CAMERON'S SELL-OUT, THE TIME FOR WONDERING IS OVER

Since hearing the news, we all now know the deal David Cameron, our elected Prime Minister struck with the unelected in the EU. Despite the rhetoric, the spin and, to put it in less polite terms – the utter bollocks which attempts, but fails, to make this look good, the 2.9% increase to the EU budget is extremely bad news and an unnecessary, appalling deal.

As the Archbishop Cranmer blog points out, the additional cost to the British taxpayer, who is now inflicted with a slash and burn approach to Government spending here in the UK in order to sort out the fiscal mess we are in, would have paid for thirty new fighter planes for our aircraft-less aircraft carriers. Only in the weird and wonderless world of the EU can such madness happen.

Because the EU had been banging on that it really wanted a 5.9% budget increase, and they only got 2.9%, Camoron tried to give the spin that “Britain has made a difference” in these negotiations. What he was really trying to say is I have made a difference.

However, as usual with our overlong and sad involvement with the EU, it saw a patsy heading its way in the shape of our weak and feeble PM and like an Arabic trader began negotiations with a ludicrously high price so by the time the victim has haggled and got what he thinks is a good deal, the trader got the price he was after all along – which is what the EU has done in its latest of many stitch-ups.

Naturally in all his spiel, not once did the words ‘referendum’ or ‘promised’ pass little David’s lips, but what else can we expect from a man whose only reliable trait is his to constantly fail to honour his promises.

The best, and only real deal Cameron could have struck was the one which removes Britain from the far too expensive clutches of the EU, but of course Cameron is pro-EU so such a thought would never cross the few brain cells that rattle around inside his cranium.

There, by now, must be a growing army of very discontented Tories, either that or they are as dim and deceitful as their useless leader. For those Tory activists and MPs they must be wondering what on earth they are doing in that party. The time for wondering is over, the time to upsticks and move to the only real EU-sceptic political party in the land, which of course is UKIP – starting with Lord Tebbit who now thinks Cameron is running a Vichy Government.

More in the Daily Mail, Daily Telegraph and on the EU Referendum blog.

WAVING STUMPS

It seems that Dave (don’t rely on me) Cameron is getting his knickers in a twist over the EU budget and calls from France and Germany to make changes to the Lisbon Treaty, which was signed by Gordon Brown last December.

Britain as a net EU contributor to the EU budget, which was increased by Tony Blair when he gave away a large chunk of our rebate for a worthless and not honoured promise from the French regarding the Common Agricultural Policy, stands to be a big loser in the proposals to increase the EU budget by as much as 6% and treaty reform. Acording to the press and media he was on the telephone early this morning to Angela Merkel of Germany and Nicholas Sarkozy pleading for the minimum possible increase, not that they will take much notice of him.

A big problem now for him, as well as the outrage he faces from a hard pushed public to giving the EU more when we are all getting less here in the UK, will be the sovereignty issues with a treaty change. Such a move by the EU would mean calls for Cameron to honour his pledge of a referendum on any further transfer of power to the EU – so far he has gained a reputation for not honouring such pledges and many are now seeing him as a liar who will do anything to wheedle his way out of promises made, such as his cast iron guarantee of a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty which failed to materialise.

Today is a wait and see day, our new untrustworthy PM has gone trotting off to Brussels to take part in a summit on these matters, and we all now wait to see just how bad a deal he returns with and what sort of spin he will put on it in an effort to con us into thinking something good has come out of it. Sadly nothing good ever comes out of deals with the EU, after shaking hands with its leaders you usually have to count your fingers to see if they are all still there. Will Cameron return waving just a couple of stumps?

EU TAXES, NOTHING TO GRIN ABOUT

There is a certain Alice in Wonderland feel about the European Union, or should that be all-of-us in Euroland? Alice followed a white rabbit into a strange world where nothing made any sense but the people in it thought it was real and made sense to them, whilst all-of-us followed our politicians who have taken us into a strange Euro-world where nothing makes any sense whilst the political inhabitants of Euro-world consider it to be of real importance and to them, strangely, it makes sense.

Like Alice the rest of us who have found ourselves in Euro-world wander around it in sheer disbelief in what we see and hear from the pompous unreal beings that inhabit this strange place.

Sitting on his giant blue and gold starred mushroom in the European Parliament, Jerzy Buzek the President of this fantasy parliament has sent off a missive to the Financial Times (27th October 2010) in which he defends the 6 per cent increase to the European Union’s budget. We all know this must be acceptable and nothing wrong with it because he points out that it was proposed by the EU Commission which, in the strange EU hallucinogenic world in which he inhabits, makes it absolutely fine and dandy and we should not complain or challenge this. I’m just waiting for him to shout: “Off with his head!”

It is also fine and dandy for the EU to grab this dosh from the long suffering taxpayers as the MEPs have “shifted spending priorities towards research, energy, the environment, training and youth”. Knowing what a botch the EU makes of everything it lays its hands on then anyone working in these particular areas should begin to panic now.

Inhabiting a different and darker corner of Euro-world lurks the EU budget commissioner, Janusz Lewandowski who is plotting to introduce a new range of Eurotaxes to Euro-world. This is so intrusive to the sovereignty of the member nations of this weird word he has even had to admit: “It needs ratification because it is the prerogative of a national state to set its own taxes.” These taxes now being plotted, which the EU want to collect directly, thus by-passing sovereign governments, will cover: VAT, carbon, aviation or financial transaction taxes.

This then puts our UK white rabbit, David Cameron, in a bit of a fix. Being the good little ‘European’ that he is he will no doubt be quite happy to go along with these EU in wonderland proposals, but he has made yet another rash promise to the British electorate, who, like Alice, are looking on at these strange Euro shenanigans with utter disbelief. So far our PM bunny has managed to wheedle his fluffy little way out of other promises to his party and the electorate, such as his “Cast iron guarantee” to hold a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, but how is he going to be able to run away from his promise of a ‘referendum lock’ on any further transfer of powers to the EU – and this tax raising power is a whopper of a transfer.

The British public who so far, for the last thirty five years, have been a spectator to the Euro madness unfolding in front of them as their last real say was in the UK’s one and only referendum on this in 1975, will no doubt have their pencils sharpened and awaiting an opportunity to give the EU a whopping great ‘No’. The EU won’t like it which means neither will Cameron, Clegg, Milliband and all their pro-EU political apparatchiks’ – the heads of the British voting public will definitely have to be cut off if they do as the EU dislikes. No doubt, using well tried EU devious methods, in the same way the defeated EU constitution became the Lisbon Treaty which was now ok as it was just an “amending treaty”, so to will this full frontal attack against our sovereignty become just a practicable solution to help the EU operate more efficiently, so don’t worry your little selves dears, leave it all up to us, we will be told.


One day the EU will inevitably fade away into obscurity leaving nothing behind but its grin – or should that be a stain? We will have to pick up the pieces of reality and clear up the mess it will have left behind, including the scrapping of its mad taxes and our oversized contributions.

BETRAYAL

Membership of the European Union is the betrayal of the British people by the people they elect to protect them and the interests of this country. The politicians of the Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties have sold out to the European Union and betrayed the British people leaving all at the mercy of the EU - especially its flawed and inadequate justice system.

Although it has always been the Tory and Labour parties who have signed the EU treaties of surrender and betrayal and have been responsible for the parlous state of our democracy, liberty and sovereignty in the UK today, the Liberal Democrats are possible the worst political party of all for their utter contempt for the British people and our system of law.

This video from the UK Independence Party hits home just how treasonous the Liberal Democrats are and the damage their love of the EU does to British subjects and individuals. Watch it, weep and realise just how vital it is we quit the EU – NOW.

EU, CAN'T AFFORD IT

Anti-EU activist, Michael Clark sent me these figures regarding the EU budget, read on and weap.
European Parliament 2011 budget
Total EU spending £114.5 billion

UK contribution £13.4 billion
UK rebate £3 billion
UK share of total EU budget 12%

The European Parliament last week approved a £6.5 billion rise in the EU budget -- costing Britain another £900 million in 2011 taking our contribution to £9.2 billion (after our rebate). This was at the same moment that the British Chancellor was announcing the most severe cuts since World War Two.

About £88 million of the money will be used for extra staff that the EU has demanded after the Lisbon Treaty, while £17.1 million will be allowed for officials to send their children to fee-paying schools.

The European Commission also confirmed plans to end the UK rebate obtained by Margaret Thatcher in 1984, worth £2.7 billion in 2011.

When it comes to our pointless membership of the European Union, the simple answer is, we can’t afford it.

A FLOATING DISASTER

There is seldom any blogging done over the weekends in the Bennett household, that is the time when all other jobs get stored up and an attempt is made to tackle them, in between trips to the Lydon House Hotel of course. This weekend just gone saw the old pear tree get a good lopping, which has been long overdue as it has been reaching for the skies for far too long.

So, as well as hacking at this old tree and playing with the shredder, I managed to spend a little time with my head in the Sunday Telegraph yesterday, and the first page I always turn to is the one in which the brilliant Christopher Booker writes. Yesterday’s column was, as always with him, packed with more revelations about the EU’s undemocratic grab for power and our own Government’s shameful compliance regarding this, no matter what political shade that Government is.

The most worrying Booker article yesterday was the one in which we in the anti-EU campaign have always known will be coming, the creation of the EU’s very own navy in which British servicemen are part of.

Last week there was ridicule and outrage over the news that due to the spending cuts two of the Royal Navy’s brand new aircraft carriers will be launched and go into service minus any aircraft, which defeats the whole object of having these very expensive ships – and even more worrying, leaving us virtually defenceless. Christopher Booker, rather than having a rant about this as most of the press have done, actually goes back to how this sorry saga began.

Remember that ‘grey man’, that insignificant being that was once our Prime Minister, John Major he of the dreadful Maastricht Treaty? I do, he was the man who destroyed what little faith I had remaining in the Conservative Party after I had so faithfully supported it all my voting life. He was the man responsible for me becoming active with first the Referendum Party and then UKIP and all my other ant-EU activities, including this blog. Well, back in the dark days of Major’s Maastricht treachery he did a deal with the French regarding the setting up of a joint British and French navy in order for both nations to be able to fulfil their Maastricht commitments, and as Booker confirms it all began then, he explains it in full in his Column.

The end result is due to cooperation of various EU nations and their navies, the only flag they felt could be flow is that of the EU, its noose of gold stars. The whole episode, just like so much of our involvement in the EU, is a floating disaster.

DONE IN SOMETIME

What is it with the NHS and time? Those who peruse this blog will remember my posting from a couple of weeks ago will recall my very long day in the place that time forgot, i.e. Walsall Manor Hospital when I took my old mom in to be monitored for her water retention and dropping salt levels. I walked in there at around 10.30 am that morning a relatively sane and happy individual, six hours later I walked out frustrated and well and truly pissed off, my old mom and I had being left hanging around for hours with little communication from the doctors or hospital staff for whom time has no relevant meaning – to them it is an abstract theory and the clocks on the wall are there for decorative effect only.

Two weeks on to the day, my old mom is still in the Manor as nothing there is done in a hurry and we are still wondering what solution they will come up with to sort her problem out, and I have just had another extremely frustrating NHS moment at my own GP surgery.

About mid July a little black spot appeared on my neck, I gave it a squeeze to get rid of it but it didn’t go away, it just got a bit bigger and became sore and itchy. I still squeezed, poked and fiddled with it but the bloody stubborn thing refused to budge and in the end I did the last thing I always do in a medical situation, made an appointment with the local quack.

On the day of the appointment I turned up at the allotted time, and waited for an amazingly short length of time considering this is the NHS and appointments are just so the patients know what day they are supposed to be there and if it is a morning or afternoon piece of booking fiction. The GP took a look and diagnosed an infected cyst, I was told that another GP in the surgery cuts them out on site and if I waited (what else are we supposed to do in the NHS!) he would see me. Great, I thought, I can get shot of the bloody thing, but no, he gave me some useless cream and said come back in a month.

Month up, cream vanishing and making no difference, I booked an appointment for the snip which was supposed to take place this morning at 10.15 am. After doing a couple of things such as filling the car with petrol, popping some by-election paperwork into the Elections Office, I turned up early with my newspaper ready to do some waiting.

I booked in with the usual GP reception battleaxe, who got me to sign some paperwork and gave me some confusing and conflicting information about students being present, then I sat and stuck my head in the paper. 10.15 am came and went, other people came and went, and I sat there still reading the news. By the time I knew just about every item of news and all the letters in today’s Telegraph, I had been sat there for an hour and my allotted appointment time had come, gone and we were well and truly into extra waiting time, that is if time existed in the NHS.

Eventually, I got so fed up I went back to the reception and said that I couldn’t hang around any longer as I have other things to do. I think the stunned look on the receptionists face made her wonder what on earth others, other than doctors, had things to do and lives to live. “Do you want to make another appointment?” I was asked. But what was the point, another appointment means sitting around in an NHS waiting room where time does not exist aging steadily for an appointment that may, if I was lucky, would arrive before I popped my clogs.

I walked out of there with most of my morning gone, bugger all done still with my itchy, irritating, small lump on my neck. Maybe it will be done in sometime, because that is the only time that the NHS knows.

WHERE HAVE ALL THE LIB DEMS GONE?

Tim Melville, the UKIP Rushall Shelfield by-election candidate.

There is a by-election taking place in my small corner of the world, due to the sad death of Walsall Councillor Albert Griffith who represented the Rushall Shelfield Ward for the Conservative’s. As we have a fairly active, keen and motivated group of UKIP members in Walsall we make every effort to campaign in elections, this one being no different with the nomination papers for our UKIP candidate, Tim Melville, being presented before anyone else’s on the first day nominations were being accepted.

This by-election, which is to be held on the auspicious date of the 11th November, Armistice Day, has thrown up a couple of surprises. The first being that it was two members of the Official Monster Raving Looney Party who presented letters to the council demanding a by-election be held, the second with the news that there will be no Liberal Democrat candidate, which is the first time since I became active in local politics in the town I have ever known an election without one of the three so-called main political parties.

According to the excellent local web-site for Walsall, the Yam Yam, the Liberal Democrats in the town are denying this is anything to do with the Tory Lib Dem coalition but a decision made in their local association. However, there was no explanation as to why they are not putting a candidate up.

The line up is Conservative, Labour, UKIP, Official Monster Raving Looney and the (unofficial monster raving looney’s)BNP. Albert Griffiths, who would have been up for re-election next May, had just under a 600 majority. In recent by-elections I have attended both the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats have not been doing that well, could Rushall Shelfield also be a bad result for the Walsall Conservative Party, is that why the Liberal Democrats who would not have won this ward stood aside to help their new found pals in the Tory Party? Who knows.

A few years back the BNP, which is not a political party I would recommend to anyone, came within a whisker of taking the Rushall Shelfield Ward off the Tories. The BNP in Walsall, I am pleased to say, seem to have had their problems and are not as active as they once were, but they could do some damage to the votes of the Tory, Labour and us in UKIP by taking the ‘Bloody minded’ vote from people in the ward who are so pissed off with the main political parties they will want to vote for the vilest party they can find, of which the BNP fits the bill – we will have to see.

And the Liberal Democrats? It reminds me of that old folk song, now sing along with me: ‘Where have all the Lib Dems gone, long time passing.’

THE TAXPAYER WILL ALWAYS BE THE LOSER

Gideon (George) Osborne has slashed Britain’s capability to defend itself and has gone in hard cutting Government expenditure with his sharpened knife, but one Government extravagance which serves no useful purpose to anyone, other than itself, not only remains untouched by his Ministerial scalpel, but could soon be adding drastically to our fiscal woes. As you already know just by looking at this blog, we are talking about the European Union which drains this nation of wealth as well as our freedom to govern ourselves.

Sadly, no British Government is willing to even consider the logical step of leaving the EU, no matter what political shade, red Labour, blue Tory, orange Liberal Democrat or our current two-tone mishmash, they all remain in thrall of the EU and seem quite happy to continue being subservient to it. Hence the reason we are heading toward some very hard times indeed.

The EU, in the way it usually does things, has decided that after a get together of the leaders of France and Germany (no one else counts) has decided that it should push forward its long held ambition of having its own taxes that those of us who, unwillingly, have had the undesirable status of European citizenship foisted upon us, will be forced to pay. As this is the EU we are talking about these taxes are bound to be eye wateringly painful.

It seems that there is going to be a choice of tax options to help the EU raise its funds directly, and will make up its mind as to which option to go for. We could face pointless and expensive taxes on carbon emissions, air transport, financial transactions which would be seriously bad news for the City of London or bank profits. Whatever it chases it will be us unwilling souls who will have to pay it.

The EU has been rapidly learning the meaning of words too, it was badly scorched by the EU constitution fiasco and soon learned that honest words that say what they mean and intend are quickly rejected. From the French and Dutch referendums it learned not to give the people a democratic say as it is mightily inconvenient when they don’t like what you are up to, the other lesson is whatever it is your creating, call it something else so it doesn’t sound like something objectionable. Hence the reason the EU constitution, which was still thrust upon us despite the democratic rejection, is now an ‘amending treaty’ and that when this tax is introduced, as it will be at some time, it won’t be called a tax – some other flowery name will be developed but whatever it will be called, like the Lisbon Treaty is now the EU constriction, what could be called ‘EU assistance package’ for want of calling it something, will still be a tax that few of us will be unable to avoid. Sadly, our Government will be quite happy to comply and like the EU arrest warrant that has seen around a thousand British subjects arrested by British police and sent off to rot in prisons around Europe, will also be collected and enforced by our EU subservient master in Westminster.

As UKIP MEP, Marta Andreasen said about this EU tax: “The taxpayer will always be the loser.”

THE ONLY SENSIBLE THING TO DO

Watching the slow and steady demise of real Conservatism and the Conservative Party over the past twenty or more years, it has been hard to believe that anyone who professes to be a true Conservative could still live in hope that David Cameron and his pretend Tory cohorts will come to the rescue of the nation. After the defence cuts of today can they really believe there is a Conservative Party in this land? I think not.

The Royal Navy, Air Force and Army all serve this nation and are of benefit to us by protecting our interests and our country - they are having their budget cut so much by this pretend Conservative Prime Minister we are being left defenceless.

The European Union which undermines our country, our democracy and our right to govern ourselves has just been voted an increase to its budget by this Government. Does that not speak volumes about the commitment our governing classes have for our country and us. The words traitors and treason come to mind.

Those who have wasted so many years in the Conservative Party must surely now know they have wasted their time and efforts, it is time they came to their senses and join those of us in UKIP – it is now the only sensible thing to do.

THE SANE BEING LED BY THE INSANE

Doh, I think I just had a bright idea, oh yeah, scrap our defences, that was it!

What does a country need to defend itself? Is it a nuclear arsenal, guns, high tech weapons, ships, aeroplanes, a strong army, a secret service to fight terrorism? Or is it all these things and more? The answer has to be all these things and more, yet as from today after Cameron’s drastic cuts to our defences Britain is a defenceless nation at the mercy of all around.

There are lots of things that may need cutting due to the parlous state of our economy, but the last thing that should be cut is the defence of the realm, which is exactly what Cameron and his two-tone coalition Government are doing.

All nations need an array of defences to cover all eventualities. Yes, we need a nuclear deterrent and a strong army, navy and air force, as well as good weapons and equipment. Sadly, the numpties who now run our country can’t quite get this into their head, as far as they are concerned money has to be saved and rather than stop sending the £billions they do to the useless EU which serves neither man nor beast, apart from itself and its hangers-on, they would rather leave this country defenceless.

The Argies can now quite happily overrun the Falkland’s, our troops can be sent off to fight pointless wars in far off climes without vital air cover from either the land or the sea, the Russians can send their Bear aircraft into our airspace without interception and as long as we keep feeding the EU with the money needed to defend our country and dependent territories all is well in the world! We are the sane being governed by the insane.

Richard North over at EU Referendum covers this insanity far better than I, see HERE and HERE.

THE METRIC TYRANY

We are all creatures of habit and most of us usually follow a routine. My mornings, once I have fallen out of bed, washed and begin to come out of the comatose oblivion created by usually staying up too late, start with feeding Tess, our old dog and ensuring she gets her medication. While this is going on in the background there is the noise of the kettle boiling, the usual waffle emitting from the Radio Four Today programme and Danny, one of our two cats who I always hungry, screaming for his breakfast despite the fact he knows he has to wait until Tess is fed. Then its out into the garden to put the daily quota of bird food out for the flock of ravenous local pigeons and finally I get my cup of coffee. Then I set off for my day with the first stop being the corner shop for my Daily Torygraph and a look at the letters page to see who is writing and about what.

Today’s Telegraph got a reaction from me when I read a letter from a BOB Pearson (scroll down if you click on the link) who was waxing lyrical about the metric system. Like all metric enthusiasts he is so infatuated with the continental system of weights and measures he can’t see why anyone should want to stick with our traditional imperial system and thinks that now metric has been imposed on the people of Britain we should all understand it perfectly well when we go shopping. Like many who support metric he is intolerant of the use of imperial. However, those who know and prefer the imperial system always show a tolerance for those who want to use the metric system. This reflects the basic attitudes of the anti and pro-EU camps. The Eurosceptics stand up for fairness, tolerance, liberty and freedom whilst Europhiles stand only for what they want and show no tolerance or respect for opposite views and do all they can to ban anything they oppose.


The Metric Martyrs of this country have been standing firm against this intolerance, there is a petition to support them and people, such as Perry Leon, who recently made the news for selling what his fruit and veg in the imperial weights his customers asked for and prosecuted for it, are not going away and willingly stand for the right to use a system of weights and measures that are not only a part of our culture, but also should be considered as part of our language as the two are so closely intertwined.

Anyone who learns to speak another language always has to use their own language as a reference to translate from, you can’t help it. If you see or hear something in another language the first thing you do is translate it in your head to your native tongue, the same thing happens when you see items in the supermarket or in the DIY store marked in metric – you have no choice but to try to calculate what that item is in ponds, ounces, feet or inches – it is a translation and those who support the metric system only will never get away from that fact which is why they have no argument or any right to show such intolerance for those who know and prefer our imperial system.

A letter from me to the Daily Telegraph is on its e-mail way, but no doubt, like most others I send to that publication will vanish without trace and those supporters of the metric tyranny will continue on their EU way without consideration for the freedom of others to use a system of measures which is second nature to them.

IF SOMEONE ELSE PAYS

The last time this blogger and his better half had a proper holiday was a week in Lido Di Jeselo in Italy in 2007. I am extremely grateful that our Eurocrats get theirs funded by all of us. No wonder I can’t afford one.

Ah for a cold beer in the Italian sunshine again – or the Madeira sunshine – if someone else pays!

KEEP PAYING MORE FOR IT

The EU never fails to let us down, it is so predictable we can always see its nonsense approaching from a mile off. All we have to do is witness a mishap, a problem or accident happening either in the EU or the world, then the next thing you know there follows a whole raft of legislation, directives, regulations and red tape, so much so any profitable industry caught up in the EU’s eagerness to protect us all that industry soon finds it can’t make money and moves away leaving us all safer and jobless.

Since the Deepwater Horizon accident in the Gulf of Mexico, the EU has been beavering away to make legislation on deepwater oil extraction a great deal tougher. The British oil industry is reportedly not happy about this at all. Under the EU’s new “centralised and prescriptive” restrictions there are all sorts of new rules that the oil industry are furious about. One such rule is that any EU based company, no matter where they are operating in the world, will still have to follow the EU’s stringent rules even though they may be more operating in the territorial waters of a more relaxed none EU nation.

Naturally this is going to make our British oil industry, along with all other EU based companies, less competitive on global markets. It will more than likely add considerably to the cost of our petrol, gas and heating oil’s too – but hey, this is one of the benefits of EU membership, we just have to keep paying more for it.

EU LAW, NOT LOOKING SO GOOD NOW

The guilt of a person should never be assumed or their case prejudiced before the accused faces a possible trial by jury. On this basis no one should presume the guilt of Denis MacShane because allegations have been made against him regarding his Parliamentary expenses.

However, as a person who fanatically supports the European Union, Denis MacShane may now begin to wonder if his support for it was such a good thing. To comply with the steady introduction of the European system of law, Corpus Juris, our Habeas Corpus system is being slowly phased out as people will notice through the reduction of trials by jury and, in many instances, of the removal of the right of innocence before being proven guilty in some crimes - especially minor crimes.

When this European system of law is fully introduced to bring us in line with the rest of the EU, all those arrested will have to prove their innocence rather than the state prove their guilt. They will also lose the right to release without charge within a specified time period and, as many British subjects who have been arrested under the European Arrest Warrant and imprisoned in other European countries can testify, after spending months in prison awaiting a trial which has no specified date.

Now he is on the wrong end of it, I bet the EU system of law does not look quite so good to the Member of Parliament for Rotherham.

HOW LITTLE THEY CARE

The campaigning group, No2ID which has been active against the introduction of ID cards and the Orwellian data-base state, has issued the following press release:

A review of the Summary Care Record, which has just been published, says that ministers will effectively change nothing – allowing up to 26 million patients’ medical records to be uploaded without their knowledge or permission, to a centralised system still deemed unsafe by the British Medical Association and condemned by the Department of Health’s own research.

Phil Booth, National Coordinator of NO2ID said:
“This is an appalling betrayal. At conference, Andrew Lansley promised patients ‘no decision about me, without me’ yet barely a week later he’s throwing away the medical privacy of millions.

“It’s bad enough the Coalition has broken its promise on medical confidentiality, but capitulating to the bureaucrats on a system known to be unsafe shows who’s really in charge at the Health Department – and just how little they care.”

MAY THE BEST MAN WIN

The UKIP leadership line up, from left to right: Tim Congdon, David Campbell-Bannerman, Jonathan Arnott chairman, Nigel Farage & Winston McKenzie.

The UKIP leadership bandwagon, which has been travelling the length and breadth of the country, rolled into Great Barr, Birmingham, on Wednesday evening and set up camp in the Great Barr Hotel where the four leadership contenders battled it out in front of an audience of just over one hundred UKIP members.

The line up of of candidates for the top job in UKIP were, in order they were sitting at the hustings, Tim Congdon who is a notable economist and previously one of Margaret Thatcher’s ‘wise men’. Next on the line up was David Campbell-Bannerman who has in the past been a Government adviser and is praised within UKIP for producing the 2010 manifesto, which is generally accepted as the best yet for UKIP. Jon Arnott was the chairman and sitting next to him was Nigel Farage, who is undoubtedly the star performer in UKIP and generally accepted as a ‘cheeky chappie’. Nigel led the party until standing down in the autumn of 2009 to concentrate on campaigning against John Bercow, the Speaker of the House of Commons.

The final candidate in the line up was the ex-boxer and real live wire, Winston McKenzie. He is quite a character who is impossible to dislike, he also does a lot of good work helping underprivileged kids in London.

Each candidate was give five minutes to make their presentation, all had different styles and different themes to promote themselves. Winston was more like a black evangelist preacher than a leadership candidate the way he walked round the room preaching the Gospel of Winston. Nigel gave his usual barnstorming performance, David Campbell-Bannerman was a smooth and steady operator while Tim Congdon seemed a bit awkward and slightly nervous. All had their good points why the UKIP members should vote for them, which certainly does not make the job any easier.

At the end of the night many of the UKIP activists, some who had travelled a long way from other parts of the country, either mingled in the lobby of the hotel or the bar and gave their opinions over a beer or two in the convivial surroundings of the Great Barr Hotel. Some who had gone along with a positive notion of who they were going to vote for expressed their stunned fact that they had changed their minds, others who had open minds were helped to make a decision and some were sticking to their original intentions.

It was certainly an interesting night, the bandwagon rolls on to the last hustings meeting in the North West at Tower College, Rainhill, Merseyside, on Friday 15th October, and by this weekend and the start of next week the ballot papers will begin to plop through the letter boxes of the UKIP members in all four corners of the land. There will be some serious head scratching, many telephone calls and e-mails between confused and undecided members, then on November 5th the announcement will be made as to who the party has chosen to be crowned as its leader - that person will have a lot of work pulling the party together as leadership battles in any political party has a tendency to create rifts and undercurrents of tension. The new leader will need to act fast as the party needs to get its act together for the local elections next May. May the best man win.

WHAT CAMERON TAKES AWAY, THE EU GIVES TO ITSELF

We know they are coming and bracing ourselves, these are the savage cuts our two-tone Con-Dem Government are poised to make. We are already seeing a slash and burn approach to our defences as our Navy, Air Force and Army all face cuts. This is not only going to leave this country vulnerable and virtually defenceless, it is also going to see the lunacy of our aircraft carriers not having the funds to pay for the fighter planes that go with them.

We know people are going to lose their jobs, public services are going to be cut, there is a chance our NHS will suffer and there is going to be a drastic cut in the number of police officer who rely on to prevent crime and protect us. In the very near future Britain is going to be a tough place to live as jobs will be harder to find and unemployment increases. However, never fear, there is one body of people whose luxury living at our expense is not only not in danger, but is about to be boosted by funds from the British purse.

These of course are that not so fine body of men and women we all know and dislike as Eurocrats. As countries all over the place desperately try to cut their budgets to cope with the financial crisis, the EU has decided it should be entitled to more of our money which could add £3 billion a year to our already far too extravagant EU bill. This has been calculated to adding an additional £194 a year to fund the EU for each household in Britain. The irony is most of those households who will find they are being screwed by the EU for these additional and unnecessary funds do not want us to be members of the European Union anyway and would be more than happy for Britain to leave. Sadly, our political elite have the opposite opinion and whilst slashing budgets at home they are quite happy to hand over our hard earned cash to the EU as if there is no tomorrow.

This means that the EU’s MEPs will be able to vote in favour of doubling their Champaign reception budgets, the EU’s High Representative, Baroness Ashton’s office is spending money as if it going out of fashion and wants more and others in the EU are clamouring for our dosh too as many of the new official offices set up since the Lisbon Treaty was ratified is all adding to the EU’s lavish bill.

Rather like the quote from the Bible, what Cameron takes away, the EU gives – to itself!

WHAT SORT OF EUROSCEPTICS?

Real Eurosceptics on the campaign trail.

There are, supposedly, intelligent people who consider they are more knowledgeable and moderate than the rest of us which then entitles them to write meaningless drivel about all manner of things they know virtually nothing about. They get away with this in their so-called prestigious publications because the people who run and own the publication know little about a lot too. One such character is a chap named John Lichfield who has very condescendingly decided that the EU needs its Eurosceptics.

However, the sort of Eurosceptics he writes about in the Independent are not what any self respecting Eurosceptic would want to be seen dead with. These people are supposedly Eurosceptics because they think the EU has gone far enough and that, according to this toy journalist, we can keep all the EU’s institutions but still have a looser EU. It never fails to amaze me how these people can sit and pontificate in their ivory towers without actually taking a look at what they are writing about.

According to John Lichfield anyone who shows real EU-sceptic tendencies should be instantly dismissed and classed as: " mouth-dribbling of xenophobes amongst Conservative eurosceptics" . I must be even worse than this due to me giving up voting Conservative in utter despair because of its pro-EU stance and am now an active member of UKIP.

People such as this journalist, whose ideas are not only misleading but quite dangerous too, must be taken to task over the inaccuracies in his article. People such as him make out that the EU can be changed and that we can have influence, they are doing nothing other than lulling people into a false sense of security that the EU no longer has ambitions to become a single entity, a nation in its own right. Those that are mislead by him and others who spout the same nonsense are taking a very dangerous path which will ultimately lead to the trap of a European superstate.

He needs to be told that just because many of us do not want our laws imposed upon us by a faceless, undemocratic and bureaucratic elite who we do not have any democratic control over, does not necessarily qualify us to suffer from what is a mental illness, xenophobia. We base our opinions on much sounder foundations.

If John Lichfield bothered to get off is plump posterior and took the time to check his facts, he would discover the Lisbon Treaty has passed a vast array of powers from national governments such as ours, to the EU. When he states that to hand over more powers “would mean another EU treaty” he is quite wrong, he should study the Lisbon Treaty where he will discover it is a self amending Treaty thus doing away with the need for further treaties, the EU can just help itself.

Added to that, the Lisbon Treaty has given the EU a ‘Legal Personality’ which in effect makes it a nation in its own right and the people of the Member States are now classed as ‘citizens of Europe’ with duties to the EU. In fact there is, in reality, little need for the EU’s elites to push for further changes as the aim of the ‘Founding Fathers’ is nearly complete, the “Ever closer Union” of the Treaty of Rome they dreamt of is now almost complete and upon us, soon there will be no need to go further. The job is almost done and the nation states as good as finished, they just don’t know it yet nor, obviously, does John Lichfield. If the EU needs Eurosceptics, what sort exactly?

STRANGE BEDFELLOWS IN THE EU

Many may remember the disgraceful episode in 1999 when British police officers forcibly removed the flags and banners of those legally protesting against the visit to London of the Chinese President, Jiang Zemin. This was seen as a form of censorship so as not to embarrass the President, whose country has a shameful history of suppression and censorship. Now the EU is getting in on the censorship act to save embarrassment to China.

Reported in the EU Observer is the tale of Lixin Yang who is a an accredited press reporter for the Epoch Times and also for New Tang Dynasty Television who are critical of the Chinese government.

It seems that when he turned up at the EU Council’s Justus Lipsious building where, along with other reporters at 2 pm on Wednesday 6th October 2010, he was refused entry and has accused the EU of carrying out Chinese-style censorship. He returned at 4 pm and was blocked from entry once again, although this time other reporters from the Press Association stood up for him and forced the EU officials to let him in. However, once he was in and the organisers of the press conference knew he was there the very press conference he had gone to so much trouble to attend was cancelled.

It seems that the EU had decided Mr Yang had been a security risk, his was not the only name on a blacklist as others had encountered the same problems. The EU is now doing a great deal of business with China and sees no ethical reason not to – it even obliges by carrying out Chinese-style press censorship within its own premises despite to satisfy and protect the Chinese government. The EU itself has banned capital punishment within all its member nations and has a whole array of suspect ‘Human rights, whereas China is one of the world’s most prolific executioners and few, if any, rights for its people as well as the brutal suppression of Tibet. There are many strange bedfellows in the EU.

A STRANGE NIGHT OUT

The Birmingham Icknield Male Voice Choir.

The evening had a strange start to it in the car park, when an elderly lady who had just asked for directions to the National Indoor Arena (NIA), told us she was all excited as she and her daughter were going to see Michael Bubble in concert and her daughter was going to throw her knickers at him.

In the pub where we went to get something to eat before going to our event, nearly everyone there was going to see this obviously popular singer, including a young lady I stood next to at the bar who was thrilled her mother had got tickets for her birthday. We on the hand were going to Symphony Hall in Birmingham for a concert of several male voice choirs and a brass band as a friend of Fred, my father in law, was performing in one of these choirs, the Icknield Male Voice Choir.

When we walked in to the lobby area of Symphony Hall I spotted the lonely figure of Albert Bore who, as well as being an ardent pro-EU Birmingham City Councillor, is also the leader of the Labour group in the city. As he sat on his own nursing a glass of red wine I nudged my father in law and told him who we had just passed. As we took our seats in the hall Albert Bore then came and sad right in front of us. If that wasn’t bad enough, within minutes the Member of Parliament for Erdington, Jack Dromey, came and joined him with his wife, none other than Harriet Harman MP, or should that be Harriet Harperson. All three sat in front of os within a few feet. How do these things happen?

The concert was excellent, although no one threw their knickers at the singers, not even Harriet. The presenter told a joke that she would not have liked about someone asking a red indian why his name was Two Rivers, to which he replied he was born near two rivers. The person then said oh, so your wife is named Five Horses because she was born near five horses. No, said the re indian, she got that name due to nag, nag, nag, nag, nag! No laughter from the row in front. The evening ended with a rousing rendition of ‘Land of Hope and Glory’, everyone stood to sing it apart from the three in front of me who, with knuckles whitening, held on to their concert programmes.

All in all we had a good night out, all be it a little strange in some odd company.

IN THE PLACE THAT TIME FORGOT

On Friday morning I had the task of taking my old mom to the doctors as she is experiencing breathing problems. At 86 years of age she does not get around very quickly and her breathing of late has been very wheezy, so much so the doctor decided she should be admitted to the Walsall Manor Hospital where they could monitor her, stabilise her sodium levels and, hopefully, get her medication right to prevent the build up of the fluids that are creating her breathing difficulties.

So, at 10.30 am on Friday morning we entered the brand new portals of the Manor’s shiny new extension with its shop and cafeterias and attempted to follow the confusing signs to what is called the ‘Integrated assessment unit’, or ‘admissions’ to you and me, which took a bit of finding. What I did not know was that we had just entered a different universe where time does not seem to exist.

There are clocks on the wall, but they only serve as a bit of wall decoration. We were seen into a consulting room and abandoned. Finally, after some time my mother was asked if she did not mind a student doctor being let loose on her. This very petite and pleasant young woman asked a whole array of questions then, like the rest of the staff we had encountered, wandered off and vanished. Time passed the hands on the wall decoration moved around, the newspaper I had was read from back to front then back again, then we were told they wanted to take a blood sample. This was around the time we were told it was not certain my mother would be admitted.

The little girl (the trainee doctor) returned and began fiddling about trying to shove needles in my old mom’s arm to be able to draw blood, but with little success - she finally gave up and went off to wherever the staff in there vanish to. The wall decoration revolved some more and the sheer boredom and frustration was begging to get to us.

After more movement of the wall decoration a male nurse came along with more needles, pocked them here and there as poor old Rose (my mother) grimaced and quietly said “ow!”. He failed to draw blood to and vanished into the parallel universe where the hospital staff seem to disappear to. We sat in the waiting room and the afternoon drew on until finally, a bed was made available and my old mom was properly admitted. We had been there so long I had, sometime earlier, called my brother at his place of work and demanded to be relieved - he said he would get there as soon as he could. After seeing mom i her allotted hospital bed and making sure she had all that she needed, I finally left at 4.30 pm - the whole day had gone.

I bumped into my brother on the hospital car park where he could witness me feeding the car parking money machine as coin after coin went in, all six quid's worth. If this had been Scotland or North Wales the hospital car parking would be free.

With luck the hospital will be able to help my old mom’s breathing and help her feel better, which then maybe worth my while giving up a day of my life. What get me though is why does time not count in hospitals or to those in the medical profession? Anywhere else you go efficiency is the buzzword, but not in the NHS where the slower the better seems to be the motto. I am sure the NHS could get its act together and actually begin to realise that those poor, bored and almost demented souls waiting around have other things to do. But in a place that time forgot none of them ever seem to notice or care.

THE REAL GUILTY MEN AND WOMEN

Jason McGoldrick, a victim of the European Arrest Warrant.

On Wednesday 6th October Jason McGoldrick, who is a victim of the European Arrest Warrant (EAW), attended the Walsall UKIP branch to speak to the members about the horror of the EAW and how he and his colleague, Michael Turner, were arrested and sent off to a prison in Hungary.

All this came about as the two men went into a business venture in Hungary which struggled to survive and eventually failed, loosing Jason personally £100,000. As he explained to the UKIP activists in Walsall is a business fails here in the UKIP various Government bodies will become involved such as Trading Standards, DTI and others. However, in Hungary this is dealt with by the police who decided that Jason and Mike had committed fraud and demanded their arrest.

The first Jason knew of this was when returning to the UK after a holiday with his heavily pregnant wife. As they passed through the passport control at Heathrow he was arrested, handcuffed and marched off to prison, leaving his wife with all the luggage and having to make her way home to the Midlands on her own – no one in authority could be bothered what happened to this pregnant lady.

Jason then went through the sham of court proceedings, it’s a sham as no British court has the right or the power to protect British subjects against the EU’s EAW, they are simply processed and handed over at the airport to the foreign jurisdiction which has demanded their arrest, often on some very unsound evidence or for what would be a civil matter and not considered a crime in the UK, as happened with Jason and Mike.

When they arrived in Hungary they were handcuffed and led around in public with what looked like a dog collar and lead, finally being thrown in prison where what positions they had were stolen by other prisoners. They both faced violence from the other inmates on a regular basis throughout the six months they spent in there. The main food in there was raw, liquid pork fat with a few frozen vegetables in it.

These two lived without hope, abandoned by the British Government which has failed every British citizen by allow the EAW to even become law in the UK, until eventually the UKIP MEP for the South West, Lord Dartmouth, secured their release.

There release itself came as a total surprise as they had no warning, they were suddenly taken from their cells and given what positions of theirs the prison authority held, and cast out on to the street with no money and no passports as they had expires, at 7 pm one evening. By sheer good fortune Jason’s mobile telephone, which had not been used for those six months, still had a trickle of power and he was able to call his solicitor who came and rescued them.

Even though Jason is home with his family in Wolverhampton, he is still in limbo as he still has a court case pending in Hungary and because of this cannot find a job. It is impossible for him as who would want to employ someone who could be imprisoned in a foreign country six to twelve months after they have taken them on.

Jason and Mike are fighting this all the way and they need funds and help. If you can donate to their campaign it would help greatly, see the details at the bottom of this posting. Jason is also happy to attend meetings and events to recount his experiences too, see their web-site for contact details.

At the end of the meeting he said that although he has done nothing wrong, apart from being involved in a business venture that failed, some people think because of what he has gone through he must be guilty of something. Sadly, these people just don’t realise, or can believe, how much power our own British Governments have surrendered to the EU over the years, they too could so easily find themselves in the same terrible position as Jason and Mike, in fact around 1000 British subjects have been victims of the EAW this last year. The real guilty men and women are those in Government whose duty it is to serve and protect us against foreign powers, but have given away our rights and freedoms to the EU which is accountable to no one.

To donate to Jason and Mike's appeal, please make your cheques payable to: 'Harney & Co re: freemikeandjason' and post to: Harney and Co. Chartered Accountants, 21 Market Place, Blandford Forum, Dorset, DT11 7AF.

Visit the Free Mike and Jason web-site at: http://www.freemikeandjason.co.uk/

See Jason's speech to the UKIP conference at: http://www.ukip.org/content/video-zone/1844-eaw-horror-in-jasons-own-words

GRRR!

William Hague, outrageous twaddle.

The temptation to turn this blog into a swear blog full of obscenities and expletives, right at this moment, is very great – I have just read the twaddle that William Hague, our Tory Foreign Secretary, has spouted not long ago at the Tory Party conference in Birmingham.

The mind boggles at his nerve and sheer gall, I will tell you in a moment, but first let’s have a potted history of the Conservative Party and the EU. 1970, windbag Heath is elected as the Tory Prime Minister and begins negotiations with the Common Market to get us in. He tells the British public a pack of the most outrageous lies ever told such as: ‘It will be good for British Businesses’ and ‘There will be no essential loss of sovereignty’, whilst at the same time telling his negotiators, who were balking at the demands from the leaders of the Common Market, to “swallow it all and swallow it whole”. Because of that we had a lousy membership deal and gave away as a ‘common resource’ the some of richest fishing waters in the world. Because of this our once wealthy and mighty fishing fleet is not even a shell of its former self, but just a handful of struggling fishermen whilst Spanish and other fishing fleets have free range in our waters.

Then along came Maggie who, after signing the Single European Act which paved the way for the creation of the EU’s euro and handed even more control to the Community, finally said: ‘No, no, no’ to giving the EU any more, and was then promptly turned on and ousted by the Euro fanatics in the Tory party who put their placeman in, none other than John Major.

Major was known as the ‘Grey man’ of politics, he signed the Maastricht Treaty that not only made us all citizens of Europe without bothering to ask any of us if we wanted this dubious title, it meant the end of our own sovereign hard backed passport to be replaced by the flimsy, naff, Euro passports we are lumbered with today. The Maastricht Treaty and a follow up to Maastricht he also signed gave the go ahead to the euro which the Single European Act had opened the way for.

Now we have Cameron, who in the short time he has been in power given the go ahead to the European Investigation Order which allows the EU to pry into all of our lives, and bank and tax affairs, plus much else.

So, this is what the Tory Party over the years have been doing to us and helping to sow the seeds of our own national destruction, this is the work of every Tory leader over the last forty years and Cameron has already been added to this list of shame. Now given that history the reason my language, and blood pressure, is at an all time high, is due to the utter drivel that William Hague has just spouted to the members of the Conservative Party at their conference – he wants a Sovereignty Bill to prevent the loss of power to the EU! Has it not dawned on him that he and his party is the problem? Has he not realised that the EU and the enormous amount of power it holds over us is thanks to the Conservative Party that started it all off and added to it too just for good measure. They are the ones who created this mess and his stupid, meaningless Sovereignty Bill, will be laughed about with the EU corridors of corruption for the weeks to come. If they were really serious about this instead of just trying to negate the effect of the UK Independence Party vote, which is the only reason this Bill is being put forward, then they would be talking about taking us out of the EU which is the only way we will ever stop the EU from governing us, as it already does.

However, the thing that made my blood boil even more, was Hague’s hypocritical lambaste at the Labour Party for not giving us a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty when Gordon Brown snuck off to Portugal to sign it when he thought no one was looking. What about the Tory promise of a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty which has not been honoured and completely forgotten about Mr Hague. I am livid, I am angry and if it shows I don’t care because along with every other person in the UK I have been betrayed by the Tory Party who are doing nothing other than performing their old, treasonous, EU tricks again – GRRR!

WHAT THE EURO IS REALLY ABOUT

Although this is not new news, it has been kicking around for the best part of a week or two, due to other things I have not had chance to comment on the dire problems now affecting the euro, things are now so bad, and so confusing, some pundits are predicting the possible collapse of the euro.

As the financial crisis sweeps across Europe it is hitting some countries extremely hard, especially the Club Med countries as well as the Irish economy. The pain the Greeks are feeling is spreading and riots have been breaking out in quite a few European countries as those nation face up to the sort of austerity cuts which make the cuts to our UK child allowance look insignificant.

Protesters have been taking to the streets in Spain, Italy, Belgium and Greece, which included a general strike in Spain against the austerity measures their national governments are being forced to take. Sadly, these protests will make little difference for two reasons, one is in the fact their own politicians were foolish enough to destroy their own sovereign currencies in order for them to be replaced by the EU’s euro, thus handing over control of a vital part of their economies to a detached body of people in the European Central Bank (ECB) who set interest rates for the benefit of France and Germany. The other reason is because of this it is the EU now instructing those nations to make cuts, and they have no option but to obey the EU as it is control.

As the pressure on the eurozone economy mounts, there are increasing warnings that the euro itself could collapse, which in reality would be no bad thing although it would hit many quite hard. The sooner it goes the less painful it will be. Although many people have been warning of the collapse of the euro, not least Bernard Connolly who was an economist in the EU who warned from the word go that the euro was doomed and that it would create immense problems for the Irish, one eminent person to give a warning recently was one of the world’s leading economists, Joseph Stiglitz.

This Nobel prize winner and former chief economist of the world bank has expressed his concerns that “there is a wave of austerity building throughout Europe and even hitting America’s shores.” He also commented: “America is may have caused the global recession but Europe is now responding in kind.” He thinks that Spain is vulnerable to an attack from financial speculators and it is only a matter of time before they do so. Like so many others he warned that the single interest rate and varying needs of the different countries in the euro was a problem, all it needs is for countries with high surpluses along with those with deficits meant the single currency was under intense pressure and may not survive. He thinks one way to save the euro would be for Germany to leave the eurozone to help the euro to devalue which would in turn help the struggling nation.

However, for those of us who have been studying this ‘project’ as many Euro federalists like to call it, know that this will not be an option as the euro was not created for any sound economic reason, it is a political currency aimed at irretrievably locking the nations of Europe together in one single country called Europe. The creators of this project are not concerned about the amount of financial pain and hardship they are creating as their project is more important to them than the well being of the people of Europe. This is what the euro is really about.

A FIRST FOR DEMOCRACY

This bright and sunny morning saw two firsts for me, one of which was to go along to a Tory Party conference, not to go and listen to the likes of David Cameron and all the other Tory head honcho’s, but to join a happy band of UKIP members to hand out leaflets about the ignominy of the European Arrest Warrant (EAW). What a revealing morning it was.

We had a fairly simple leaflet and a banner protesting against the EAW, also a little leaflet quoting that great Conservative statesman, Winston Churchill, who led the Tory Party in the days when it was a Conservative Party, unlike the shoddy replica run by Dave and his lot today.

This morning was a revelation as I stood in the beautiful Birmingham sunshine, handing out leaflets to those who would accept them, when it comes to such issues as the EU arrest warrant and the EU itself – they don’t care, it matters not a jot to them that around a thousand British subjects were arrested over the last twelve month and incarcerated in foreign Prisons, one of who was Jason McGoldrick who, this coming Wednesday evening, will be speaking to our UKIP branch in Walsall about his arrest and six months in the squalor of a Hungarian prison. If you are interested in hearing Jason then give me a call: 07813 153897.

So, this morning it was confirmed, the Conservative Party really is the ‘uncaring’ party, it is a soulless party that has sold out to the EU and its members are not bothered one bit that our own elected Governments no longer govern us and seem quite content for the EU to rule over us.

As I walked through Birmingham with my old campaigning pal Tony, we had a chat about this morning and we are both agreed, we have to do a lot to shake up the apathy in this country that allows this Tory –Lib Dem two-tone coalition to continue giving our country away to the EU. Then came my second first of the morning, I used my senior citizens bus pass for the first time. I just wish the Tory Party would come to its senses and have first for democracy by wanting to take us out of the EU.

MOVING TO A NEW BATTLEFIELD

The big news item today is, according to the Daily Mail and the BBC, the war on motorists is over. Before you begin to jump up and down with delight, hang out the flags and take the Aston for a spin, I am afraid to put a damper on things as the war on motorist hasn’t come to an end; it’s moved to a different battlefield.

The war on drivers will continue, driving a car will not get any cheaper and one way or another, local councils and police authorities will be out to screw the motorist for as much as they can get and the price of petrol will continue to be mostly tax, so don’t cheer yet.

On Sunday last while driving back from North Wales on the A5, as usual on nice sunny days, the North Wales police were out with their high tech anti-motorist gizmos and gadgets, despite most motorist giving warnings to each other I still saw some poor souls being pulled on the one section of road where its safe to get a bit of speed up to overtake the far too many slow drivers and trippers who hold everyone up. They wait there on purpose as they know it is the first three lane section of road in miles. Then, when we finally get home to Walsall the town has an army of parking wardens, or ‘enforcement officers’ as we are supposed to call them, waiting to pounce on unwary motorists seven days a week.

There was a time up until last year when Walsall Council was civilised enough to give free parking on Sundays, then the local Tory administration thought they could screw a bit more out of the towns motorists and introduced Sunday parking charges. Sadly, this really caught out a lot of the old veterans who join the parade on Remembrance Sunday as they parked as normal and failed to spot that Sunday charging had been introduced – they all got tickets and there was outrage in the local press, so much so the council had to back down and apologise to them. We wait to see what will happen this year.

However, the net result of this is that the once busy Sunday car parks in Walsall are now mostly deserted, other than for the army of ‘enforcement officers’ prowling nearby with ticketing machines at the ready. Where are all those cars, and more importantly where the towns traders are concerned, the shoppers that came with them? Where they have gone is anyone’s guess. I am convinced that Walsall Council has a death wish for the town as everything they do, such as undermining Walsall’s historic market, car parking and a harebrained new town centre traffic system that puts motorists in a cycle of ever decreasing circles, seem to be deliberately designed to put people off coming to the town – it’s a disaster.

As a regular visitor to the Lyndon House Hotel, which is situated next to one of these pay and dismay car parks, we are constantly hearing grim tales of the bars regulars being done by the towns motley collection of enforcement officers. When Sunday charging began there were no end of grumbles over a tear stained beer by those who hadn’t realised the change had taken place, many left never to been seen in Walsall again, much to the loss of business to Ken, the Lyndon’s owner. One couple who took an aged parent for a drink had a fine for displaying the parent’s disabled parking permit the wrong way round, another friend had a ticket slapped on his car because his hours parking fee had expired at 6.20 pm, despite the fact the parking charges finished at 6.30 pm, plus many other tales of parking woe.

Every year during the local elections I do my bit for UKIP by standing as a candidate in the Paddock Ward, if one year by some miracle I am elected onto Walsall Council, then I will begin a campaign against Walsall’s reign of terror against the poor souls who dare sit behind the steering wheel of a car. I will call for all car parks in the town to have the first hour of parking for free, I will call for more, not less car parks and for dropping off points where drivers can stop safely to let their passengers out. The town also needs more disabled parking bays too. I want my town to thrive and for its businesses to make healthy profits, that way they will create employment and bring wealth to the town, there is no money for the Council in business rates on boarded up shops and bankrupt businesses, all because their customers were forced to go somewhere else because the Council persecuted them for trying to park in the town.

No, sadly the war against the motorist has not finished despite the rhetoric being put out, one way or another the motorists will be got at by the powers that be. The war has shifted to a new battlefield and hostilities continue between the state, its allies in local councils and the hard pressed motorists of this nation.

SCHOOL - 1957 vs. 2010

This came to me in an e-mail and, as a product of 1950's schooling, I couldn't resist posting it. Sadly, this highlights all too accurately all that is wrong with us today. Enjoy and weep for the loss of common sense.

SCHOOL - 1957 vs. 2010

Scenario :
Johnny and Mark get into a fist fight after school.

1957 - Crowd gathers. Mark wins. Johnny and Mark shake hands and end up best friends.

2010 - Police called, arrests Johnny and Mark.. Charge them with assault, both expelled even though Johnny started it. Both children go to anger management programs for 3 months. School board hold meeting to implement bullying prevention programmes

Scenario :
Robbie won't be still in class, disrupts other students.

1957 - Robbie sent to office and given 6 of the best by the Principal. Returns to class, sits still and does not disrupt class again.

2010 - Robbie given huge doses of Ritalin. Becomes a zombie. Tested for ADHD. Robbie's parents get fortnightly disability payments and School gets extra funding from government because Robbie has a disability.

Scenario :
Billy breaks a window in his neighbour's car and his Dad gives him a whipping with his belt.

1957 - Billy is more careful next time, grows up normal, goes to college, and becomes a successful businessman.

2010 - Billy's dad is arrested for child abuse. Billy removed to foster care and joins a gang. State psychologist tells Billy's sister that she remembers being abused herself and their dad goes to prison.

Scenario :
Mark gets a headache and takes some aspirin to school.

1957 - Mark gets glass of water from Principal to take aspirin with.

2010 - Police called, Mark expelled from school for drug violations. Car searched for drugs and weapons.


Scenario :
Johnny takes apart leftover firecrackers from Guy Fawkes, puts them in a model airplane paint bottle, blows up a bull ant nest.

1957 - Ants die.

2010- Police & Anti-Terrorism Squad called. Johnny charged with domestic terrorism, investigate parents, siblings removed from home, computers confiscated. Johnny's Dad goes on a terror watch list and is never allowed to fly again.

Scenario :
Johnny falls while running during recess and scrapes his knee. He is found crying by his teacher, Mary . Mary hugs him to comfort him.

1957 - In a short time, Johnny feels better and goes on playing.

2010 - Mary is accused of being a sexual predator and loses her job. She faces 3 years in Prison. Johnny undergoes 5 years of therapy .

This should be sent to every e-mail address to show how stupid we have become!

Think about it!