On the train to Truro

It occurs to me on this never ending and cramped journey that we really ought to improve public transport. The system sucks.

Surely we could get proper high speed trains that won't cost the earth to go on. I know the government are looking into this idea now. They are probably the umpteenth one to do so but they really should.

Anyway only three more hours to Truro.

Watchdog rejects Treasury accounts

According to the Times:

“..Mr Darling is fighting a bruising battle with the National Audit Office (NAO), which is unhappy at the way that the nationalisation of Northern Rock is being treated in the Treasury’s books. The annual report from No 11 was published yesterday but, in a highly unusual departure from normal procedure, without the department’s resource accounts..A Treasury spokesman confirmed the delay but denied that the spending watchdog had threatened to qualify its accounts. The books must be published before the parliamentary recess in three weeks’ time…”

I know this was from earlier in the week but it is still annoying me. I simply cannot believe that they ahve been unable to be able to sort this out yet, having known of the issues for months. It makes the UK look like the EU with 11 years of unaudited accounts.

This story will not capture the public imagination but it is another dent in the PM's Treasury legacy. Certainly it caps another bad week for Alistair Darling.

The Treasury is under pressure. Too many people have left and their is very low moral all at a time when they are needed to be strong. It may be tricky but they should work this out quickly. I know they will never agree with the NAO as that would result in smashing the "golden rule" on borrowing to bits, but it would be good!

MP's, pay and expenses - A lost chance

I don't think MP's should be in it for the money and think their pay combined with the pension is not too far off where it should be. Expenses, well that has to change. The system must be more transparent and the blatant abuse by some will surface soon and they will regret the £2000 TV from John Lewis purchase as well they should.

However if I was one of them I may have made the following calculation:

People can't stand us as it is and so sod them, we can't get lower in their estimation so we may as well get all we can. Ergo I would have voted for the maximum pay rise and then looked to vote for an expenses system that gave me the most. They did not and have still ended up looking stupid. No one will give them credit for limiting the pay rise and everyone will ridicule them for keeping the current abusive expense system.

What should happen is that they don't vote on their pay at all. Someone else should tell them how much they will get. Expenses should be very very transparent and all MP's should note the following:

a) Their are thousands of wannabe MP's and so in terms of supply and demand economics they are lucky to get paid at all.

b) They are not special. Most people could do their job. It requires no qualifications and the only real difficulty, especially for a back bencher is i) the long hours of "work" and "gossip" and ii) having to deal with those pesky constituents by getting your secretary or caseworker to deal with them.

c) They are meant to serve the public not themselves.

Now obviously there are a great many brilliant and hard working MP's. Equally there are many who are just plain rubbish. Infact the low quality of many is surprising given the competition to get in.

Ed Balls

Is a moron. I can't stand the man and his comments on education this week and the need NOT to inform parents and kids of SATs exam dates show a breathtaking lack of connection with parents in the country. It was his answer to reducing the stress around exams, "just don't tell them". Not only is that impractical as the word would get out, it also shows dismissive arrogance. What a plonker.

The news that the outsourced marking system has gone to pot seems to have surprised Mr Balls. I don't see why as many a news network anticipated this disaster weeks ago. Why did Mr Balls and his Department miss it. Anyway he has announced a review into why children and parents will have to wait weeks longer than anticipated for results (ie hope the news cycle moves on). This disaster also plays havoc for schools who can't know what kid should go where until the results are back and hence can't plan.

This all comes on top of his recent attacks on faith schools and grammar schools. The man is nuts. He will not stop until he has lowered the education system to the lowest common denominator and will then claim victory.

Glasgow East - Gordon and his destiny

In the unlikely event that the Labour Party lose this by election it has got to be curtains for Brown. That in turn would be bad news for the Tory Party. The PM needs to stick it out and lead Labour to landslide defeat in two years time. The Tories don't want a new Labour leader who may have a vague understanding of whats going on on the ground, something which Brown does not get.

However a lot of commentors and punters seem very optimistic about a defeat for Labour despite them having achieved 61% of the vote last time. Glasgow East is Labour Land, overturning a 13,000+ majority will be near impossible even though Labour is Leaderless in Scotland and tanking in the polls.

Yet the bookies have the SNP as odds on favourite to win and the Westminster Village seem to think its a genuine possibility. Its all incredible really.

I understand that Labour has this afternoon picked a candidate to stand which clears up one mess for them after their preferred man pulled out last night. However this MSP will not have long to stamp authority on the campaign or time to adjust to the oncoming media onslaught.

We shall see who wins on 24 July. Whoever does so will have a hell of a difficult time in improving the lives of those that live in what is statistically not the best place to live. It appears to be a huge social housing programme gone disastrously wrong adn no one has adressed it for 30 years.

Lost Discs - We are sorry

The report was revealed today in the House by Alistair Darling.

A mere 25 millions personal records ehh. I find it difficult to blame Government Ministers directly. I should not though. If they had made data protection a priority then we would not be in this situation. But they did not so mandarins obviously did not take it seriously and therefore it was not focussed on by people below. Infact the investigation revealed that it was junior employees who felt there were risks in using this method but were ignored.

Weak Government, poor management, poor leadership and 11 years of manic headline chasing instead. What a waste of a golden opportunity.

Wendy Alexander - Another Mess

Wendy has messed up again. Been found guilty of failing to declare. Its does not seem to be entirely her fault. She asked the relevant Parliamentary clerks what to do and they said no need to declare. An advice from a hotshot QC contradicted that and here we are she is in trouble.

I am not that bothered about it really and wouldn't be if she was my MSP. The problem is that this is one in a long line of mistakes and generally poor leadership. Wendy does not cut it in the media, has hopeless attack lines and no interesting ideas whatsoever to put forward. The Scottish Labour Party is in about as much turmoil as their counterparts South of the border.

I admit she is not helped by having Gordon Brown as PM and her brother in the Cabinet, it takes away from her attempts at authority.

But generally she is not good enough I am afraid. Lucky for her that there is no alternative Scottish Labour Leader. A bit like their is really not much of a Labour alternative to Brown. Trouble up North and trouble down South.

Flock, Safari, Firefox, Opera and Internet Explorer

I have been having a look at various web browsers the main ones being listed above.

• I reckon Flock (which is new) will be a big hit in the youth market as it better enables communication between people, easy drag and drop feature and clever blogging capabilities. It generally has lots of add ons built in.

• Firefox has to be the best all rounder and beats Internet Explorer which seems slightly slower and more tired looking. However the slowness may be a result of now having the best security (so the experts say). Firefox has loads of add ons that you can go and get and thereby end up with your own personalised web browser.
  

• Safari looks brilliant, it is Apple stuff and similar in look to the i-pod software. It also has some nifty features but does seem to be a little slow on page opening.

• Opera is quick very quick. Very simple and so fewer obvious accessories. It is also supposed to have the worst security but how we know that I don't know.

• Internet Explorer. Well we all know it and in recent years it has got better. I think the main reason for its improvement being the above opposition beginning to challenge its dominance.
  

• Finally I have omitted netscape as the latest version of it will be the last and they have advised all their loyal fans to go to firefox as its supposed to be the closest to their operating style. That is true but has the added benefit of not being Microsoft owned.

So having wasted an hour I shall stick to firefox but keep messing around with Safari and maybe Flock (which will be good once I have set it up and integrated email, facebook etc etc).

Testing Flock

Well does it work then?

DD and Labour Home Wed!

Biased BBC

Is it just me or does the BBC sometimes appear biased. It is hard to pin down but evolves around their culture and impacts upon their news coverage. Some of Nick Robinsons blogging has attracted criticism recently and I think the critics have a point. Judge for youself and read a few of his posts. They are all here.

The BBC culture has also been criticised recently by the BBC Trust who say it is overly focussed on London. No kidding and "now to our Northern correspondent for more" sounds a bit like we are going to see some "poor Southerner" tied to a lampost in some bleak wasteland and of course you don't need more than one correspondent for the North!

Although its just a feeling people have if the BBC don't address it, especially in their news coverage, they will lose prestige and audience share.

Mugger Mugabe

The big man of Zimbabwe is at it again. He and his new "best" friends in the military, security services and elsewhere are really really cracking down on everyone who is even contemplating voting against him. I don't know who is in control anymore but they are all nuts.

There has been talk of Mugabe being the nominal leader and the military running the show. I don't care, they all have to go.

Today various sanctions have been suggested. Nick Clegg wants a crackdown on remittances from overseas. A harsh but fair approach because it is a bit scatter gun approach but it would hit the elite in the pocket (as well as those who rely on relatives to subsist).

Australia has banned education of the elites' children. Everyone else should copy that idea. It's a little one that would have a big impact. I would also deport them all back to Zimbabwe to be with their family and hopefully they will get a glimpse at how the other 99 percent of their countrymen live.

The UK and others are also thinking of applying pressure on South Africa to cut the electricity supply that Zim relies on. Again it affects everyone but really would get at the elite and apply pressure on them. Furthermore the South African Government needs all the spare electricity it can get as its economy begins to suffer from shortages.

I would also go after the hidden billions that are no doubt stashed in Swiss banks accounts and elsewhere. Get freezing orders etc.

Furthermore I would actually enforce the travel ban on the elite and especially Mugabes wife, Grace. She would hate the loss of those shopping trips.

Finally we should consider actively undermining Mugabe in his own country. I know there are a whole load of arguments against it but people are dying there. We must act.

To be the best informed person on the planet about Zimbabwe visit THIS site.

Great Libertarian Quotes

Donal Blaney has gathered together some great quotes on civil liberties:

1. Extremism in the defence of liberty is no vice. Moderation in the pursuit is justice is no virtue (Barry Goldwater).

2. Liberty is not a means to a political end. It is itself the highest political end (Lord Acton).

3. If a nation values anything more than freedom, it will lose its freedom; and the irony of it is that if it is comfort or money that it values more, it will lose that, too (Somerset Maugham).

4. Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women. When it dies there no constitution, no law, no court can save it (Justice Learned Hand).

5. A nation of sheep will beget a government of wolves (Edward R Murrow).

6. Those who expect to reap the benefits of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it (Thomas Paine).

7. Give me liberty or give me death! (Patrick Henry).

8. First they came for the Jews, but I did nothing because I'm not a Jew. Then they came for the socialists, but I did nothing because I'm not a socialist. Then they came for the Catholics, but I did nothing because I'm not a Catholic. Finally, they came for me, but by then there was no one left to help me (Pastor Father Niemoller).

9. I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man (Thomas Jefferson).

10. Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves (William Pitt).

Is it a constitutional First?

Dominic Grieve is, as I understand it, at the present time both Shadow Attorney General and Shadow Home Secretary. I don't think that has been done before.

Certainly it would not be allowed in Government. It is a blatant conflict of interest. Locking them up on the one hand and looking into appeals on the other hand. Not as big a conflict now we have the minister for justice but still big.

The New Shadow Home Sec

Here is what Wikipedia says about his parliamentary career: (More here)

Dominic Grieve was elected as a councillor in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in 1982, remaining a councillor until 1986. He contested the Norwood constituency in the London Borough of Lambeth at the 1987 general election but finished in second place some 4,723 votes behind the veteran Labour MP John Fraser (although increasing the Conservative vote).

He was elected to the House of Commons for the Buckinghamshire seat of Beaconsfield at the 1997 general election following the retirement of Tim Smith. Grieve was elected with a majority of 13,987 votes and has remained the MP there since, increasing his majority at each successive election. He made his maiden speech on May 21, 1997.

Grieve was instrumental in the defeat of the Labour Government in early 2006 in relation to the proposal that the Home Secretary should have power to detain suspected terrorists for periods up to 90 days without charge[citation needed]. He broadcasts in French on French radio and television[citation needed]. He is not, however, an enthusiast for the EU[citation needed]. Grieve has strongly opposed equal gay rights. He was a member of both the Environmental Audit and the Statutory Instruments select committees from 1997 to 1999.

William Hague promoted him to the frontbench in 1999 when he became a spokesman on Scottish affairs, moving to speak on home affairs as the spokesman on criminal justice following the election of Iain Duncan Smith as the new leader of the Conservative Party in 2001, and was then promoted to be shadow Attorney General by Michael Howard in 2003. He also had responsibility for community cohesion on behalf of the Conservative Party. He was retained as shadow Attorney General by the new Conservative Leader, David Cameron and was appointed Shadow Home Secretary on 12 June 2008 following the resignation of David Davis.

Hmmmmmm - Nope don't get it

Why has David Davis resigned from Parliament and called a by-election. He is risking his career, for a good cause, but still risking his career.

DD may well succeed in lining up a series of big hitters who keep the 42 days issue and the wider civil liberties argument in the public eye but then what? Labour may get a kicking for a few weeks then what?

What will happen if and when he gets back to Parliament. Is he going to sit on the back benches as a loan wolf. I can't see it.

Assuming he wins it will be a bit tricky for him to walk back into the shadow Home Sec job now that there is one Mr Grieve QC MP in place. Mr Grieve is a good friend of David Davis, worked with him for years while shadow AG and in agreement with David Davis on many issues such as 42 days and ID cards. All the same I doubt he will want to step aside for DD. Nor would Cameron like to allow it.

I don't doubt he is sincere on this issue and he has a point. More than that, he is right. Dominic Grieve, David Cameron and the Tory Party agree with him. So could he not have carried on the fight in Parliament, couldn't he? These liberties have been attacked slyly for the last ten years and for the that time DD and others have fought to stop it. Why not continue the fight until the Tories are back in power and then have a go at sorting the out the authoritarian state Labour has invented.

Plus he has upset the famous "grid" of CCHQ. Not a big problem at all in the great scheme of things but has irritated the planners a bit.

oh well we shall see in a month or two how this pans out. Either way the civil liberties fight must and will go on.

42 Days - A pointless victory

I think Gordon Brown will win this vote. It will cost him a lot of money in Northern Ireland to buy the DUP vote (or abstention). He has had to resort to calling, threatening and pleading with backbenchers he has never spoken to before. The whips doing even more threatening. There has also been the media assault. But why. Why is 42 days so important to Brown. Infact where did the figure come from in the first place. I just don't get it. Does anyone. Why at a time when he continues to be in polling trouble does he wade into a fight in which he has the weak hand and did not need to get into in the first place.

In anycase he will win and a peice of legislation that is poorly drafted and pointless will come into law and cause confusion, resentment and much else besides.

He certainly does things the hard way (and the wrong way).

(If he loses he won't be forced from office not least because the Labour Party could not afford the election which would likely result).

Even more horror

No one would begrudge Gordon Brown taking a holiday. He looks absolutely shattered and not far off a stroke or mental breakdown. I almost feel sorry for him when I am watching him. It is painful. Not as painful as the graph is for Gordon Brown. Its yet another annoying peice of news for him. The occupants of the No.10 bunker should either start thinking of a new strategy now (I propose no new reforms at all just get on with running the Government) or they should flee now before people decide they are unemployable.

The Horror, the horror, the horror

That is what Team Brown must be thinking. What should they do and what can they do to stop the decline and fall of Brown and New Labour. Out of ideas, out of cash but sadly not out of office just yet.

Still it is good to see these polls after years and years of watching Tory decline.

The Nu Labour Union

Labour Party donation declarations for Q1 of 2008.

During the period, Labour declared donations to the value of £2,889,069.66. Of that figure only £337,526.18 came from non-trade unions. When you strip out Constituency Labour Party donations, the figure is even lower, standing at £246,865.65.

Put bluntly, that means that 89% of donations in total came from the trade unions. The stripped down figure means that only 8.5% came from individuals and companies. The bottom line here is that the Unions are well and truly propping up the Labour Party, to the tune of between 89% and 92% of its total income from donations.

That is not good news at all for the Labour Party. It is bound to come at a price and the Government is in no position to waste billions fulfilling union demands. However even the unions don't have enough ready cash to get Labour out of there funding crisis. We have 4 weeks left to wait before we know how Labour has got round that one.