New Year Predictions

In common with many others I have decided to make some New Year predictions:
1. We will suffer public sector strikes although there will be little public sympathy for them as the recession will affect those in the private sector more.
2. The coalition will stick to its guns and survive despite Tory rebellions, in particular on the EU and Global Warming.
3. The AV referendum will be lost although there will be other constitutional changes. The Bishops will retain the right to attend and vote in the House of Lords which will be part elected and part appointed.
4. The Bank of England will increase interest rates which will give many who have taken out mortgages a problem.
5. The coalition will introduce measures to encourage growth which will have to be bolstered at a later date in the year.
6. The LibDems will win the by-election in Oldham East and Saddleworth.
7. Assange will be extradited to Sweden. Wikileaks will cease to function.
8. Iran will explode a nuclear bomb.
9. The eurozone will continue to flounder and inflict misery on the PIIGS and possibly even France.

10. England will win the Sydney test.
11. We'll have more snow in London this winter.
12. Ed Miliband will step down as leader of the Labour Party.
I've stuck my neck out on one or two. No point being a wimp when doing this kind of thing but I do not promise to eat my hat if I get my predictions wrong, even if I owned one. Happy New Year.

The A21

When you take the A21 from the M25 in a southerly direction it starts as a dual carriageway but after the exit for Tonbridge reduces to a single two way road causing a tail back made worse by other traffic filtering onto it from the left. The A21 continues as a two way road until you get to the roundabout at which you can turn left into Pembury hospital and right onto the industrial estate with all the super stores. Since John Lewis opened a month or so back the congestion is horrific and the tailback from the Tunbridge Wells direction is unspeakable. Once the new Pembury hospital takes over the A&E from the Kent & Sussex hospital it is possible to imagine that ambulances will be stuck for up to half an hour before being able to exit the roundabout. Whoever is responsible for this lunatic piece of planning deserves to be sacked as does whoever is responsible for the traffic management in Tunbridge Wells itself. No doubt the last government, out of malice, refused to agree to the A21 becoming a dual carriageway down to Hastings as it was against both the South East in general and areas that returned Conservative MPs and Councilors but the area deserves much better not least because if it were not for the wealth created by the area the country as a whole would be a poorer place. It is the biggest earner after London. Let us hope the new government will sort this nonsense out. If Blair could have the A43 from the M40 to Northampton turned into a dual carriageway in next to no time (in order it is said to satisfy Silverstone) this government can surely arrange for the same to be done for the A21.    

Russian Spy

Wonderful to see that the attractive Anna Chapman has joined the Putin Young Guards. Her elevation to this august body has been seen as a reward for being discovered as a sleeper spy and being forced to return to Mother Russia. Of course in these days of total transparency in the Russian superstate it would have been expected that her life as a spy in the USA would have been revealed to the world. The modern Russian state has responded in exemplary fashion by making Anna a hero of the Soviet Union Russian Federation for having been so successfully unfrocked and for having appeared in a number of lingerie advertisements. Why though was Anna not photographed completely in the nude? There is a feeling of disappointment in some circles and a worry that Russia has not yet fully joined the rest of the world in the transparency stakes. A source within the FCO was heard to say that Russia's reluctance to have Anna pose completely naked could have a detrimental effect on the START treaty with Bummer Obama and feared such reluctance might be reflected in Putin being coy about revealing his nuke. This seems unlikely as Putin was not at all shy in exposing his torso while riding a horse in deepest Siberia.     

Cable

Self love is something politicians understand. With a few notable exceptions it is something politicians indulge in. After all who else can love them, apart from, I suppose, their mothers? Vince is a leading exponent of this deeply unattractive personality flaw as witnessed by his extraordinary statement that he he has the power to bring the coalition tumbling down. His departure would pass totally unnoticed after a day or two but it is clear he is not going to be sacked, yet. He is going to be left in office to swing in the wind, to squirm on each occasion he makes a decision against his stated preference. Murdoch's News Corp will now have to be given the go ahead to acquire the shares in BSkyB it does not already own since if Vince were to refuse consent his refusal will be seen not as the result of an objective finding but as one of pure prejudice. LibDems may be able, like socialists, to get away with decisions made out of malice on the local scene but not nationally. Although I am wrong about socialists. Under Blair and Brown they blatantly took decisions that favoured cronies rather than the country. Knowing this how could Heffer be a fan of Blair?    

Interest Rates

I suspect that the CBI is right and that interest rates will rise next year to combat inflation. The rise will have to be steeper and last longer than it needed to because of The Bank of England's quantitative easing policy. Many commentators warned that this would be the effect of QE and there is no doubt it is a major factor in the inflation we are now experiencing. Next year is going to be a particularly difficult year for the Government what with the increase in interest rates and the cuts. This will give the Unions an excuse to flex their muscles and make matters worse through strikes although I hope that there are no further riots on our streets. The weather will have improved by then but it is interesting that people on Jeff Randall Live this evening were talking about having to think about dealing with snow in a different way if it is going to become a more pronounced feature of our winters. Perhaps Boris Johnson's article in this morning's Daily Telegraph has hit a cord. If I were the Transport Secretary, Philip Hammond, I would be saying that there is something wrong with the Meteorological Office's forecasts and that there must be an enquiry to determine why. The Meteorological Office forecast a mild and damp winter and the Government will have planned its bad weather and gritting policy on the back of that prediction. So how come the Met Office got it so wrong whereas Piers Corbyn through his study of the sun got his forecast so right?      

What is going on?

The Royal Mail has to be sold because the EU says so. It is being sold without any provision about the use or non use of the Queen's head on our stamps. We are spending billions a year on wind farms because the EU tells us to. We are spending millions on a palace for an EU President who, even when Van Rompuy ceases to hold this joke position, will still still be a Van Rompuy nonentity. We are spending millions on an EU foreign service for what possible benefit to those who have no interest in being represented by the EU. We are paying a huge salary to the EU foreign secretary, another joke. Soon there will be the President's yacht, the President's plane and a directive that we have to fly the EU flag from every building. Let those who are keen on the EU pay for these things. Why should the rest of us subscribe? We have neither asked nor have been asked to pay for any of these things. Why? We are not part of the Eurozone but we are having to pay for the damage the euro has caused because some piece of EU legislation that relates to the environment is being used to make us do so. Why? Why is our government not saying no? The EU parliament is toothless but even if it had teeth would it fight against this waste? Very doubtful as its whole ethos is to spend, spend, spend taxpayers' money. We need a referendum about whether or not we stay in the EU.  

Christmas Weather

This is not another blog about global warming, nor about the inaccuracy of even the short term forecasts put out by the Meteorological Office. Neither is it a blog about the beauty of snow observed from afar nor about what a curse even a little of it is when you want to venture abroad, particularly when it melts a bit and then freezes leaving roads and pavements a slippery nightmare. Tunbridge Wells, like Rome, is built on several hills and following the short sharp blizzard yesterday the roads became grid locked there as drivers realised their vehicles had lost traction on the icy streets. People drove very, very gingerly if they advanced at all. Will this weather last a month? It is to be hoped not as otherwise we shall all miss those outings and Christmas parties and in effect be confined to barracks. We might even have to buy provisions we had not planned on buying because we were bidden to the rellies or, if expecting guests,  to eat turkey and Christmas pudding without end if they fail to turn up. The mind boggles. Time for a drink, I think. A pity there is so little global warming this year.    

Is Huhne Pointless

The answer is certainly yes. With the temperature in London now at 1 degree celsius Huhne has announced 'green' energy package which is going to cost all of us an extra £500 a year for us to heat ourselves. Huhne can of course afford this nasty little stealth tax but what about the rest of us? What is particularly galling is that by ruining the country side with wind farms and solar panels, all of which are pretty useless as we know for producing electricity, he refuses to make any significant investment in other alternatives including gas, shale and nuclear. Why is this? It is almost as if there is a conspiracy amongst governments against the continued use of existing fuels. Surely to God there are those amongst our politicians who are as aware as the rest of us that global warming warnings are dubious at least. Why don't they speak up? Why, apart from Lord Lawson, is there no well respected politician out there putting the argument for a re-assessment of the 'science' of man made global warming. Of course we should preserve the environment, that has always been a Conservative tenet, but not in this extreme and unnecessarily costly way which is itself so destructive of this green and pleasant land. And what about this rubbish carbon market - words fail me.....     

Pastor Terry Jones

Should the Home Secretary ban Pastor Terry Jones, the leader of a church numbering 12 members in all, from visiting this country and speaking to members of the English Defence League? Terry Jones is the person who was going to burn the Koran on the anniversary this year of the 9/11 atrocity but who was eventually persuaded not to do so. By backing down, albeit under considerable pressure, it shows that he is not a totally unreasonable person. The fact that he backed down is not the point though and neither is his threat to burn the Koran. On what basis should the Home Secretary refuse him entry to attend and speak at a rally organised by the English Defence League?  Only if the speech contravenes our laws. In the name of free speech etc we have allowed extremist Muslim preachers into the country and done nothing when they have spouted inflammatory nonsense so why not Mr Jones, who seems a bit of a joke ayway? There were too many occasions when the Labour government refused entry to persons with awkward views for no good reason other than prejudice and their need for electoral reasons to appease extremist Muslim opinion. This must stop and so we must allow those with views we may find abhorrent to come here and make speeches even to frightening organisations like the English Defence League. It is most essential that we demonstrate that this government respects freedom of speech and all that that means and if necessary protects Mr Jones and the English Defence League from being attacked by that equally frightening organisation, the Anti Nazi League.    

Warm as Toast in Brussels

The Coalition are doing a great job trying to sort out the deficit, education, welfare, transport, the prisons, the NHS and the Armed Services amongst other things and perhaps do not have the time to concentrate on issues like Global Warming and the EU. This is a great pity as a vacuum has arisen which needs desperately to be filled by a statesman with foresight and the guts to shrug off the opprobrium his speeches would attract. Such statesman's message would be twofold - first that for the EU to survive the Euro has to be wound up and secondly that before another penny is spent on the Global Warming strategy a proper scientific investigation needs to be carried out in a transparent manner. This does not mean that this ranter has change his mind about the EU - he passionately believes we would be better off out but that the only way to exit is in an orderly manner which cannot be achieved whilst the Euro problems are the focus of the EU leaders. This does not mean either that this ranter believes in Global Warming, man made or otherwise, but is prepared to abide by the findings of a properly balanced scientific inquiry as I'm sure it will vindicate the conclusions of the scientists who do not accept the views of the warmist scientisits. By good argument and perseverance a statesman could achieve both these aims. He would have to be a Government minister perhaps or at least someone with the necessary clout and stature. But who? There's the rub. I had hopes for Hague but he seems to have lost the fire in his belly that he had when he was Leader of the Opposition. Cometh the hour cometh the man, as they say. Well I damn well hope so.     

Nothing Changes

Listening to the leftie students trying to justify the violence at their demonstration against the increase in tuition fees was like a walk down memory lane. Every time the Conservatives are in government it is always their policies, according to the left, which are to blame for violent demonstrations and not those thugs amongst the protesters with their own agenda who set out to damage to people and property. The leftie logic or excuse is that these thugs are not responsible for their own actions. If so then the thugs are all lunatics and should be dealt with as such. Why is it that when in opposition the Conservatives only protest by democratic means against measures brought in by Socialist governments? It is of course because Conservatives are true democrats and believe in the rule of law whilst many on the left are still believers in the communist - as we saw or heard from the pathetic mutterings of those representatives of the National Union of Students yesterday. By their language it seemed that they were condoning violence. One wonders whether they knew there was going to be violence in advance and even encouraged it. Will the new leader of the Unite Union be following where the students have led? His curious remarks about resistance could be construed that way. As Eisenhower said 'the price of freedom is eternal vigilance' and I trust the Coalition appreciate that. Many had thought that with the passing of the Communist regimes we could relax our guard against the extreme left but it seems the gene pool lives on. How disappointing.   

Boring Students and Other Things

What a pack of spoilt brats the students are. It is frankly staggering that so many of them can take off so much time for purely selfish reasons i.e. in order to save having to pay for something that is of considerable benefit to them. I have run out of patience and any sympathy I might have had for them to begin with has long since dissipated. Anyone would think that the whole tuition fee issue was a matter of life and death whereas it is only of peripheral importance in the great scale of things.  The LibDem to-ing and fro-ing on this issue has been nothing but extraordinary and humiliating, mercifully resolved to a degree with their ministers quite rightly deciding to vote in favour of the changes. Why though are David Davis and other Tories going to vote against the proposals? They hint they are being altruistic but I for one am against having to spend more on student education when so much of it seems to go to so called Universities for gormless courses. Enough is enough. Much, much more important is the economic disaster that the clowns who believe in global warming want to bring down on us by saddling us with £20 billion of extra costs each year to tilt against a non-existent problem. Much, much more important is to escape from the bonds which tie us to Europe. Once we had a global view but now our horizons are restricted to a European perspective for the first time in our lives. Shame on us. Shame on us for not promoting our view of life and protecting ourselves against the Napoleonic and Sharia notions of civilisation and the rule of law, the pettiness and constrictions of which I reject as a free born Englishman. 

Julian Assange

Scotland Yard has announced that it has the appropriate papers to enable them to hold Julian Assange of  Wikileaks and bring extradition proceedings against him at the request of the Swedes. If the form of extradition proceedings follow the old format  a case to answer will have to be proved before Assange can be extradited. During the process the wikileaks will presumably continue to appear as they will no doubt afterwards, whether Assange is extradited or not, as it seems there is no way in which these leaks can be stopped. It appears the leaks have caused real upset amongst a number of those named in them and that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is having her work cut out apologising to foreign dignitaries. One wonders why these leaks have been made. Money, revenge or a hatred of the USA must surely come into it somewhere and possibly all of them for one or more of the 'leakers'. I find it difficult to believe that anyone could think they were being altruistic in making the leaks. Why for a start do the public need to know what is being revealed? I for one feel somewhat guilty reading the leaks - it feels like prying into someone else's diary one has accidentally picked up and finding out all sorts of things that are interesting but that one really shouldn't know. We know, because we were told so as children, that eavesdroppers only hear bad things about themselves. In our case that we are 'paranoid' about the special relationship.      

Tax Protesters

So protesters closed down Topshop for an hour yesterday because they don't like people making money and so arranging their tax affairs that they pay the minimum. I wonder what contribution to the general tax take these protestors make. Polly Toynbee, who was present at the protest, makes some contribution but I do not get the feeling that she wishes to pay over the odds, owning I believe more than one house. 
The protest was to draw attention to the £1.2 billion dividend paid to Lady Green by Arcadia, the owners of Topshop, which the protesters say should have been subject to UK tax but which wasn't because Lady Green is a resident of Monaco. However if the protesters are interested in increasing the UK's tax revenues why did they stop Topshop trading, thus making more profit and thus paying more tax? Curious logic. The logic of jealousy and spite.  

The Congestion Charge

At long last Boris is getting rid of the westward extension to the Congestion Charge Area. Why isn't he getting rid of the congestion charge altogether? We all pay taxes to maintain the roads and those of us who live in London also pay to park our cars on the street. Why therefore should we have to pay to use the Queen's Highway? It is not as if London streets are some sort of private club, they are a public concourse. What is more a town is a congestion of people, houses, businesses, shops, restaurants, roads and cars so why impose a double tax on cars. The argument that it controls the level of traffic is dubious at best. Basically the congestion tax is just another stealth tax and a regressive one as well as it hits the poorest hardest. It should be abolished.

Chutzpah

One has to admire the chutzpah of the committed global warming believer who tells us that this year has been one of the hottest on record despite temperature readings and empirical evidence which show otherwise. It is like the Serco representative who despite empirical evidence to the contrary could not accept that the variable speed limits on the M25 created jams rather than helped the traffic flow. The chaos algorithm Serco used was possibly too conservative - in any event in my view it kicked in a reduced speed limit too soon and to too slow a speed. Better not to have interfered with nature. The same surely goes for global warming which, if it is happening at all, is a natural not a man made phenomenon.       

Why is it that so many African countries are unable to handle the results of elections? It seems that despite the Electoral Commission announcing that the Opposition leader had won and the UN representatives involved in the election believing likewise the President's man on the Electoral Commission has now ruled that the President won after all. Another example of chutzpah or gall every bit as breathtaking as Woolas's statement that today's High Court judgment has created uncertainty, which of course he would not have said if the judgment had gone in his favour.

World Cup

So we didn't win it. A great disappointment for football fans although much less so for the rest of us. Even though it would have brought coin to these shores would it really have made a profit? Many think that unlikely knowing how cost overruns on projects of this kind spiral out of control. A relief therefore for the taxpayer and yet an irritation that we only garnered two votes and that Russia won even without Putin making a trip to Zurich. Could he have known it was already in the bag and thus did not have to make any extra effort? If so, I wonder how he knew and why FIFA decided on Russia. We will probably never know the full story. Save for one or two of them the FIFA members are a motley crew. I would hate to go tiger hunting with them. I think they and Russia deserve each other. Does the way these things happen remind you of the Eurovision Song Contest? I think we should resign from both and set up our own institutions which we control. 

Chanukah

If you go to Conservative Home playpolitical.typepad.com/uk_conservative/2010/12/william-hagues-chanukah-message-to-jews-in-britain-and-around-the-world.html you can see William Hague sending a Happy Chanukah message to Jews around the World. Was it really meant for ED Miliband or to show that Hague is even handed when it comes to Israel and the Arabs and thus unhelpful statements that Hague is keener on the Arabs than Israel are wrong? Whatever, it's a nice touch.

Hysteria or what?

Did the Armistice terms in 1918 make World War 2 inevitable? The conventional answer is 'yes' but had the Powers that be taken notice of the multiple and some would say obvious signs from Germany of the disastrous effects of the Armistice terms on that benighted country and had the Powers that be been intelligent and forceful enough to do something about it the answer must be 'no'. Is Europe sleep walking into a similar disaster by persisting with the Eurozone? The conventional answer is 'no' but are the Powers that be failing to take any notice of the multiple and some would say obvious signs from the 'piigs' (or rather currently only Greece and Ireland) of the disastrous effects of the bail out terms being imposed on them by the ECB and others and will the Powers that be fail to do something sensible and intelligent in time the answer must be 'yes' - there is no evidence to the contrary. It will thus be up to countries like Ireland to do the right thing. What is the right thing for Ireland to do? Only time will tell but today it seems obvious that the present Irish Government will be defeated at the upcoming General Election and that the coalition that takes over will include Sinn Fein with its policy of bail out rejection. It is not clear though that Sinn Fein will have enough clout to persuade their coalitionists to reject the bail out terms. I never thought I'd say this but I hope they do. Common sense needs to prevail since without it we could even descend into another European war.        

Taxes

Now that Osborne accepts that lower taxes are a good thing for stimulating growth, viz. the 10% tax on profits from intellectual property researched and developed here, why does he not take the next logical step and abandon the 50% tax rate and reduce other taxes. It is well documented that lower taxes produce greater tax revenues. The reason is not hard to understand as those allowed to keep more of the money they earn have a greater disposable income to use in a myriad of ways. All of which use will benefit the private sector thereby increasing its wealth and that of the individuals in it who by earning more will pay more in taxes. QED.

Wikileaks

Hardly interesting to learn that before the General Election the Governor of the Bank of England expressed great concern to the US ambassador about Cameron and Osborne lacking experience. A statement of the blooming obvious most would say. Neither had been in Government before but neither had Blair or Brown before they crashed the economy and Osborne seems to be doing rather better than that. It is to be hoped that ex member of the Bank's Monetary Policy Committee Danny Blanchflower and current member Posen's gripes against Mervyn King will be ignored as they sound very much like sour grapes to me.

Hardly interesting either to learn that Brown and Miliband D considered asking Hillary Clinton to emphasise US support for a 'strong' Europe (a euphemism for support for the EU apparently) as a way to highlight Conservative schisms on this subject. Brown and Miliband D it seems were also using Britain's role in the EU (and one assumes the Conservative attitude to the EU in contrast to the then Labour Government's attitude) as an example of Conservative economic and foreign policy 'isolationist' tendencies. What a joke as the only international tendencies of the left have been those of the Red Flag as evidenced by their love of the fascist EU regime.   

Protests

A strike is a protest by other means and it is clear that unless the protesters have a real passion for what they are protesting about that repeated protests about the same issue will eventually just fizzle out. So in such cases employers and governments have to hold out until the protesters get bored. So it is with those BA cabin crew of whom many do not believe they have a cause and are embarrassed by the greed demonstrated by their colleagues. So it is with the tube train drivers who know that not only are they well paid but that the change in working practices Transport for London want to introduce are reasonable and make sense. So it is with with the students who pretend that they are going to be greatly disadvantaged by the introduction of the new tuition fee regime - they say the poorest students will not be able to afford tuition fees whilst knowing full well that they do not have to make any payment until they are earning £21,000 a year and then only a minimal amount a year until their debt is paid off. If students do not understand that then how the hell did they manage to pass any exam to get into a University in the first place? It seems that some of the students are schoolchildren and other protesters are not students at all and are old enough to know better. The decision of LibDem MPs to abstain or vote against the introduction of the tuition fee changes is pathetic. Are they representatives of all their constituents or just a mandate for their supporters? What does their constitution say about giving a specific pledge on an issue that many of their candidates did not support? Furthermore it seems that LibDem policy on tuition fees was in the course of changing at the time of the election from one against to somewhere in favour. They gave a hostage to fortune and are now being hoist on their own petard. Surely they have someone amongst their ranks that is intelligent enough to wriggle them out of the ridiculous position they are now in and save Vince Cable from looking like an idiot by proposing legislation which he then votes against.  

Wikileaks and Iran; the Autumn Review

So far it seems that the leaks have been pretty much a damp squib. Hardly news that Saudi Arabia amongst other Middle East countries, including Israel, have been urging the United States to take out Iran's nuclear plants. A number of western countries have no doubt being urging the same course of action. Let's hope that the hack into the nuclear plant's computers has left a sleeping virus which can be reactivated at a moment critique and stop the Iranians dead in their tracks as they are about to use the weapons grade uranium to arm a missile.

George Osborne made a most interesting announcement in Parliament today which should help bring significant benefit to the economy over time and in particular to the North of England and Scotland. The idea seems to be that revenue earned from intellectual property generated as a result of research and development carried out here will only be taxed at 10%. GlaxoSmithKline Chief Executive was asked his views about this proposal on Jeff Randell live this evening and was rather complimentary saying that now there was a level playing field GSK would be looking to take advantage of the opportunities that would now be available at home including opening plants in the UK. This will be good for private sector jobs but it is disappointing that the Office of Budget Responsibility has today forecast that the number of public sector jobs that will go will be 330,000 and not 490,000 as previously forecast. This is a disappointment because as we all know it is the private sector that makes the money that pays the public sector wages out of taxes and too big a public sector means that the private sector has too big a burden to cope effectively. Our economy would be a power house if the public sector was cut in half and of course it could be without any danger to front line services.    

Human Rights

Let us hope that this Government introduces legislation to replace the Human Rights Act with the UK's own version which, inter alia, will ensure that people like Learco Chindamo can be expelled from this country without any exemption. Let us also hope that the replacement Act amends the Data Protection Act as well so that victims like Mrs Lawrence can be told the area where released prisoners like Learco Chindamo will be living. Murder after all should be punished and one of the punishments should be a cap on human rights. We British are full of common sense and I am sure a form of wording can be worked out which the judges will not be able to overturn. If Blair had not hated the British constitution or was so ignorant of our history there would have been no need to introduce the Human Rights Act. Our own protections evolved over centuries were more than adequate and the mark of a most civilised country. Europe should have adopted our common law and we should not have agreed to Napoleonic civil law being imposed on us.

Happiness

It is a quite extraordinary idea for a government to waste spend money on finding out how happy we all are. What will the government do if it discovers we are all unhappy? Is it it going to prescribe prozac? I vacillate every moment between worry and a semi comatose state and imagine everyone has the same kind of experience. At which point is happiness to be measured? When one is feeling chipper or when one is feeling depressed? What will be done with the results and will they be used to try and improve our lot? Will that make us happier and if not why not? Or is this announcement one of those politician's ideas that dies as we all get on with our lives? Rather than the taxpayer having to stump up the cost of this exercise why doesn't the "Big Society bank to do so? The "Big Society" bank is the bank to be set up by Barclays, HSBC etc to finance good causes at lower rates of interest than ordinary banks charge. No doubt there will be many applicants for funding good causes - themselves.    

The EU Parliament

Iain Dale has a fascinating video on his blog today of how democracy works in the EU Parliament. It shows a UKIP member being ejected for calling a socialist europhile a fascist! The EU Parliament is a fig leaf for the Monnet/Schuman project to abolish European countries and to construct another country in its place. No matter that the citizens of most European countries do not want to become citizens of another country without being asked. Monnet and Co, not untypically of the French intelligentsia, believe the likes of you and me  too stupid to know what's good for us so the transfer of our citizenship from our native lands to 'Europe' must be done behind our backs without further ado. Monnet and Co together believe that eventually all us proles will one day wake up, realise our resistance to the whole idea was misconceived, or at worst futile, and thank God for what these visionaries have done for us, or at worst sullenly accept it. I think Monnet and Co fail to understand human nature. Why is the EU Parliament a fig leaf? Because it has virtually no powers and it seems its decisions can be overruled by unelected officials (watch Channel 4's Dispatches http://www.channel4.com/programmes/dispatches/4od#3139895 for 15 November 2010, about 14 minutes in).

Danger

We have been reminded today that the world remains a dangerous place. It seems that the Irish bailout is not going as planned, that the EU's comments about the dangers of an early Irish general election will be ignored and that the EU will have to negotiate with a new Government which might take a different line to the current one. If this happens will the new government reject the straight jacket of euro membership and set itself free? What a turn up for the books that would be! We were also reminded today why we need our military. North Korea for whatever crazy reason (and it is easy to suggest that it is part of the leadership handover process from father to son but who knows) has launched an unprovoked attack on South Korea. How does the rest of the world deal with a mad dog like North Korea? If it were a dog it would quietly be put out of its misery but it will be fascinating to see how the only world power will deal with the threat. Bummer Obama's initial 'outrage' response has not been 'helpful' and demonstrated his lack of credibility where foreign affairs are concerned. As the world power mantle slips from America's shoulders everyone will be looking to China to whip the North Koreans into line. But how will China carry out that task and will we ever know when it has done so? Do not bank on it.  What a complicated world we live in! Crises though bring opportunities and if our politicians are clever they will use the euro and North Korean crises to boost our influence in the world, shake off the dead hand of the EU and rejuvenate our economy. 

A Sad Day

Ireland's heroic efforts to sort out their finances have come to naught. They have been forced to apply for a bailout despite the fact that they had sufficient funds until the middle of next year to pay for interest on Government borrowings etc.. John Redwood seems to think that the reason for insisting that Ireland take a bailout is because the European Central Bank (ECB) would prefer to lend to the Irish Government rather than continue making advances to Irish Banks, which because of their parlous state the ECB has been supporting for months now. The Irish Banks concerned presumably have still not worked out what their losses on sub-prime etc. are, which if true is unbelievable.

A sad day also to learn that the New Zealand miners have still not been rescued. What is happening? Why are the rescuers taking so long to find out if any of the miners are still alive. It is astonishing that no one has been inside the mine to investigate. Considering the poisonous gases swirling around in the mine it is a given that anybody who did go inside would have to be wearing breathing apparatus. Surely though some attempt to make an exploratory expedition into the interior should be made even if, as has been reported, there is a small fire. Is the real reason why nothing is happening one of UK type health and safety regulations? I sincerely hope not.  It would be dreadful to think that people are dying who could otherwise have been rescued but for health and safety reasons.

There is no reason why taxpayers should support any political party. That is why a week or so back I was glad to hear that the Coalition had decided to stopped further payments to the Union Modernisation Fund.  It is widely believed such payments  were used by the Unions to support Labour. I had also thought the Coalition had stopped payments to the Union Learning Fund but I gather that taxpayers are still paying into this fund to the tune of £14 million a year. This is an outrageous scam as it is the cynical opinion of many that the money is again being filtered through to the Labour party. If the Unions want to learn anything they can pay for it out of their own pocket although there are plenty of bodies like the Adam Smith Institute that I imagine would be more than willing to teach them something about economics. 

Condoms

We English are a mighty tolerant lot. We have not complained about the Roman Catholic takeover of 5 Bishops, other clergy and congregations nor about the rude things they say about the dear old Church of England. Indeed we have wished the departed well in their new found religion. We have said very little about Sharia law being used here (what the Archbishop of Canterbury has said was rather welcoming in fact) and neither has any real fuss been made about shops selling us hallal meat without telling us. I do hope the respect we show others of different religious faiths is not seen as a sign if indifference on our part although it seems the respect we give them and their beliefs is hardly reciprocated, save by the Jews. It is odd though that the Pope should now be condoning the use of condoms in certain circumstances. Will the condoms that Roman Catholics are to use be sold like candles in Roman Catholic churches and blessed by the priests beforehand? It is to be hoped that they will not be used by those too many priests when abusing choir boys and girls.   

Torture

I have been thinking about George W Bush's admission that he authorised 3 waterboarding 'events' after he was told by White House lawyers that waterboarding did not constitute torture. A definition of torture states that it involves the action of inflicting severe pain on someone as a punishment or to force them to do or say something or for the pleasure of the person inflicting the pain. Let us assume that those ordered to carry out the waterboarding were not doing it for their own enjoyment. Let us also assume severe pain means severe physical pain. That then leaves us with the question as to whether or not waterboarding is torture. Does it inflict the severe pain required by the definition? Difficult to say without what those who have suffered waterboarding letting us know how they felt when subjected to the process. We have been informed though that waterboarding invokes a drowning sensation and can cause psychological problems. Its purpose must be to cause extreme anxiety and thus to 'persuade' the victim to give up information in exchange for no more waterboarding. Is extreme anxiety the same as severe pain? If it is then waterboarding is torture whether it causes severe physical pain or not. If it's not then waterboarding is not torture or the definition of torture is inadequate and should be changed to cover psychological torture.          

Conspiracy Theory?

Unless there is a little misreading between the lines are certain bloggers, John Redwood for example, suggesting that the EU is talking up a storm about the ability of Ireland, Portugal and Spain to meet their debt obligations without help in order to manipulate voter opinion in the EU in favour of further centralisation? In other words is all the fuss in the media about what is said to be a very serious crisis just another EU stealth step on the way to the United States of Europe? Is it credible? Would the EU be up to such a trick? There is no doubting that they would be capable of such deception since the EU project has 'advanced' (if that is the right word) on the back of lies, corruption and dubious and undemocratic means. One only has to recall how on its proposed constitution being rejected they re-introduced it under a different name and ensured that no referendum on it was held by any country. Although hardly a surprise it is nonetheless quite shameful that voters can be treated in such an arrogant way by an unelected elite that believes it knows what's good for the rest of us. Even if they are right there are many of us who quite simply refuse to be treated in this way and want to be left alone to make our own mistakes. It is also most worrying that no matter which party is in power here in the UK the government does not cry foul and do the necessary to expose the miscreants in the EU and depending on a referendum vote either re-negotiate our terms of membership or withdraw us altogether from this cesspit.  

The Deepening Crisis

We live in interesting times. Will the euro still be around in ten years and what will the consequences be if it is or if it isn't? If it is still around will taxpayers in the eurozone be content to be run by an entity over which they have no real control and which will dictate how their economies are run, the level of taxation they will pay and so on? Make no mistake about it complete control over all eurozone economies is going to be the outcome of the bail outs being put in place for Ireland, Portugal, Spain and probably Italy. The EU is run by an unelected clique whom it is impossible to vote out of office if voters deem them to have failed. A good many continental taxpayers may be used to this kind of thing but not all and certainly not in recent years. When one eurozone country can no longer support the straightjacket to be imposed on them and whose people are crying out for a change of governance what will be the outcome? There will be revolution and quite possibly war. The only way out of this crisis is for the euro to be abandoned. Yes it will hurt various countries in the shorter term but a stitch in time saves nine. If the euro is not around in ten years then will this mean that the EU will have disappeared or that it will have changed to become a different, hopefully more democratic animal, something perhaps more akin to the European Free Trade Area? Either would be better than the existing Greater Germania (with particular emphasis of course on the 'mania').   

William and Kate

This is not a blog about William Shakespeare and his play The Taming of the Shrew. Kate Middleton is no shrew and Prince William is no Shakespeare - at least not as reported by The Sun. The announcement today of the Royal engagement is a very happy and welcome one. It will give lots of members of Kate's sex masses to talk about and on the Wedding Day itself a chance for those of William's sex to play a little golf or whatever - assuming, of course, that the Wedding Day is a bank holiday. Was the day of the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Di a bank holiday? In any event hopefully by then President Van Rompuy's prediction about the collapse of the Euro leading to the collapse of the EU will have come true. Bring it on! Events often go in threes so would it be too much to hope that at the same time the whole climate warming business will have been exposed as the pseudoscience scam it is? These three items have all been the subject of blogs today. See for example the blogs of Archbishop Cranmer, Daniel Hannan and James Delingpole. What a celebration there will be even if only it is the Wedding we have to celebrate!

Ireland - a war by economic means

There are any number of Irishmen who believe their country joined the Euro simply because the UK did not do so. If the UK were to change it's mind about assisting the Irish bail out with a €7 billion contribution it will be seen as a tit for tat gesture by these same Irishmen and probably by the rest of Ireland. This would be wrong though. Why should the UK, which is not a member of the Eurozone, make any contribution to the bail out fund? Yes, we want strong trading partners but the result of the present EU policy will produce weaker buyers for our goods. It is thus in the UK's interest for the Euro to fail and we should be doing all in our power to bring this about as soon as possible so that the whole mess gets sorted out with the minimum delay. Coincidentally it is more important for Ireland and indeed Greece, Portugal, Spain and Italy to leave the Eurozone since to stay in will result in levels of unemployment and tax rises that will leave them impoverished, and possibly in danger of revolution or extreme left goverments, for years. Each of them will recover more quickly outside the Eurozone. The only reason why the Eurozone is so keen for them to stay in is to save the French and other European banks, that have bought Irish, Greek, Spanish etc bonds, from being forced into liquidation - a real danger if Ireland et al default on their bonds. If that were to occur France and the governments of the other countries with shaky banks will have to rely on themselves to sort out their own mess and not on the citizens of those Eurozone countries least capable of doing so. It seems that the current policy being pursued by the EU is being done solely for the benefit of the more stable European economies such as Germany. Is this a war by economic means and in the hope that Ireland et al will become vassal states? Sure seems like it. 

Political Correctness and Freedom of Expression

The Labour Government in 2003 passed an innocent sounding piece of legislation called the Communications Act. In it is a pernicious section making it a criminal offence to send offensive or indecent messages. Apparently this covers sending what are clearly joke messages over Twitter for pity's sake. The legislation, unlike Acts of Parliament of the early twentieth century, will have been poorly written - what after all does 'offensive or indecent' mean? It can be so widely interpreted that it could cover everything or nothing depending entirely on your point of view. The police will have interpreted the wording as covering anything as they are probably obliged to do but who would have thought a judge worthy of his or her salt could fail to distinguish between a joke and a threat. Is this because like in practically every other sphere (Susi Leather of the Charity Commission springs to mind) the Labour Government appointed only Labour apparatchiks were to the bench despite being entirely the wrong person for the job? The Labour Government we know thoroughly enjoyed making all sorts of things criminal offences - the figure of 3000 new offences springs to mind. We also know that many of these offences are of the type to be tried by a judge alone. The exclusion of trial by jury  is another example of the vandalism committed on our precious constitution by the Blair/Brown years. It is extremely doubtful that a jury would have found Paul Chambers guilty of any criminal offence for his message about blowing up Robin Hood airport, they would have had too much common sense. It is also extremely doubtful that if the case against Gareth Compton for his message about Yasmin Alibhai-Brown were to be tried by a jury he would be found guilty of any offence. What he said was clearly a joke. Freedom of expression is being crushed by political correctness and the Coalition should bring in legislation to abolish the stupid new criminal offences introduced by Labour and to ensure that trial by jury is enhanced not reduced. When considering these two cases it brings to mind the restrictions imposed on Aung San Suu Kyi for being released from house arrest. Ms Kyi will have to walk on eggshells to stay free which means she will have to talk in code. We should not have to do the same thing here.     

President Van Rompuy

Just in case you had forgotten Mr Van Rompuy is the President of the EU. Why does the EU need a President? After all it is not a country. But you will say that it has a constitution whatever the likes of Gordon Brown may pretend. Is it therefore a constitution in search of a country or is it in fact a constitution of an actual state? The evidence suggests the latter since we have this President Van Rompuy and High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Baroness Ashton and are about to have a whole series of Ambassadors spread worldwide. (What does the word 'Security' in her title mean by the way? It must have some meaning. Is she not only EU Foreign Minister but also EU Minister of Defence?) I am not aware that any of us were asked if we wished this country to become a province of a different state. I think that if we had been asked that a majority of us would have said 'no'. I also think Van Rompuy has a bloody cheek saying as he has today that the time of the homogeneous nation-state is over. It is simply not true although for him as a citizen of Belgium, a failed nation state, it may look that way. His logic, like his looks, is also awry. There is no imperative in this globalised world for homogeneous European states to merge into one country. It is perfectly possible to live as an independent state in harmony with one's neighbours with whom one has trade and other treaties. To me that is a far more satisfactory solution than being bullied into being a part of some superstate which is very far away from being the type of democratic entity that I can recognise.
 A superstate which for reasons of corruption and incompetence cannot even get its accounts sorted out. I am so glad though that Van Rompuy has identified that there are Eurosceptics lurking in many other member states of the EU. It gives me hope that all Eurosceptics throughout the EU will one day band together to change it to an outward looking trading block. The Berlin Wall eventually came down although I doubt that the collapse of the EU will take that long. Certainly not after more speeches like that of President Van Rompuy.

Revolting Students

Students are presently involved in a violent demonstration outside and even inside 30 Millbank where the Conservative Central Office is housed. Yet again poor Londoners are being subjected to gridlock on their streets for miles around Westminster - as if the ridiculous congestion charge was not enough. I have no objection to peaceful demonstrations but those which descend into violence are an unacceptable infringement of the freedom of the law abiding citizenry. The perpetrators must be arrested, charged and tried. The perpetrators are of course of the hooded kind and thus difficult to identify. This leads one to think that no demonstrator should be allowed to hide their faces at any lawful demonstration. Perhaps also there should be a specific venue out in the country with easy access from all directions where all demonstrations must take place and nowhere else. The venue would be armed with TV cameras to transmit the events as they happen and if the demonstrators would pay for them even with panes of glass and other breakables for the smashing thereof. Depending on the nature of the demonstration the venue's name could be changed from the Margaret Thatcher Centre for Demonstrations to the Karl Marx Centre for Demonstrations or perhaps to the Big Brother Centre for Demonstrations. The demonstrators would have to be charged for using the venue but at a subsidised price with the subsidy coming from everybody's council tax. One can but dream.

Immigrants/Political Correctness

It has been drummed into us that we must tolerate, indeed accept, even those incomers who detest us and  would do us harm. Furthermore we are obliged by law to override our suspicions and put our instincts on hold when it comes to matters to do with immigration. This is, according to our betters, for our benefit and in order to ensure that all incomers to our country can feel safe. This is despite evidence that we would never be treated in the same way in the countries of the incomers. This leaves incomers unsettled because they do not sense that we have any true value of our own worth and confuse our welcome with weakness or indifference. This feeling is made worse by the condescension they perceive in us in allowing them equal ranking to ourselves.  It leaves them feeling contempt for us and that they can  in due course dominate us. Why else are there those incomers who, for example, feel they can introduce a foreign law here? How have we not seen that the attitudes we have been forced to adopt by the hypocrites of the left have led us into this blind and dangerous alley. We are a naturally tolerant people but it should be made absolutely clear to all incomers, including those from the EU, that unless they are equally tolerant of us, there will come a point where we will say enough is enough. Having to pay a disproportionate amount into the EU is one of several cases in point.

Muslim Terrorists

There is an interesting article in the Daily Telegraph today about Muslim terrorists. Like any ordinary criminal they are eligible, after they have served half their sentence, for release on terms which if breached mean they get sent back to prison again. Such terms include restricting the Imams and Mosques that they can contact or go to to those that are Government approved. One hopes that these terrorists have only had contact with Government approved Imams whilst in prison and that such Imams have done their best to persuade the terrorists of the errors of their ways. Perhaps such Imams have had their successes but perhaps not since there are apparently some 800 ordinary Muslims that have been 'radicalised' whilst incarcerated at Her Majesty's pleasure. It would be interesting to know on what early release terms these 'radicalised' Muslims are being released and whether it is possible to release them on terms that include the terms imposed on Muslim terrorists. It would be even more interesting to know what is being done to stop such ordinary Muslim criminals from becoming 'radicalised'.   

Phil Woolas

At some Labour Party conference today Ed Balls apparently led a round of applause for Phil Woolas. Presumably it was to show appreciation for all Phil Woolas has done for the Labour Party over the years and not a comment on the guilty verdict delivered yesterday. It does not sound like a reprehensible action, indeed some might say that it would have been reprehensible on the part of Balls not to have led a round of applause. Woolas has always demonstrated by his actions that he is a truly tribal member of the party even though some of his actions during the last election were found to be in contravention of the law. Ed Balls is a fully paid up member of the Labour tribal section and now that Brown has disappeared into the ether, he will have become leader of that section. Now he is no longer an MP will Woolas do a Dubya and eschew all further involvement in politics? Apparently Dubya is shortly to be seen on the Oprah Winfrey show being interviewed about his autobiography during which he confides in Oprah that he has no further interest in politics. Apparently also his book lavishes praise on Blair. There was something dysfunctional about Dubya as there is about Bummer Obama. Bummer announced on his arrival in India today that $10 billions worth of business deals have been set up which will create 50,000 jobs back in the old US of A. Sounds a little fanciful. What are the jobs? Call centres in places like Detroit?   

Trust

Voting for a politician involves a certain amount of trust unless one is prepared to vote for a donkey. Few people will vote for a politician that they simply do not trust and Ed Miliband should have taken this into account before appointing Woolas to his Home Office team. Following today's decision Miliband's appointment of Woolas now looks wrong and will have damaged public trust in Miliband himself. Trust is much more important than many politicians appreciate. Even if they do appreciate its importance the majority of them treat trust in a cavalier fashion. Why were Churchill and Thatcher such outstanding PMs? because people trusted them to a greater degree than otherwise.Why was Thatcher so hated by those who disagreed with her?  Because they believed/trusted her to do what she said she would do. Why did mostly everyone eventually suss out that Blair was a charlatan? Because he could not be trusted. Will Cameron be trusted? I hope so but the jury's still out. Despite the belief of too many politicians voters are not fools. Although being a generous lot they give the politicians the benefit of the doubt or simply ignore the deceits in the belief the other side are more deceitful they can nonetheless see through the veils, aided and abetted as they now are by the likes of Guido Fawkes (http://order-order.com/), Iain Dale (http://www.iaindale.blogspot.com/), His Grace Archbishop Cranmer (http://archbishop-cranmer.blogspot.com/), Wat Tyler (http://burningourmoney.blogspot.com/) and other bloggers. The insight bloggers provide into our politicians, warts and all, is something else. Such insight did not and does not exist to nearly the same degree in the press or television, probably since, unlike bloggers, journalists are part of the same system as the politicians through the lobby. This golden internet age is a boon to voters and can only become more significant in the years to come.         

The BBC Strike

So the BBC journalists, engorged on our licence fees, pandered to by politicians who are too frightened of them to enforce impartiality, have now shown their true credentials by striking. It makes a welcome change to listen to something different than the same old leftist claptrap you know is coming whenever a BBC journalist opens his mouth. That is why Sky News is so refreshing, Jeff Randall in particular.  It would be wonderful if the strike would continue for longer than the stated 48 hours. It would give an opportunity perhaps to others to open a chink in the BBC market and subject it to some much needed competition where previously the private sector has been squeezed out. The BBC has demonstrated though that it has no interest in allowing competition by joining in the complaints about News Corp's proposed acquisition of the 60% of Sky it does not already own. If the BBC really had to compete on a level playing field then perhaps more of its journalists would appreciate that even they had to make their share of sacrifices forced on us by the excesses of the Labour Government they loved and supported.

Is Cameron Concentrating?

Cameron played a blinder in assembling the Coalition. He took carefully thought out risks and succeeded. Has his concentration waned since then? There are niggling examples of a retrenchment into a comfort zone where the excuse for inaction is blamed on the LibDems. If, pace William Hague, Parliament is sovereign why is the Government not introducing a bill to override the ECHR ruling on votes for prisoners or at least promising to do so with the date of commencement retrospective to the ECHR judgment date? When will the Bill of Rights to replace the Human Rights Act 1998 be introduced and what about the annulment of the Universal Jurisdiction law, a pernicious anti-sovereignty enactment if ever there was one? The lack of progress on these and similar matters is disturbing. Reform of these issues must not be kicked into the long grass.   

The Tea Party

It seems the Republican Party has been celebrating its victory in the Mid-Terms at a tea party. Has Messiah Obama now become Bummer Obama? Unless he can tack to the centre over the next couple of years it seems he will have a hard struggle to retain the White House. Whether he does so or not will equally depend on whether the Republicans can assimilate the Tea Party people comfortably into their ranks and produce a manifesto that appeals at the Presidential Election to the American grass roots. I am envious of the Americans that they still have the ability to choose. Where is our choice in the EU where a secretive elite decide what is good for us without any democratic input from the people. The Constitution imposed on us all without a vote that is leading to even greater centralisation of power in Brussels is now to be amended again without any democratic input from voters to impose central control over borrowing, tax rates and spending of each member state. We had the oldest, most sophisticated, successful and envied form of governance in the world but have sleep walked into arrangements that ignore our history and belittle us. Our politicians of the three main parties have let us down. We have been made to feel guilty about our glorious past, particularly by those on the left and in the BBC. This has so enfeebled us that we have failed to defend our interests in any other theatre than war. The fascist/socialist regime in Brussels will inevitably increase our taxes, impose stifling regulation, reduce our ability to trade and to grow and otherwise drag us down. I have every confidence that at some point we will say that enough is enough. I am though impatient to have our own Tea Party now although to be effective we will first have to have open primaries to select all Tory party candidates. That is the lesson of the Tea Party, which is that to be effective you must be part of a main stream party and not a different entity like UKIP.       

Votes for Prisoners

It seems no one complains that the civil rights of convicts have been transgressed if their liberty is removed as part of their punishment - at least not yet. Why, if as part of that punishment their right to vote is withdrawn should anyone complain? Only nutters it seems, having listened to the frankly barmy argument used by someone representing some Human Rights organisation on Radio 4 at lunchtime today. This idiot's argument was that the withdrawal of voting rights was quite arbitrary and as such must be an infringement of a convict's human rights. Ignoring the question whether the right to vote is a human right it is quite clear that the withdrawal of the right to vote is not arbitrary as it is the existing law of the land.  No one would be having this discussion if that busybody, charlatan of the first order and his henchmen had not passed the Human Rights Act 1998. Sadly the Human Rights Act 1998 will not be revoked until the Tories rule by themselves and even then perhaps not. Cameron is not exactly proving to be a champion of this country in the way he represented he would be.

Cameron's Missed Opportunity

Cameron I am sure has been very well brought up in the best British tradition not to make a fuss. He has though not always demonstrated this in his clashes in Parliament and other places. Why therefore is he being so polite in his dealings with Europe who decidedly need to be told a thing or two about our country's attitude to the fascist, undemocratic and corrupt institution called the EU. Is Cameron not making a fuss because he's concerned it would go down badly with the other heads of government or does he have a plan he has not yet shared with us to stop the EU in its tracks? We should hope for the best but plan for the worst which means we should lobby our MPs for an exit from the EU as we know it. The EU is an out of date concept that is far too small a stage for the UK which has always been a global player of the first order. The UK should in no way be constrained by an EU Foreign Policy. Why are Cameron and Hague being so pusillanimous or are they preparing the groundwork for a knock out blow? We shall see and whether those like me who believe an opportunity has been missed are wrong.

The Andrew Marr Show

Apart from his interview of Theresa May this morning which Ms May handled rather well, Andrew Marr also interviewed Sir Jock Stirrup, the out going Chief of Defence Staff. Andrew Marr asked rather political questions which I would have thought a Chief of Defence Staff would have had to refuse to answer being above, or is it below, politics. Why was Andrew Marr asking those questions and why was Sir Jock answering them albeit diplomatically at times. Sir Jock for example confirmed the £38bn hole in the defence budget but did say it included a £10bn wish list. Sir Jock also revealed that the Defence Chiefs had themselves identified and proposed cuts to the Labour government but could get no decision. Finally Andrew Marr elicited from Sir Jock that over the last two years the Government had become properly focused on equipment and manning levels in Afghanistan. This led me to the conclusion that the whole point of the interview was to demonstrate that the Labour Government had not been so hopeless in running defence as the Coalition are saying. The BBC's view is not one shared by many of its unwilling paymasters.

The Next 3 Years

My elder brother, who has never read a blog in his life nor even sent an email nor opened a computer - he is simply not wired up to do so, asked me today what I saw becoming the most controversial political issues over the next three years. Even having had time to reflect further I still believe that the answer I gave over lunch is the correct one. The answer I gave was that there would be two issues (a) the EU and whether we should change to become at most a Swiss like affiliate and (b) Global Warming and whether we should be spending the huge sums of money that we are in line to pay over the next few years. Both issues will come to the forefront of the political scene at roughly the same time and will lead to huge and passionate rows that will transcend normal political associations and split families and friends. One of the casualties will I hope be Peter Luff of the European Movement who tried to defend the indefensible last night on Jeff Randall Live - he could only bluster and was quite unable to put forward a single coherent reason as to why the EU budget should not be reduced. Mats Person of Open Europe was more than able to cope with the Luff hype and to demonstrate the size of fraud in the EU, which Luff had belittled, is truly significant. On my return home I read various blogs and to my surprise discovered that the Political Betting blog (www2.politicalbetting.com/) had posted that the EU has in effect a non-issue with the electorate. We'll have to see whose right. What do you think?   

Ash - Who needs it?

Why does government spend money on organisations so that the latter can pay for reports attacking the government? It is a kind of masochism but as most of us are not into S&M (apologies to those who are but sometimes the majority has to have its voice heard) and it is our hard earned money which after all gets funneled through to ASH and others to attack the government, this kind of self-flagellation should be stopped. There is no reason for it at any time but least of all now with all the cost saving going on (we hope). I prefer to spend the money saved on, well ....... cigarettes.

And another thing, there is every reason for reducing housing benefit to £400 a week maximum. The government must stand firm on this. After all you can get a 4 double bedroom house which was renovated last year for £365 pw. Where? Putney. See Iain Dale's Diary - //www.iaindale.blogspot.com/

Boris has yet to respond to my email yesterday about his bike docking stations. Can it be because he is too busy with his new love? See Guido Fawkes blog for more detail - //order-order.com/

A Bad Left Day

The BBC headline this morning declared that the GDP figures to be released today would show a sharp slowdown. Unfortunately for them they had to change the headline following the release of the figures to say that the UK recovery was faster than expected. The UK economy had been expected to grow in the third quarter by only 0.4% whereas in fact it grew by 0.8%. This is good news as it is now expected that the Bank of England will postpone unleashing more quantitative easing for the time being.

Although Labour has not, as far as I am aware, yet commented on the announcement last night by the London Fire Brigade Union of its planned strike for bonfire night there are plenty of others who have done so. Virtually none of the comments have been supportive of the Union which seems to be striking for the most trivial of reasons and just to try and show that it has a bigger one than the Fire Brigade. Pathetic.

Yesterday we had the new Labour MP Tristram Hunt saying that Cameron is taking us back to the ethos of the Eton workhouse and today Guardian journalist Polly Toynbee saying the Tories have a final solution for the poor. Such insults are pathetic but they, coupled with the BBC's scare story on growth and the firefighters' proposed strike, will be giving Miliband a bad day. The comments today on his speech to the CBI yesterday will also have been unwelcome as will Paul Martin's comment on Jeff Randall Live last night that whilst the economy was doing well Brown should have been saving for a rainy day rather than overspending as he did. Paul Martin was the Canadian Finance Minister who rescued the Canadian economy after it went down 12 years ago. The rescue involved tough and immediate cuts. As a result of the action he took Canada paid off its deficit and subsequently generated surpluses.    

The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) - 2

It has come as somewhat of a shock to learn that the IFS is mainly supported by the taxpayer through fees generated by the IFS from the BBC, the European Commission, the Treasury, other government ministries, quangos and the IMF. Surely there is a conflict of interest here which would preclude the IFS from commenting in public on anything the government does. Why though does the government instruct the IFS to undertake reports on its behalf if they know that some of these reports will be hostile and will be made public. Seems crazy to me - a kind of masochism. I hope the government will cease spending our money on the IFS immediately.

Boris's Bikes

I enjoy my short hops on Boris's bikes but today was a nightmare. I appreciate that this week is half term for many children and that fewer bikes will be in use than normal, thus resulting in fuller docking stations. I picked up a bike from the Bourne Street docking station to ride to Mayfair for lunch with the intention of parking in Pall Mall. The docking station in Pall Mall has been full on 2 previous occasions when I've done this and the docking station in St James's Square has also been full on one previous occasion. I then had to cycle on to Panton Street and dock the bike there. Today though the docking stations in Pall Mall, St James's Square, Panton Street, Cockspur Street and Waterloo Place were all full. Exhausted by this time and despairing of ever finding a docking station so that I could take up the lunch invitation to Brooks's I 'phoned TFL's offices where a most helpful young lady told me that there were 3 empty slots at the Grafton Street docking station. There were several other Boris Bikers also circulating around the same docks as myself all looking for somewhere to dock their bikes. As they were younger and fitter than myself and there were seven or eight of them I didn't inform them of the three empty spaces in Grafton Street. I felt somewhat guilty about this but not that much as I am not a martyr. I duly rode uphill to Grafton Street where indeed I was able to dock my bike. Riding around like that certainly gives one an appetite and if that is the purpose of full docking stations then fine but Boris might find user numbers declining as a result. It is clear that extra docking stations in the St James's area are needed urgently. Why not one in Jermyn Street and why not another in Pall Mall? No further bikes need be bought specifically for these new docking stations as they will fill up at lunchtime with bikers from other parts of town and empty again later as bikers return from whence they came.

Cuts and Comments

Is it because the left in general have the worst arguments that they unfailingly misrepresent what the those on the right are saying or doing? Look, for example, at what the left always say about the BNP - that it is an extreme right wing organisation. This is simply untrue. Most of the BNP's tenets are those of the left and those that aren't are certainly not of the right with the sole exception of reducing personal taxation. The BNP would renationalise monopoly utilities and services. I know nobody on the right that has ever wished to do that. It is therefore no surprise that Danny Blanchflower (a Brown appointee to the MPC of the Bank of England) has come out against the cuts by saying that they are the 'biggest and riskiest macroeconomic experiment'. The reality is that the cuts have brought certainty and if that is a risky experiment then let's have more of them. I could also have bet that at some point we would have heard from Dame Suzi Leather, a Labour Party apparatchik appointed as Head of the Charity Commission following the enactment of the Charities Act 2006, and sure enough she was on radio 4 in her capacity as Head of the Charity commission this weekend. In so far as you could understand what she was saying it was that the cuts will be bad for charities. It seems odd to me that as a civil servant she felt able to make what was after all a political statement since it is at odds with the Government's well known keenness on charities. I suspect it is time for Suzi to depart. I think it is also time for the class warfare Charities Act 2006 to be replaced with an Act that respects private education.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS)

The IFS, the Unions and of course the Labour Party all say the the Government's 'cuts' will hit the poor hardest whereas the Tories, the LibDems (well Mr Clegg at least), Mr Murdoch and the OECD say that the 'cuts' are fair, which must mean that they do not think the poor have been the hardest hit. Who you believe is no doubt, as nearly always in politics, which side your heart instinctively supports (my country right or wrong kind of thing). The IFS is said by the Guardian to be Britain's leading tax and spending experts but I instinctively knew they were going to come down against the 'cuts'. I was not disappointed since as far as I can remember they have been against every announcement made by the Tories that they have commented upon. Why is that I wonder and why would the Guardian be such a fan? Why did they always support Brown's budgets? Could it be because they are a Labour supporting think tank? Doesn't that mean that anything they say must be taken with a pinch of salt? Doesn't it also follow that they can't possibly be Britain's leading tax and spending experts? 

The Spending Review

Crikey - what a long speech Osborne gave. He certainly seemed to know what he was talking about. I hope he does and I hope he's right for all our sakes. We are not going to know the results of the decisions the Government have made for a number of years though. Even if they get it half right the Government will claim success but if they get it wrong Labour will claim their prescription would have done the trick. It is probable that the next election will be decided on the outcome of the Spending Review. Johnson gave a good account of himself in his response although he gave no detail of what he would have cut and by how much and I guess he never will. It would have been good too if he had acknowledged his government's role in causing the financial mess we're in but again politicians never apologise and never explain and always pretend any disaster has nothing to do with them. A little more honesty would be refreshing. It is extraordinary that Gordon Brown failed to turn up in Parliament for the announcement. Is that an admission of guilt or at least the result of his embarrassment at getting everything so wrong? Wishful thinking on my part?         

Defence Review

It makes me angry, nay bloody angry, that the Labour Government so mismanaged our finances that there is a £38 billion hole in our defence budget. It makes me disappointed, nay sad, that as a result the Nimrod replacement has been cancelled, Ark Royal is going, our Harriers are being stood down, our frigates and destroyers are being reduced from 23 to 19 ships and that there will be a gap between the 2 new aircraft carriers being built and the joint striker planes being delivered. Why not keep Ark Royal and the Harriers in commission until the arrival of the new planes? Why not make cuts in the NHS and the Overseas Aid budgets to pay for this? We all know the NHS budget is stuffed full of waste and that the elimination of that waste would not adversely affect its performance in any way.  Perhaps not enough of us though appreciate the need for a strong defence force even in this day and age. Cameron impressed today both in Parliament and at the UK Permanent HQ. A pity the same could not be said of Ed Miliband.

   

The Labour Response

Alan Johnson read out a prepared script today setting out the Labour Party position on the cuts. One wonders if he understood what he was saying as he refused to answer questions about his speech afterwards. Hmm, despite the reaonable tone in which the speech was delivered it was not an inspiring start to his new career. Will Miliband or Johnson respond to Osborne's speech on Wednesday? Either way it will be intriguing to watch. 

Good News?

Much to this blogger's surprise the Government has chosen the sites for 8 nuclear power stations. Will they be built in time though to ensure 'energy security'? The building of coal fired power stations will also go ahead once the system to capture the CO2 emissions  and store them underground has been worked out. Will the new capture and storage technology be ready in time though and what happens if it isn't? The tidal energy scheme across the Severn has been dropped mainly because of its expense but further wind farms are to be built. What stupidity. It is odd though that neither the nuclear power stations nor the coal powered ones are to be subsidised but the wind farms will be. One wonders why. The answer to that question will be at the end of the money trail!

George IV

There is a bust of George IV in the window of the Anthony Outred shop in Pimlico Road, London SW3 that looks somewhat similar to George Osborne. Is there a relationship? Is that why Osborne changed his first name from Gideon to George?  

George Osborne on Andrew Marr

Did Osborne make a slip of the tongue on the Andrew Marr show this morning when he said the Government were going to go after companies and individuals who took steps to avoid tax? There is nothing wrong with avoidance. Everyone is allowed to organise his affairs in such a legal way in order to pay the least amount of tax possible - that is known as avoidance. Everyone would be mad to organise his affairs in such a way in order to pay the most amount of tax possible. Evasion though is another thing. Evasion involves breaking the tax laws and is illegal and thus punishable and no government can tolerate that.

Osborne came across well and seems to be growing into his job whereas Alan Johnson, who appeared earlier in the same programme, did not really have a lot to say. He came across as a nice enough person but as somewhat complacent and, despite being given an easy ride, a little out of his depth. Whereas I did not doubt Osborne would grow into the job I am not sure about Johnson.

Secret Iraq

Probably most of you were asleep on the two nights this week that BBC2 screened parts 1 and 2 of Secret Iraq. I recommend you watch it on BBC iPlayer as it is one of the best programmes I have seen on the insurgency in the aftermath of the Iraq War and the beginnings of its slowdown. It was humiliating to learn what many suspected were the reasons behind our departure from Basra and of our defeat at the hands of the insurgents. It was also interesting to have one's suspicions of Blair confirmed - definitely not a man to go tiger hunting with. Whether you thought it was right or wrong to go into Iraq there can be no argument that the manner of our leaving was a disgrace and Blair should go down in history as one of the worst and least principled leaders of this country. The Americans are welcome to him.

PMQs

I have just seen this afternoon's PMQs on BBC iPlayer. Ed Miliband gave a creditable performance although he should not be judged on this showing alone as he could hardly have been given an easier target than the Child Benefit one. The Government does not have an answer to the question why two parents earning £80,000 between them should be entitled to keep Child Benefit when only one parent is in work and earning more than £44,000 is set to lose it. The Government knows this is unfair and yet refuses to acknowledge it. No wonder Cameron looks and sounds uncomfortable on this issue. Is there something else going on in the background here? I would like to think so.  I doubt Ed Miliband will have many more opportunities to embarrass the Prime Minister as easily as he did today. I expect next week's PMQs will be very different. 

Global Warming

I have just read on James Delingpole's blog the resignation letter Harold Lewis, Emeritus Professor of Physics at the University of California, sent to Curtis Callan Jr, President of the American Physical Society. Referring to what he calls the global warming scam Mr Lewis states that 'it is the greatest and most successful pseudoscientific fraud I have seen in my long life as a physicist'. Damning stuff and something which I recommend you read. The link is below.
   
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamesdelingpole/100058265/us-physics-professor-global-warming-is-the-greatest-and-most-successful-pseudoscientific-fraud-i-have-seen-in-my-long-life/

University Fees

It was no doubt inevitable that with the significant increase in students since 1992 that the Blairite funding system had to change and that as a result of the mess we're in students are going to have to pay more. Lord Browne's report seems well measured and although students and others are protesting it seems to have been well received by University Vice-Chancellors and by most politicians. Despite their election pledges it looks unlikely that there will be a rebellion by LibDem MPs. Students will not need to start repaying their loans until they earn at least £21,000 (increased from £15,000), thus University tuition fees do not need to be paid at the time of supply nor at any later time by the less well off. There was an intelligent discussion about all this earlier this evening on Jeff Randall Live on Sky News.

All protests against Lord Browne's proposals are strangely muted in comparison to those protests in Paris today against the increase in the retirement age from 60 to 62 and the age of receipt of the full state pension from 65 to 67. There are some sops though but these have to be paid for out of increased taxation. Although I have not seen it reported there will no doubt be French citizens who think we and other EU saps, as with the Common Agricultural Policy, should pay for their self indulgence. After all we are talking of La France. Would we do so? Quite possibly if paying the increase demanded of us by the EU is anything to go by. Being a revolting lot the French can though no doubt understand the SW3  cry "No taxation without a vote on the EU and all its ways"! Merde alors!            

The EU and 10:10

We all know that the economy is in trouble and that our lives are going to be harder as the Government seeks to sort out the horrific mess Labour has left behind. If we are all in this together then it will make it easier to swallow the pill if inanities that make many scream with rage were attacked/stopped/opposed by the Government such as the increase in the amount we are due to pay the EU and the 10:10 campaign supported by our embassies on Sunday. If the taxpayer is going to have to pay more and suffer cuts there is absolutely no excuse for giving more to the EU or the 10:10 campaign. A little bit of resistance to these and other totally unnecessary expenditure will stiffen morale no end.

Some climate warming specialist lady from the Hadley Centre said something curious on the radio at lunchtime today which went something like "Whereas there has been global warming over the last 50 years not every warm summer or cold winter can be taken as evidence proving the same." The data used by the Hadley Centre for its global warming theories is questionable to say the least. Let the EU and the 10:10 campaigners eat cake, stale and mouldy cake at that!

 

Power Cuts

One of the great failures of the Labour government was to put off ordering replacement power stations. The reason for doing so was because they wanted to look good in the eyes of the climate change fascists. The climate change fascists and their theories will be brushed aside as it becomes increasingly apparent that without consistent power we will be unable to heat ourselves or even work. That we should  seek to protect and eke out our fuel supplies is clearly sensible. To try and invent new forms of power to replace our reliance on fossil and possibly nuclear fuels is clearly a worthwhile challenge as well. We do not know how long inventing new power technology will take though and so in the interim we should be using the most efficient and cost effective power sources we have. This means building coal fired and nuclear power stations not wind farms and other such ridiculously expensive fripperies.

There have been power cuts in London today!   

Aftermath

I only saw the last few minutes of Cameron's speech yesterday but I thought he finished it with a passion that I had not heard from him before. Like many, I am still not sure I get the 'Big Society' other than if we want things to be done we are going to have to do many of them for ourselves in future as the government is no longer going to try to do everything for us. Most people can surely live with that as this is flip side to closing down the nanny state which became so expensive and intrusive and was an abhorrent idea in the first place. A silly example I know but the happiness the eradication of Blair's soviet style bus lane on the M4 has brought is a wonder to behold.

Whether or not the withdrawal of Child Benefit is to be executed as fairly as it should be, its announcement has certainly brought it home to people that dealing with the deficit is going to have an impact on us all. If that was the intended effect of the announcement, and there is evidence that it was, it was certainly successful. Further evidence of the tough decisions coming our way is this morning's interim report from Lord Hutton. This makes it clear that public sector workers are going to have to work to a later age and pay more into their pension pot in order to try and fill its massive £1 trillion black hole. How did things get into such a mess? 

Child Benefit

Has George made a bit of a Horlicks? Did he misread the anticipated reaction? It would appear so as any number of Tory and LibDem supporters are appalled by George's announcement. Whereas I agree Child Benefit should go for those earning over £44,000 I do see that it is unfair to them if it continues to be paid where both parents earn say £43,000 each. Can this anomaly be resolved without means testing? It seems not but compensation is likely to be forthcoming through the introduction of transferable tax allowances between spouses.  I had thought the transfer of allowances between spouses was a dead duck as a result of the coalition. Apparently not, even though the LibDems are said to be against the policy. George is reckoned to be a first class political tactician, so was this a tactical ploy to make it difficult for the LibDems to continue their resistance to the transfer of tax allowances policy now that a number of their members are losing Child Benefit and want compensation? More likely George was trying to smoke out Ed Miliband or maybe he was trying to do both! Whatever the reasoning Horlicks appears to be the answer at this stage.  

Democracy EU Style

If anyone wanted further proof of what a nasty anti-democratic organisation the EU is they need go no further than read Dan Hannan's blog of earlier today. On certain issues the EU Commission will make proposals that will be automatically adopted unless rejected by the Council. There is apparently nothing in the Constitution which allows it to use such a procedure but niceties like that do not of course apply to the Commission - rules are for others. What breathtaking arrogance - although it will surprise no one! Will this be a matter that will be caught by the new law being introduced in the UK providing for referenda to be held whenever there is a change to the European Constitution? It should do but somehow I doubt it.

Why do we continue to remain members of the EU? What advantages has it brought us? It has certainly brought us a lot of grief including the ERM, 13 years of Labour misrule as a consequence, thousands of needless regulations, disastrous agricultural and fishery policies, unwarranted sinecures for discarded politicians like Lord Kinnock and an ever increasing tax burden. We need all the money we pump into the EU for ourselves.  

Thank Goodness

The damage  Gordon Brown caused both as Chancellor and as Prime Minister was bad enough, heaven knows, but the damage he would have caused if he had taken us into the Euro would have been far, far worse. Thus if it's true that he stopped us from joining the Euro we have to be applaud him. One only has to read what is happening to Ireland, where the Euro has caused them horrific problems, to know we are better off out. Their problems are quite possibly insoluble and they will most likely need to start again with a clean slate.  In other words to save themselves they are going to have to default.

The fear that we might go the same way is not one shared by the more sane commentators since with our own currency and with the reductions in future expenditure we will certainly escape Ireland's fate. We do though need to ensure that the private sector is allowed to grow and that the conditions for it to do so are made as conducive as possible by the Government through lower taxes, less regulation, control over inflation and a supportive currency policy. The amount spent on the EU, wind-farms and other such fripperies must be radically reduced (better still stopped altogether) and  projects such as nuclear energy plants and a new airport or at least a new runway, all paid for by the private sector, must be allowed to go ahead as soon as possible.

These are all optimistic issues and it is to be hoped that they and other expressions of confidence in our future will be highlighted in speeches to be given at the Tory party conference.     

Lone Piper's Lament and Balance

Across the street, outside the Margaret Thatcher Infirmary in Royal Hospital Road, a lonely Piper squeezes a lament. Is some old Scottish soldier dying or is there another event on at the Royal Chelsea Hospital that requires serenading? One is most unlikely to know although with the numbers walking by it is probably the latter. It is drizzling and I am dissuaded as a result from going to find out.

It could of course be a lament for the decision of Miliband Senior to withdraw from front bench politics. Such a lament would be entirely in keeping with the status of this extraordinarily gifted man, visionary in his own lifetime and almost godlike figure he is presented to us as being by members of his tribe and the left leaning media. Those of us though who question this reading of the man must be wrong as we are told Hillary Clinton likes him. That ends the debate even if it matters not if Hillary hates him. For the sake of transparency though, which the BBC for one is so concerned about in other people, it would be most helpful if journalists, tv as well as print ones, were to have to make clear their own political leanings when propounding their views. We would then be able to say 'he/she would say that wouldn't he/she' and weigh their words accordingly. This might help bring a bit of balance in the media that we so desperately need in this country.  

The Fourth Way (2); Charlie Bean.

I did not watch but I have read every word of Miliband Junior's speech. I thus do not know how it played to the faithful, including the BBC. From reading it all I can say is that it started off well but then deteriorated as it went on and on and on, failed to hang together and contained no surprises. As for his claim about being a proponent of new politics all I can say is that if that is new politics it is not only very boring but it looks excessively like old politics. As a Tory his praise of the 1945 Labour Government, of Harold Wilson, of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown is misplaced to say the least of it. Labour was and remains a cuckoo in the nest and the sooner it quits the scene the better for all of us.

Better also for all of us in this country would be the instant dismissal of Charlie Bean. What an extraordinary, arrogant and stupid thing for him to have said to people who have saved that they should now spend, spend, spend to help the economy. That is what Brown did and look where that has got us. Come on Osborne get rid of this idiot. The Labour Government, the  Bank of England and the banks have failed us. The Labour Government has gone as a result but what about the Bank of England and the banks? If banks are too big to fail then at least the senior individuals in them should not be protected. Why has not a law been passed to sack the senior executives of both the Bank of England and the banks we now own without any compensation and to ban them for life from taking any other job in the financial sector.  Savers have to be protected and should be compensated for the loss their savings have incurred by the Bank of England's crazy Quantitative Easing policy.

The Fourth Way

There is an interesting view propounded by Iain Martin on his blog that Ed Miliband in his speech today is going to change the so-called Clinton/Blair/Cameron Playbook of politics that to win elections the leader of a political party has to be photogenic, adopt the mores and attitudes of the media and avoid references to right and left. I do hope Iain Martin is right as the Playbook approach to politics is unsatisfying in so many ways, stifling as it does real debate about so many issues that need to be properly aired. If Ed Miliband does seek to break the mould it will hopefully encourage Cameron to do likewise. I can only see the result being beneficial by encouraging greater discussion about capitalism, climate change, devolution, the economy, education, free speech, health, immigration, law and order, muticulturalism, trade unions, welfare and, of course, Europe.

I am not holding my breath though as I suspect the speech will be somewhat bland and disappointing, hinting at the lifting of the Third Way veil but in truth re-iterating it. Will this then become known as the Fourth Way?   

Halal

Is it really true that meat being sold by supermarkets is produced from animals killed in the halal way? Unless I am wrongly informed I understand the halal way of killing animals is pretty barbaric. If Muslims want to eat meat prepared in that way then they can of course do so in their own countries. If the halal method of killing causes what we would say in this country are unacceptable levels of distress to animals as opposed to the way we traditionally prepare our meat then we should ban it. I do not agree with banning the Burca or any religious symbol as that is a question of free speech. The preparation of food is a completely different thing but those who want to eat halal meat here can import it so long as it is specifically identified. There is one meat I guess that has not been prepared in the halal way and that is pork. No wonder pork tastes as good as it did when I was a child. I now know why when you buy London supermarket beef, lamb and poultry products the taste is not as succulent as it used to be!

It's frightening...

...that the Bank of England is considering further Quantitative Easing. The last lot has already resulted in an increase in inflation which has still to be brought under control. We need high inflation like a whole in the head. It is to be hoped our bright young Chancellor will quash the Bank of England's idea in no uncertain manner. It is also to be hoped that in his speech to the Tory Conference Osborne will emphasise the need for and the benefits that come from free enterprise, competition and capitalism and indeed from low taxes. This message needs making time and time again.

...that the subsidy farm off the Thanet coast (a) exists at all and (b) is going to be increased to 340 windmills. Building nuclear power stations will not only be significantly cheaper but will provide electricity 24/7. If people so believe in wind power then let them build them windmills with their on money, not with mine. Why is there no current top flight politician in office who supports looking at global warming and renewable energy in the same common sense way as Lord Lawson? We should at least have waited to see the result over the next few years in the changes the movement of the jet stream and the sun spot activity will bring to our climate. Who knows perhaps these changes will bring global cooling (thought of as highly likely twenty or so years ago). Perhaps global cooling has already started - it was reported that -4 degree temperatures were recorded last night in two places in Scotland and that this made September the coldest for 30 years.            

Miliband Junior

Well there you have it. Ed has won it. Even though their election system is somewhat undemocratic, even flawed, if that is the way the Labour Party wants to elect their leaders then so be it. It will though serve to remind the rest of us that the Labour Party does not believe in fairness (one member, one vote) but in elites, in the nomenklatura, like all fascist/communist parties. In other words like all parties of the left. We know little about Ed but will know too much about him shortly. Now he has taken the crown what kind of leader will he make? Probably more centrist than his rhetoric to date has led us to think but probably more of an attack dog than his brother would have been. Ed Balls, a fully certified attack dog, I am sure will be given an important position in Junior's team if the body language between the two Eds whilst they were watching the announcement of the voting results is anything to go by. The coalition I hope have done their homework and have an idea of how to handle Ed as opposed to David Miliband as leader of the opposition? The coalition will no doubt be put to the test in defending the decisions made to handle the deficit and I expect to be bored rigid being told again and again of the difference between debt and deficit and how the latter must be brought under control. As John Redwood says the coalition should also frequently remind us that the cuts are in the amount of the increases planned over the next five years not cuts in what is being spent out of our taxes today.