Alfie! It's all too easy now!

When I was a child, it was quite something for people to break out of jail. It was considered well nigh impossible. I well remember having breakfast, listening to the BBC Home Service with Alvar Lidell reporting in sonorous tones that Alfie Hinds had escaped from jail. My father exclaimed "Blimey! Alfie Hinds has escaped!" Alfred George Hinds, or Alfie, as everyone called him, was a pallid, peaceable chap with thick glasses, and the oppressed air of a real-life Alec Guinness. He was a petty thief with an IQ of 150. Despite his undistinguished appearance, he was one of the best-known faces in Britain. In fact Alfie was famous. Infamous if you were the Home Secretary! Alfie was a safecracker and was sentenced to a 12-year prison sentence in 1953 (he pleaded innocent). What most endeared Alfie to the country was his passionate attachment to liberty using his intellect to achieve his ends. He escaped from jail three times. Alfie's breakouts were seen as getting one over on the authorities. Really, Alfie was a one-off. He was not a terrorist, rapist, or abuser. He didn't seemingly like violence of any nature, even on safes!

How things have changed. Today you don't need a high IQ to break out of jail. All you need is a Home Office that is "not fit for purpose" and you can just walk out!

Alfie would be deeply offended, I'm sure!

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Naughty Auntie!!

The BBC is sometimes quite willing to take on tabloid jounalism when it suits. This is a headline on their News site.

"Lib Dem donor faces jail sentence"

Now what do you think on first reading. That the LibDems are the first to get into the courts over cash-for-peerages? I wouldn't blame you if you did! But its nothing of the sort!

Further down the page it says "......but there is no suggestion the court case has anything to do with the party." No, but the BBC headline suggests otherwise.

If we are to get back to decent politics, perhaps the Beeb is the best place to start!

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Regeneration Objectives

"Clearly John Prescott was heavily involved in government policy on issues that would directly affect Mr Anschutz's bid". So says Hugo Swire, the Tory MP. Regeneration Objectives, "ROs" as New Labour will probably call them, are an excuse for people to gloss over democratic involvement and make short cuts with planning, etc. We've got something similar in Solihull. "Welcome to Shirley, a Wal-Mart town" is how it's gonna be presented.

I remember Wislon and his friends in the North. Oh no, it's land reclamation, he said, puffing on his pipe! 40 years later and Prescott is muttering similar stuff.

Mr Swire said: "Mr Prescott has always hidden behind claims that he wasn't involved in casino policy. Yet Tessa Jowell today admitted to the culture, media and sport select committee that he was holding meetings with her to discuss casinos and regeneration. This clearly shows that Mr Prescott had a role in casino policy and surely calls into question the decision to accept gifts from the American billionaire Mr Anschutz. Clearly John Prescott was heavily involved in government policy on issues that would directly affect Mr Anschutz's bid. Given today's revelation, and the mounting evidence against Mr Prescott, why won't the prime minister allow an independent investigation to take place?"

Independent investigation? By the Spiv-in-Chief? Hugo, you should know better!

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No More Portillo Moments?

Bridget Prentice, the so-called Democracy Minister (she should query being there on 20% of the vote!) has said the traditional election night could come to an end because of new voting laws. What a thing to behold! No swingometer, no crazed viewpoints, no joshing with ministers, no....... All gone until the morning after!

The new laws mean election officials have to check signatures and dates of birth of postal voters - something they say cannot be done in one night. You can see it now can't you? We won't get the result for days!! People will start querying the signatures, all manner of disputes will arise!

Why can't they just say - Personation is a crime, so is fiddling the postal ballot. Online voting or in person only. Anyone caught in any monkey-business gets three months in a boot-camp.

That should fix it!

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Behold, he that keepeth Israel Will neither slumber nor sleep.

So says the verse from Psalms! Whoever is keeping Israel today is certainly not sleeping, several thousand years later.

I heard a young TV presenter say she was alarmed by all this. She couldn't understand why, considering the history of the Jews, they felt so able to wreak havoc on their neighbours. The guy sitting next to her rounded on her. It seems the very questioning of Jews and their motives is never to be allowed, given the horrors of the concentration camps. I'd like to know, though, what a little girl with scrapnel wounds to her face and body in Beirut knows about Hitler and his repressive cruelty. Is it OK?

The Americans have always seemed to give Israel the nod when it comes to revenge. Given that the Jews are still believing in an eye for an eye, there seems little prospect of lasting peace.

When George Bush gets down on his knees in his adopted Methodist Church perhaps he will remember some pertinent things. John Wesley, in one of his many sermons, said this -

"Hence we may easily learn, in how wide a sense the term peace-makers is to be understood. In its literal meaning it implies those lovers of God and man who utterly detest and abhor all strife and debate, all variance and contention; and accordingly labour with all their might, either to prevent this fire of hell from being kindled, or, when it is kindled, from breaking out, or, when it is broke out, from spreading any farther. They endeavour to calm the stormy spirits of men, to quiet their turbulent passions, to soften the minds of contending parties, and, if possible, reconcile them to each other. They use all innocent arts, and employ all their strength, all the talents which God has given them, as well to preserve peace where it is, as to restore it where it is not. It is the joy of their heart to promote, to confirm, to increase, mutual good-will among men, but more especially among the children of God, however distinguished by things of smaller importance; that as they have all "one Lord, one faith," as they are all "called in one hope of their calling," so they may all "walk worthy of the vocation wherewith they are called; with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love; endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace."

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BA Flies Off With The Pension Fund!

BA 'could sell Air Miles to fund £1.8bn pensions shortfall'. So says the Independent newspaper. My basic brainpower wonders what on earth the Directors of British Airways have been doing if this amount of cash is missing from the pension fund. Is it a corporate malfeasance or just plain incompetence? For goodness sake, Robert Maxwell fell overboard for less!!

Not a bleat from the Spiv-in-chief and his chums, you notice! I wouldn't wonder if the pensioners of British Airways were contemplating an open-air roasting at the County Fair for these fund managers!

What a world! First class? Not even cattle-class! It's all very.............

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The Book That Tells It As It Was/Is!!

Anthony Blair, Captain of School. This book is great! Read it and weep! (with either laughter or sadness!)

"Anthony Blair, or Anthony Charles Lynton Blair, to give the hero of our story his full name, was a boy of sunny disposition. A ready smile played around his mouth as he squinted into the mirror of the third class compartment he had occupied alone for the past hour. At fourteen he already cut a manly figure. On the platform where he changed trains, he had thanked the porter politely for carrying his trunk and tipped him half a crown. ‘You are a proper young gentleman and no mistake,’ the porter replied with a beam of satisfaction so transparent that Blair immediately wondered whether he had been over-generous. Perhaps a real gentleman would have given just a shilling, or even sixpence?"

European Tribune - "It's wonderfully illustrated with Edwardian-style drawings by David Alan Hopkins, it's howlingly funny - with an underlying note of seriousness. And, by the time you've read Anthony Blair Captain of School, you'll have gained a little more insight into who the little chappie is."

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Of Abraham Lincoln

"I was born Feb. 12, 1809, in Hardin County, Kentucky. My parents were both born in Virginia, of undistinguished families--second families, perhaps I should say. My mother, who died in my tenth year, was of a family of the name of Hanks.... " So said a great man. Abraham Lincoln, in fact. This got me thinking. Is Tom Hanks related by any chance?

Anyone know? Curiosity is getting the better of me!

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Tony Decides!

"I think it will be a smooth transition... there will be a timetable decided by Tony and the party". So says the Deputy Prime Minster, Yo John. John Prescott's latest remarks may have aimed to end doubts over his own future - but they have reignited intense speculation over Tony Blair's resignation. Trust John! Tony's got a long hot summer in front of him.

Prescott added to the speculation by suggesting leadership elections would come "very shortly". And he revealed, for the first time, that a timetable for the prime minister's departure would be set out to ensure the "orderly transition" of power. Personally, I've never understood what the chameleons in New Labour mean by an orderly transition. Is it a tea party style election, a shoe-in for Gordon, or some patsie Blair is urging to come forward at the last minute?

The sooner they all go the better. Spivs they definitely are! We need principled leadership and fair governance without nosey interference. New Labour is incapable of delivering any of this.

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Wal-Mart Wins?

Back to my post about Asda coming to town. This is quite depressing. I'm all in favour of competition, but Goliath being given all the knuckledusters is a bit rich!

Our philandering Deputy Prime Minister said this "I know that the big retailers can put pressure on local stores, and we have to be aware of this, but which is worse: the major retailers leaving the towns completely or having the big retailers trading downtown, bringing in more money and more people into the town centre as a whole."

And this from a campaigner in Dorset "These guys are professionals and are in for the long haul. They have plenty of experience from around the country in winning planning permission – from PR campaigns in the local press to planning experts and expensive lawyers. What can we, a bunch of amateurs, do to stop them?"

I'm not against fair competition or even bit of knocking copy in promotions, but lying, cheating, and spivving your way to building a massive store to crack the nuts of your competition is not my type of free enterprise!

This article says "At its heart, New Labour embraces neo-liberalism, an ideology that sees planning legislation as anti-competitive, in that it stops companies from doing what they want to do and adds costs. This is the reason why new planning policy is a slimmed down and faster procedure. There are also good macro economic reasons for the government not to break the power of the supermarkets – the competition between Tesco and Asda keeps prices and hence inflation down. This may be good for economic stability, but at what cost!"

No wonder so many sleazy cash merchants are playing "Tennis with Tony". It takes a spiv to know a spiv!!

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A Foot in the Past - The Future's Tony!

This is an interesting article that I've just come across. "My socialist dream", care of the New Statesman, is Blair's vision (at the time for he has had several since!) of Socialism. It was all expressed in an extraordinary, 22-page, handwritten letter from the 29-year-old Blair to the then Labour leader, Michael Foot. Socialism is not now something I guess he rabbits away to Bush about.

The conclusion of the article is good - "It shows a rather gauche, excitable young man on the brink of what was to be a stellar political career. Critics might also argue that it exposes an empty mind, rather than an open spirit in search of knowledge of socialism and the Labour Party. It shows just how late Blair came to an understanding of politics. There is a strangely adolescent feeling to what he writes, suggesting a man who wants desperately to impress his leader."

How right the late Robin Cook was. This is EXACTLY what he spotted in Blair and had the guts to say so. Gordon Brown knows it too, but is too weak to express it. He will always regret the Granita deal!

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Asda wants Shirley but Shirley thinks not!

When Wal-Mart wants something it usually gets its way. On Wednesday night the planning sub-committee of Solihull MBC gave the go ahead to a huge (and I mean huge) store to be plonked in our midst. A lot of suspect stuff has been going on! But hey, that's democracy for you.

My attention has landed upon this -

"ASDA has launched a charm offensive after a confidential survey revealed increasing hostility to the American-owned supermarket group. As the company faces losing its position as Britain's number two supermarket to Sainsbury, the research - seen by Financial Mail - revealed that a range of groups, from suppliers to council planners, found Asda too aggressive. Many believed it had taken on too closely the mantle of its US-owned parent, Wal-Mart.

In America, the giant has long been the target of action groups that accuse it of squashing competition and driving small town stores out of business through its pricing tactics. At home, Asda's sales growth has fallen behind rivals in the past year. Chief executive Andy Bond and two-thirds of his 120,000 staff will miss out on bonuses because the group is not expected to meet profits and sales forecasts. Local authority officials said that Tesco was far more likely to listen to the needs of a community. Asda simply went for the biggest store possible."

Biggest store possible! This is exactly what they want to do in Shirley! And the fruitcake councillors couldn't get this? Erm?? Standby for the Price War and the casualties from the local shopkeepers!

http://keepshirleyalive.org.uk/index.asp
http://lorelyburt.org.uk/pages/shirleyadvance.html?PHPSESSID=6144fb8d71ea106af0c1caf541b0a76c

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EU Suspends NZ Butter

This should make us all wonder what the EU is about.

Agriculture industry leaders say an internal problem in the European Union needs to be sorted out by the Union without resorting to punishing New Zealand butter imports. The European Commission Agriculture Minister has received a letter from our (NZ) government protesting a suspension of butter imports from New Zealand. It is a technical row, brought to court by a dairy company in Germany. Egenberger GmbH challenged, among other things, the rule that only Britain is responsible for issuing import licences. That prompted The European Commission to announce a retrospective import suspension.

Yo! Blair! What are you going to do about it?

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Prescott sparks rule change call

Controversy over John Prescott's stay at a US tycoon's ranch shows rules for investigating ministers need to change, says Parliament's sleaze watchdog. He got a slap on the wrist for telling meatless porkies - well, he was 11 months late in telling the Palace of Westminster officials of his Gene Autry impressions during his stay with Philip Anschutz, the guy who thinks the Dome would make a great casino.

Frankly John Prescott ought to apologise to John Major. He should say something like "Sorry John! Whilst I was being high-minded about your ministers I was playing away myself! Like them I have always felt above it all, especially since being the Deputy Prime Minister! I realise knocking my secretary up on the office floor whilst the civil servants sat outside went far beyond anything you had to cope with. It must have been my inate hatred of snobby Tories that made me spout out all that bile. I humbly apologise for being such a toad!"

Somehow I don't think this will happen.

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Yo Blair! It's Honey!

Sky News has done us a favour by publishing the full text of the Bush/Blair mumblings. Funny how other broadcasters saw fit to give us edited versions. This text just shows how their minds work. The best bit is -

Blair: But that's that's that's all that matters. But if you, you see it
will take some time to get that together
Bush: Yeah, yeah
Blair: But at least it gives people...
Bush: It's a process, I agree. I told her your offer to...
Blair: Well...it's only if I mean... you know. If she's got a..., or if she
needs the ground prepared as it were... Because obviously if she goes out, she's
got to succeed, if it were, whereas I can go out and just talk

Just talk indeed!! He's been doing that most of his adult life. What is it the cockneys say? "All mouth and no trousers!" Is he suggesting he acts as a vanguard for Condi Rice? Gordon Brown could give her a bit of advice here, if he had the gumption.

Sky News' full text -

Bush: Yo Blair How are you doing?
Blair: I'm just...
Bush: You're leaving?
Blair: No, no, no not yet. On this trade thingy...[inaudible]
Bush: yeah I told that to the man
Blair: Are you planning to say that here or not?
Bush: If you want me to
Blair: Well, it's just that if the discussion arises...
Bush: I just want some movement.
Blair: Yeah
Bush: Yesterday we didn't see much movement
Blair: No, no, it may be that it's not, it maybe that it's impossible
Bush: I am prepared to say it
Blair: But it's just I think what we need to be an opposition
Bush: Who is introducing the trade
Blair: Angela
Bush: Tell her to call 'em
Blair: Yes
Bush: Tell her to put him on them on the spot.Thanks for the sweaters it's awfully thoughtful of you
Blair: It's a pleasure
Bush: I know you picked it out yourself
Blair: Oh, absoultely, in fact I knitted it myself
Bush: "Right . . . What about Kofi? That seems odd. I don't like the sequence of it. His attitude is basically ceasefire and everything else happens."
Blair: "I think the thing that is really difficult is you can't stop this unless you get this international presence agreed." . . .
Bush: Yeah
Blair: I don't know what you guys have talked about but as I say I am perfectly happy to try and see what the lie of the land is but you need that done quickly because otherwise it will spiral
Bush: I think Condi is going to go pretty soon
Blair: But that's that's that's all that matters. But if you, you see it will take some time to get that together
Bush: Yeah, yeah
Blair: But at least it gives people...
Bush: It's a process, I agree. I told her your offer to...
Blair: Well...it's only if I mean... you know. If she's got a..., or if she needs the ground prepared as it were... Because obviously if she goes out, she's got to succeed, if it were, whereas I can go out and just talk
Bush: You see, the ... thing is what they need to do is to get Syria, to get Hezbollah to stop doing this shit and it's over
Blair: [inaudible]
Bush: [inaudible]
Blair: Syria
Bush: Why?
Blair: Because I think this is all part of the same thing
Bush: Yeah.
Blair: What does he think? He thinks if Lebanon turns out fine, if we get a solution in Israel and Palestine, Iraq goes in the right way...
Bush: Yeah, yeah, he is sweet
Blair: He is honey. And that's what the wholething is about. It's the same with Iraq
Bush: I felt like telling Kofi to call, to get on the phone to Bashad [Bashir Assad] and make something happen
Blair: Yeah
Bush: [inaudible]
Blair:
Bush: We are not blaming the Lebanese government
Blair: Is this...? (at this point Blair taps the microphone in front of him and the sound is cut.)

This is the Daily Mail's take on the story, and the Independent, with helpful notes!!

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UKIP and the BNP! A Fairy Tale?

The British Independence & Democracy Forum has had an interesting thread about the local by-election in Dartford, Kent. The UKIP candidate has got the BNP candidate to propose him.

I can't understand why UKIP leadership is so lacking in any real political understanding. Surely Roger Knapman, the outgoing leader and former Tory MP, knows about all this stuff. Or is he so wrapped-up in his own "employment" issues?

The first principle of party politics is that you NEVER EVER give the opposition anything to get it's teeth into. Here, handed out on a plate, is the chumminess of two candidates and isn't the BNP having fun.

What was it David Cameron said? A bunch of "fruitcakes, loonies and closet racists". Now I know that most of them are not, but they must have a loony somewhere in the party for this ever to have happened!!

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"Yo Blair", Dubya's got something to say!

I saw on the news tonight George Bush and Tony Blair being caught out with the microphones still being on, whilst they chewed the fat at the G8 Summit. Bush was saying that a key to defusing the Middle East crisis was for "Hezbollah to stop doing this shit". Blair mumbled a load of nonsequiters, mostly humming along to George. The recording picks up as Bush, apparently expected to make remarks, declares: "I'm just going to make it up. I'm not going to talk too damn long like the rest of them. Some of these guys talk too long."

This made Bush look like a man who sees world troubles as some kind of gridiron scuffle and Blair as a man with not a lot original to say. The verbatim recording revealed Blair's convuluted thought processes. Both men seemed to be talking but not really listening, at times, to each other! At least the American networks played the tape. Thankfully they are growing up politically and journalistically.

In full: Bush and Blair's unguarded chat (from the BBC). Actually, I think they cut a bit!!

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Blair Blusters On!

So the Spiv-in-Chief declares he is not resigning....yet! All around him are adding their names to the list which advocates he goes in September at the party conference, or at least by next May, his 10th anniversary. If he stays on my bet is he will be pushed.

Blair is the arch manipulator. He weedled his way into the chambers of Lord Irvine. He got himself selected at the last minute in Sedgefield for the 1983 election, and he got Gordon Brown to believe that the only man who could win the 1997 election for Labour was Blair himself! The man has a great gift for making people believe that they can only be successful if he is their personal vanguard! Trouble is, that method of manipulation has truly ended.

Good to see Putin was on excellent form with this particular "democrat"! Hope he told the joke "Моя собака не имеет никакого носа! Как он пахнет? Ужасный!". Lighten the mood a bit!

Peter Hitchens, in his column in the Mail on Sunday, has a go at Blair by suggesting that we are all in some kind of prison camp which we need to tunnel out of. His description of recognising Blair as "a dim, squawking nonentity" right from the start may be true, but most of us, especially those soldiering away for their beliefs in the Labour Party, are fairly certain his only claim to fame will be the election of 1997.

Roy Hattersley is the latest to suggest Blair hops it in September. It's rather like a dinner guest outstaying his welcome. This guest though got the caterers to change the menu, then told the host the party would go a hell of a lot better if he sat at the head of the table!

I'm just old enough to remember Huw Wheldon on "All Your Own" when he would end by congratulating the child(ren) taking part with these words "Whatever else it will be, it will be well and truly.....all your own". I very much think that these words are just the same for Blair, as his eventual downfall will be "all his own"!

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What a Crazy World!!

Tonight the local news revealed that a vicar from Tamworth has stepped down as a school governor after kissing a primary pupil on the cheek to congratulate her. The Rev Alan Barrett kissed the girl in front of pupils and teachers because she had done well in maths. He was utterly astonished that the police got involved. So am I. What on earth are we doing to our children making them think wrong things of every action.

Christians should be loving to each other. The Diocese of Lichfield says "The simple act of a kiss on the cheek - a common greeting throughout the world - has potentially damaging consequences".

I'd tell the archdeacon, who apparently conducted this crazy investigation, that the lack of moral leadership, the casual attacks on the sacraments, the push for female prelates, the general inability of Church leaders to understand the gospel, and the blind-eye to "same-sex" unions have far more potentially damaging consequences!!

Apparently the girl's mother made the complaint! I suppose she reads the Sun, which portrays all clerics as either perverts or hypocrites! What sort of life does this mother want her daughter to live? We, as a country, are so sexually inverted that we DO NOT anymore appreciate innocence, fun, and, above all, affection between ourselves.

God help us all - oh, and the Archdeacon of Lichfield, the Venerable Chris Liley, who said that "even giving a child a kiss of congratulations is inappropriate in this day and age". How sad!

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Straw warns of chaos if Scottish MPs can’t vote on English issues

Jack Straw, the leader of the Commons, warned of chaos and confusion at Westminster if the Tories ever succeeded in creating two classes of MPs, whereby Scottish MPs were not allowed to vote on what was described as an English issue.

I agree Jack, it would!

But it was your daft government that caused all the problem by devolving power to THREE countries of the UK, leaving England at the mercy of the mad Prescott and the EU regionalisers!

Only an English Parliament will rectify your crazy devolution mess!!

(The picture above is Jack Straw pointing out Robert Mugabe to Jacques Chirac - I think!)

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NatWest 3 Land in Houston

When the Spiv-in-Chief was agreeing with the Americans on fast-track extradition, he demurely announced in the House of Commons that the change in the law was to assist with getting hardened terrorists to trial in the US. And them alone! It would not be for anyone else!

So the NatWest 3, as the banking executives accused of fraud in the Enron collapse are dubbed, have been short-changed by the fact that they have been caught up in this extradition nonsense. No court appearance for them to face their accusers. No opportunity to question the voracity of the evidence agaist them. Just the weasel words of a government that is itself at the heart of "dodgy dealings". And the Senate, slumbering along on Capitol Hill, have no intention of hurrying up ratification of the treaty that the British so stupidly signed in advance.

Why the slow pace? Because some senators are afraid that it may apply to Irish-Americans caught up in their own terrorist activities. What a load of hypocrites!

Both Blair and Bush are economical with the truth. They ride roughshod over decent lawmaking. What a pair! Bush has no right to lecture on democracy - for it was he who fiddled the vote in Florida. Blair is right now wondering if the boys in blue will come knocking.

"Prime Minister arrested!" screams the tabloid press. Unlikely, I'm sure, but as the BBC said tonight, NOT IMPOSSIBLE!

So the NatWest 3 are in jail in Houston awaiting their fate. Tomorrow (Friday) they appear in court. Blair told the House of Commons on Wednesday that US prosecutors would not oppose bail if appropriate conditions were met. What exactly does he mean? Baroness Scotland, Home Office minister, on a mission to meet those laggardly senators (I saw John Kerry scurrying into his office when a British TV crew approached!) says that the government is doing all it can. What precisely? Nobbling the judge?

And the BBC reports that none of this is being reported in Houston, let alone the US. I have checked with Click2Houston (NOTHING). But wait a minute! The Houston Chronicle is on the case! Here it is in blog form and as lead on the news. So the publicity is there, if limited!

This whole thing stinks. It is an offence against due process. This is not the end..........


(Q&A: Extradition and the 'NatWest Three')

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Labour fundraiser Levy arrested!

Tony Blair's chief fundraiser Lord Levy has been arrested in connection with the "cash-for-honours" inquiry by the Metropolitan Police. Oh dear!! According to BBC Political Editor Nick Robinson the arrest was "deeply damaging for Tony Blair" because Lord Levy is a particular friend of the prime minister. He said the fate of Lord Levy and Mr Blair was "intertwined". "It doesn't get much more serious than this," he said.

The question now is - What does it take for the Spiv-in-Chief to go to the Palace and say "I'm going"?

We've all got our answers ready, Tony!!!!!!!

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World Cup Songs

Talking of the World Cup, my poll of the songs received 16 votes! I'm not sure good taste was a factor as the one coming in second was....well, the Hamiltons!!! Thankfully a last minute voter saved the day!

• Chant Like an English Fan - The Laddz (4) (25%)
• England are Jolly Dee – The Hamiltons (3) (18.8%)
• (Is This The Way To) The World Cup - Tony Christie (2) (12.5%)
• Hurry Up England - Sham 69 And The Special Assembly (2) (12.5%)
• Sing it for England - Young Stanley (2) (12.5%)
• Who Do You Think You Are Kidding Jurgen Klinsmann? - Tone Def All Stars (2) (12.5%)
• England My England - Dead Poets Society (1) (6.3%)

Four years to go and no TOTP!!

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UKTV goes widescreen and then.....

Yes, folks, UKTV went widescreen for the World Cup but have now reverted to type. Their thinly veiled contempt for the viewing public is down to them not wishing to pay for the cost of broadcasting in the 16:9 format.

From their own website! These comments make good reading, but in fairness to UKTV they have posted them. Couldn't they just be a little less cheapskate in the whole venture?

UKTV Messageboard

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Lord Falconer in a muddle!

Lord Falconer is someone I may choose to have as my defence counsel should I ever have to be tried by a jury of my peers! He'd confuse the twelve good folk so much that they would find the prosecution's case totally implausible. That seems to be the great advantage of his services to Blair. Let everyone feel that they agree by them conveniently forgetting the question!!

Falconer is in favour of Scottish devolution but not English devolution. No problem there then. Except we still remember the question. It's called "The West Lothian Question" and he has no proper answer yet. So much for Constitutional Affairs. (Prescott seems to be the only minister capable of understanding a constitutional affair!).

Murky.org has an excellent line on this, and has written to the Last Lord Chancellor accordingly. I particularly like the line that says

You gave reasons why there should not be an English Parliament (namely that it would be bad for the Union), but you did not explain why the Scottish Parliament is not bad for the Union.

Let's hope Murky gets a reply soon!

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Family courts 'to be more open'

Whilst I am generally steamed up by the plots and spins of Tony Blair's government, they are not completely wrong all the time. Thankfully, Harriet Harman has done, or will do, a great justice to families caught up in the present secrecy of the Family Courts. This secrecy only helps the zealots of the social services department, who appear to see black and white as something reserved for their files. It also protects paid-for witnesses, usually medics on a mission!

So I support Harriet in this much-needed reform. Last night, on Channel 4, there was a programme showing the fall-out in the lives of two people. One was Michael, who developed a brain tumour that affected his behaviour. The other was Alex, a young soldier who had a skiing accident and woke up from a coma, his personality dramatically changed - he had lost all sexual inhibition!

Left to their own devices these two would be in jail as sexual perverts and molesters. However, the neurological world understands frontal lobe accidents and that this part of the brain controls behaviour.

Just a thought! As I see many people every day driving around using mobile phones, wouldn't it be a tragedy if one of them had an accident, hit a passerby so that he/she had frontal lobe damage and that person's behaviour changed so that the police felt obliged to arrest them and they ended up in jail! As I say, just a thought!

Mindshock: Sex on the Brain

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Judge in Wonderland!

Lewis Carroll knew that the English language could be usurped. He allowed Humpty Dumpty to say, in a rather scornful tone,' when I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean, neither more nor less.'

Mr. Justice Collins seems to be of like mind. Either that, or he's been got at like the weekly attempts on Judge John Deed!! In dismissing Robin de Crittenden's oral application for Judicial Review, he declared that, "the Bill of Rights does not apply to parking as parking tickets are not fines or forfeitures." Just exactly what are they your honour? Nectar Points?? He is clearly deluded and this must not be allowed to stand.

Neil Herron's excellent blog has more. If the Bill of Rights is to be traduced in this way then we know that the Blairite regime has no real desire to uphold the democratic basis of this country. Every citizen has the right to be tried in a court of law before being fined instead of summary justice being meted out by faceless bureaucrats.

The real answer to all this is to have a proper system of traffic courts where wrongdoers who are found guilty can expect a penalty that fits the crime. Giving the collection of parking tickets to semi-autonomous profit-making organisations is certainly NOT justice, Mr.Collins!!

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Here's a funny one!

President Putin was on a webcast for the BBC today when people could ask him all sorts of questions. Seeing as he's nearly always stony-faced, I'd liked to have asked him "Do you know any good jokes?"

Possibly we might have all fallen about laughing. I tried the "my dog has no nose! How does he smell? Terrible!!" joke to a small Dutch audience and, in translation, it got a fair to middling cackle!

Putin could have said "Моя собака не имеет никакого носа! Как он пахнет? Ужасный!" I, for one, would have greatly appreciated it!

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Whitehall fights ID costs demand

Well, it's not much of a surprise! The whole concept of an ID card imposed on the British people is a horrendous thought, especially when Blair is the one proposing it. Apparently the government is battling to ensure that estimates of the benefits and risks of identity cards remain secret. They don't want us knowing much but the want to know MUCH about us!

The freedom of information watchdog, Information Commissioner Richard Thomas, ruled that the papers drawn up by Department for Work and Pensions should be published. They think otherwise and are trying to get a court to overrule the Commissioner.

The LibDems have spotted something that the Tories, as lead opposition party, should have reckoned with. Nick Clegg, the LibDems Home Affairs spokesman said "The public has a right to know if the billions of pounds the government is committing to this massive project will be money well spent. It is a measure of the government's failure to justify ID cards that during the passage of the bill they never once released a full estimate of its costs and impact."

Doesn't the fact that the Spiv-in-Chief and his cronies DON'T want us to know the costs show that his mutterings about giving democracy to Iraq and Afghanistan fall a bit hollow. He is certainly less keen on delivering democracy here! The blighter hardly ever puts anything to the vote in Cabinet!! England is short-changed in his constitutional cookery! And his feeble-minded government has the active support of only 20% of the country!

Let's hope the Commissioner succeeds.

http://www.no2id.net/

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Greater Birmingham?

Super Mayor, Greater Birmingham? The government is backing the idea of new city regions. Should Birmingham become Greater Birmingham and be led by a "super mayor"? So asks the BBC!

Well, I for one say no! We live in Warwickshire and until the Great Grocer Heath amputated the county with his half-baked 1972 Act for Hacking the Counties About, Warwickshire was quite happy!

Apparently the Institute of Directors has been asked for their opinion! Anybody thought of asking the people themselves?

BBC Birmingham

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European Union Information!

Anyone interested in the "Real" facts can call these people at the new Europe Direct centres, which the EU hope will dispel some myths!

Margot Wallström, European Commissioner for Institutional Relations and Communication Strategy said: “I am pleased to announce the opening of 25 brand-new centres in the UK, completing the Europe Direct network. I am well aware of euroscepticism in the UK. Well, there’s certainly nothing wrong with a bit of healthy scepticism on any subject, as long as it’s based on the facts. Polls show that the British public want access to more factual information on the EU, and it’s Europe Direct’s job to help provide this."

How about telling us why the European Commission cannot account for billions being squandered. The EU’s accounts for 2004 have not been signed off – for the 11th year in a row! No whelk stall managers these then!

Tell them what you think - here are the venues!

Contact details for your local Europe Direct Centre

Hope they all have a good set of accountants!

Ashley Mote MEP has them in his sights!!!

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England Out

I got the feeling that both the fans and the players were not too surprised that England will not now be in the final of the World Cup. Better luck next time seems to be the resigned belief of some fans leaving the stadium last night. Others thought the team needed some refreshing by including new blood. Whatever the regrets, it was all good fun watching on TV although the viewing figures came out at 19 million. Morecambe and Wise used to get about 25 million so the match did not grip everyone! Also the tournament has been something of a revelation in that sportmanship seems to have taken a back seat to brinksmanship and "chances" in not getting caught by the referee. Apparently the current thinking is it's OK to get away with it if you can, including head-butting, stamping on limbs and giving a groin a good kicking instead of the ball!

David Beckham did the right thing in resigning, not because he should have done, but because England will want a new feel about the team when the next internationals take place. Which starts all over again in September with the Euro 2008 matches starting with a fancied one against Andorra!

One of the good things to come out of the World Cup in Germany has been the way the English fans have behaved. By most accounts they have been friendly, chatty with their German hosts, and showing the world that they can enjoy football and conduct themselves properly. Well done!

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