Nelson Mandela: Rumours Of His Death Grow Stronger

I’m certain that during his many years of incarceration by the evil white South African regime, Nelson Mandela would never have considered that his death and funeral would be turned into a massively over-exposed media event used for the purposes of political expediency, saturated in hypocrisy and populated by narcissistic  ‘celebs’.

Dealing with the first accusation, the current South African regime appears to be using the memorial and funeral as nothing more than a platform for campaigning for the forthcoming elections. The event is being so heavily propagandized that I have genuine concerns that Mandela’s body may be stuffed and mounted and dragged out onto the campaign trail.

Of course political expediency is not only restricted to the current South African regime, a regime where the accusations of sleaze and corruption must have felt like cold daggers to the heart of Mandela when he was alive, but also to the attending international politicians. Putting aside the childish and inappropriate ‘selfie’ taken by Danish Premier Schmidt, of herself, British Prime Minister Cameron, and American President Obama, we seem to have been subjected to a never ending parade of neo-liberal, right wing politico’s spewing out platitude after maudlin platitude about a man, who several years ago, many of them would have gladly seen swing from a gibbet. If it came to light that somewhere in the Cameron household, there was a grubby white tee shirt now being used to wash windows, with ‘Hang Mandela’ on it, I for one, would not be in the slightest bit surprised. I suppose one of the sadness’s of Margaret Thatcher’s demise is that we missed the spectacle of her being wheeled out in front of the cameras and made to spout banalities about a man she obviously considered a criminal and a terrorist, and if she had been given the chance at the time, she would have gleefully pulled the hangman’s trapdoor lever herself.

Obama’s speech, although mildly inspirational, was just words that, given current USA policy regarding drones, must have felt like dripping acid to the friends and relatives of the innocent men, women and children blown to smithereens by drones.

 On the subject of innocent men, women and children being killed by a much more powerful state, you have to have a reluctant regard for Israeli Premier Netanyahu for not attending the memorial. Supposedly it was for reasons of cost, but more likely it was because of Mandela’s support for the Palestinian cause, so you have to have a degree of respect for Netanyahu for staying true to his convictions when many other politicians have adopted the self serving approach of ‘ I thought Mandela was great, oh, and don’t forget. Vote for me’.

The media coverage has been wildly over blown. I mean, by all means celebrate the death of a man who overcame brutality, persecution, inequality and freed a nation, but for crying out loud as I write this, BBC Radio 5Live is just entering its sixth hour of broadcasting the funeral, ( god help us when David Beckham pops his clogs), although I do appreciate that the court case involving TV cook Nigella Lawson and her geriatric husband is currently in adjournment, so time has been freed up on the schedules, and I don’t think they’re any wars currently going on in the middle east that could be considered more important than the dysfunctional marriage of a drug taking TV cook and her abusive ex-husband. And was it necessary to cover the funeral on BBC Radio 4 as well, although Radio 4 coverage was ended in favour of the Archers Omnibus (a tale of everyday country folk). Radio 4 obviously came to their senses and realised that their core audience is full of smug middle class professionals from the Home Counties who would probably be much more interested in David and Ruth’s difficult calving or Linda Snell’s final rehearsal preparations for the Xmas pantomime, rather than the death of that Mandela chappie who worked for the parcel company ANC.

The right wing print media coverage has been laughable as they laud a man they pilloried as a terrorist thirty years ago. If hypocrisy was a flammable substance the instances of reports about newsstands bursting into flames would be in the millions. After all, in the eyes of the right wing press, Mandela was the worst example of mankind. He was a socialist.

The final disappointing aspect has been the appearance of the ‘celebs’. Not their attendance, if they were friends with Mandela then they have every right to attend, but the profile their attendance is given, as if the attendance of Naomi Campbell is far more important than the attendance of a road sweeper from Soweto. ‘Celebs’, to me, are no more than performing chimps. They should be given due respect for their performances unless their actions dictate otherwise. To see someone like bonio,bongo,Paul Hewson basking in the reflected glory of a man like Mandela does stick in one’s craw. I’m not sure what Mandela’s tax arrangements were but I‘ll bet you a blood diamond the subject of tax arrangements probably never came up much in his discussions with Mr Hewson.

Mandela was a great man and to see his death hijacked for the purposes of political expediency, hypocrisy and image burnishing is a sad indictment of the society we have allowed to be created.

The NFU.

The NFU (National Farmers Union) have sent a letter to every Member of Parliament, complaining about the proposed policy of reducing the Common Agricultural Policy Subsidy by 15% and using the money for environmental projects. Farmers consider themselves the guardians of the countryside and providers of cheap food, but this is nothing more than spin and b££ls*it. The only thing farmers and estate owners are guardians of, is their own bank balance and will gladly slaughter anything that gets in the way of achieving that objective.

The badger slaughter is an obvious example. Farmers are happy to demonise an iconic countryside animal, loved by the British people, and oversee and actively participate in the slaughter and eradication of badgers because adopting the proper and effective method of eradicating Bovine Tuberculosis means they would have to clean up their dirty farming practises, which of course will cost them! money, when they would rather the British Taxpayer pay for it.

Another example of species destruction for the purposes of rapacious capitalism is the holocaust currently being inflicted upon raptors across the United Kingdom by gamekeepers and shooting estates, a holocaust that is being encouraged and facilitated by the current Tory government, who gladly bow to shooting lobby groups and relatives alike, if it means the Tory coffers will be swelled with donations. 

The ex- wildlife minister Benyon was an arch practitioner of raptor persecution demonstrated by his attempt to introduce a policy that legalised the blasting of buzzards nests with shot guns, with the chicks still in the nest, and his refusal to ban carbofuran, which is a poison illegally used by game keepers to kill raptors who prey on game birds. Add into the mix, the plummeting general bird population that is being killed off with pesticides and you realise that farmers attempting to portray themselves as guardians of the countryside amounts to nothing more than a pile of steaming s**t.

The claim that farmers provide cheap food is also bogus. Supermarkets provide cheap food, not farmers. If farmers could get away with selling a carrot for a fiver, believe me, they would. The reason milk, potatoes etc are cheap is down to the demands of supermarkets and the competition they face between other retailers, which forces them to keep their prices low. If local farmers tried to sell potatoes to a supermarket at an inflated price, within a month that supermarket would be selling potatoes provided by another farmer, probably farming in another country. An example of capitalism not even farmer Joe can circumvent.

The fact that farmers are annoyed that the possibility that the free money they receive from taxpayers, the majority of which are from that community despised by the farming community, ‘townies’, may be reduced, demonstrates how detached they are from reality and how cosseted a lifestyle they live. I’m sure the mining industry, ship building industry, steel industry and car industries would have loved to have received subsidies in order to keep them afloat but unfortunately those industries were populated by people from the wrong class so it was considered acceptable to destroy lives and communities for the purposes of political expediency. That’s free market economics the fascists will cry.Yet when it comes to the middle class farming community, free market economics apparently don’t apply. If your business is not viable, don’t worry, here’s some free ‘townie’ money (benefits) for you.,go on, spoil yourself, go and buy a new 4x4 or lay down some more concrete, so you can build another barn and ram some cattle inside it. I’m sure it won’t propagate any communicative diseases that will result in healthy cattle being slaughtered but if it does, don’t worry, you can claim the costs back from the tax payer and while you’re doing that why don’t you shed a few crocodile tears and blame badgers or squirrels. Then you get to kill them. Win,win

The NFU is nothing more than a self serving, out of touch lobby group who like to portray the majority of the UK population (townies) as ignoramuses who ‘don’t understand the countryside’ (I think that’s code for incest and bestiality), yet are happy to take the free money in the form of subsidies (benefits, living a life on benefits Mr Farmer?), while constantly trying to deny the population a say in the tax payer funded policies implemented in the countryside.

The NFU mantra to townies is “give us your money, but keep your nose out of our business”.

£73000 for an MP:What a Joke.

The recommendation that Members of Parliament should receive an increase in salary to £73000 per annum is a disgrace. Being a back bench MP is an absolute skive. Their responsibilities, other than dealing with the odd constituent’s problem and acting like boorish thugs during Prime Minister Questions, is minimal.

What do they do all week? If dealing with constituent’s queries and problems is such a heavy workload then how come they only hold one constituency surgery a week, if that? They get close to 20 weeks holiday a year and let’s be honest, if you live in a constituency where you did not vote for the sitting MP then you have no representation at all. If you disagree with the current governments policies, going to an MP to complain, that is part of that government, is going to be pointless. Their response will be ‘I’m not really bothered with your concerns. You didn't vote for me so why should I care about your problems and concerns’. The only responsibility of an MP is to look after those people who voted for them. Anybody else can go to hell. An MP’s main concern is looking after number one. They are selfish, self centred individuals whose only concern is their standing in society and how they can line their own pockets.

They complain that their salaries have fallen, in comparison to professions such as Head Teachers, Colonels and Doctors, but these people have real! responsibility. They are dealing with life and death situations and the education of young people that can improve life opportunities. An MP’s workload involves dealing with somebody who isn't getting their bins emptied on time or turning up for a photo opportunity because another charity shop is opening in the High Street. Also, being a Member of Parliament is not a profession. To be an MP you do not have to pass any exams or achieve any qualifications. It is one of the least qualified jobs in the land and where training is minimal. Most of these people are unqualified and untrained for the role they fill.

They air that old chestnut ‘you won’t get the right calibre of people’ but how much is a nurse paid? How much is a fireman paid? How much does a soldier, who is serving in Afghanistan, get? What about the WPC who was shot last week? How much does she get paid a year. I doubt any of them receive more than £25000- £35000 per annum. Are we saying they are of poor calibre because they choose to work a profession that pays, in comparison to an MP, peanuts? This type of attitude demonstrates how detached politicians are from real life and how full they are of their own self importance.

Members of Parliament should receive no more than £40000 per annum, and that’s probably too high for the job they do, and it should be performance related. If an MP fails to turn up for a vote then they should not be paid. All MP’s should be subjected to a yearly constituency satisfaction survey. If they fail to achieve 51% then their pay should be reduced by 20% for the next year.

 Most of them are just time servers, waiting to cash in their very generous pension before taking up a non-executive position on the board of a company, whose interests they have been serving while they were an MP.

Autumn Statement Debacle.

Putting aside the ridiculous forecasts of Chancellor Exchequer Osborne (he hasn't hit one forecast in three years in office), and that within a day, The Institute for Fiscal Studies had picked his Autumn Statement apart and destroyed it, along with any economic credibility Osborne, or his plan, has. The main disgrace was the yobbish behaviour from the coalition MP’s when Ed Balls gave his response for the opposition.

The opposition represent millions of people in this country and those people have a right to hear their representative make a statement on their behalf. Having to listen to a cacophony of never-ending braying from a bunch of loutish yobs is not democracy in action and proves that MP’s are not worth the salary they receive or that they give a toss about the democratic process. 

 

Nelson Mandela.

There has been one aspect around the death of Nelson Mandela that has been truly vomit inducing, of which below is an illustrative example.

Tory’s circa 2013:

‘The death of Nelson Mandela is very sad. A light has gone out in the world. He was a fine advocate of freedom and democracy and a great world statesman’. ( sniff)

Tory’s circa 1988:

‘ That damn Mandela chappie is nothing more than a terrorist who should be bloody well executed. Maggie( Thatcher) got it right. Those damn uppity blacks should know their place. Bloody ANC should all be shot. What do you say Cammers’.

‘Oh dead right ossers. What say we go out and buy one of those ‘Hang Mandela’ tee shirts?’ (snort)

‘Super idea Cammers, what larks’. (snort)

The lengths people will go for the purposes of political expediency. The days of conviction politics are long gone, replaced with a bunch of political chancer’s ,who are prepared to say or do anything, no matter how hypocritical, if they think it will win them votes.

Corporate Gangsterism: Coming Soon, To a Workplace Near You.

In a previous blog I wrote of a dystopian future where corporations and multi nationals controlled world politics and politicians were nothing more than bean counters, whose only responsibilities would be deciding budgets for parks, welfare and bin collections. Large corporations would call the shots on working conditions, pay, pensions and taxes, housing, laws to be passed, prices and which wars to fight. Impotent politicians would be waiting, at the end of a phone, to be told by company executives what they needed to do, which laws to pass and if they were not quick about it, one call was all that was needed to destroy their careers and the lives of thousands of families. After all, the most important thing in life wasn't family, it was profit.

The events at the Grangemouth refinery, last week, have proved that that future is closer than you thought. The company held a metaphorical gun to the heads of workers and politicians alike and told them what was happening. There was no consultation, because the company could just pick up the ball and go home. It considered its responsibilities to the 800 families of the employees were nonexistent. Putting it bluntly, it didn’t give a fu** about destroying the lives of thousands in the pursuit of profit. I would be very surprised if executive pay, dividends and bonuses will suffer the same level of burden and austerity that the workers will have to endure, under the new deal, and the politicians were no more than footman, charging around in a panic, doing their master’s bidding. They had no control and no influence.

These events are proof positive that a small coterie of politicians and business people do not share in the so-called ‘austerity programme’ and are only concerned in a massive wealth and power grab through tax avoidance, pay, bonuses and profit, whilst actively denying the majority access to the same opportunities. Any livelihoods that are destroyed on the road to mammon are just casualties of war who should consider themselves lucky to be sacrificed on the altar of corporate greed.

It is said this could be the death knell for the unions because they were powerless and had to back track. Of course the union backtracked. If a company decides to deploy the nuclear option, then the union has no choice. That is the point. Unions were powerless, politicians were powerless and workers were powerless, because the corporation decided to shut the shop and just walk away, leaving the community and the country to pick up the tab, anybody would be powerless. This may actually be a positive turning point for unions because as workers rights, pay and conditions are stripped back while a small elite get wealthier, it just may finally dawn on people that they are, alone, impotent against the corporate crimes being committed upon them and that they need to organise, to fight against the avaricious and rapacious corporations. The unions would be a naturally appealing place to congregate, organise and stand up to the grasping predatory multi nationals. There is, after all, strength in numbers.

Grangemouth was corporate greed at its basest, although I fear there is still a final act, yet to be played out. Within the next five years the Grangemouth refinery will be closed and many jobs will still eventually  be lost.

The Disgusting Mr Shapps.

The Tory Party Chairman, Grant Shapps, has warned the BBC to be more transparent and less bias in its reporting or else it may suffer a reduction in funds when the next charter is due to be renewed, or perhaps, even be broken up. You could not have a more blatant attempt at media intrusion and intimidation, in the interests of political expediency, unless you were living in some right wing military junta that South America became infamous for, or perhaps a totalitarian state in the Caucasus, or a misogynistic Middle Eastern sheikdom.

It is a disgraceful attempt to shut down criticism by the state broadcaster, of the governments failings, worthy of any tin pot dictatorship and has shined a harsh light on how desperate the Tory’s are about their chances of achieving a majority at the next election. I agree, the BBC does have a bias, but it is a right wing bias that favours the government and the establishment. The BBC is currently churning out any old right wing tat the Tory's wish to push and radio output such as Radio 5live, sometimes, is like listening to Radio Tory. 

What sticks in the gullet most though, is when a despicable creature like Shapps pontificates about transparency. The grubby Shapps was caught out using the name Michael Green on the internet and posing as a 'multi-millionaire web marketer' at an internet conference, so before preaching to others about transparency and honesty, Shapps should perhaps concentrate on putting his own mucky back garden in order. Hypocrisy is a nasty trait in any person.

As I have said before, a tory’s wet dream consists of the BBC being dismantled and sold to News International, the privatisation of the NHS and the destruction of the welfare state. This current stunt is just another grimy step, in their attempt to move nearer to achieving the Tory final solution.

 The Plebgate Affair.

Some people, mainly Tory’s, think that former Chief Whip Andrew Mitchell has been given a clean bill of health because of the activities of the police involved in the 'plebgate' scandal. They seem to forget that he still abused a police officer, which is a criminal offence, and he still has not disclosed fully, what he said. Although he has apologised to the police officer, which is an admission of guilt and that his behaviour was unacceptable, being sacked was the minimum sanction he should have received.

The main problem with Mitchell is that a large number of people, including Tory’s, felt the whole scenario was totally believable because Mitchell is considered to be, again including several Tory MP’s, as an arrogant, egotistical, haughty, condescending and self-important sh*t. Until he owns up and discloses what he actually said, in my books, he will still be an arrogant, conceited, self centred tossp*t, who thinks, that because of his position, he was entitled to abuse and insult someone who was just doing their job. In a fairer society, criminal proceedings would be brought against him, or is this yet more proof that it’s one rule for them and one rule for us.

Moomoo The Cat

                                   

Some of you may have seen the pictures of a cat called Moomoo ( above), who was shot through the head with a cross bow in Wellington, New Zealand. and many would have been outraged at this brutality inflicted on a defenseless animal. Moomoo has survived, because the bolt went through one of his eyes and only grazed Moomoo’s brain and he is soon to return home. The 18 yr old culprit has been apprehended and Moomoo’s owner is said to be undecided on his punishment.

 I have a suggestion. Stand the cowardly little sh*t against a wall. Don’t fire a cross bow at him, just take the cross bow bolt and ram it into his eye and twist. As he screams with pain, just laugh at the sc*mb*g, before holding him down and ramming a second bolt into his other eye. Then look at his parents accusingly, so they understand who is ultimately responsible for this abhorrent crime. I think that’s fair, don’t you? Justice for Moomoo.

 Is The Economy Improving?

There are only two criteria that prove an economy is growing and thus demonstrating that circumstances are improving for the majority and not just a small clique that consists  of the wealthy and the privileged. They are, wages increasing in line with or outstripping inflation, and unemployment figures dropping rapidly towards full employment. Until those markers are met, there is no growing economy, just an ever widening chasm between the haves and the have not’s.

“The most dangerous person in the world is the one who has the least to lose.” (anon).

An Open Letter To Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg.

Subject: Lobbying Bill

Mr Clegg.

I am disgusted at your attempts to close down freedom of speech and crush dissent and criticism through the introduction of the Lobbying Bill. It is disgraceful enough that your quisling support of the Tory’s has lead to the privatisation of the NHS, tax breaks for millionaires and to cruelty and pain being inflicted on the weakest and most vulnerable within our society, a section of society that you should be doing your utmost to protect, but now you are attempting to rush through a bill that will not affect actual lobby groups in the slightest but will prevent organisations such as charities, trade unions and student bodies from criticising your policies and exercising freedom of speech. It is nothing more than a fascist’s charter.

Do not think for a minute that trying to shut down dissent will enable you to avoid being brought to account for the crimes you have committed on defenceless people within this nation and the aid and succour you and your party have given to the Tory’s, enabling them to embark on their brutal, venal, hate filled ideologically attack on the disabled, the poor, the weak and the vulnerable.

 If you think this ill thought out and self serving bill will shelter you and your party from the carnage that will be visited upon you in the 2015 General Election, then you are a bigger idiot than most people think.

End.

Questions, Questions.

Since the most recent revelations of cruelty inflicted upon the elderly residents of The Orchid Care Home in West Sussex have come to light, people have been asking, in the manner of a particularly dim and naive eight year old, why it could happen. I mean really! People are confused why such barbarities could be inflicted upon the defenceless? They’re mystified and surprised! Have these people no knowledge of world history! Are they oblivious to what is occurring around the world at the moment, in places such as Syria, Russia, Kazakhstan, Palestine, Bahrain, Iraq, the Congo. Are these people unaware of the slaughter of elephants and rhino’s in Africa, the butchering of dolphins and sharks in South America or the Faroe Islands, the decimation of the rain forest habitat of the orangutan, all for greed. Surely they cannot be blind to the cruelties being inflicted by the British government upon the weak and defenceless poor within their own country or the shambolic badger slaughter currently being perpetrated. To this current government, a defenceless dumb animal could be either a badger or a poor person. To a Tory there is no difference, they both need to be eradicated as far as the Tory’s are concerned.

I think the people who ask the question why, really already know the answer, but they feign ignorance and bemusement as a cover for their own inactivity and passivity. It is a cover to obscure their moral cowardice. Fair enough, if you feel you cannot do anything or you do not want to do anything, that’s fine. But please don’t insult my intelligence by trying to justify your wilful ignorance and inactivity at fighting the pitiless injustice, being meted out daily upon this planet, by pretending you don’t know why. We all know why. Humans are a greedy, selfish, venal, cruel, nasty, self serving, vicious, horrible, malevolent, wicked ,foul, offensive, spiteful, vile and revolting species who despoil this planet by roaming around it , killing, stealing, slaughtering, destroying, oppressing, mutilating, repressing, thieving, exterminating, subjugating and massacring anything that gets in the way of making a quick buck. When there is a power imbalance the strong will always try to capitalise on the weak, whether it be monetarily or whether it be to satisfy their own sadistic proclivities or to justify their religious bigotry. The strong prey on the weak because they can, and they enjoy it. I expect when Prime Minister cameron is asked, during Prime Ministers Question Time, about the ever growing number of foodbanks, I expect he gets a bit of a frisson at the thought of his policies condemning children and families to starvation and deprivation. As he bats the question away as unimportant, he probably has an erection. I think that’s why he always hurries off once PMQ’s is over.

So there you have it. When the next story of barbarity appears on the television and you turn away or quickly flip the channel over, at least when you ask the question why, you’ll have the answer. But I doubt you’ll do much about it. After all, it wasn’t your mother was it? They're only elephants aren’t they? We won’t miss them, will we? She was five, I doubt, when the bullet hit her, she knew a thing about it. That American drone attack, it only killed six adults, four children, two donkeys and a dog in the wedding party, Didn't it. Don’t you worry your silly little heads about it. Get back to that soap, or the current issue of whatever celebrity magazine you enjoy, you lightweights.

By the way, if you are affronted by this article because you feel I am unfairly maligning you because you do care, then I apologise. If you are someone who attempts, no matter how small those attempts are, to fight injustice, then I applaud you. If you are someone who is involved in actions that do not benefit yourself directly, but benefit others, I congratulate you. You are a hero and this article is not directed at you. It is directed at the ‘I’m alright Jack’ brigade, the type of braying reactionary that, when you broach the subject of poverty, or children being murdered in Syria, or human right abuses, or the near extinction of the tiger, or the latest car bombing in Iraq, they stifle a yawn and whine “Oh must we talk about this, It’s so dull, can’t we talk about property prices or me or the latest vacuous reality show”, That person, that’s who this item is directed at. Not you. I like you.J

Parents.

Parents who send their children to boarding school at a young age should not be allowed to refer to themselves as 'parents', but instead should call themselves 'the child's primary accountant'.

Independence for Wessex!!

Break the shackles of the Tory jackboot and vote for the Wessex Independence Party! Freedom!

"Do not despise a man who steals a loaf to feed his hunger" ( Solomon, proverbs).

A letter of Complaint.

To: Police.
From: Some Members of Parliament. Past and present.

Dear Mr Plod.

We are very cross with you for stitching up our bestest buddy Andy ‘pleb’ Mitchell. We are quite happy to stay silent over the hundreds of deaths that occur in custody and which never lead to any police officer being found guilty by the Independent Police Complaints Commission and ending up doing a long stretch up at the big house. We were content to be complicit in the tarnishing of 96 football supporters who died at Hillsborough. Changing all those statements and perverting the course of justice didn’t really bother us, after all Maggie Thatcher was a super girl and none of us has been screaming for any police officers to be brought to justice have we? All those shenanigans at Orgreave, during the miners’ strike, where police beat up miners and falsely arrested many, and was really just an ideologically driven class war by the state. Did we complain? We never raised a peep when that foreign chappie, was he Chilean? Charles De Menezes had his brains blown out in a tube station and the police  brazenly lied to the public and tried to say he was a terrorist when , in fact , he was a painter and decorator. Still no police officer was punished for his murder but like we said, he was only a Uruguayan. We are not really bothered that a paper seller, seen by millions across the world, can be assaulted and killed by a police officer at the G20 and the copper is allowed to retire on his taxpayer funded police pension, remember when the police officers, when they were attending to the dying Mr Tomlinson, lied about being under attack from flying bottles, bloody camera phones. The only time we ever said anything about the way you continually let Jimmy Savile get away with his crimes was when we saw it as a chance to give the BBC a good kicking. And what about the time you fitted up the Birmingham Six and the Guildford Four, or when you shot that man because you said you thought the chair leg he was carrying was a gun or the time one of you brave boys in blue tazered that blind sixty three year old man. We all laughed when you claimed his white stick was a shot gun.

As you can see, there have been loads of instances where the police have murdered, perverted the course of justice, broken the law and abused the civil rights of law abiding citizens and instead of doing our jobs, as Members of Parliament and representatives of the British public, by bringing you to account, we haven’t raised a squeak of complaint. It really is beyond the pale.We allow you to roam the land, without any consequences, like a government sponsored militia, unchecked, and all we expect you to do is protect the interests of the ruling elite. Is that so much to ask?

So we are sure you can appreciate how cross we are at your nasty treatment of Mr Mitchell, or as we now call him ‘the plebmeister’. We understand that any member of the public who abused a police officer, would have been thrown to the ground and hand cuffed before being tossed in the back of a police van and spent a night in the cells, when Mr Mitchell was excused his behaviour and allowed to cycle away on a womans bicycle and spend the evening at The Garrick Club. But we are MP’s, haven’t you read about the expenses scandal? We’re allowed to break the law and get away with it.

So we want to know why you are picking on one of our own. It’s not fair. Anybody would think you had an axe to grind. We are on the same side, don’t you know. That’s the deal isn’t? You leave us alone to enrich ourselves through public office and we leave you alone to do whatever you bloody well feel like, with impunity.  We insist you stop this silly game, say you’re sorry, and return to persecuting protecting the general public.

Yours sincerely.

A bunch of whiny self serving MP’s with self interest at their core.

P.S. We appreciate the level of hypocrisy contained within this letter will stick in the gullet of any right thinking individual, but we’re MP’s. We don’t care.

P.P.S., Hope to see you at the Freemasons Xmas Ball, should be super larks.

Step Up Moronic Minister No 2.

Soon to be gassed and brain damaged by Tory's

The badger cull has been nothing but a brutal shambles, carried out by morons and murderers that is probably about to escalate into a full blown genocide of one of Britain’s most iconic countryside animals.

Now the cullers have worked out, first hand, how difficult it actually is , charging around the countryside in pitch darkness, trying to slaughter animals that spend the majority of their time underground, the politicians have decided that the failure of the cull is the fault of the badgers. This cowardly and pathetic abdication of responsibility was demonstrated admirably by the well known flat earther, the Environment Secretary Paterson ,who said the cull was a failure because ‘the badgers had moved the goalposts’, as if he expected the badgers to wait in an orderly queue to have their brains blown out instead of running like hell to avoid the butchers. I expect when the cullers arrived, all the cunning badgers climbed trees and when asked if they were badgers, replied, in a West Country accent, “ no sir, we’re just very obese magpies,...... squawk”

Now, to save face and vent his fury, Paterson has threatened to wipe out the badgers by gassing, an incredibly inhumane method which leaves animals brain damaged and left to suffer a long painful lingering death. Gassing is already carried out, illegally, by farmers, who have always considered themselves to be above the law. Farmers are happy to accept thousands in benefits through farm subsidies but do not consider themselves subject to the law of the land in the same way they expect the tax payers, who pay their benefits, to be. This is also evident in the dirty unhygienic conditions they keep their animals in and which is the prime reason for the spread of Bovine Tuberculosis in cattle herds. The badger is just a convenient scapegoat, used by dirty farmers, in an effort to avoid paying for a vaccine. With farmers it profit first, animal welfare......never.

As I have previously stated in previous blogs, it is understandable that people become angry at the double standards of politicians and farmers when it comes to their self serving, sometimes illegal actions, inflicting suffering on innocent animals in the pursuit of profit and it is also understandable that people wish to exact punishment, through direct action, on the perpetrators of cruelty and their supporters, when they see that democracy is sacrificed on behalf of a small elite section of society who are allowed to flout the law with absolute impunity.

If gassing is continued illegally and it is obvious that the authorities seem unwilling to bring the criminals to justice then I foresee many caring and concerned people adopting the attitude ‘he who lives by the sword, dies by the sword’.

As for the moron Paterson, well, readers of previous blogs will have noticed that benyon , the Wildlife Minister, has been a target of much criticism, through this blog, for his incompetence and self serving policies and that criticism has also been extended to No 10 Downing Street.  Last week, benyon was sacked and tossed back onto back benches. Good riddance to bad rubbish.

So step up paterson. It’s your turn to step into my figurative gun sights. Or will it be a figurative gassing by carbon monoxide? I’m not sure yet, but I've got a feeling it may be a long, painful and lingering political death for the climate denying, badger butchering buffoon now known as ‘the moron paterson’.

Political Cowardice.

The sale of Royal Mail, which is just an ideological crusade to sell off the family silver, was a classic example of political cowardice, where politicians put their own interests before the country’s interests. By setting the price so low they have succeeded in losing the taxpayer almost £1bn. They might as well have just given the thing away for nothing, handed it over to the large institutions, who anyway, within a year, will be majority shareholders, as private shareholders sell their shares for a quick profit.

The politicians set the price so low because they bottled it. They were afraid to set the share price higher because they were frightened the sale would fail and show them in a bad light. They are cowards, who are more concerned about their own political careers than they are about ensuring that the privatisation of a once great British institution was carried out in the interests of the nation.

We are governed by quisling and gutless politicians who would gladly sell this nation down the river for a few pieces of silver and a knighthood.

2 Fingered Salute.

The 8% price rise inflicted by Scottish and Southern Electric is an able demonstration of how impotent and unwilling the government is to curtail the excessive profiteering of corporations, utility companies and bankers.

While corporations refuse to pay taxes, utility companies’ ramp up prices, and bankers return to the culture of paying each other massive bonuses, the government stands by, impotent and useless. They’re only response is to turn a blind eye and resort to more attacks on the poor, weak and vulnerable. which is no more than pre planned institutionalised cruelty. A policy, that if continued, will eventually erupt into violence, the victims of which, will be the complacent middle englanders who gleefully champion the policy

If corporations refuse to pay taxes, if bankers set Libor rates with impunity, if utility companies continually profit of the backs of the poor without any constraint, if politicians are involved in nepotism and fraud through expenses, if media organisations can break the law and suffer no sanction, if private sector companies are allowed to defraud the tax payer by false accounting on government contracts then why should normal tax paying and law abiding citizens play by the rules? What’s in it for us? When do we get our turn at the trough?

The Tory Election Strategy.

An alliance between grotesque snobs and ugly mobs.

More Right Wing Hypocrisy

The Tory yelps and screeches, as they try to label Ed Milliband a Trotskyite, would be hilarious if it didn't demonstrate the stinking hypocrisy of the Tory’s and their collaborators within the right wing media as well as demonstrating a lack of veracity and integrity along with a level of immorality and scaremongering that, frankly, is disgusting.

They scream ‘Red Ed’ in an effort to tarnish him and frighten the public into believing he is some sort of communist bogey man that has arisen from the past waiting to infect us all with the red scourge, when all he has done, in reality, is suggest that he will help people struggling with household bills by freezing gas and electric prices if he should come to power in 2015. It’s hardly threatening to nationalise all private property and remove elected parliaments. Is it?

Another example of rank Tory scaremongering is their risible accusation of Stalinism, aimed at Miliband, because he threatened to compulsory purchase land banks from house builders if they refused to build much needed new housing on them. The Tory’s conveniently forget they are currently trying to push through the HS2 rail project, which will cover over 200 miles, south to north, along the spine of the nation, involving hundreds of compulsory purchase orders being issued. So, according to Tory definition, we can label the vanity project, that is HS2, a Stalinist project.

The right wing press are happy to act as the Tory’s Einsatzgruppen’s, with their shrieking headlines about the apparent onrush of communism, but yet again, they parade levels of hypocrisy that are truly disgraceful. The obvious current example being the Daily Mail’s treatment of Ed Milibands father Ralph. The Daily Heil attack Ralph Miliband as ‘the man who hated Britain’ yet conveniently forget he fought for Britain during WWII, whilst serving with the Royal Navy, while the Mail’s Editor-in-Chief, Paul Dacre’s father spent the war as an entertainments correspondent in London, probably hiding away in some sleazy Soho bar.( how did a fit 18 yr old avoid the draft?)

The Tory’s scream socialism if they think public money is going to sections of society they consider undeserving (the poor) yet are happy for public money to be used to guarantee private mortgages, fill the coffers of private companies such as G4S, Serco or Work Programme companies, use state funds to build infrastructure, such as HS2 or Olympic stadiums, as well as giving tax breaks to married couples and the wealthy.They have no qualms about handing over millions in public funds to ideologically suspect people to set up academy schools, but they cannot abide the thought of less fortunate people benefiting through cheaper fuel bills or cheaper housing. In short they are happy to be the recipients of public money, the mantra being 'poor people claim benefits, middle class people receive benefits',  they just don't like other people benefiting from it, who are not of their ilk.  They will gladly ignore the effects austerity is having on social care, the care for the elderly, the marginalisation of the disabled and demonisation of the poor while they themselves suffer no effect, as 80% of the cuts are being imposed on the bottom 20% of the population. They parade their smug 'i'm alright jack' attitude with pride.

You would think, from the squealing right wing reaction, that Miliband had said that all gas and electric would be free from 2015, instead of frozen. Miliband’s message to the utility companies is that their massive profits would be the same in 2015/2016, as they will be in 2014, but that consumer interests comes before shareholders. Profits will still be made, investment will still be available and dividends will still be paid. The utility companies will still be very wealthy and cash rich, but ordinary people will be better off as well.

At the root of this ridiculous and over hyped reaction is the Tory’s drive to corral their wealth and protect it, aligned to a fear that Labour are talking about enacting popular policies that affect, positively, people’s daily lives. This is the freedom Labour has. They can enter policy areas that entrance for Tory’s would be ‘verboten’. Tory’s cannot affect policy in areas such as banking, energy, retail, hedge funds or business because they would be attacking their paymasters, the large Tory donors. This is why they concentrate on welfare, the NHS, and immigration. These are the few areas Tory’s can ideologically change, without fear of affecting their voter base or their bank balance, whereas Labour can talk about price freezes,a living wage or taxing the bankers without fear of a backlash from backers or the majority of voters. The right wing use disingenuous tactics, also used by Republicans in the USA, such as terms as ‘socialist’ or a ‘liberal’, in an attempt to frighten the public, as if moving to the left would be a catastrophic evil and the right wing cause is just and good. After all that well known right winger, Mr. Hitler was a lovely chap and all those generals running right wing junta’s were just being playful when they were dropping bound and gagged dissidents from helicopters, into the sea.

Right wingers will happily champion any policy, no matter how morally bankrupt it may be, if they see there is a buck to be made and it will not affect  their vested interests, no matter what side of the Atlantic they’re on. And they will gladly disinter the rancid ghosts of McCarthyism or Stalinism, in an attempt to scare the ‘plebs’, to facilitate it.  What they cannot stomach is the thought that poor people, somewhere, may benefit from any initiative they are asked to contribute to, hence the right wing hatred of the NHS and the BBC, especially if there is a danger they themselves may miss out. The Tory’s specifically and the right wing in general, are greedy, greedy people and like spoilt indulged children, they never want to share, and will lie and scheme in order to feather their own nests. 

Cameron’s Bluff Has Been Called.

The Tory backbencher Adam Afriye has called out Prime Minister Cameron on Europe. Cameron’s promise of a referendum on Europe in 2017 was nothing more than a bribe to the electorate to buy votes and an attempt to staunch the flow of Tory’s migrating to UKIP. Many Tory backbenchers felt it was nothing more than a lie and come 2017 the referendum would be punted further into the long grass. Afriye will fail with his Private Members Bill. He has no real support, apart from a small coterie of Tory backwoodsman who spend their days on the back benches whittling, playing duelling banjo’s and chewing baccy. But it has highlighted Cameron’s lack of integrity.

American Idiots.

How stupid or how selfish do you have to be, as a politician, to take an action that forces your government to close down? While the Republicans are busy allowing ideologue and self interest get in the way of rational thinking, thousands of ordinary citizens are being pushed into debt and the possibility of house repossession, leading to homelessness. How selfish do you have to be to allow your ideologue facilitate the eviction of families and trashing of lives?

The irony being, the reason for the Republicans egotistical and self-centred action, Obamacare, is going ahead as planned, allowing millions of low paid and poor Americans to be able to, at last, access healthcare.

Something that should be freely available to any citizen of a civilised nation in the 21^st century. Americans should hang their heads in shame for allowing it to take so long.

Wild West?

On the subject of stupidity, quite how a woman suffering from post natal depression is gunned down by police in Washington is beyond me. Sometimes the USA comes across as a big country full of frightened small people. Boo!!! Yeah, see, made yer jump. Yarrgh! I’m already in the house. OOOOOO!!!!! I’m coming up the stairs to get you. OOOOoooo!!! Bunch of scaredy cats.

Formula 1

?

Prince Harry.

During the Taliban attack on Camp Bastion, which resulted in the death of 18 soldiers and destruction of millions of £££’s in hardware, it was at first suggested that Prince Harry had to be rushed to a safe house. This proved to be inaccurate, so I was comforted to read that he had actually managed to sleep through the entire 5 hour long fire fight.

 The Taliban launch an attack to assassinate him, leading to the death of 18 soldiers and Harry can’t even be bothered to show up.

RIP

Yesterday, Wildlife Minister benyon was sacked. My response is blunt. Good Riddance, you bird slaughtering, animal murdering, self interested scumbag!! Now you can spend more time in your counting house, counting the millions you receive in taxpayer funded benefits, through the Common Agricultural Policy.

Congratulations.

Congratulations to Ilham Aliyev, President of Azerbaijan, on his recent election victory. The Azerbaijani Electoral Commission is so efficient it decided to publish the results 24 hrs before the polls actually opened. Outstanding. 

Definition of a Tory.

Someone who says government doesn't work then gets elected and proves it.

Tory Economic Illiteracy, Spin, Lies and Metaphorical Punishment Beatings For The Poor.

If the Torys really wanted to help the long term unemployed back to work, they would not be trying to force them into undertaking slave labour and being paid a pittance, but instead they would close down all the Welfare to Work programmes and redirect the money into paying the minimum wage to the long term unemployed, while they carry out tasks such as litter picking, chewing gum removal and graffiti removal. This would provide a service to the public while allowing the unemployed regain their confidence and self esteem whilst attaining important skills and experience.

The  companies that currently provide the back to work programmes are in receipt of £5bn in public funds and nine companies are currently under investigation for defrauding the public. Their success rate for getting a person into sustainable long term employment is 1.3% of every 100 accepted onto the programmes. This is a catastrophic failure for the people trying to find work,for the economy and particularly for Tory government.

Now the Tory's are suggesting that people that fail to find work through work programmes are to be forced into work anyway, costing another £1bn, which is tantamount to admitting that their flagship welfare to work programme not only has lamentably failed, but that they accept that millions in public money has been wasted and are prepared to waste more,when they could recycle the welfare to work money by making  one off payment's available to any company that takes on an unemployed person in a sustainable role.

Of course, the latest announcement by the Tory's has nothing to do with helping unemployed people regain control of their lives, but has everything to do with Tory's playing to the right wing galleries and trying to harvest votes for 2015. The Tory's don't care about poor people getting jobs. They hate poor people. In fact the less people that get jobs the better it is for the Tory's, because they can continue to use them as punchbags while trying to enhance their tough guy status on the so-called 'skivers'. It's an election strategy.

This new knee jerk policy will fail because, as usual, the Tory's have not thought through the intended and unintended consequences. The obvious initial question is, if all these people are prowling the streets picking up litter or cleaning walls of graffiti what happens to the people who are already doing these jobs? The answer is just as obvious. If councils can get cheap labour to carry out these tasks they will not need to employ somebody on a salary of £15000 a year when they can get ten people to do the job for nothing while the tax payer picks up the bill. An intended consequence for the Tory's is the opportunity to demonises and brutalise a section of society they despise. This is also evident, with reference to unmarried couples, with the Tory Married Tax Allowance policy, (costing £700m a year, by the way) which is just an attempt to impose a moral hierarchy whilst trying to assuage the Tory Taliban, but will only succeed in causing resentment among large swathes of the electorate.
Another consequence will be people left to languish on these schemes for an eternity due to being stigmatised and considered unemployable by most employers because of the negative connotations of having been on a forced labour scheme. The black mark of the forced labour programme will be difficult to erase. This Tory hatred will be repaid by those being persecuted in the form of resentment, leading to increases in social unrest and crime which in turn will allow the Tory's to clamp down more on civil liberties which in turn will begat more violence and more crime. Smug Middle Englanders may currently be applauding the Tory jackboots and their moral and divisive  crusade, not realising that they, or family members, may become victims, indirectly,  of this ill thought out policy. After all, if someone is sanctioned through this policy and lose their benefits they may feel that a couple of muggings a week, some drug dealing or a burglary or two will soon recoup the £71.50 they are denied by the government. 

The Tory's in the cabinet have no connection with the British public, no understanding of poverty in 21st century Britain and no understanding or empathy of anybody trying to find work. They are a bunch of trustafarians, who are all wealthy through inherited unearned wealth or people, like Duncan Smith, who blame other people for their own inadequacies and failures, and lash out like spoiled children. I was once asked to describe a typical Tory and the best I could come up with was a tight ball of swirling hatred, forever trying to over compensate for having a very small penis. This current policy reinforces that view.

Aagh ! The Socialist Monster is back.

It’s official. The red menace is back and is currently rampaging across the nation in the guise of Edward Miliband, that well know scion of Marxist philosopher Ralph Miliband and Leader of the Labour Party. News of gulags being built in the desolate north east, although not proven, are rife. The fear of pogroms being carried out by Cossack horseman are spreading, while deep cover Trotskyist cells are being activated, ready for the inevitable revolution. At last comrades, workers of the world unite, The Time Has Come!..... Charge! It will be like a 21^st century Cable Street. Watch those fascists run, ha.

Well alright, maybe it’s a bit over the top. But since the Labour party conference, I have been reading a lot of right wing rags papers and got caught up with the overblown hype, that passes for journalism these days, as they conflate Ed Miliband asking for a freeze on ever increasing utility prices and massive profiteering by utility companies, with the October Revolution.

Truth is comrades (oops) readers. Miliband, like nearly all left wingers in Britain, are Democratic Socialists. They are not socialists like Stalin, he was a stalinist. They are not socialists like Mao. He was a maoist. They are not National Socialists like Hitler and Himmler. They were Nazi’s. And though the Nazis did rise to power through a democratic process, they used tactics, such as demonising certain sections of society, restricting civil liberties for minorities, propagating a xenophobic, racist and intolerant climate within society by perpetuating myths and disseminating lies, and going around trying to and succeeding in starting wars.( Oh my god, does that mean the tory’s are socialists).

Democracy is a natural check on excesses attempted by any government, whatever colour,  the inevitable consequence being, defeat at the next election. So, given that the majority of journalists are relatively intelligent individuals, they should understand the constraints of Democratic Socialism. So, the conclusion must be drawn that all the screaming headlines referring to the return of the red menace is nothing more than the predominately right wing friendly media trying to scare the public for the purposes of self interest.

Which is interesting, because that is the charge that Miliband has laid against the gas and electric companies, so it looks like he’s got a point. I think that’s what they’re really scared about.

Samantha Lewthwaite.

Perhaps the media could help to prevent terrorists acts by not portraying the participants like they were gangsters from the 1930’s or Wild West gunslingers. The portrayal of Samantha Lewthwaite aka the ‘White Widow’ in the written press has had an unpleasant, sexualised undertone that gives the impression that the journalists writing and reporting  about her probably had at least a ‘semi’ on while compiling their reports. And while they are getting their illicit kicks, they are turning a possibly confused woman into a slightly glamorous, mythical person whose legend will probably outstrip reality. If the journalists could stop fantasizing about young women holding phallic symbols for a moment and just stick to the facts. That would be good.

Downton Abbey.

As I write this I’m watching the first episode of the new series of Downton Abb….ZZZzzz. (Sound of loud snoring).

'Let Go Hunting': The Paedophiles Wingman.

The vigilante group ‘Let's go hunting’ has risen to the forefront of public consciousness, through recent media reports. They have attempted to portray themselves, to the public, as protectors of children, by attempting to entrap suspected paedophiles online before arranging a meeting and confronting them. I would contend that protecting children is not their priority and that it is more to do with a group of mainly men, possibly with low self esteem, suffering from hero complexes and using the sensitive subject of child protection as a vehicle to achieve public acclaim in the same way people enter X-factor or take part in reality shows do. It’s just another variation of “when I grow up, I wanna be famous” syndrome. 

I have no problem with them attempting to entrap suspected paedophiles online, but by attempting to confront and challenge their targets and videoing the meeting, it would appear that protecting children is not as important to the group as being a Youtube video star is.

If protecting children was paramount, surely, when they had gathered sufficient intelligence, they would turn the information over to the appropriate authorities, who could then carry out a thorough investigation that could lead to a chance of arrest and prosecution.

As it is, any evidence ‘let’s go hunting’ produce is inadmissible in court and actually lessens any possibility of the paedophile being caught and convicted. But what is more concerning is that they are alerting a paedophile to the dangers of being caught and allowing them to escape to continue trying to groom children, but with greater vigilance, thus endangering more children. If ‘let’s go hunting’ alert the police, any suspected paedophile can be caught and removed from endangering more children, by being arrested, prosecuted and imprisoned.

My message to ‘let’s go hunting’ is simple. If you really care about the safety of children, stop charging around the country pretending to be superheroes, looking for backslaps and public acclaim, and just hand your evidence over to the proper authorities.

 One final point to the 'let’s go hunting‘gang. Drugs are an immense danger to children and blights many young lives. You could go into the inner cities and start confronting drug dealers, but I suppose that might be a bit dangerous.

Weird Picture?

The picture of the Prime Minister, asleep on his sister-in-laws bed, freaks me out. I don’t know whether it’s his bare foot in plain view, the strange look on the sister-in-laws face, as she stares at the camera phone, or the unanswered question, “ what the f*c* is he doing fast asleep on his sister-in-laws bed anyway? I find it all very, very unsettling.

" For those who've come across the seas

   we've boundless plains to share"

(Australian national anthem-verse 2, lines 5&6)

As Australia has recently elected a new Prime Minister, whose views on women’s rights, climate change, abortion, aborigines, and immigration would make anybody living in the dark ages look like a progressive, I feel it necessary to tell a joke. As that is what Tony Abbot is, a joke, a great big prehistoric, sexist, misogynistic, and xenophobic quivering pus-ball of a joke.

A plane lands at Sydney airport.

Pilot: “Ladies and gentleman, we have now landed safely at Sydney International Airport. Before you disembark, due to the time difference, could all passengers please put their watches back 90 years. Thank you”

Possibly an Idea Someone came Up With When They Were Drunk.

The suggestion that people should be held in privately run drunk tanks, when considered intoxicated, is a breathtaking and brazen attempt to privatise the police service by the back door.

To think that a company like G4S should be given carte blanche to roam the streets on a Saturday night to rope in anybody they thought was drunk, incarcerate them, and then fine them, is a joke. It has catastrophe written all over. It is as stupid as Tony Blair’s suggestion that drunks should be marched to a cash point to withdraw money to pay fines.

 As it has been suggested these drunk tanks will be solely funded via the revenue they raise, through the fines issued, the opportunities presented for improper, shady and corrupt behavior, in the drive to maximise revenue, are considerable. Especially as they will be dealing with people who may possibly be incoherent, incapable and vulnerable.

The questions are many and varied:

Who decides if somebody is drunk? Being drunk is not illegal. If it was, then half the middle classes would have criminal records. If somebody is drunk and disorderly or drunk and incapable then that person may have broken the law and it becomes a matter for the police to deal with, not some jumped up security guard with a weekend deputy’s badge.

Will the private security guards be given the power to arrest and detain under Pace (Police and Criminal Evidence Act), otherwise anybody detained could be construed as being kidnapped and held against their will.

Will the people charged with running the operation have to have clean criminal records? If they do, that is half the security guards in most towns excluded.

Will there be a breath test taken or blood taken to produce empirical proof that the person is drunk?

What are the objective levels that differentiate between somebody being considered as drunk and somebody classed as being sober?

Who will administer these tests?

What about people who are under the influence of other drugs, such as cocaine or crack?

How will they deal with people demonstrating symptoms of mental illness?

 Will they just pick on easy targets rather than confront a large group of rowdy males or an out of control hen party?

Will they have any restraints or weapons used to incapacitate, like tasers or batons?

How will they deal with the sensitive situation of dealing with a drunk female?

How will they verify age? To incarcerate someone who is a minor, would require an appropriate and responsible adult to be present.

What level of force will be allowed, to detain people who are supposedly drunk?

As these drunk tanks will, supposedly, be solely financed through the funds raised by fines, won’t it just be an exercise in hitting targets to ensure jobs are safeguarded? If it’s a quiet night, anybody will become fair game.

What right of appeal will be available?

What will happen to people who cannot pay the fine?

What about the age old right that ‘someone is presumed innocent until proven guilty’?

I agree, the behavior of people, when they have drunk too much, is often disgusting. The number of people, mainly 18-30’s, who consider it a badge of courage to ‘get on one’ and drink to excess at weekends is frightening. This attitude is gleefully encouraged by advertisers, manufacturers, and celebrated by most parts of society in general. After all most undergraduates, the supposed cream of the young generation, consider it a rite of passage to spend  three years at university pissing most of their student loan up the wall, most Friday and Saturday nights. We can moralise until we are blue in the face about the rights and wrongs of being drunk in public, but as I have previously stated, being drunk is not illegal. Being drunk and disorderly is, and then it becomes an issue of law and order, to be dealt with by the police, in an impartial manner, not by some money driven corporate drone, set on making his/her bonus by hitting targets. Once you introduce the profit motive into policing, as has been seen in the issuing of parking tickets, where tickets are issued, primarily, to raise funds, we will be on a slippery slope that ends in a lack of respect for the law and ultimately anarchy.

This is an ill thought out and reactionary policy that is based in prejudice and driven by ideologue. It has the whiff of the Puritan about it. If the current government was serious about the abuse of drink, they would not have stalled legislation for minimum pricing of alcohol and made manufacturers and suppliers more responsible for the effects of the products they sell. Instead they gave in to the alcohol industry lobbyist’s, one of which just happens to be the main political strategist for the tory party, and big business, some of whom are major tory donors.

 I suppose the tory’s have their own revenue stream to protect and that, it seems, is far more important than the health of the nation.

Royal Dog Killers.

Two dogs that were used to protect Prince William have been killed. Now that the Prince has jacked his job in and scurried back to Kensington Palace, to live a life of leisure, the two dogs, a Belgian shepherd and a German shepherd, one of which was relatively young, were considered surplus to requirements and killed. I think they were shot, but I’m not certain, as if it made any difference. The point being, that once something or someone is no longer considered of any use to the state or monarchy, they are just tossed on the scrapheap, considered not worthy of any care, consideration for their future. Whether they are Buckingham Palace employees on zero hour contracts, animals or soldiers who have served their country or dogs used to protect a lazy, self indulged and indolent elite, it doesn't matter. We are all treated the same. Like Sh*t.

Up to 300 dogs have been killed by the military this year alone. The price of loyalty?

Liberal Democraps.

The Libdems have struck a bargain with the tory’s that will allow all children, aged 5-7 yrs, to receive free school meals in return for allowing the torys to push through the married person’s tax allowance. Congratulations! Now middle class children can get free food while their parents can feel even more smug and superior towards unmarried parents who choose to live together, whilst blowing the extra money they save on school meals and taxes, on red wine and getting drunk. Result! After all, in this age of austerity, the most important thing is not to target meagre resources in the right areas to relieve poverty, but to pull of self serving political stunts for the sole purpose of harvesting votes.

Scottish Independence. Yes or No?

“ I’d rather live naked under a stone, as a free man, than be manacled hand and foot, in a mansion made of gold, under Tory tyranny.”

“Every-time a friend succeeds, I die a little.” (Gore Vidal).

More Privatisation, More Cover ups, Less Accountability.

One of the most alarming aspects of increased privatisation of services will, undoubtedly, be the increased number of cover ups by the private companies involved. Whereas State funded institutions such as the Police Service or the NHS would continue, irrespective of any scandals they may become engulfed in, to provide services, private companies such as Serco or G4S know full well that any scandal could lead to a lost government contract, or being excluded from tendering for future contracts, the share price dropping, or the worse scenario, the company going into liquidation.

When the stakes are so high, the need to close down dissent, silence whistle blowers and protect the interests of the company over the interests of the public will always take precedence. After all, company executives will always consider it paramount to protect their jobs and high salaries before investigating and disclosing any wrongdoing or malpractice that could affect others. There are no morals in business.

The current government, itself, is becoming a proven practitioner of preventing and deterring scrutiny of its activities and muddying the waters with falsehoods and lies that are used to cover up poor performing departments. Cameron, Osborne, Duncan Smith and Schapps, have all been reprimanded recently for distorting the truth and telling the public lies, in an effort to disseminate information, cloud the facts and cover up incompetent performances. If supposedly upstanding public servants are prepared to brazenly lie in interviews and speeches to protect vested interests, what chances have whistleblowers got against determinedly self interested companies who put high salaries, bonuses and share prices way above the concerns of, say, an asylum seeker or an elderly person being mistreated, whilst in care?

Karl Rove, the political strategist who put George W Bush in the White House on two occasions, came up with a chilling statement, criticising their opponents. He described them as people from the ‘fact based community’. To translate, he was describing opponents as people who used facts and the truth to prove a point when he apparently considered it acceptable to make up the truth to fit the agenda. It is a tactic that is being adopted by this current government, Duncan Smith, the Department of Works and Pensions minister in particular.

Add into this mix, the cuts in legal aid, which will prevent anybody, without the necessary funds, to access the law for cases that involve employment and unfair dismissal, clinical negligence, education, personal injury and cases that involve poor housing and debt and you realise that the majority will have no access to justice at all, while powerful multi nationals and corporations, any business or any individual in fact, that has the financial clout, will be beyond the law and able to act with impunity. Justice will only be for the wealthy. This is the authoritarian corpocracy we are sleep walking towards, a return to Victorian times, when the poor were considered as no more than a cheap expendable labour resource without any rights. Not even considered human by the wealthy elite.

Government Hypocrisy and Dog Whistle Politics.

The Criminal Prosecution Service, on behalf of the government, has just pulled a political stunt, announced that people found guilty of benefit fraud may receive upwards of 10 years in prison.

--- meanwhile, former RBS Chief Executive Fred ‘the shred’ Goodwin, one of the main architects of the economic crash, is currently spending his days playing golf or tinkering with his fleet of classic cars, while scratching by on his £700,000 pension.

--- meanwhile banking executives involved in the Libor scandal are still banking and still benefitting from massive bonus payments.

---meanwhile MP’s , including the current Prime Minister and the current Chancellor of the Executive, found guilty of misappropriating thousands in taxpayer money, are still well paid MP’s and have faced no criminal sanctions at all.

---meanwhile people responsible for miss-selling Payment Protection Insurance have faced no criminal proceedings whatsoever.

---meanwhile MP’s are still working the expenses system by flipping their houses and making massive profits as well as employing their spouses and other family members.

---meanwhile multi-nationals and corporations are still brazenly refusing to pay billions in taxes earned in this country while using this country’s sophisticated and organised  infrastructure to facilitate large profits.

---meanwhile large private companies are abusing government contracts by miss-reporting performance figures and bogus accounting, thus defrauding the taxpayer of millions, whilst receiving no other punishment than the threat of exclusion from further tendering opportunities for future contracts.

It’s another example of dog whistle politics, probably organised by the Aussie mongrel and, I daresay,  soul mate of Karl Rove, the tory’s political strategist, Lynton Crosby,  It’s clear whose side this government is on, and it ain’t the poor, the unmarried, the gay, public sector workers or people who do not own property. If the government wants to create a culture of responsibility and social justice, I suggest it starts by cleaning up its own back yard first, before commencing on another round of headline grabbing, anecdote based, scaremongering and scape goating, in another desperate and pathetic effort to prevent Tory voters deserting to UKIP. People are becoming weary of it.

Some facts to end with:

Amount of money estimated to be lost through benefit fraud per year: £1.9bn

Amount of unclaimed benefits per year: £ 12bn

Amount of money lost through tax avoidance per year: £25bn

Amount of money estimated to be lost through tax evasion per year: £32bn

Crisis Appeal.

Reader, your help is needed. Within the next two years, a mammal, only indigenous to Britain, could become extinct. This is a unique mammal, as it was once warm blooded, but has now evolved into a cold blooded creature. It once roamed Britain from the windswept coasts of the south west to the cold and rain lashed highlands of the north-east. But now, large swathes of its once heavily populated habitat are empty. Environments, such as university campuses, NHS hospitals, food banks , disabled centre’s and areas suffering severe deprivation, where this mammal would frequently be seen grazing and making promises they were sure they would never have to keep, are now virtually free of sightings.

This species, that once lived on a diet of hummus and veggie burgers and could easily be spotted by its familiar plumage of beard (male and female), brown or mustard coloured corduroy trousers and loose knit cardigans, has now, in an attempt to survive, widened its diet to feasting on the poor, constantly breaking promises and dumping its once proudly held principles of fairness and opportunity for all, whilst now sporting a boy band haircut and an Armani suit. Sightings have diminished and are restricted to brief glimpses within the Westminster area of London, normally as it speeds past in a government limousine.

Can you help reader? Within two years, Rattus LibDemus could be no more. Although it does not have the charisma of the panda, or the majesty of the white rhino, even though its proclivities are unpleasant, with its penchant for supporting secret courts, its inclination to support the tory’s in their constant attacks on the poor, its appetite for privatising the NHS, it’s liking for tax cuts for the rich and starting a war in Syria, its failure to prevent Gove the Education Minister from returning education to the 1850’s, while simultaneously selling our schools to speculators and profiteers and lying about tuition fees, and it’s abject failure in preventing the tory’s from demonising the poor and committing their crimes against the underprivileged and vulnerable. If you can help save this once noble species, Please don’t!!!!!!!!!!! Just stay well out of it.

Prince William.

I see Prince William is following the family traditional of giving up work and taking the rest of his life off. He’s decided to live a life on benefits. Apparently, he is taking on the role as a ‘working royal’, which is a made up job, meaning he will open the odd factory every now and then and perhaps visit a biscuit factory, but really he will be dossing about, being entertained on yachts by the wealthy, or spending his time blowing innocent animals to pieces with his chinless mates, on the grouse moors of Britain. Perhaps following in the footsteps of his brother and having a go at that pesky protected species the Hen Harrier.

Here was a great opportunity to start to modernise the royalty and drag them into the 21^st century, by William working a proper job until he became next in line. Perhaps, he could have used his geography degree and become the first Royal weather presenter. But I suppose the apple never fall’s far from the tree.

Scottish Independence.

The best recruiting sergeant for the ‘yes to an independent Scotland’ campaign is the Tory party. The ‘yes’ campaign seem to be basing their argument around North Sea oil and a rational hatred of the tory’s and all the while the tory’s continue on a path of attempting to impose reactionary and regressive policies upon the United Kingdom, that only benefit the 1%, then the number of people joining the ‘yes’ campaign will increase and the Scottish Sun will be able to claim “ it woz the tory’s wot won it”.

Yankee Crocodile Tears.

When innocent Pakistani civilians are killed by American drone attacks, the deaths of children in particular, are often classified, to keep the true civilian death statistics suppressed, as being either dogs or farm animals. It’s a shame the deaths of Pakistani children are not treated with the same level of respect by the Americans, as the deaths of Syrian children apparently are. I suppose if you’re John Kerry or Barack Obama and you see an opportunity for some insincere emotional blackmail, for the purposes of facilitating US foreign policy, you have to grab it when you can, no matter how stinking the hypocrisy is. I wonder how they explain to their own children that they actively sanction the murder of innocent children for a living. They must feel so proud.

“Grief is the price we pay for love.”