Archive for December 2006

Arsenal ban flags

December 20, 2006 Police State, Sport 2 comments

Arsenal Football club has banned national flags from its stadium after some greeks complained about a solitary Turkish Cypriot flag in the crowd.

Arsenal says:

“Arsenal as a club prides itself on being inclusive with respect to all nationalities, cultural and ethnic groups.”

“We are asking that only Arsenal flags, without any national emblems, are displayed within the stadium.”

“We will be implementing this policy with immediate effect.”

We do, of course, have a human right to fly our nation flags and Arsenal will be breaking the law if it refuses anyone their right to do so.

Right Wing Blogger of the Year

December 20, 2006 General No comments

Iain Dale has a poll for your Right Wing Blogger of the Year.

Vote DK!

English Parliament – lovely, isn’t it?

December 20, 2006 England, Federal Europe, Wales No comments

Lord Elis-Thomas, presiding officer of the Welsh Assembly, has called for the establishment of an English Parliament.

This is the latest in a line of increasingly high profile supporters of devolution for England.

Don’t get too excited though – Lord Elis-Thomas’ vision of the UK is a “United Kingdom in a United Europe”.  Which would make him one of the minority of people in the UK who want to preserve the union and one of the even tinier minority who are interested in being part of a United Europe.

Predictably, the story isn’t anywhere on the England pages on the BBC News website but it did make it to the British politics page which is an inprovement over the usual policy of burying anything to do with an English Parliament somewhere English people won’t look for it.

ID Cards Shambles

December 20, 2006 Police State No comments

John Reid, the Scottish Home Secretary, has announced that plans for a single ID database have been scrapped and that the National Identity Register will instead be serviced by three existing systems.

The single database was proposed – at a cost of £5.4bn – with the intention that it would be a “clean” system with no duplication and no pre-existing duff data.  Now it will consist of three existing databases that will apparently be full of errors and duplication.

Biometric details will be stored on an existing system used to keep information about asylum seekers and biographical information will be kept on DWP systems which are supported by EDS who have a record of being incapable of implementing large-scale IT solutions in the public sector without making a complete balls-up of it.

The British government is also planning new legislation in the new year to require immigrants from outside of the EEA to submit their biometric details to the identity database which will be a requirement to get a national insurance number, without which they will be unable to work and will have to scrounge off the state instead.

The latest list of “benefits” to ID cards from the Home Office is:

  • Tackling illegal immigration (because people illegally entering the country will obvously apply for an ID card before doing so)
  • Tackling identity fraud (the “secure” RFID chip on the new electronic passports has already been cracked using a reader purchased off eBay)
  • Fighting organised crime (because criminals carry ID cards when they commit crimes)
  • Fighting terrorism (the Home Office has already admitted that they won’t prevent terrorism)
  • Protecting vulnerable children by allowing better background checks (so criminal records, sexual preferences, employment history, etc. will all be on the ID database?)
  • Improving public services (by preventing anyone not in posession of their card from having access to public services)

ID cards and the ID database are a serious attack on our rights and liberties.  Every time the British government announces a new proposal or change to the scheme it makes me more determined to resist.  I will not submit my biometric data or personal details to the state for inclusion on their spy database.  Hell will freeze over before I submit myself voluntarily to this illiberal database.

EU has airlines in its sights

December 20, 2006 Federal Europe No comments

The European Federation is planning to include airlines in its carbon trading scheme to help fulfil its obligations under the Kyoto Treaty.

First question – why does the European Federation have any obligations under the Kyoto Treaty?  It’s not a country and I believe most member states signed the treaty and have their own obligations so why does the European Federation need to get involved?

Second question – why is carbon bad for the environment?  I’ve already asked the question but nobody seems to know.

Third question – as an island we rely on air travel more than those on the continent so when our airlines exceed what will undoubtedly be unachievable targets set by the European Federation so they can get more money, what is going to happen to our airlines?  Since 9/11, airlines the world over have been struggling to survive and hammering them with punitive charges under the banner of “green taxes” is going to put them out of business or put up charges meaning that it is the citizens of member states that will end up paying this new tax, not the airlines.

Looks like Labour are going to have to find another “benefit” of membership of the European Federation because “green taxes” are going to price free movement between member states out of the range of ordinary people.

Ban it, there’s no alternative

December 20, 2006 General No comments

According to BBC News this morning, the suspected killer of PC Sharon Beshenivsky is believed to have escaped the country wearing a muslim woman’s veil.

A few months ago, 4 male suicide bombers dressed in women’s veils blew themselves up killing innocent civillians.

A few weeks ago, the highest ranking black policeman in the UK introduced proposals to ban protesters from covering their faces during protests so the state could keep track of trouble makers that protesters were unable to hide their faces and cause trouble.  He said that muslim women would not be prevented from covering their faces with a veil.

The Dutch government are drawing up proposals to ban anything that covers the face – including motorcyle helmets with opaque visors and veils – and the Italian government has resurrected old laws to ban face covering.  What will it take for the British government to realise that this is a real threat to the security of our country?  A suicide bombing in London by terrorists in burkha’s?

English accents

December 19, 2006 England 3 comments

English Blogs has a post about English accents.  You have to be registered to post comments so I thought I’d pick up on it here.

Living in Shropshire, we have quite a wide range of local accents that are substantially different from each other.  The traditional Shropshire accent is almost extinct now although it is possibly more accurate to say Shropshire accents as the accent is different throughout the county.

The traditional Shropshire accent in the south and east of the county of the county is a good old “farmer giles” kind of accent.  Ooo arr.  The accent in the north and west is similar but with a noticable Welsh twang.  I have an uncle who lives in the wilds of Shropshire, near Shrewsbury, who speaks with the Shropshire accent with the Welsh twang.  He has two sons – one speaks with a bit of a Shropshire accent, the other with a cockney accent (go figure!).

Telford has a real mixture of accents due to the massive influx of West Midlanders bringing their dodgy accents with them but some parts of Telford are still clinging to their own accents.  Such as Dawley, for instance, which has a dialect that is virtually uninteligible to outsiders – listening to the locals jabbering away in what appears to be a foreign language at the top of their voices in the high street is actually quite entertaining.  There’s a local joke:

“I think it’s gunna ren” (rain)
“Dust?” (Do you?)
“No, bloody wearter” (water)

Ok, I didn’t say it was funny.

Do unto others …

December 17, 2006 Scotland 2 comments

Alex Salmond asks if, given that the majority or MP’s with Scottish constituencies are opposed to Scotland hosting Trident, they are to have it “forced down the throats of Scotland”.

Whilst the SNP choose not to vote on matters that affect only England (for which they should be commended), the same cannot be said of their colleagues from north of the border who cast the deciding vote on university top-up fees and foundation hospitals, both of which were rejected by a majority of MP’s elected in England and only affected England.

Could the moral of this story be “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”?

Twat of the Week nominations

December 17, 2006 Twat of the Week 2 comments

Please let me have your nominations for this weeks Twat of the Week Award.

As usual, either post your nomination in the comments or email me using this spangly new contact form:

[CONTACT-FORM]

Shropshire Star: EU not to blame for NHS woes

December 16, 2006 Federal Europe, Health, Letters One comment

EU not to blame for NHS woes

According to certain readers the EU is to blame for the failures in the NHS.Stuart Parr (Starmail, November 20) claims it has issued a directive removing the individual opt-out from the Working Time Directive, hereby forcing hospitals to cut services.

This is not true. The EU cannot just issue a directive and “dictate” it is observed. It can only propose directives for agreement. There is no such agreement on revision to the Working Time Directive, and the individual opt-out therefore remains in place.

R Knight (November 17) says the merger of the PRH and RSH is because the EU has insisted such services are regionalised. This is further nonsense. The EU has no such powers, and no such purpose.

Philip Bushill-Matthews MEP

Firstly, I was told by the person who wrote the proposals for the cuts to paediatric services at the PRH that they had to downgrade the service because the EU had removed the opt-out clause for medical staff in the Working Time Directives. Who would you believe? A eurofederalist MEP or a manager at the hospital?

Secondly, the EU dictates many laws and the British government is unable to veto a large number of them. In fact, the day this appeared in the Shropshire Star (Wednesday) I received an email regarding the EU removing the derogation on British pleasure boats using red diesel from January 2007. The British government cannot veto this decision. The British government is currently trying to convince the EU that forcing British motorists to use their lights at all times will endanger more motorcyclists than it saves motorists and is therefore a bad idea. They have to convince the EU now because they are unable to veto the directive.

Thirdly, the EU issues all funding through regional structures.  It also dictates that regional government must be put in place in all member states.  The regionalisation of the NHS is simply an extension of the general regionalisation forced on us by the EU.

Aren’t the Tories supposed to be eurosceptic?

Shropshire Star: God Save the Queen is the only anthem for us

December 16, 2006 Letters No comments

Someone is entirely missing the point here.  I am proud to be English and yes, long may Her Majesty reign, but I don’t see why being proud to be English and a monarchist precludes you from wanting an English national anthem.  Does that mean Scottish people can’t be proud Scots or monarchists because they have their own anthem?  And English cricket players have Jerusalem before their matches, not God Save the Queen.

God Save the Queen is the only anthem for us

In response to Mr Parr’s letter regarding the national anthem: although I love Jerusalem, Rule Britannia and Land of Hope and Glory, the one and only national anthem is God Save the Queen.

It is sung with pride by English rugby and cricket players and just listen to the crowd at rugby, cricket and football matches.

Some international footballers fall to sing it, but that shows in their performances.

The fact that the majority of Irish, Welsh and Scots hate it and choose to boo it makes it even more English. So be proud to be English and long may her majesty reign.

Mr R Dunn, Telford

Tories propose EVoEL bill

December 15, 2006 England, Tories 3 comments

NEWS from BOB WALTER MP
Member of Parliament for North Dorset
Date: 13th December 2006
Release: Immediate

BOB WALTER MP’s BILL WILL PROPOSE ANSWER TO WEST LOTHIAN QUESTION

Robert Walter MP (North Dorset) today (13th December) launched a NEW bid to stop Scottish MPs voting on issues that only affect England and Wales.

Bob Walter will today present his Private Members Bill, House of Commons (Participation) Bill, to answer the “West Lothian Question” and create a new constitutional settlement between the constituent parts of the United Kingdom. The Bill is ranked 6th in the list and will be debated in Second Reading on Friday 9th March

Bob Walter’s Bill will provide for the Speaker of the House of Commons to have power to determine the eligibility of members of the House to participate in certain legislative and other proceedings. When the Commons debate matters concerning England and Wales, MPs from Scotland and Northern Ireland will not be able to participate.

Tam Dalyell, Labour MP for the Scottish constituency of West Lothian, posed in 1977 and 1978, and again in 1998, the West Lothian question during a House of Commons debate over Scottish and Welsh devolution. The question is – how can it be right that MPs representing Scottish constituencies in the Parliament of the United Kingdom have the power to vote on issues affecting England (including those that don’t affect Scotland), but English MPs do not have the power to vote on Scottish issues?

The text will be based on a Bill introduced in the House of Lords in the last session by Lord Baker. Critically, however, Bob Walter’s Bill will rectify a number of the problems raised with Lord Bakers Bill. Lord Baker’s Bill would have enabled Northern Ireland legislation at Westminster to be determined solely by the Northern Ireland MPs which would be contravening the spirit of the accord that has been struck between the various parties. The new Bill will regard England and Wales as one, until such time as the Welsh Assembly might acquire primary legislative powers.

It is anticipated that Bob Walter’s House of Commons (Participation) Bill will receive a second reading on Friday 9th March 2007.

Before presenting the Bill today, Bob Walter said,

“The present stage of devolution is unfair in that Scottish MPs at Westminster can vote on English and Welsh domestic affairs for which they have no constituency responsibility.”

“My Bill will meet the call for “English votes on English laws”. I do not believe we need to create a separate English parliament. We already have 428 MPs elected from English constituencies; it is perfectly possible for them alone to consider English legislation.”

“It clearly unfair that a Scottish MP can exercise a decisive vote on matters that do not affect Scotland, whilst neither he nor his English counterparts have any role in similar Scottish legislation.”

END

The CEP rightly wonders what happened to the Democracy Taskforce that were supposed to be deciding on the feasibility of EVoEL before they introduced a bill on it.

Twat of the Week: Gordon Brown

December 15, 2006 Twat of the Week No comments

It’s been a busy couple of days so blogging has been light.

Anyway, straight to the point – a very tight result this week with only 1 vote in it.

Twat of the Week
Gordon Brown
8 (32%)
Bob Piper
7 (28%)
Tony Bliar
1 (4%)
David Cameron
4 (16%)
Cherie Bliar
5 (20%)
The survey has ended

The Tartan Taxman just managed to pip Councillor Bob “Not a racist” Piper to the post with 8 votes to 7.

Gordon Brown, you are this weeks Twat of the Week.

Police question Bliar

December 15, 2006 Labour No comments

Traitor Blair was questioned by the police yesterday over the cash for peerages investigation.

A spokesperson for Bliar’s office said it was only natural that the police would want to question him as their investigation is drawing to a close.

Why?  Is it because they’ve turned up evidence during the investigation?  If he’s done nothing wrong and the police have questioned half the cabinet then it would surely be natural that the police wouldn’t need to interview him.  Or am I missing something here?

Kitne ka hai?

December 12, 2006 General One comment

BBC research has shown that the cost of translating official documents into the myriad native languages of immigrants to the taxpayer is in the region of £100m per year although they believe the real figure is much higher.

The British government is to investigate whether telling immigrants not to bother learning English stops them from integrating into society.

Shouldn’t take too long to investigate … about 2 seconds I reckon.  Why should we spend £100m on translating documents and providing interpreters to people who shouldn’t even be?  It’s impossible to be a useful and productive member of society if you don’t speak English.  How do they hold down a job if they only speak a foreign language?  One woman the BBC interviewed had lived here for 22 years and didn’t speak a word of English – she said that the obsession with translating everything doesn’t help.  So did the Polish immigrant who was interviewed using an interpreter to claim Jobseekers Allowance – she admitted that if she couldn’t get everything translated into Polish she’d have had to learn English but as it happens she hasn’t bothered learning English because the public sector bends over backwards to accomodate her inability to speak our language.

Thieving toads

December 12, 2006 Anglophobia, Britain, England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales One comment

The New Labour election fund Barnett formula has been sending even more English money to our neighbours.

The Times has today published an article explaining exactly how much of our taxes goes to our thieving, subsidy junkie neighbours leaving our health service so underfunded that cancer patients are told to shut up and die because we can’t afford the treatments our taxes are paying for in Scotland and Wales.

The Chancellor – elected to a Scottish constituency – sets the rates for the Barnett Formula and has, once again, ensured that Scotland’s loyal Labour voters receive more money than those dastardly Tory voters in England.

UK government spending in Scotland was an average of £7,248 per head compared with only £6,361 per head in England.  The difference between spending in England and the rest of the UK has jumped significantly with Wales now receiving £7,248 per head and Northern Ireland £7,597.

The Scottish Parliament has the ability to vary income tax in Scotland to raise more revenue, thereby reducing the burden on the English taxpayer but this would cost valuable votes for Labour who have only a 66 seat majority in the British parliament with elections looming in May next year.

The Conservatives have responded with an attack on Labour for their discrimination against the English which they now accept is leading to the break-up of the union.

The SNP has responded with the “oor oil” argument, again ignoring the fact that a lot of it is actually “our oil” and in spite of figures showing that if Scotland received North Sea oil and gas revenues it would still have had a £3bn budget defecit.

Labour responded by saying the SNP figures on oild had been discredited.  Because that’s relevant.

Twat of the Week voting

December 11, 2006 Twat of the Week No comments

Well, the nominations are in and it’s time to cast your votes.


Twat of the Week
 
The survey finishes in 1 day
  Show Results

A reminder of the reasons behind the nominations:

  • The Tartan Taxman just can’t help himself.  He wants our money and there are no depths he won’t sink to to take it off us.
  • Bob Piper, born-again commie and peoples champion against the evil right gives us a rare glimpse into the mind of the Old Labour faithful with his picture of David Cameron all blacked up like a minstrel with racist captions.
  • Tony Bliar … does there need to be a particular reason?
  • David Cameron just to see who’s least popular – Bob Piper or David Cameron. *
  • Cherie Bliar for being ugly and wasting lots of money on crap haircuts. *

* Mrs Sane’s nominations.

Penguin Books were racist and broke the law

December 11, 2006 General One comment

About 12 months ago, following a report commissioned to prove that the publishing industry is institutionally racist, Penguin Books announced a book-writing competition only open to non-white people.

Several complaints were made to the Commission for Racial Equality – including one from myself – and I received the following letter today (address incorrectly but never mind):

The Race Relations Act 1976, as amended (“the Act”):  Advertisement on Arts Council website – The Decibel Penguin Prize. I refer to previous correspondence about the above matter, and write to inform you of the outcome of the Commission’s investigation.  The complexity of this matter has resulted in the long delay in providing an update.  Please accept our sincere apologies in this regard.

Having considered all the evidence, the Commission has concluded that the advertisement was likely to be in breach of Section 29 of the Race Relations Act 1976 and hence unlawful.  However, because the advertisement was removed from publication the Commission cannot institute legal proceedings against the advertisers.

The Arts Council has also advised that they will be reviewing the Decibel programme and we will be monitoring them over the next six months to ensure that there are no further breaches of the Act.In the circumstances, the Commission does not intend to take any further action on this occasion.

Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention.

So there is institutional racism in the publishing industry, it’s just being perpetrated by the publishing companies against white people.  Not the result they were looking for I guess?

Why is carbon bad?

December 10, 2006 General 7 comments

In the last 12 months (since Dave took over at the helm of the Tories) I’ve heard nothing but bloody carbon this, carbon that carbon the other.

Carbon is a pretty inert substance so what exactly is the problem with it?  Why has nobody been harping on about carbon footprints or the like before now?

Can someone please tell me why carbon is bad for the environment?  Should I start using wax crayons instead of a pencil?  Is it only particular types of carbon that are bad for the environment or is it all carbon?

Incidently, a couple of facts on the zero stamp duty “green” tax concession that the Tartan Taxman announced in his mini budget the other day:

  • There are, according to the British government, no more than two-dozen homes in the UK that have no carbon footprint
  • According to experts, it is impossible to make an old house have no carbon footprint and the cost of building a new zero-carbon footprint house is around £25k extra whilst the stamp duty on a £200k house is approximately £2k.

“Green” taxes aren’t just an excuse to raise taxes, honest.

War Criminal Dead

December 10, 2006 General No comments

No, not Bliar, General Pinochet.  Hopefully he had a protracted, painful and lonely death.

Guess his doctor’s weren’t lying a few days ago when they said he was too ill to stand trial.

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