OLYMPIAN FOLLY

Wall to wall Olympics on the BBC, real programmes and important news is not an option.

As readers of this blog will have noted, I am not much of an enthusiast for this overblown running, jumping, swimming and other pastimes event called the Olympics. So, being invited to a dinner in Dudley with some really good UKIP people was, to me, far more preferable than sitting at home watching the launch of this sporting fest. This was especially preferable as the UKIP Dudley branch also organised a special presentation for two good UKIP friends from our Walsall UKIP branch, Alan & Dorothy Sheath from Aldridge, who are about to celebrate their diamond wedding anniversary. The presentation to commemorate their sixty years of marriage came as a real surprise to them and made the night even more special.

Sadly, even though I managed to escape the running and jumping palaver on Friday, the BBC is ensuring there is no escape. BBC one is now wall-to-wall Olympics, there are no other programmes being shown and a large part of BBC Two and Three have also been taken over by the running and jumping fest. The only concession they give is two breaks for news at 6 pm and 10 pm. Sadly, even the news is dominated by the Olympics which take precedence over far more important events in the world.

ITV news is no better, last night to escape the Olympics I watched the ITV news at 10 pm which began with the Olympics and continued for just over half of the programme. Finally, they deemed to report the murder and mayhem in Syria which they obviously considered to be of less importance than a GB team coming third in some event. People losing their lives, their homes and vicious fighting was secondary and seemed to be an afterthought before returning to the running and jumping again for the rest of the programme.

I have never been a sports enthusiast, what is so interesting about watching a few grossly overpaid people kicking a ball about, or someone jumping a bit higher than someone else? It achieves nothing, creates no wealth other than for a few and does nothing to solve the massive problems of starvation, war, pestilence, poverty and the ravaging of the land in many parts of the world.

Sadly, the Olympics, which at the end of it all will leave the taxpayers of this nation with a bill for £billions and a white elephant of a stadium as a permanent reminder of our Olympian folly.

GERMANS TURN AGAINST THE EU's EURO

The leaders of the once nation states of Europe, especially here in the UK, began to introduce their plans for a single nation called ‘Europe’ by stealth, but as they have gone on and got away with all sorts of liberties with our liberty, they have become bolder. Sadly, we have now reached a stage where the people are always wrong and the leaders always right, and they don’t like it when the people get uppity and remind them of their mistakes such as the great euro disaster.

A classic case of this scenario is now taking place in Germany. The German people loved their deutschmark, it was a strong and powerful currency which, to the German people, represented everything they stood for and had worked hard to achieve after the end of World War Two. They had no real say in the sacrifice of their beloved currency, but accepted the EU’s euro on the basis that it too would be a strong powerful currency and that by joining it the German nation would have great influence over the rest of Europe.

However, as widely predicted long before the euro was launched, it is a currency that was never going to be a success as the pressures placed on the less productive eurozone nations would create massive fiscal problems for them, which is exactly what we are seeing today with the collapse of the Greek economy and with Spain, Italy and other nations facing massive debt problems too.

So, to keep the EU’s vanity currency alive and just about kicking, the wealthy nations of Europe have been required to open their wallets and prop up the currency. The burden for this has not only fallen on the taxpayers of the UK, but massively on the German’s too, which is where we get to the nub of what this posting is about.

Frau Merkel, the German leader, has been described as being ‘profoundly disturbed’ in a classic case of the people are wrong and the leadership is right, after a poll showed that fifty one per cent of the German people think that they should quit the EU’s euro and return to the deutschmark, which has not pleased Angela at all.

The poll also showed that 71 per cent of Germans think Greece should leave the euro if it fails to carry out austerity plans to bring down the massive Greek debt. Angela Merkel wants Germany to remain in the euro as she know the whole EU project will be brought to its knees if Germany was to quit the euro, there is no way she intends to act in the interests of a majority of the people who she was, allegedly, democratically elected to serve and represent. Like all leaders in the EU she serves and represents the EU and not the people.

Despite the refusal of leaders such as Angela Merkel, David Cameron and others to accept the fact the euro and the EU itself is a doomed and unloved project which will inevitably fail, events will in the not too distant future overtake them and their whole project will come tumbling down.

RINGING THE CLANGERS

Although the taxpayers of the UK have little or no use for, or can really afford to keep a Culture Secretary in the lavish Ministerial lifestyle this pointless post demands, we've got one anyway in the shape of Jeremy Hunt.

Something else this blogger is not particularly enamoured with is the £billions and razzmatazz being squander on a bit of running and jumping called the Olympics. So, put the pointless Culture Secretary together with the Olympics, throw a bell into the mix and hey presto, you have a classic. This is the only part of the Olympics this blogger will find enjoyable.

ROSEMARY'S REFUSAL TO ACCEPT EU CITIZENSHIP

Staffordshire UKIP campaigner, Rosemary Herbert who, with her husband Paul runs a Elecrical retail shop in Stone, has writen to Lord Henley in response to his relpy to Lord Stoddard regarding the unwanted and enforced EU citizenship which Prime Minister John Major inflicted upon the people of the UK without their consent or knowledge.

Rosemary lets Lord Henley know how she feels, her letter to him is shown in full below. It will be interesting to see what reply he sends to her - if he bothers of course.

To Lord Henley
Home Office Minister

Lord Henley,

I have recently become aware of comments made by you, on behalf of the Government, in relation to the renunciation of EU citizenship by British subjects who are grossly unhappy with the forced integration and subjugation to a foreign power, namely the European Union. I am one of those British subjects and outraged that EU citizenship has been forced upon me.

I would like to remind you that back in 1975 when Britain voted on the Common Market, the people of this country were led to believe they were voting purely for a trading arrangement with their European neighbours, and not a full blown political union led by a Government whose agenda was to erase our Nation state.

That a "British" Government could set in motion the surrender and abolition of its own Nation when millions had died in order to preserve its very independence, including my grandfather and father over the course of two World Wars, must rank as the most sickening and despicable example of contempt and dishonour imaginable. No one in this country has been given the choice on whether they wished to accept EU citizenship, where citizens are subjected to the whims of a corrupt, unaccountable and undemocratic cesspit of unelected foreign dictators.

I do not accept EU citizenship because I am happy with my British English birthright handed down to me through my own family's sacrifices for this country. I will never swear allegiance to an EU flag nor stand for its anthem, and your Government's aim in reducing people to stateless level simply because they will not be branded with the EU label is the most arrogant, despicable and blatant attempt at destroying those inalienable rights and freedoms of British subjects who wish to remain with the identity of their choosing.

From:
Mrs Rosemary Herbert
Staffordshire.

£750 PER ANNUM TO THE EU FROM EVERY HOME

Economist Tim Congdon, EU costs £750 PA for every household.

The people of Britain may not suffering the same sort of pain as the people in the eurozone nations, they are still suffering through paying higher than needed taxes to pay for the folly of the EU’s currency.

To add insult to injury, British taxpayers are now also expected to turf out an additional £350 million to boost the EU’s budget. It has been revealed that during negotiations behind closed doors the UK Government, which never fails to inform the electorate that we have to remain in the EU, was absolutely powerless to resist the EU’s demands for extra funding, showing once again how subjugated Britain is to the undemocratic rule of the EU.

The extravagant amount of money the British Government now lavishes upon the EU has now taken the individual payment for each and every household in the UK to £750 a year, money which most families would rather use for more practical things such as paying their increasing energy bills created, of course, through the EU’s obsession with unsustainable green energy.

The UK total, now being drained from its taxpayer’s, stands at a staggering £20 billion annually to be squandered on membership of the EU. The figure of £750 per family came about after the renowned economist, Tim Congdon who is a high profile member of UKIP, calculated this to be a ‘direct fiscal cost’.

The simple answer is the most obvious, Britain cannot afford EU membership. As Tim Congdon also pointed out that on top of the fiscal cost, the regulatory cost created by the EU’s over burdensome bureaucracy is now adding a further four per cent of GDP, and rising. This is a major obstacle to businesses and job creation in the UK which would really be better off out of the EU.

LIVING IN IGNORANCE

Lord Stoddart of Swindon, asked about EU citizenship.

On March 20th West Midlands MEP, Mike Nattrass, read out a question in the EU Parliament which had been put to him by his constituent Alan Sheath from Aldridge, The question in his letter to Mike Nattrass MEP was: ‘how do we renounce EU citizenship?’ Mr Sheath, a proud British subject was unhappy that the then pro-EU Conservative Government, under the leadership of John Major, had sacrificed every British citizen’s birthright to being British and allowed the EU to impose its citizenship on each and every person living in the UK.

This was done without consultation or even a democratic vote, just by signing the extremely dangerous EU Maastricht Treaty, at the stroke of a pen, and before the Quink ink was dry, each and every person living in the British Isles, without their knowledge, had become an EU citizen.

I myself have written to renounce EU citizenship and produced a form for others to follow, the only response to this from the Home Secretary’s office was a vague and fuzzy one trying to deny that there is EU citizenship but by dint of Britain being an EU member, we were part of the EU and have duties towards it.

However, the deliberate murkiness that always surrounds some of the worst elements of our EU subjugation is beginning to clear. Not only by thanks to Alan Sheath writing to Mike Nattrass and beginning a series of questions, but also through the tremendous work done in the House of Lords by Lord Stoddart of Swindon who, as a past Chairman of the Campaign for an Independent Britain (CIB) and a tireless worker for British freedom from the EU’s shackles, has actually managed to get a clearer answer to this long sought after question.

Sadly, the answer from Home Office Minister Lord Henley, was not good. He has confirmed that British subjects cannot renounce EU citizenship without first renouncing their UK citizenship. In his reply to Lord Stoddart he stated: “A UK national as defined above who renounced that status and did not have the nationality of another member state would cease to be a European citizen. It is not possible, however, to renounce European citizenship while remaining a UK national.”

Lord Stoddart responded by saying: “The dictionary definition of citizenship is ‘a legally recognised subject or national of a state or commonwealth, it should not have a citizenship. However, it seems that the architects of the EU dealt with that problem in the 1992 Maastricht Treaty. They clearly were always intent upon building a country called Europe.

“Now we know that renouncing EU citizenship means becoming a stateless, non-person under international law. Wee also know that EU citizenship takes precedence over national citizenship. We have constantly been told that the European project is not about creating a country called Europe. This revelation exposes these denials as the lies many of us said they were.”

Thanks to Lord Stoddart, his vigilance and tireless efforts on our behalf, we all now know where we stand. Each and everyone of us, without being asked are now citizens of this none state called the EU which on one hand denies it has designs on becoming a nation in its own right, but non-the-less has all the trappings of a nation such as a flag, anthem, its own passport, driving licence, Parliament and much else – including citizens who live in total ignorance of that fact who foolishly still think of themselves as English, Scottish, French German and any other member nation that will, if the EU has its way, will vanish in the monster that is to become the nation state of the European Union.

STUFF IT UP THE EU's EXHAUST PIPE

Road tolls, to bring bumper to bumper congestion.

Here’s a conundrum for you, how do you create almost deserted free flowing motorways and traffic mayhem and congestion at the same time? Our Transport Minister, Justine Greening has the answer, which is, of course, slap road tolls on our motorways and busiest roads. Once this is done you will see most cars and heavy lorries pull off the motorways quicker than bathers getting out of a swimming pool with a floater in it. The mayhem on the untolled roads that can’t cope with large volumes of traffic will be immense.

Sadly, as usual, our silly little Transport Minister, who constantly looks way out of her depth, is going through the well known Basil Faulty syndrome of ‘don’t mention the EU’ when making the announcement of this extremely unpopular Tory Party volte face on road tolling. They have publically let it be known that a proposed upgraded 20 mile section of the A14 is to be tolled. Anyone with an ounce of knowledge of the EU’s devious little ways will know that by introducing this road toll our elected Government, is yet again, complying with orders from above in the unelected EU. The only thing is, like Basil Faulty by not stating this is to comply with the EU’s TEN-T project on road tolling, they think they “got away with it”.

Sadly, they are not only trying to dupe and fool the electorate, they are also fooling themselves. This disastrous coalition two-tone Government are not getting away with anything, they are going to get well and truly hammered by a very pissed off and frustrated electorate in the European election in 2014 and then again in 2015, if the coalition can hold on until then which is increasingly doubtful.

To see that road tolling does not work the Transport Minister only has to poke her stubby little nose out of the confines of Westminster and look north to the white elephant that is the M6 Toll. This was the road that was going to relieve the massive congestion problems on the M6 around the Black Country, Walsall, Wolverhampton and Birmingham – hardly anyone uses it as no one, especially hard pressed hauliers, want to pay to use a road that technically, their taxes, excessive fuel duties and Road Fun Licence has already paid for – it is madness to ask road users to pay for the use of the roads twice over – or even more than that when you look at how much every Government screws out of the motorist one way or another.

The M6 Toll is was a none starter from the off, because road users object to the extra unnecessary costs of road tolls not enough of them use it, which means the only way the toll operator can try to cover its cost is by increasing its toll fees which then results in even less traffic and few tolls being collected thus creating a downward spiral.

Naturally, those who stop using the toll road because of the spiralling costs have to use another route, thus adding to the problems on the M6 which the M6 Toll was supposed to relieve. As the M6 can no longer cope the Government is now forced to spend a massive amount of money on the M6 to ease the congestion while the M6 Toll remains little used. If you want a perfect example of motoring madness you only have to look at road tolls which create more problems than they solve.

If little missy Transport Minister, Justine Greening, and our useless lump of a Government, really wanted to do what they were elected to do and start looking after the interests of the people of the UK, they would tell the EU exactly where it can stick its bureaucratic thousands of pages of legislation and its TEN-T’s inspired traffic clogging road tolls, which is to ram them right up its ring of gold starred exhaust pipe.

LOOKING FORWARD TO THE OLYMPICS - BEING OVER!

Derek Bennett and real ale in the Lyndon in Walsall, looking forward to the end of the Olympics.

One of the items of news that has not been mentioned on this blog are the impending Olympic games in London. This is partly due to the fact that all sport and all major sporting events, no matter what they are, are a total turn off for me. As far as I am concerned I cannot see or understand what is so wonderful about a few grossly overpaid blokes kicking a ball about on a Saturday afternoon, or people knocking a fluffy ball over a net at Wimbledon? So the thought of a running and jumping fest for two long weeks to this blogger is something I look forward to being over rather than being glued to the telly watching events, that in my eyes, are even more boring than watching paint dry.

To add to my total frustration when the whole Olympics razzamatazz kicks off, we are going to have wall to wall running, jumping, swimming and all the other sporting shenanigans that go on at these events being broadcast night and day on TV, radio and the newspapers – there will be no escape.

TV schedules will go to pot because an event with a few people running down a track has been delayed, all the major TV channels will be dominated by the Olympics. No doubt the usual will happen, I will sit down to watch a scheduled TV programme I have been looking forward to, and then the announcer will inform us the programme is either running late at best, or been cancelled because the TV bosses think it far more important to watch some bod jump over a pole rahter than to stick to their advertised programme – the whole two weeks is going to be a nightmare.

The only bit of fun to be had from this total waste of time and expense is the shambles and cock-ups that seem to be surrounding the fiasco. London is going to be a total mess and a place for all sensible people to avoid during the two weeks of Olympics. Sports people and their officials will go whizzing by in their equivalents of Russian Zil’s in their privileged and special Olympic lanes, while the other poor sods who actually do some real work and produce things will be stuck in major congestion created by the madness of allowing Olympic officials to get away with their demands that we permit these un-British lanes to go ahead.

Then there are the sponsorship deals, a few none British multinational companies have stitched things up so tightly it has become a criminal offence for other companies, both large and small, to use Olympic logos, name certain products and even show pictures of the London skyline in their advertising. As well as this total liberty, food retailers in the locality of the Olympic venues are not even allowed to sell chips with their meals because the American cardboard beef burger chain, MacDooDah’s, have stitched up such a deal they are the only ones allowed to serve chips – if you can call their floppy bits of fried potato, chips.

We have Tony Blair from his disastrous days as Prime Minister to thank for the criminalisation of the use of restriced branding for that one, will the spectre of that man’s tenure in office never go away?

The only beer Olympic visitors will be allowed to drink is a gassy foreign lager – no real beer will be on sale, and those visitors who,decide to purchase packets of crisps such as Walkers, who are not an Olympics sponsor (they have more sense), from outside the venue to take in, will find that their crisp packets will be opened by officials and emptied into clear plastic bags so as not to advertise the name of the crisp manufacturers. Even if I was a keen sportsman I think I would be utterly dismayed by the way these four yearly events have gone. Surely, this is not what the original Greek Olympians had in mind. Would they have banned certain makes of chariots as they were not the brand of the official chariot sponsors? I think not.

When the running and jumping show kicks off, I too will be off – to the Lyndon House Hotel in my home town of Walsall which, with no TV's in the bar, will be an Olympics free zone. Here in Walsall the most athletic things to take place are the sprint to the station to catch the train, and the 55 metre dash to the chip shop. I will drink my real ale and look forward to the day the Olympics are over and our TV schedules will actually show what is advertised. I am looking forward to the Olympics – being over, cheers to that.

THERE IS ALWAYS HOPE

Keep smiling, Nigel Farage the UKIP leader gives hope that Britain will leave the EU.

There is something terribly sad when a person feels so utterly desperate and hopeless, that they decide to end their life by committing suicide. This mindset of total despair is hard to grasp for most of us, but for a few it is reality. For those poor souls in such desperate states there are the Samaritans, which is a brilliant organisation of which I have great admiration.

Those that volunteer to be Samaritans are wonderful people who must get down and stressed themselves after hearing of the torment and problems of others while doing their best to help, it must also be utterly depressing when they fail too and one of those whose life they have tried to save and helps still take their own life.

Sadly, out of all the ways these desperate people can commit suicide, one method is to jump in front of a moving train. The chaos this causes is immense, as well as the torment for the train drivers who are in full view of it happening far too late for them to stop, this is extremely stressful for them. Thousands of travellers far and wide have their journeys and plans thrown into turmoil.

One person I know from my own town of Walsall, who was once a train driver, had two people on two separate occasions commit suicide in front of the trains he was driving – he coped with the first suicide but the second was too much – that really cracked him up. He had to quit that job as he could no longer cope with the worry that someone else would do the same again. I still see him in Walsall from time to time but he is not the same person he was when he was much younger – those suicides had an effect upon him.

The reason I write all this very sad liturgy is down to the fact that yesterday, Monday 16th July 2012, I wanted to be home early in order to get ready in plenty of time to get over to the Black Country town of Sedgley, near Dudley, where the UKIP leader, Nigel Farage, was due to give a talk at the Mill Theatre, organised by the UKIP Dudley branch – it promised to be a very good night.

Sadly, after arriving at the station in time for my train, to my dismay the train I wanted to catch had been seriously delayed and even worse, another train I could have caught which was later but still give me time, was cancelled. The reason being was that someone on the outskirts of London decided to end it all by leaping in front of a train. This then threw the whole London to the Midlands rail network into total mayhem and I envisaged not being able to get home in time. Fortunately, I managed to cadge a lift and made it home in time to eat a dried up dinner that had been left warm in the oven, washed, changed and out in a rush to get to the Mill Theatre in Sedgley in time – which I was relieved to say we did.

When people think of public meetings, the first thing they think of as their eyes glaze over, is of some tedious event in a dingy room with a usually boring soul wittering on for far too long about an issue of little concern to most. But this was a public meeting with Nigel Farage MEP and tedium and boredom does not come into it. Last night, to say the least, he was not only on form he was electrifying.

The venue was full to capacity as he came on to the stage and was introduced by the Dudley North UKIP prospective candidate, Bill Etheridge. He then opened up with tales of his goading of the EU Commission and its “damp rag” President, the nowhere man himself Herman Van Rumpoy. Nigel gave other humorous tales of the EU farce and its idiotic doings too and all the time you could see the audience was gripped, he had them enthralled.

As the talk went on the topics he raised became more serious, he highlighted the treachery that has taken place regarding our membership of the EU over the years, the total failure of the Conservative Party and its leaders to honour their sham promises on the EU and their failure to honour their referendum pledges. He spoke about the disgraceful bias and corruption of the 1975 Common Market referendum and the arrogance of the EU and its acolytes.

He then gave full and clear answers to those who had the chance to question him during the questions and answer session in the second part of the meeting and then, when it was all over, he stood near the main entrance and spoke to people as they left. You have to hand it to Nigel, there is not another politician in the land with his charisma and commitment who can equal him.

After the meeting and people began to disperse, some went to the dinner in a restaurant nearby to have a late meal with the Dudley UKIP team and Nigel, while others started their journeys home. As my brother Bruce, sister in law Chris and wife Lin and I had all gone together, we took up the invite of some of our UKIP South Staffs members to have a beer, or two, in a real Black Country ale house, The Beacon Hotel, just down the road from the venue where they served their own mild and bitter brewed, I believe, on the premises. What better way to end such a good evening with family and friends and with one of the best pints of ale for far and wide.

For those of us who care for our country, our freedom, liberty and democracy there are dark days of despondency as we see our failed and useless politicians sacrifice all these values to enslave us to the EU, but suicide and creating havoc to others, as well as great distress to train drivers and family is not an option – that gets no one anywhere. We keep fighting and last night our spirits were lifted greatly. If you are feeling down and all is hopeless, don’t give up as there is always hope somewhere, and Nigel Farage is our hope for a Britain free of the EU. Just go to one of his meetings and join us in UKIP and stand up for what you value – you will be thanked for it.

A GOOD WAY TO START THE WEEKEND

Lord Willoughby de Broke, to give a public talk in the village pub.

For those looking for something interesting to do this very Friday evening (13th July), a very interesting night is about to be had at the Shakespeare Inn in Harbury which is not too far away from Warwick & Leamington.

The local UKIP activists have organised UKIP Peer, Lord Willoughby de Broke, to come along and give a talk about the EU and answer questions, and there is a lot to talk about these days as the pressure for an in/out EU referendum mounts as the EU lurches from one catastrophe to another, all of which are of its own making.

I will be travelling there from my home town of Walsall and the branch have put me on standby to answer a few questions too, if needed. So what better way to start your weekend in a nice country pub, with good company, good beer and with a Peer of the realm too.

KILLED BY THE EU WORKING TIME DIRECTIVE

When the EU’s Working Time Directive was imposed upon the UK, many warned that it should not apply to Doctors and many medical staff as they have a different way of working, and that restricting their hours could cost lives. This prediction has tragically now been proven in the very distressing case of Kane Gorney, the young man who was forced to call 999 from his hospital bed just to ask for a drink of water.

Kane had various medical problems due to a type of diabetes and needed to remain fully hydrated as part of his condition. After going into hospital for a hip replacement operation due to one of his problems being soft bones, due to a combination of, as the coroner ruling on his death pointed out, of ‘incompetent staff’ and other errors, Kane was left without water and rapidly went downhill. By the time the staff in the hospital realised just how critical he was it was too late to save the 22 year olds life.

One of the reasons too Kane died at such a young age, again pointed out by the coroner, Shirley Radcliffe, was as she stated was due to the ‘target-driven’ culture in the NHS and the European Working Hours Directive, which limits the number of hours medical staff can work which had played a part in his death.

This now proves just how harmful EU directives can be. Despite the warnings before the Working Time Directive was foisted upon this nation no British Government, short of taking Britain out of the EU which they will not do, can stop such bad EU powers and laws being inflicted upon the long suffering people of the UK who are increasingly showing concern as to why our Governments will not tackle the EU problem.

TORY PARTY FOOLS

William Hague, 'hands up, I'm telling porkies!'

What is it with the Tories, do they take us all for brain dead unthinking morons? After being members of the European Community since 1973 it should be expected the Tory leadership and William Hague, our Foreign Minister, by now to have some understanding of how the EU works.

By declaring they are to have an “audit” of Britain’s European Union membership shows they have little conception that under the terms of the EU’s acquis communautaire, what powers the EU takes it keeps and will never return.

These political fools behave as if there is a pick and mix EU, where we as a nation, can pick the laws we want and not the ones we don’t like. The EU hierarchy must be reading the nonsense now filling the pages of the British press and scratching their heads wondering what is going on and asking the question – ‘Don’t they know this is not, never has been, and never will be an option.

For nations like us who are now enslaved to the EU through this type political lies and deceit, there are only two options. These are to either to remain as members of the EU and fully accept its dominance over us and the fact that in a few years time we cease to be a nation in our own right to become part of the new superstate called the United States of Europe, or we leave and return to a self governing democracy. My preference is to leave the EU.

Once again this is the nasty, cheating, lying, unscrupulous Tory Party in action trying to deceive the electorate into thinking they are EU sceptic and that it is safe to vote for them. Seeing how they have dealt with their failed promises of a referendum on Lisbon and Cameron’s three line whip in Parliament against holding the long overdue in/out EU referendum, those who vote for that party are showing they are the very fools the Tory Party are taking them for. UKIP is the only option.

LEAVE THE LORDS ALONE

The Houses of Parliament, no reform neccessary.

Yesterday on this blog I posted a bit of a quirky item regarding Calamity Clegg’s push for the unnecessary and unwanted (by the electorate) reform of the House of Lords and predicted that he would be heading towards disaster. Well he’s hit the wall of pretty solid Tory opposition, bounced off and is now looking somewhat wounded. It seems his Lib Dem lame duck has a broken wing.

This of course does not bode well for the cobbled together Lib Dem and Tory coalition, and now Clegg is making grumbling noises about scuppering the Tory plans for the 2015 boundary changes that will – in theory, help them electorally as the proposed boundary changes remove the miss match between the Labour and Tory safe seats.

The way our Parliament works with the fully elected House of Commons and the mostly appointed House of Lords, with a few remaining hereditary Peers, is something that looks like an oddity but in reality works extremely well. The irony is in the fact that the unelected Peers seem to be more in tune with the people than those who the people elected to represent them.

As things currently stand the Peers, many of whom are appointed for their specialist knowledge on a whole range of issues, scrutinise all legislation being put forward by the House of Commons and make suggestions where the legislation can be improved or should be amended as they foresee problems. They may sometimes hold up and delay legislation they see as flawed, but as they are not elected they do not want to overrule the elected House and generally remain within the bounds of their limits.

The Lords too, despite sounding and looking very grand with their titles and impressive debating chamber, which makes the House of Commons look a bit sparse in comparison, actually cost the taxpayers far less than our elected Members of Parliament, the Lords are not paid, they only receive expenses and an attendance allowance for the days they sit in the Lords, no attendance no dosh, unlike the MPs who get paid whether they are there or not. Nor do the Lords do not get staff or secretarial allowances, the MPs do.

All this brings home the facts that as things currently stand the Lords are far cheaper to keep and better represent the people, yet Clegg Quixote, as I referred to him in my last posting, wants to get in there and destroy this unique and extremely good arrangement.

Once people begin to stand for election to the House of Lords the whole balance will change, then they will have been given a mandate from the people and will begin to flex their Lordly muscles, despite what those pushing for change say. Once elected they will feel they have a right to not just amend and scrutinise legislation, but block and destroy any legislation they are opposed to – the House of Parliament will become unbalanced and unworkable – added to which there are some serious constitutional matters that will need looking at too. Under the Treaty of Union between Scotland and England the Scots were promised a set number of Members of Parliament and hereditary Peers. Although the Jocks may soon be hitching up their kilts and waving goodbye, until then such matters as well as many more will have to be considered.

When it comes to the reform of the House of Lords, it is not a prime issue for the public, unlike matters such as the NHS, crime, terrorism, the economy and of course, in rapidly growing numbers at last, the problem of our EU membership which is far more in need of total reform than the House of Lords. However, Clegg and his Lib Dem cohorts don’t want to discuss that, unless it is to discuss more EU. Nick Clegg and his band of constitutional saboteurs should leave the Lords alone.

CLEGG QUIXOTE

There once was a politician who did many strange things, maybe the odd things he did was due to him having a Spanish wife – his name was Clegg Quixote.

Like his counterpart Don Quixote, who took to tilting at windmills, he too took to tilting at things that he could never win. He supported the EU and its despotic currency, despite the fact everyone else could see this to be a total waste of time as the EU had proved itself to be burdensome and its currency doomed to abject failure.

However, Clegg Quixote managed to get himself, by sheer fluke and good fortune, into a position of minor importance and influence – this was a great opportunity for him to take up other lost causes.

He decided it was time to change the voting system which was of no interest to the people of the land whatsoever – they told him to get on his donkey, which he had named Vince, and ride off into the sunset.

Undaunted by this setback Clegg Quixote, a man full of his own importance, sat and pondered the great things in life and one day came up with a great idea that would be of so little interest to everyone no one, other than himself and his tiny band of Quixoteers, would like. He wanted to reform the House of Lords.

The sighs and groans from the two Houses of Parliament could be heard far and wide across the land. Of course, like all Clegg Quixote’s ideas it had not been well considered and thought out. He never stopped to consider that what was already in place, although to many seemed a bit odd, actually worked and change was not required. Nor did he, the vainglorious Clegg Quixote, stop to think of the complex constitutional problems as by now he was on his donkey and with his trusted and somewhat battered and patched up lance, was at full charge.

Battle lines have been drawn and the massed ranks of Labour and Tory opponents are waiting with their cudgels in hand, but Clegg Quixote, with visor down and vision impaired charges on towards his inevitable fate.

Here ends the first chapter in this sad tale of a not so brave knight who always gets it wrong. The full gory detail to be continued after the vote has taken place in the House of Commons this evening. Will this be the end of Clegg Quixote? Will his Lib Dem Quixoteers follow him to his doom? Can he find a way out? Don’t miss the next thrilling chapter, Hansard will reveal all in all its bloody and ruthless detail.

JUST THE JOB FOR DAVE

Ring, ring. “Hello, thank you for calling Make A Mint Insurance, your call is important to us so please follow the following instructions. Press one if you wish to take out insurance cover, press two if you you need to discuss your payments, press three if you wish to discuss our products and press four if you wish to make a claim.”

“Thank you for calling our claims department, you are - - - number 57 in the queue, please wait.” Ten minutes later: “Thank you for your patience, one of our operators will be with you shortly.” Ten minutes later: ‘Thank you for your patience, one of our operators will be with you shortly.” Ten ten minutes later: “Hello, my name is Gurdeep, how may I help you today?”

“Oh, thank God for that, a human voice - at last!” “Yes sir (if you can understand my heavily Indian accent) how may I help you (all the way from New Delhi)?” “Yes, please, for the last twenty years I have been paying my insurance premiums to your company without having to make a claim, however, sadly, we have had a burst water pipe while we were away on holiday and by the time we returned home just about everything in our home was destroyed, I am afraid I will have to make a claim.”

“Thank you for notifying us of your claim, did your pipe burst on a Thursday afternoon between 4 Pm and 5 pm?” “I dunno, we were visiting the Greek Isle of Eurocrapaintheshitolus at the time.” “I see sir, and did the water from the burst pipe run for more than ten minutes?” “Well, yes, it must have done, you should see the damage it has done, everything is wrecked.”

“Thank you for that information sir, I just need a moment to consult my superior - please hold the line.” “No, please don’t leave me hanging on any longer, I don’t think I can stand it.” Tinkle, tinkle, Greensleaves tinkle , tinkle. “Sod it, she’s gone.

A long time later: “Thank you for holding sir, I am afraid your claim is unsuccessful as the small print in your insurance document states that any leaks from burst pipes not on a Thursday afternoon between the hours of 4 pm and 5 pm, that run for more than ten minutes are not covered. Can I help you with anything else today sir?” “Argh!”

How many times have we all had frustrating telephone calls like that to some faceless person from the other side of the planet to get absolutely nowhere? Admit it, it has happened to each and everyone of us.

Now compare that frustrating scenario with a dodgy insurance company to a dodgy politician, namely Dave Cameron’s small print regarding a long, long, overdue referendum on the serious problem of our membership of the democracy destroying European Union.

‘Yes, we will have a referendum’ says Dave, ‘great’ says everyone else, about time too. ‘So when can we expect it Dave?’ says the vast, by now seriously frustrated electorate. ‘Ah. says Dave, not just yet as the time is not right, also it may not be the sort of in/out referendum you were expecting as it may be based on renegotiations with the EU and the sort of deal we can get - then we will put it to you” says Dave.

Here then is the small print, as there is no mechanism to re-negotiate with the EU - you are either in or out and Dave will not give us that option, which of course is the claim we want to make, no referendum will ever be on offer as he is basing it on the utterly impossible.

Dave, your talents are wasted in Number 10, there is a perfect position awaiting you in Eurocrap Insurance in an Indian call centre - the job was made for you.