parent(s) of that father to pay this sum if he cannot pay it himself
See point a and point b above.

(f) require that the mother give up the child for adoption before more lives are ruined
Perhaps one of the most odious, repugnant and authoritarian measures I have ever heard.

I'm surprised that point (g) doesn't read: 'require that a single woman undergo a termination in the first instance of becoming pregnant out of marriage, and undergo termination followed by sterilisation in the second instance.'

All these points do is stifle freedom and liberty. I have no problem with people having kids in wedlock, in a stable non-formal relationship, as single parents, in same sex partnerships, whatever. What I do object to is the expectation that I and all the other taxpayers will foot the bill because people have decided to have kids they cannot afford to look after.

I don't have any kids as yet, we have neither the income nor the space to do it, and it will be a cold day in hell before I become beholden to the State to help bring up my kids. My kids, my choice, my responsibility. I do have a dog. Substitute dog for child and the whole thing is shown to be the ridiculous situation it is.

Getting a puppy means that State will provide you with housing and an income. The State will pay for your puppy to be trained, vaccinated and have its healthcare assured. If you are having problems with your puppy, the State will send someone round to assess the situation, and they will tell you it isn't your fault that you can't look after your puppy, which it is your right to have, and will send you on dog walking and tripe making classes. All this will be paid for by the taxpayer.

The message needs to be sent out, if you can't feed them, don't breed them. Benefits have ceased to be a safety net. When I was a kid, receiving State assistance was a situation of great shame, you didn't want to be the kid being given the vouchers for free dinners. Now it is a valid lifestyle choice, and a lifestyle that is funded in such a way that when I look at the deductions on my payslip each month, I am unable to follow the lifestyle I would like.

What do you call a system where one way of life is supported and encouraged to the detriment of all others?

The One That Will Not Be Going On A Booze Cruise. . .

. . . to Berwick upon Tweed.

Thankfully I do not live in the only country in Europe planning to introduce a regime to set a minimum price for a unit* of alcohol.

The SNP must HATE being in power to introduce a policy such as this. Another example of authoritarian fuckwittery. Poor old Scots, at least in England we only have 3 parties of authoritarian fuckwittery, those unfortunate bastards have 4.

I look forward to seeing Customs detection officers stood on the Anglo-Scottish border. 'And where have ye bin, sonny? Doon to England fer tha' cheap booze? Open the boot up. Hey, Wullie, c'mon and see all this booze!'

Good Lord, how to ensure a 'Summer of Rage' north of the border. Leg Iron quite rightly says that if we don't riot, Labour will be swept out office at the next election. If we do riot, there will be no election.

The SNP have the Scottish Parliament, Labour have a lot to lose north of the border in a Westminster election, a few riots, Civil Contingencies Act kicks in, no elections, SNP and Labour win. Be careful Scotland, be very careful, don't raise to the bait.

Of course, ALL Jocks are terrible alcoholics, so they'll all react like Father Jack. We've had it, Brown will clamp down on us, suspend 'democracy' and all because some Gorbals tramp sees the cost of a bottle Buckfast go up.

*That's the same 'unit' that was revealed to be a measurement with no more grounding in science than the creator's imagination.

The One That Thinks, 'Hmmm, That's An Idea' . . .

From Pravda:

Renegade soldiers have shot dead the president of Guinea-Bissau, Joao Bernardo Vieira, officials say.

Just because it isn't my idea, doesn't mean it isn't a good one. It is always so much easier to follow a trend rather than set one, isn't it?

The One That Wonders What The Phrase Means. . .

I encountered a new phrase yesterday; 'summary conviction.'

I'll contextualise it, in the fair city of Canterbury it is now an offence to let your dog walk off the lead. I'm a responsible dog owner, I always pick up after my dog and I do not let her walk off the lead except in places where I know she will be safe doing so. I'm not concerned about her savaging people, because I know it won't happen. (And yes, I do know, dogs are entirely predictible, read up on amichien bonding, it is surprisingly Libertarian and the results are startling, even in older dogs).

However the attitude is that dogs off the lead could alarm or attack people, therefore, anyone walking their dog off the lead is subject to a £60 fine. The logic is impeccable, and I await the next initiatives; fining people £60 for going into a pub because they may get pissed up and attack a passer-by, or fining people £60 for driving their car because they may run someone down.

I put myself in the hypothetical position of being confronted by one of the City's wardens, trying to give me a fine.

'Name?'
'Not telling.'
'Address?'
'Get stuffed.'

I'd refuse to pay it, take me to court, it will be my word against yours. I'll tell the Magistrate that these people are on performance related pay and have ticketed me to meet targets. My dog was on the lead. Actually, it wouldn't even get that far in court, I'll guarantee they don't meet their statutory disclosure requirements under Criminal Procedures and Investigations Act, it'd be thrown out through abuse of process.

Anyhow, the by-law refers to 'summary conviction', it has no definition in the PDF files provided on the council's website, I can only assume that it means 'you are guilty because we say you are, no caution, no representation.' Fuck that, that isn't what 2000 years of history and common law in this country says, and I'm not about to accept that with these arseclowns.

It all sounds so reasonable, doesn't it? But it cannot and must not stand, because once we accept one little bit of it, we are screwed, the police, bad enough at present, would be turned into Judge Dredd characters.

Let's look at another example, Obo hits the nail squarely on the head when commenting on this article. Harman has passed summary conviction on Fred 'The Shred' Goodwin;

"The Prime Minister has said it is not acceptable and therefore it will not be accepted.

"It might be enforceable in a court of law this contract, but it's not enforceable in the court of public opinion and that's where the Government steps in."

Whoa! The law and process mean nothing. 'We have dediced this must be so, therefore it shall be.' Fred is a revolting little fucktard, but a contract is a contract is a contract. It is not up to the law to be popular, or to change with the direction of the wind, it is the law's job to be fair and to be applied consistently without fear or favour.

The rule of law is the glue that binds our society together, once that is washed away we find ourselves getting closer to Mugabe step-by-step. I'm waiting for the PM to remark on the next General Election by saying 'it is not acceptable and therefore it will not be accepted.'

Only YOU can stop this from happening.

The One That Believes The Exact Opposite. . .

As reported on Pravda:

Harriet Harman has said reports that she and other senior colleagues are positioning themselves for a future leadership battle are unfounded.

The deputy Labour leader said she was "loyal" to Gordon Brown and there was not a "shred of truth" in reports she was already planning for the future.

He'll be gone by Xmas.