Ellis Island Mark 2

Once upon a time any immigrant wanting to enter the USA through the Port of New York would have to subject themselves to the ignomy of Ellis Island. Very degrading, I'm sure. Actually, it's only recently that the folks at immigration have learnt to smile. Some welcome we used to get!

Now, George W. Bush, wrapped up in his "War on Terror", is trying to get the European Union to snitch on visitors to the USA. He, or his government, wants to know more about us. Under a 2004 agreement between the EU and the US, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) can access European airline reservation databases and pull out 34 pieces of information about each passenger. Such things as whether we paid for our ticket by cash (a suspicious thing) or by credit card (not so suspicious), and e-mail addresses, travel details, etc. The CBP system has been built in such a way that some "sensitive" information is filtered out. But they can still receive the sensitive stuff, including "personal data revealing racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade union membership, and data concerning the health or sex life of the individual".

I'd say that the Americans are barking up the wrong tree here. It's good old detective work that catches criminals, not a blanket abuse of civil liberties. Finding out if somebody wants Halal meat doesn't imply wrongdoing. Heavens above, two Muslims got abused and kicked off a plane because they looked suspicious. Where will it all end?

President Bush obviously has his culinary preferences. His father can't stand broccoli! Should he be checked out if he asks for meals without broccoli? What does it tell us? Diddly squat, that's what!

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Tales from the Prison Cell

When it was common for churches around the world in the Anglican Communion to chant, or say, the Litany, people were confronted with all manner of human conditions and needs which required prayers! One such group prayed for was prisoners.

That it may please thee to preserve all that travel by land or by water, †
all women labouring of child, all sick persons, and young children;
and to shew thy pity upon all prisoners and captives,

All - we beseech thee to hear us, good Lord.

† or by land or air or water

So I wouldn't expect those in the Home Office responsible for our prisons to have been down on their bended knees recently. The rats of this country (not the prisoners!), that is Rattus rattus, seem to have a hold over the system. Over two years ago, the BBC reported that Wealstun Jail, near Wetherby in Yorkshire, had been criticised for being "mouldy, damp and infested with rats". And now we hear that Pentonville Prison is "overrun with cockroaches" and has an "unusually high" number of assault allegations against staff, a report has said. At Inverness Prison, the Governor has spoken out. Alastair MacDonald said overcrowding meant prisoners were being sent to jails far from their families. He said "When I first arrived here the daily population was around 125 and now we are regularly having 150. On top of that, on a weekly basis we have to send prisoners down south and indeed this takes us back to the situation that prevailed in the Highlands 200 years ago. So we are going in a reverse direction at the moment sadly."

Enoch Powell once said that there weren't many votes in prison reform. He said it as a matter of sadness. If we brutalise the wrongdoer and care diddly-squat for his/her reform of character what does it say about the rest of us. I'm all in favour of punishment and punishment to fit a crime, but casual attitudes and "institutional disrespect" of inmates is uncivilised. Some rebuke us who think about prisons as "dogooders" but they never really do any good themselves. Most sound embittered and angry, without much in the way of positive thinking.

Mr MacDonald also said "Many policies are like the Easter eggs we hated getting as children - very large, very attractive but when you take off the silver paper it is a big hollow egg". How true!

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Falconer snubs constitution call

Quite right, too! A written constitution would be a disaster for the British people. We'd be arguing over it like ferrets in a sack. Those that think it OK forget that our freedoms have been gained by the state being unable to have any central control. What it does have is sovereignty which resides only at the centre of the state. The Crown, Parliament, and the Church were deemed to be "estates" with the fourth estate being the Press, unofficially! We have our Norman forebears to be thankful for laying down a system that works. Any fundamental change, as the former Archbishop of York, Lord Habgood, said, "was like undoing your aunt's knitting. One loose stitch and the whole lot unravels". Ancien Régime, thank you indeed!

Yes, I know that people, including myself, think the last 9 years a tad overwhelming, and there is a clamour for "rights" etc, but I would urge a return to cabinet government, a return to responsibilities being carried out with good grace, and a return to representative democracy in Parliament and the shires. Those countries with a written constitution are still squabbling over the interpretation. Also, what is written down may include an entrenchment clause making certain amendments either more difficult than others or impossible. It may even require some form of supermajority, a referendum or the consent of some other party if it is allowed at all. Hurdles to jump. With the British constitution, all sovereignty ultimately belongs to Parliament, so the concept of entrenchment cannot exist.

Parliament is a High Court itself. Our representatives should make the law, the judges should interpret the law. A written constitution would forever bind the legislature in, and, as Lord Falconer says, the judges would "decide issues like should people be able to have abortions, to what extent is discrimination allowed, to what extent are certain punishments in prison allowed."

Lord Falconer is beginning to regain his legal sensibilities at long last, so cruelly put to the test through a misplaced loyalty to spin and subterfuge. By knocking back Gordon Brown's idea of a written constitution, he is doing us all a favour!

Bring on this heavyweight, for goodness sake!

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Gordon versus.....some big hitter!

So it now seems more than likely that Gordon Brown WILL have a heavyweight contest for the leadership of the Labour Party. No sooner than Blair had left the conference centre than his minions and Blairite cronies were plotting in the bars. So they are going to put up a cabinet minister against Gordon. So much for all the charm, or charisma as Albert Speer recommended every public figure should have!

Channel 4 News have been checking out the plots, and with Jon Snow still very much alive to all this, we may know fairly soon!

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Matilda versus Tony!

Whatever Matilda told it seems Tony can do better. So says the Daily Mail!

The Daily Mail has received this extraordinary, unexpurgated recording of a candid meeting between Tony Blair and his Cabinet colleagues...

"Hey, guys. Have you seen the riots in Hungary on the news? All because the Prime Minister decided to tell the truth for once. What got into him? I mean, everyone knows we've been lying for years, but that's no reason to admit it. How I've got away with the 'pretty straight kind of guy' act for so long is a mystery. The first time I wheeled it out, over the Formula One fiasco, John Humphrys and I kept getting a fit of the giggles. We had to do three takes.

Remember '24 hours to save the NHS'? That was a laugh. We've spent billions and the health service is still a complete shambles. Don't interrupt, Patricia. We all know your statistics are a work of fiction. We're having to bale out hospitals in marginals just to keep them open. Patients are dying like flies from MRSA. You stand more chance of getting out of Basra alive.

And that's another thing. Can you believe anyone ever fell for that WMD rubbish? Alastair cobbled it together off the internet. As for the idea that we were all going to be attacked in 45 minutes, well, I ask you. I don't know how I kept a straight face. Dubya decided to attack Iraq long before 9/11, just to get even for his dad. First time I met him, he took me to one side and said: "Yo, Blair! We're going into Iraq to kick ass. I'm expecting you to step up to the plate because we can't rely on those cheese-eating surrender monkeys".

Eat your hearts out, you Hungarian backsliders!

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Cherie denies Brown 'liar' attack

Did she say it, or did she not? Whatever happened to "it can only get better"? Cherie Blair has denied that she accused Gordon Brown of lying during his keynote Labour conference speech. Bloomberg news agency reported that she said "Well, that's a lie" when she heard the Chancellor saying it had been a privilege to work with Tony Blair.

Her trouble is that her husband has led a government where subterfuge, spin, and soundbites have been all the rage. So here we have a Bloomberg reporter saying she did, and Downing street saying she didn't.

When I was a little boy my mother used to delight in reading to me about Matilda.

Matilda told such dreadful lies,
It made one gasp and stretch one's eyes;
Her aunt, who, from her earliest youth,
Had kept a strict regard for truth,
Attempted to believe Matilda:
The effort very nearly killed her,
And would have done so, had not she
Discovered this infirmity. More......

If we hadn't been told such dreadful lies about WMD, if we weren't asked to gasp and stretch our eyes in believing the Blair project, we might have had some faith in politics. I think the effort has very nearly killed dear Gordon! So much for a strict regard for truth!

Oh Cherie! You have been hoist on your own New Labour petard!

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Shifting Lands!

If you ever thought that the Hungarian Government was alone in deviousness, forget it. It seems a matter of course for ALL governments! Our own, when debating the Local Government Act 1972, was not above it. England got short-changed, but what's new?

Just uncovered is this - a letter from the Welsh Office!

"The Local Government Act 1972 Abolished the administrative county of Monmouthshire and the county borough of Newport, which until then were legally part of England. The definition of Wales in that Act was fully debated prior to the legislation receiving royal assent in 1972 consequently Monmouthshire became part of Wales on 1 April 1974"

Legally part of England? Is that what I saw? You see how they do it. Everything done on the sly! Except we have some people of courage. Gerald Kaufman, then Labour MP for Manchester Ardwick said "Am I to take it that an act of annexation of this magnitude is to be carried through a sparsely attended House of Commons on the nod at five minutes to midnight on the same basis as Europe has annexed England ? I wish to voice my protest."

If there had been a referendum, then that would have been a fair. But Cinderella politics, NO! I can see now why devolution has turned into a PUMPKIN!

Of course, the Great Grocer saw no harm in all this. He never saw England as a country, rather a province. No wonder the English are rumbling in the shires - and towns and cities too!

Let's all voice our protest!

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A Policeman's Lot! Being Politically Correct and Abysmally Wrong!

What is it with our police forces of today? They seem to have taken leave of their senses! These days we appear to have a politically run and politically correct outfit. The Metropolitan Police is up in court over the Menezes case, they send 200 armed police officers on a wild goose chase, ending up with a man shot (again by mistake) - and those who make these mistakes get promoted!

Now Gloucestershire police force has admitted illegally rejecting 108 job applicants because they were white men. Who on earth though this was OK to start with? The Chief Constable? Did he personally put the applications in the waste paper bin? One or two may be a mistake, but this is all showing the hallmarks of a culture within the police.

It appears systemic. Perhaps the Conservatives could put "police reform" into their mini-manifesto to make it more maxi!

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Is Cameron OK with the Tories?

It is becoming increasingly certain to me that David Cameron may be saying some good things, but is he right for the Conservative Party? Does he fit in with their way of life, culture, and general purpose?

Tony Blair has proved to be an odd kind of socialist. When it suited him, he squeaked all the right noises to impress Michael Foot. But then dear old Michael probably thought that this public school socialist was just like him! In the case of David Cameron, he is fitting in nicely to the mould of 21st century leaders. Those who lead a party that is not always with them (mentally or spiritually) and the electorate becomes confused and eventually turned off.

It was all so easy 40/50 years ago. People knew who the Tories were, who Labour was (and if you didn't, you had a trade union leader reminding you!) and the Liberals were.....well, either like Lady Violet Bonham Carter ("when I was a gel") or an anorak! Not now, though. It's all change at Westminster Central!

So where does this lead us? Senior Tory MP Edward Leigh has warned of "discontent" among the party's core voters. These are probably the ones who won't go green! Cameron had a ballot of party members. Nearly three quarters of party members (73%) did not even vote! But he is championing this as a show of unity, because he has been backed by more than nine out of 10 of the members who actually voted on his mini-manifesto statement of aims and values.

Personally, I think Cameron is the best hope for the Tories electorally. He will get new voters as well as the grudging support of the malcontents. But he needs to shape up further! He needs a coherent policy on English governance. It's OK going cap in hand to the Scots. How about saying sorry to the English too? He needs to give local government some proper democracy and basically get rid of the quangos.

So far so good, but let's see the mini-manifesto emerge into a proper maxi-manifesto! Otherwise we will get a hung parliament, with Clare Short giving advice from outside parliament, and the posibility of a coalition with the LibDems!

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Green Eyed Monster seen in Starbucks!

I'm all in favour of businesses being run properly, but I'm also in favour of customers not trying it on. Starbucks got a promotion for free drinks slightly skewed by finding it had been "promoted" to the whole world on the internet. No sane or rational person would expect the company to honour such a deal if it had been so blatantly misused by people trying to abuse Starbucks.

Starbucks pulled the free drink offer, saying it had been redistributed beyond its original intent. But a customer, with I believe a "Bigbucks" idea instead, decided to take them on. She is launching a $114m (£60m) lawsuit against the coffee colossus. I hope she is told to clear off by the judge in question, if it ever gets to court.

All this greed in lawsuits is totally undignified. And don't you know, if she did win, it would be all of us poor sods picking up the tab in our insurance premiums!

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No Sense of Fun, Please! We're Politically Correct Zealots!

Last Saturday the Prime Minster's wife, Cherie Blair went to a school sports event in Glasgow and one boy decided to make a "rabbit ears" gesture behind her head. Mrs. Blair was reported to have made a playful gesture to the boy, which I think was giving him a joshing tap. Then guess what. Some morons from the Child Protection in Sport Unit complained to police. Strathclyde Police, cravenly following the mindless notions of these jobsworths, took statements from witnesses to the alleged incident, which occurred at a national school sports event in Glasgow last Saturday.

Police said "it had been established no incident had taken place" and that the inquiry into the matter was now closed. When did Strathclyde Police lose their senses and become automatons?

Six detectives were sent to investigate! Conservative Glasgow MSP Bill Aitken said the case had been a massive waste of police time. Too true! He said, "This has all the hallmarks of a monumental waste of police time. They have a duty to follow up any complaints, but I'm glad to say they're dropping it and getting on with catching the real criminals who cause so much harm to society."

The trouble with the way this New Labour Government has steered things is that the country seems to be run by a triumvirate of sleazy businessmem, politically correct zealots, and control freaks.

Anyone wanting to tell them something can contact the Child Protection in Sport Unit and advise them that they have better things to do such as apprehending real perverts and certainly not the Prime Minister's wife in broad daylight!

As for the boy, he thought it was "just a bit of fun". He said, "I've no idea why I did it. It was all done in good fun. I didn't expect anything to come of it, she just tapped me and said 'you're lucky I have such a good sense of humour'. I didn't think there would be any trouble about it."

Pity these control freaks don't have ANY sense of humour!

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Political Goulash

"We screwed up. Not a little, a lot. No European country has done something as boneheaded as we have". So said Mr. Ferenc Gyurcsany, the Hungarian prime minister, after it was revealed his government had lied during an election. Rioting has taken place in Budapest. It seems that the newly emerged countries of Eastern Europe are having a difficult time with notion of free and fair elections. Some still resort to lies (although our own New Labour regime would probably have advised Mr. Gyurcsany to "bury bad news") whilst others follow the brown envelope route.

Democracy? It needs an overhaul, that's for sure!

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Parallel Universes?

Listening to some Islamic commentators tonight on the various news channels, I am left wondering if there ever will be an understanding with Muslims. They claim to be peaceful yet the "West" is wondering why they need to fly off the handle, shout death threats, burn effigies, and generally rabble-rouse.

Most of my life there have been attacks on religious thought, anti-Christian sentiments and general smart-alec jokes. I don't get bothered, overheated, or seek revenge. This is a free country. Free speech is paramount.

However, the Pope was NOT condemning Islam, or insulting the Prophet, or anything else. He was engaged in a serious contemplation of why some people seek to promote their beliefs with violence. The Muslim representatives seemed conveniently ignorant of the full speech, and just sounded off, denouncing the Pope. It is the lack of democratic debate in most Islamic countries that gives them the closed thinking and herd mentality.

On Sky News a Muslim was asked if he condemned the outrageous statements of the President of Iran in seeking to obliterate Israel. He chose the weasel route and likened Israel to apartheid South Africa. Others have come out with equally absurd statements. On the BBC the guy seemed to imply that Muslims should be giving an equal standing with the Catholic Church by Catholics. When told that this did not fit with Catholic belief, but that the church desired dialogue, he became quite unresponsive.

Muslims have been given all due respect in the UK, and other countries, by being allowed to follow their beliefs, build mosques, and teach their children accordingly. I think this is right and proper. Why then are Christians in Muslim countries attacked, not allowed to build churches, and generally harrassed?

By asking why some Islamic societies have certain propensities for violence, we are trying to establish truth by not sweeping our quest for answers under the magic carpet!

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Eeny, meeny, miny, moe.........

Now that Tony Blair has sort of indicated when he is going, I thought I would close the poll.

Tony Blair stated he would step down some time before the next election. When should he actually go?

Immediately! (42) (64.6%)
After the Labour Conference in the Autumn (2) (3.1%)
Next year (1) (1.5%)
Just before the next election to stop Brown! (6) (9.2%)
He should carry on! It was all a mistake! (3) (4.6%)
He stays to find someone other than Gordon Brown (6) (9.2%)
I don't care! (5) (7.7%)

Total votes: 65

The one person who voted next year was right and will have a wish come true. The 42 waiting with bated breath will be hoping........

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Fever Pitch

In today's crazy world, it is a delicate matter discussing anything to do with Islam. It is tricky for Muslims at the best of times. For others, it is potential dynamite.

Mostly you can bet on being misquoted, misunderstood, or just plain wronged. No matter, eh?

In most countries with Sharia law, there is no such thing as a free press. If there are murmurings, it is taken as being un-Islamic. The Pope is currently in the firing line, because some Muslims have taken two to make a couple of hundred and two. He quoted a 14th-Century Christian emperor who said Muhammad had brought the world only "evil and inhuman" things. The emperors words were, he said: "Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." Benedict said "I quote" twice to stress the words were not his and added that violence was "incompatible with the nature of God and the nature of the soul".

The difficulty faced today in this seemingly never-ending conflict is that "spreading a faith by the sword" is exactly what the "home-grown terrorists" fervently believe is right and proper. So-called moderate Muslims probably would wish that these references to swords were never in the Qu'ran.

However, we surely must be able to query the basis for the upsurge in those adhering to violence as a means of propagating their beliefs.

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Gordon the Crab!

Quite a few children (and their "grown-up helpers") will remember Gordon the Gopher, the furry companion of Philip Schofield. Today Gordon Brown was giving a talk at the Mini plant in Cowley. The speech was carried on BBC News24. The camera angle helped! As he spoke, his left hand kept moving around like some demented crab trying to get in on the act. In claw-like movements, it moved around in 5-second bursts. Then it speeded up to around 2-seconds, all the while caressing the notes as if they might leave the lectern by their own devious methods. The hand seemed to me taking on a life of its own. I found myself wondering if it was still joined to the wrist, or if it was a cousin of the Adams family's HAND!!

If he ever gets to be Prime Minister, the hand will have to be taken into hand - literally!

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Brown family to move to Number 10

The American supermarket firm Safeway once had a slogan "Since we're neighbors, let's be friends".

Any chance that this was Gordon Brown's remark to Tony Blair on moving into the flat above him?

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Finns to finish off English Civil Law?

Guess what? Those who thought that the European Union was just a cosy trading zone, like the outgoing leader of UKIP, Roger Knapman, thought he was signing up to in the 70's, are going to be sorely tested now.

This is from the Finnish EU Presidency website

At the meeting on Thursday morning 21 September the Ministers will, under the direction of the Minister of Justice, Ms Leena Luhtanen, discuss intensification of cooperation in civil law and criminal law, and, under the direction of the Minister of the Interior, Mr Kari Rajamäki, improvement of the implementation of the EU Counter-Terrorism Strategy in the light of the recent serious attempts at terrorist acts in the EU area.

English Civil Law has nothing much in common with the codified thinking of the followers of Napoleon. And I would not have much confidence in the EU having any say in our Criminal Law. I think we need to ask why the EU is now totally absorbed in controlling from the centre, from weights and measures to jaywalking!

So much for the late Grocer Heath who sold the country the notion of civilised trading and cheaper washing machines! An American once said to me "Well, it's all one country now, isn't it?" How these EU federalists would love it to be so. And they have the audacity to speak of democracy! They are currently poking their noses into the Polish Government's make-up and they imply that their way is the only way.

We have been warned.

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9/11 Remembered

Today is the 11th of September. 9/11 in American usage. Bin-Laden and his cronies caused mayhem in New York today five years ago. Death, destruction, desolation. "911" was chosen to make a statement.

It is good that we remember the lost ones but I do sincerely hope that we can rise above mawkish memories and endless TV questions about the tragedy. We must become beacons for a better world. Our own spirits will be dampened if we let the evil of 9/11 dwell as a perpetual sadness. In that way, Al-Queda may feel a certain satisfaction.

In the Order of Compline, this text is sometimes used. "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour". Well, we certainly have an adversary today and we must be sober and vigilant because this is our defence against the tyranny of terrorism.

The 2,973 souls that perished that day will be joyful at our unflinching resistance of the devil's works, in hardening men's hearts. By remembering them we are with them.

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Yes...but not yet!

The past week "has not been our finest hour, to be frank". Tony Blair in typical form! Harold Wilson said "a week in politics is a long time". Blair has just alluded to a week being an hour. In which case, Brown will be knocking on the door sometime Saturday morning! Got your tea mug ready, Tony?

Definitely time for a change, then!

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Exit! Stage Left.. or is it Right?

Blair tells aides he quits May 31!

Is it a comedy of errors, a total farce, or a real political drama? Whatever is happening it is not a very edifying time for us all. The Prime Minister is stuck in his own muddle, because he did the one thing a prime minister should never do. Say in advance when he is going. Blair thought he was being clever, but without his spin doctor by his side, he is like a loose cannon.

Now we have the Chancellor and PM verbally abusing each other, and the Blairites and Brownites drawing up their ranks for the final putsch. In all this, Blair has acted as the bate to Brown's hook. If John Smith had not died when he did, Gordon Brown would probably be Prime Minister (Smith having resigned by now). John Smith would have made Brown look good as a successor. They were fellow Scots. The English did not have much antipathy towards John Smith, seeing him more as a friendly bank manager. Tony Blair has managed to make Gordon Brown an angry, frustrated, and sometimes morose man. This is because Blair (I have no doubt) bamboozled Brown at that Granita restaurant.

Blair's legacy will be that of a man who brought outstanding electoral success to his party but who is one wriggled in insecurity. He only appears at ease in the comfort of praise, adulation, and "that's great, Tony"! Hence more Richard & Judy, less Jeremy Paxman. When confronted, he resorts to sarcasm, or flashes of anger. Debate is only permitted if he can control it!

Personally, I can't wait to see Blair go. He has no real policies, no depth, no vision, other than this nebulous concept called "New Labour". His agent was blathering on yesterday about not wanting to return to "socialism". Good heavens! If he'd said that 20 years ago in County Durham, he'd have been hauled over several hot coals (from the local mines, of course!). Blair has succeeded in turning Labour Party members, like his agent, into a mixed bag of corporate enterprise automatons. That is why we need to get rid of them electorally, for the good of our country.

I have no great desire to see Brown as PM. The one who I think could well give us new direction is Alan Johnson. I'm saying this as someone never likely to vote Labour, even at the point of a gun! However, we need a person of ability. Johnson has several plus points. He is articulate, he can think on his feet, he is not tainted by Blair, and he enjoys fine dining. That makes him a very sociable chap, being at ease with his working class roots as well as feeling OK with different classes. Unlike Prescott, who has a great beam on his shoulder! So I plump for Alan Johnson.

If anyone wants a defining example of Blairism, then watch Rory Bremner's sketches as Tony Blair in Downing Street. A political commentator said recently that these were the closest one could get to the real thing!

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Blair's Hair

It has caused a ripple of mirth in news circles that Tony Blair appears to be dyeing his hair, with some varied results apparently. But that's not all. He is also using a make-up gadget called an Iwata. According to Louise Beard, a make-up artist at Sky News, which is the only British news channel to use the machine as the station increases its output of high definition programmes. "It's the latest thing in make-up and the results are amazing. It's great for the guys as it applies the make-up so subtly".

Blair should appear on Sky News more often to compare notes. But seriously, is he really thinking straight? What will the House of Commons make of all this when they eventually return from their long summer holidays? He will get taunts no doubt. But the real problem is that it shows him up to be more concerned about baldness and a youthful past than about accepting the natural progression of human maturity.

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US troops could face execution

US army investigator Lt Col James Daniel has recommended that four American troops face the death penalty if convicted of killing three detainees during a raid in Iraq. What on earth difference will that make to the carnage, mayhem and destruction now being rent on this poor country?

The Americans should rid themselves of the "eye for an eye" justice that the New Testament deplores and show the world that their "Correctional Facilities" can re-educated and re-form the hearts and minds of these men. Punishment, yes! But let them see the error of their ways, reflect during a prison term (if guilty) and be rehabilitated.

But best of all, perhaps Bush and Blair might consider the horrendous situation that their lack of preparation, policy and general forethought has caused!

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Fit for Purpose?

It makes me wonder sometimes. How on earth some people get to keep the jobs they do, when it is plainly obvious they are incapable. Some characters in the Foreign Office have no clue as to how many Pakistani citizens hold British passports. It could be between 32,000 and 80,000. Not exactly accurate statistics. It gets worse with Bangladeshis. This guestimate is between 10,000 and 100,000.

Now I don't blame the holders of these passports, unless they obtained them fraudulently. No, I blame the dozy penpushers who seem to be oblivious of the facts. Currently, it is a bit of a bore travelling to and from the USA. No books allowed, personal stereos, etc. Travellin' lite is the new norm. Now the US authorities are getting jumpy about these passport discrepancies and are thinking about the visa waiver program.

Douglas Carswell, the Tory MP who obtained the information, claimed the US is right to see British passport holders as a potential threat because of the ‘reckless way’ passports have been issued by the Government. He said: "In light of the alleged transatlantic terror plot, this is extremely disturbing. If the Government does not even know how many people in Pakistan hold British passports, how can they possibly know who they’ve handed them out to? The Americans are talking about reviewing the visa waiver programme because they fear Islamic extremists with British passports pose a greater threat to the US than those in Iraq or Afghanistan."

I know that John Reid, on becoming Home Secretary, said the Home Office was not fit for purpose, but I really think this government is not fit for purpose. Did Tony Blair mention this fiasco to George Bush? Hardly! Good thing we have some MPs and a press able to highlight this shameful inadequacy.

Not only will honest and decent travellers be put to more disadvantage, but the hardpressed Muslims of Britain, who wish to have nothing whatsover to do with terrorism, will be drawn further into the circle of suspicion.

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A very fishy problem!

"The Scottish parliament can change the law as it applies in England without England having any say at all. Scotland may have complained for years about England pushing Scotland around, but here's a case where England won't even have any say or any part in the debate."

Guess what this is about? It's about fishing rights on the River Tweed. English people fishing from the English side of this river border will come under a Scottish law, capable of fining them for pulling out the wrong fish!

Tony Blair's bovine attempts at constitutional change (seemingly dreamed up by him and his old school pal Lord (Charlie) Falconer) have caused these errational problems. Blair had the brass neck to complain about English demands for an English parliament. Well, the fin rot's setting in.

More and more people are coming to realise how deceitful this Prime Minister has been. He has given Scottish MPs a cosy existence of having half the work load of English MPs but all the say in how England is governed! He should never have been allowed to tinker with the constitution whilst his brain appeared in first gear only!

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Not so gay!

A right and proper nonsense has erupted in Scotland over the refusal of some firefighters to hand out leaflets at a gay pride march. The self-righteous spokesman from the Strathclyde Fire and Rescue went on as if his morals were better than a devout Catholic's, who feels affronted by the lampooning of priests and nuns for propaganda purposes. The firefighters are going on 'diversity training' courses. More like brainwashing!

When was it deemed right that people should accept the rather distasteful antics of these marches over and above the traditional teaching of the Church? Now, it has been lawful in Great Britain (Northern Ireland later) since 1967 for two consenting homosexuals to practice in private. The Sexual Offences Act of that year did away with the terrible prospect of blackmail, which is an odious crime, committed by cowards. It was correct that this act should have been passed. However, that did not imply or suggest that the vast majority of the country who are not homosexual should have to have their sensibilities traduced by outrageous displays of mockery, taunts and sexual provocation.

The bosses of Strathclyde Fire and Rescue are the ones who need some retraining! Archbishop Mario Conti of Glasgow said they "had legitimate concerns about being the subject of taunts and jokes". He said in some cases their religious sensibilities would have been offended. "We have followed this case with concern. There was no question of these officers' competency or commitment being called into question, nor was there any suggestion that they were refusing to come to the assistance of people in danger."

Quite right. If a burning house had contained members of the gay pride march, these firefighters would not have stinted in their duty. But it is a totally different thing handing out leaflets telling folk how good the fire service is!

These morally corrupt men running the Strathclyde Fire and Rescue can only follow the politically correct nonsense that deprives the majority of us of our freedom of expression!

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