Archive for March 2008

Climate Change my arse

March 9, 2008 Climate Change 4 comments

Tim at An Englishman’s Castle calls on bloggers to reproduce the following declaration issued by 500 climatologists and other experts in the field of climate change which I am now doing with great pleasure. The fucking climate change propagandist turds need putting in a box and shipping off to some backwater shit-hole (no, not Scotland) where nobody with more than 2 brain cells to bang together has to listen to them.

The Manhattan Declaration on Climate Change

‘Global warming’ is not a global crisis

We, the scientists and researchers in climate and related fields, economists, policymakers, and business leaders, assembled at Times Square, New York City, participating in the 2008 International Conference on Climate Change,

Resolving that scientific questions should be evaluated solely by the scientific method;

Affirming that global climate has always changed and always will, independent of the actions of humans, and that carbon dioxide (CO2) is not a pollutant but rather a necessity for all life;

Recognising that the causes and extent of recently observed climatic change are the subject of intense debates in the climate science community and that oft-repeated assertions of a supposed ‘consensus’ among climate experts are false;

Affirming that attempts by governments to legislate costly regulations on industry and individual citizens to encourage CO2 emission reduction will slow development while having no appreciable impact on the future trajectory of global climate change. Such policies will markedly diminish future prosperity and so reduce the ability of societies to adapt to inevitable climate change, thereby increasing, not decreasing, human suffering;

Noting that warmer weather is generally less harmful to life on Earth than colder:

Hereby declare:

That current plans to restrict anthropogenic CO2 emissions are a dangerous misallocation of intellectual capital and resources that should be dedicated to solving humanity’s real and serious problems.

That there is no convincing evidence that CO2 emissions from modern industrial activity has in the past, is now, or will in the future cause catastrophic climate change.

That attempts by governments to inflict taxes and costly regulations on industry and individual citizens with the aim of reducing emissions of CO2 will pointlessly curtail the prosperity of the West and progress of developing nations without affecting climate.

That adaptation as needed is massively more cost-effective than any attempted mitigation and that a focus on such mitigation will divert the attention and resources of governments away from addressing the real problems of their peoples.

That human-caused climate change is not a global crisis.

Now, therefore, we recommend –

That world leaders reject the views expressed by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change as well as popular, but misguided works such as An Inconvenient Truth.

That all taxes, regulations, and other interventions intended to reduce emissions of CO2 be abandoned forthwith.

Agreed at New York, 4 March 2008. [End of Declaration]

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Severe Weather Warning

March 9, 2008 General One comment

The Met Office has issued a severe weather warning for all of England, Wales, Northern Ireland and for Southern Scotland.

The forecast is for Force 10 to 11 storms around the coast with winds of up to 80mph expected in coastal, exposed and hilly areas.

You can check the forecast for your local area on the Met Office website or use the Met Office Firefox extension (works with Flock) to get the forecast in your sidebar.

The worst of the weather is expected in the early hours.

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Non-story of the week

March 8, 2008 Tories One comment

I have a great deal of respect for Iain Dale, I really do. He supports the wrong party but he’s carved a career out of political commentating largely thanks to his blog and, of course, he’s shown impeccable taste in giving me awards for the last two years on the trot. 😉

However, this is the non-story of the week and I very much doubt it would have even warranted a mention had the man in question been a Liebour candidate and not a Conswervative.

Basically, a black man is standing as an MP for the Conswervatives in Chippenham, Wiltshire. A BNP councillor who lives in the same constituency is also standing as an MP for the BNP. The Conswervative candidate says that the BNP councillor is only standing because he (the Conswervative, not the BNP councillor) is black. The BNP councillor says it’s nothing to do with his colour, it’s because it’s the constituency he lives in.

Regular readers will know that although I defend the BNP’s right to exist because they are a lawful party, I despise the party itself. There appears to be nothing other than the word of his opponent to suggest that the BNP councillor has chosen to stand for election in Chippenham simply because the Conswervatives have put up a black candidate. Iain, unfortunately, has a worsening habit of bigging up non-stories to promote the Conswervatives. Not that Mr Emmanuel-Jones needs any more publicity, he’s rather conveniently got himself all over a national newspaper in the run-up to the May elections.

Edit:
It turns out that the Conswervative candidate is actually from Devon and that the BNP candidate is actually the local candidate according to a comment in Iain’s post.

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Ouch

March 8, 2008 General No comments

I went to the dentist on Friday after putting up with toothache for a few days.

I have a bit of a phobia of dentists. By the time I’d finished I’d left finger marks on my hand from clasping my hands together while I was having a filling.

I left feeling quite pleased with myself – I’d made the appointment myself, taken myself to the dentist and when presented with the choice of waiting to have the filling or coming back another time I made myself stay and have it done. Unfortunately, the tooth that was filled doesn’t appear to be the right one (although it would no doubt have caused problems in future) – I’ve still got bloody toothache!

Oh yeah and it cost me over £43 for a filling on the NHS.

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Nooooooooooooooooooooooo

March 8, 2008 England, Scotland, Sport 5 comments

England have lost to Scotland in the Six Nations.

I don’t mind England losing (I’d rather we didn’t of course) just as long as it’s not to Scotland!

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Can’t save lives, the Scots won’t like it

March 7, 2008 England, Scotland 3 comments

Tom Yeo, the Conswervative MP for Suffolk South, introduced a private members bill to get the clocks put forward one hour to save lives and energy and increase leisure and social time.

As with previous attempts by various MPs the bill failed with the usual arguments being put forward – the farmers won’t like it and more importantly, the master race won’t like it.

The Scots complain that putting the clocks forward will result in less daylight north of the border. They’re quite right too – it will mean less daylight in Scotland. But ultimately, they are only 5m people out of a population of 60m so why should the other 55m of us be put out just for them? How many children will lose their lives in England this year that would still be around if the Scots had been told to shut up and put up and the clocks had been put forward an hour?

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More health apartheid

March 7, 2008 Apartheid, England, Health One comment

On Monday I pointed out two examples of NHS discrimination in England.

The third example of NHS discrimination this week was announced today – the price of a prescription in England will rise to £7.10 per item.

Meanwhile, in Scotland prescription charges are capped at £5 with 93% being dispensed free of charge.  In Wales, all prescriptions are free of charge.

Not only do the English have to pay for their own prescriptions, they have to pay for Scottish and Welsh peoples’ prescriptions as well through the forced multi-billion pound subsidy taken from the English taxpayer under the Barnett Formula.

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NO2ID Press Release

March 7, 2008 Police State No comments

Crosby sets out 10 ID principles – Home Office scheme breaks all of them

The government has finally published the report of Sir James Crosby, who was commissioned by Gordon Brown when chancellor [1], to study identity management. Crosby’s conclusions set out 10 clear principles for the design of a “consumer-driven universal ID assurance system” scheme. The Home Office scheme breaks every one of them.

The report was overshadowed by yesterday’s announcements about the ID scheme timetable from the Home Secretary, which were made several hours before the Crosby Report was released. NO2ID condemns this mendacious news management. Jacqui Smith’s speech claimed Crosby in support of her plans. The opposite is true.

The principles are:

1. The purpose of any scheme should be restricted to enabling citizens to assert their identity

… BROKEN. The Government’s ID scheme is explicitly for government functions.

2. Governance should inspire trust. It should be independent of Government

… BROKEN. The Government’s ID scheme is run by a Home Office agency, and will be overseen by a commissioner who reports to the Home Secretary.

3. The amount of data stored should be minimised. Full biometric images (other than photographs) should not be kept [2]

… BROKEN. The Identity Cards Act 2006 lists FIFTY categories of information that will be kept, and that information will build up over a lifetime. For example, not just a current contact address, but every address at which you’ve ever lived anywhere in the world.

4. Citizens should “own” their entry. It should not be possible, except for national security, for any data to be shared without informed consent

… BROKEN. The Government’s ID scheme is designed to propagate information between government agencies, without (or with coerced) consent.

5. Enrolment should minimise costs and give citizens a hassle-free experience

… BROKEN. The Government’s ID Scheme has been sold on the ‘security’ provided by personal interview and fingerprinting at one of the IPS’s 69 newly commissioned interrogation centres.

6. To respond to consumers and give benefits, it should be capable of being rolled out quickly

… BROKEN. There is a ten-year timetable, one set by the means of coercion Government intends to use, not any consumer demand. The pace of an already unpopular [3] scheme will not be market-driven.

7. Citizens who lose cards or whose identity is compromised should be able to get it fixed quickly and efficiently

… BROKEN. Passports applications, the model for ID, are now slower and much more inconvenient as a direct result of merging them into the ID scheme.

8. The scheme’s systems should work with existing, efficient, bank systems to reduce risks

… BROKEN. The Government’s ID scheme is being built on the DWP’s Citizen Information Service systems, which are already full of junk data.

9. To engage consumers enrolment and cards should be provided free of charge

… BROKEN. The Government ID scheme is notionally self-funding, with both charges and a system of heavy penalties to compel compliance. Enrolment may involve substantial travel and costs for some.

10. The market should play a role in creating standards, to ensure ease of use and minimise costs

… BROKEN. The Government offers a centralised, top-down scheme, specified by Whitehall in secret, and implemented by non-competing contractors. This amounts to nationalising personal identity as a Government monopoly.

Commenting on the Crosby Review and the latest wave of Home Office research on public attitude towards the scheme Phil Booth, NO2ID’s National Coordinator, said:

“Jacqui Smith may boast about the “undoubted” benefits of ID cards, but her own department’s research shows that only 1 in 4 people thinks it can deliver. That’s a lot of doubt.

“Though it has had access through Sir James and others to the best advice, the Home Office has learned nothing. To continue the plan it first thought of it traduces or obfuscates the views of real experts. Nothing has changed since it first dreamed up the plan.

“When he should listen to the advice he sought and have the courage to scrap a scheme that doesn’t match up, Gordon Brown is feebly doing what the Home Office tells him.”

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Screw Galileo, we need the money ourselves

March 7, 2008 England, Technology, WTF? 10 comments

The British government has announced its intention to shut down England’s radio telescope array, Jodrell Bank.

The Science & Technology Fund is facing an £80m shortfall in its budget which it intends to plug by cutting funding.  So far, £8m of taxpayers money has been spent on the e-Merlin project which is an upgrade to the radio telescope array.  The decision to close Jodrell Bank will also put at risk the decision to site the headquarters of the Square Kilometre Array project in England as we are likely to lose the expertise required to operate the facility when Jodrell Bank is shut down.

As of February, the British government estimated its contribution to the EU’s Galileo spy satellite system at £96.7m.  Galileo is a duplication of the perfectly servicable and free GPS system owned and operated by the US Military.  The private companies involved in the Galileo project have all abandoned it after they realised, at considerable expense, that it could never be made to pay for itself but rather than writing it off as an unjustifiable and unnecessary expense, the EU has instead raided tens of millions of pounds from a slush fund it has built up of money it has taken from member states but not spent to cover the costs.

So which would you prefer your taxes to be spent on?  A European sat-nav system that will cost the taxpayer billions in perpetuity and be used to track your movements around the country and charge you to use the roads that you have already paid for in your taxes or our own radio telescope facilities that provide jobs and income to English people and has helped England to become one of the foremost authorities in radio astronomy?  Tough choice.

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Murray loses again

March 6, 2008 Scotland, Sport One comment

Andy “Anyone But England” Murray has been beaten again and almost got censured for swearing.

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EU Referendum amendment rejected

March 5, 2008 Federal Europe, Traitors One comment

The Conswervative amendment to the EU Reform Treaty calling for a referendum has been rejected by 311 to 248.

That means that the House of Commons contains 311 traitors and enemies of the state who must be hounded from their jobs at the next opportunity.

The EU Reform Treaty, despite assertions by the treacherous Liebour and Illiberal Dubmasscrat parties, is almost identical to the EU Constitution. The EU Reform Treaty produces exactly the same end result as the EU Constitution – with one or two exceptions – but implements it in a different way. The EU Reform Treaty removes references to the EU anthem and flag and adds something else in its place and then puts the bits removed into an appendix which is optional. The EU Constitution replaced all existing treaties whilst the EU Reform Treaty simply amends existing treaties (effectively replacing them almost in their entirety) to produce the same end result.

The EU Reform Treaty is, quite simply, the EU Constitution in a different package. We know it, our traitor MPs know it. Most of us want a referendum – 88% according to the private referendum held the other day – and our traitor MPs have voted against the will of their constituents. They are traitors and they must be punished.

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Paisley resigns

March 4, 2008 Northern Ireland 2 comments

Reverend Ian Paisley has announced his resignation as First Minister of the Northern Ireland Assembly and as Leader of the DUP. He recently announced his resignation as Moderator of the Free Presbyterian Church. Rev Paisley founded both the DUP and Free Presbyterian Church.

This is uncharacteristic for the Reverend, one has to wonder if there is a reason for this drastic cutting back of his commitments. He’s not a young man, certainly, but he doesn’t act like a man about to celebrate his 82nd birthday. Is Reverend Paisley perhaps feeling the strain of holding down several demanding jobs?

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Referendum debate tomorrow

March 4, 2008 Federal Europe, Traitors 2 comments

If your MP bothers to turn up, there will be a debate tomorrow on a Conswervative amendment to the EU Reform Treaty to provide for a referendum.

Liebour is arguing that the EU Reform Treaty is significantly different to the EU Constitution so their promise to hold a referendum doesn’t stand. Everyone else – including the leaders of every other EU member state – says that it’s basically the same thing repackaged. One thing is for sure – the end result is almost identical to the Constitution, it’s the payload that’s different.

It’s too late now to pressure your Liebour or Illiberal Dumbasscrat MP into doing the right thing but if they vote against a referendum then you must make them pay for their treachery.

You might want to sign the petition calling for a cost/benefit analysis of membership of the EU.

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Hard Shoulders to be used as extra lane

March 4, 2008 Transport, WTF? 3 comments

The Department for Transport has decided to allow drivers to use the hard shoulder of motorways during busy times in a bid to ease congestion.

Great for reducing congestion because it gives you an extra lane and good for the taxpayer because it means they won’t be spending billions on widening motorways.  Not so great for the people who have an accident on the motorway – which, of course, are more common when the motorway is congested – who find that the ambulance can’t get to them because the hard shoulder is blocked with traffic.

Genius.

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Education is already enough of a lottery

March 3, 2008 Education, England, WTF? 3 comments

Getting your children into a decent school and getting them a decent education is already enough of a lottery without the latest batshit scheme from British government.

Today saw the introduction of new admissions rules for English schools that will see English children getting allocated places at English schools based on a lottery system.  You may live next door to a school but if your name doesn’t come out of the hat then tough, you’d best get yourself a bus pass because you’re going to have to travel to another school.

This is supposedly to make the admissions system fairer but it doesn’t – it just makes it virtually impossible for parents to ensure their children go to a local school.  And it only applies to England of course, the One Eyed Wonder of Wankistan’s constituents will continue to get the admissions system that we’ve had for decades.

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88% want a referendum

March 3, 2008 Federal Europe, Traitors One comment

The campaign group, , has announced the results of a private referendum it organised in 10 marginal constituencies.

The turnout of the referendum was 36.2% – higher than the average turnout for a local election and unprecedented in a private referendum. In 8 of the 10 constituencies where a referendum was held, the turnout was actually higher than the number of people who voted for the sitting MP!

Of the people who voted in the referenda, 88% said they wanted a referendum on the EU not-a-constitution.

So, faced with this clear and indisputable evidence that 9 out of 10 people want a referendum on the EU not-a-constitution, has the British government conceded defeat and promised to stand by Liebour’s election manifesto pledge? Erm … no. Jim Murphy, Liebour’s Europe Minister, ignored the wishes of his constituents (a referendum was held in his constituency) and said “The place to make these decisions is in this chamber – not on a crane half way above the city sky of London. This chamber will decide later this week whether it’s the right thing to have a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty or not”.
Well, your constituents want a referendum Jim and you’re in a marginal constituency so if you’re that confident that people will see the EU Constitution as a good thing when it comes to the next election that they’ll forgive your treachery then why not support a referendum now?

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EU Constitution protest outside parliament

March 3, 2008 Federal Europe 2 comments

Protesters climbed a crane in Parliament Square today in protest at the British government’s continued refusal to give us a referendum on the EU not-a-Constitution.

A legal protest last week was virtually ignored by the media when protesters opposing expansion of Heathrow Airport climbed onto the roof of Westminster Palace.  Ignored by the media and ignored by the British government, they presumably saw only one way to get the attention they needed.

What kind of a sham of democracy do we live in when people with a legitimate protest feel that they need to break the law in order to get noticed?

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NHS Discrimination

March 3, 2008 Health 4 comments

Two examples of NHS discrimination today …

Discrimination #1

The Welsh Assembly today announced that it is abolishing parking charges in Welsh hospitals.

In Scotland, parking charges in hospitals are capped to £3 per day in the 6% of hospitals that charge for parking and in Northern Ireland only 20% of hospitals charge for parking compared to 92% in England. Twelve hospitals in England make over £1m per year in parking charges.

Discrimination #2

A new inhaler has been developed for asthma sufferers that improves the rate at which the drug is absorbed into the body helping the estimated three quarters of patients who don’t have enough lung capacity to take their inhaler properly … take their inhaler properly.

The Scottish Medical Consortium (SMC) – the public body charged with spending English taxes on the NHS in Scotland – has already approved the new inhaler for use on the NHS but the laughably named National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) won’t make its decision until later this year and if it costs money I think we know what the decision is going to be.

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Israel pulls out of Gaza

March 3, 2008 Terrorism 8 comments

In the face of international pressure – including the Americans – Israel has pulled its ground troops out of Gaza.

In total, one Israeli civillian and two Israeli soldiers have been killed.  The Palestinian death toll is estimated at 112, an unspecified number of which were civillians.

Israel’s illegal offensive started on Wednesday following the death of an Israeli civillian from a rocket fired by a Palestinian militant.

A statement from the US said “The violence needs to stop and the talks need to resume” and Condoleezza Rice, US Secretary for killing muslims, said “We’re encouraging Israel to exercise caution to avoid the loss of innocent life”.  Fucking hypocrite.

Federal Europe criticised Israel’s “disproportionate use of force” and Turkey – which is one of Israel’s only arab allies – said there was “no humane or legal justification for the attacks on Gaza”.

If this was perpetrated by any other country but Israel, America would have invaded by now.

See Also: The price of an Israeli life

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Camoron plumbs new depths of stupidity

March 3, 2008 Tories One comment

Just when I thought that Camoron couldn’t get any more stupid, he has plumbed new depths of stupidity.

He’s announced that if he gets to be Prime Minister, by the end of his first Parliament, one third of ministers will be women.  Great, positive discrimination – how very socialist of you Dave.

Despite Conswervative attempts to get more women to stand for election by forcing their constituency associations to choose women candidates even if they have much better men wanting to stand, there are still relatively few female MPs.  This isn’t because women are being discriminated against, it’s because proportionately, significantly less women want to stand for election than men.
Imposing a quota on the male/female split in the cabinet would be harmful for the Conswervatives and the country.  I don’t give a shit about how damaging it is for the Conswervatives but I do care about what quality of government we get.  Male MPs who could potentially do a very good job and shock horror, may even be qualified to fill the cabinet position they’re in (that would be a novelty, eh?) will be pushed to one side to make way for a female candidate who may be way down the list of suitable candidates in a combined male/female list but is getting the job because she’s a woman.

Just as it is wrong for the Police and Fire Service and universities to discriminate against white English people by closing recruitment drives to white people, so it is wrong for the Conswervatives to discriminate against men in the selection of parliamentary candidates and ministers.  If I was a member of the Conswervatives I’d put myself forward for selection just so I could make a complaint about sexual discrimination to try and stop them.

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