The Met Office

The Met Office is at least supposed to be able to get the short term forecasts correct but thankfully it failed to do so for London yesterday. There was no predicted rain and indeed there has been no predicted rain today either. Instead we had an easterly wind yesterday which is blowing again today with some strength. If this is the quality of their forecasting then is it any wonder there are a considerable number of people who doubt the Met Office about climate warming and in particular man's involvement in it. This is worrying when the government is planning to spend a great amount of our money on all sorts of alternative energy schemes that science has not yet proven are necessary or even desirable. Certainly wind farms are not only a blight on the landscape and should be banned for that reason alone but they are a waste of time and a huge waste of money. Not that the one and only and I hope last green MP would agree with me. An eco fascist if ever there was one since she does not approve of the way we live and wants to change our life styles dramatically. I watched her party political broadcast the other evening by mistake the other evening. Before I turned it off I was somewhat surprised to learn that she has a high oratorical ability. She of course did the usual thing of claiming that she is not like other politicians and will not stoop to their level but that part of her speech that I listened to was indeed a politician's speech of some quality. In other words only fools will think she is not like all other politicians.     

Wedding Bells in London

Despite living only a mile away from Buckingham Palace everything here is very quiet. Not even the big party in Duke of York Square to celebrate the wedding has disturbed the day's tranquility. The only sounds to interrupt the peace were the mini buses used to transport the wedding guests from the Abbey to the Palace and a number of horses passing by early this morning. Later we heard the flypast. The threatened rain never materialised and it is now a nice sunny evening. Should Sam Cam have worn a hat or were the jewels in her hair enough? Should that pain in the backside Peter Hain have tweeted as he did about the lack of coverage of Ed Miliband? Certainly Victoria and David Beckham and Elton John and Furnish had more coverage but then they are not republicans like Ed Miliband. The Bishop of London made an intelligent and thought provoking address which was exactly right for this time. A pity in my view that he did not become Archbishop of Canterbury. Meanwhile in the rest of the world there have been anti regime demonstrations in Syria, further fighting in Libya including an attack on Tunisia and rescue and mopping up operations in the USA following the tornadoes and floods visited upon it. Let us not forget Japan either which although not reported here is suffering anything up to three earthquakes a day.      

Blair and Brown

What is the true reason behind the failure to invite Blair and Brown to the wedding? Is it the given fact that neither of them is a Knight of the Garter or is it because they were both guilty of lese-majeste on more than one occasion. I strongly suspect that the latter is the real reason and I have to say that I admire the Palace for courting the criticism that they must have known was coming as a result of their decision. They have clearly demonstrated that they still can deliver a sting in the tail if they think they are being cut out of their constitutional rights. Perhaps not only is this intended as a slap in the face for Blair and Brown and their spouses but also a warning to the present government to be ultra cautious when considering further changes to the constitution, particularly the House of Lords and the Church of England. The press so far seem to have missed this message.

Yemen

Although it seems many protesters are opposed to the solution brokered between the ruling party and the Parliamentary opposition in Yemen the deal looks as if it will be signed in Saudi Arabia today. The protesters want the President to resign and be arrested immediately whereas the deal allows him to remain in office for 30 days and for new presidential elections to be held within 2 months. The deal has been worked out by the Gulf Cooperation Council and is supported by the USA and EU countries including it is supposed the UK. Is this a pattern that will be followed elsewhere in the region, for example in Bahrain? Is something similar being worked on by the Arab League who now, without specifically as far as I can see mentioning it by name, seem to be condemning Syria for its brutal suppression of its citizens. One can only hope so for the sake of a cessation to all the violence although it is difficult to see people like Butcher Assad and Mad Dog Gaddafi agreeing to any negotiations until they face the abyss, in other words until they have effectively been beaten militarily. It is amazing that with all this turmoil in the Arab world we have heard virtually nothing from Israel which makes one think that they are playing a shrewd game in order not to upset their hopes of having, if all goes well, some truly democratic neighbours to deal with in future.  

Lies, Damned Lies and Lib Dems

One might have thought that by being in government the Lib Dems would be rather more responsible with their election statements but no. they have reverted to type. According to them the cost of running an AV election will be no more than the cost of running a first past the post one. Common sense though tells us that an AV election is bound to be more expensive since there are going to be all the different preference votes to count. The Lib Dems are also furious that the role and indeed the impartiality of the Electoral Reform Society and of its subsidiary the Electoral Reform Services Limited are being questioned since ERS will gain financially from the referendum as they are involved in running it and yet have donated £1million to the YestoAV campaign. Clegg's and Huhne's references to Tory lies and so on should just be seen as the cheap shots that Lib Dems love to involve themselves in.   

Anger

Archbishop Cranmer on his blog http://archbishop-cranmer.blogspot.com/ has the most horrific footage of the damage to humans resulting from Assad's attacks on his own citizens. Anger and hatred against Butcher Assad were my reactions to this truly sickening film. What on earth gives anyone the right to attack their unarmed citizens in this way? If the dissidents were armed and were mounting an attack on the forces of a democratically elected government then of course you would expect the government forces to open fire. But what is happening is barbaric and anything which gives the Butcher, the Mad Dog, the President of Yemen and other despots any international legitimacy of whatever kind must be withdrawn and we must remonstrate with them with the greatest vigour. Syria is a surrogate for Iran and there would be a great advantage in testing Iran's nerve by doing to Syria what is currently being done by NATO in Libya. A message also has to go out to the pirates in the Gulf from the US and its allies that all further attacks on shipping will be met with force - an ideal target for drones surely. Under Bummer though the US seems to be paralysed and unable to take any action. We can only hope he loses the next Presidential election and is replaced by someone who is prepared to act.     

St George's Day

Today we celebrate the anniversary of the death of St George or so do those of us who have him as their patron saint as he is the patron saint of not only England. He was born a Christian in Syria, became a soldier in Diocletian's army and a Tribune and because he would not recant his religion was put to death, so they say, in 303 when Diocletian refused to continue tolerating Christians in his army. St George was beheaded in front of the walls of Nicomedia (now Izmit in Turkey) having been tortured several times beforehand. Curious isn't it that all these years later barbarism is alive and well, indeed thriving, in these ancient places. Even today the Syrians are firing on and killing mourners at the funerals of those they killed as they exited the mosques yesterday. Evolution there may be but it is quite unnoticeable when it comes to beastliness being visited on men by men, often in the name of religion. St George became a saint because he refused to deny his Christianity. What would he say today about the efforts of the new branch of the IRA and its campaign to kill policemen? What would he say about the Muslim extremists blowing themselves up and their enemies? We imagine he lived in a world where violence was a part of everyday life but was it when everyone had to worry about whether there was enough necessaries to survive and also about their health. Might it have been a more compassionate society? 

Fragile Times

There are times when the world seems a fragile place even from a London perspective. We have now understood the gravity of the mess the last Government inflicted on us and the changes this is going to mean for most of us made more apparent by the increase in the cost of living and the uncertainty that the course we have embarked on will prove to be enough, particularly if the eurozone is going to collapse in some way or if the US fails to deal with its deficit. All this has made us unusually nervous. The world's fragility is also emphasised by the uprisings not only in Africa and the Middle East but also by the violence we are seeing in our own backyard, the student riots, the riot by the camp followers of the Unions and now the appalling riot last night in Bristol. What on earth was that all about? We have had race riots in Bristol before but this seems to have been a nasty little riot whipped up by anti capitalists amongst those who are afraid that the new Tesco store will result in the closure of local shops. Who are these anti capitalists? No doubt arrogant, middle class Guardian readers who vote Green - in other words fascists. It is a pity they cannot all be deported to some hellhole or made to read Salman Rushdie books for the rest of their lives.      

Pollution

I don't know about you but I almost had an apoplectic fit on hearing that we Londoners are about to suffer smog from air pollutants as a result of the still, warm weather we are currently basking in. It was not the fact of the smog but being reminded that the EU has the power to fine us that caused me to choke. What the hell is our pollution to do with the EU? When we had proper smogs back in the day (ghastly expression) we did something about it. The Clean Air Act was promulgated and burning anything other than smokeless coal was banned within urban areas. Our problem, our solution. What made me choke even more is that the pollutants aren't even ours but have apparently been brought here on the easterly wind from mainland Europe which has been blowing these last few days and which despite the high temperature in sheltered areas makes life a little nippy if you are sitting in a draught. So if the EU wants to fine anybody they should fine those countries whose emissions are affecting our environment. Better though for the EU not to fine anybody and to take their sticky beak out of our business. It is bad enough our government imposing all sorts of nanny type regulations on us but for the EU to do so is frankly reason alone to leave the EU and put all those no doubt wholly intelligent stupid eurocrats out of a job. I have not even commentated yet on the increase in the EU budget these wholly intelligent stupid eurocrats want to impose on us. When will the explosion against the EU begin? It really must happen soon.

Wedding Lights

It is amusing to learn that the American, Canadian and Australian TV stations are trying to persuade Buckingham Palace to keep on the lights illuminating its facade after the 12.30 am time it has been decided to turn them off for 'green' reasons. The lights are normally turned off at 11 pm and the Palace are apparently saying that they can't keep them on after the extended time not only for green reasons but because turning them off say 3 hours later will keep those who sleep at the front of the Palace awake. The TV stations want the lights kept on so that their commentators can be more easily seen against a lighted Buckingham Palace back drop. Will the Palace back down? Will it insist that the 'green' reasons are sacrosanct? The Prince of Wales is sometimes right and sometimes wrong and I would venture to say that he is very wrong on the 'green' side of things. At this time in our economic history it also seems like shooting ourselves in the foot not to give the crowds what they want and the Royal family should know this. Tourism is after all a significant money earner for the country and we need as much money as we can get and as the Royal family is at the very heart of our tourist attractions they should be doing all they can to encourage it rather than turning off the lights.       

Coral Reefs; Immigration

In 1997 it was estimated that the world's coral reefs extended over an area of 255,000 square kilometres. The Climate Change Scammers predicted that this area would be reduced by approximately 40% to 153,000 square kilometres by 2010. However recently released results of research undertaken earlier this year estimate that the global coral reef is now 249,713 square kilometres. Something is wrong surely and one wonders whether the BBC or other hook, line and sinker swallowers of the scare stories put out by the Scammers will examine in any critical way the predictions for global coral reef shrinkage by 2010 and compare them with the results of this year's survey. If they were to our faith in their impartiality may be repaired somewhat but I'm not holding my breath as to admit that they might have been wrong will likely be too big an ask for an organisation suffering under the burden of its level of arrogance.
On a quite different topic, that of immigration, it is curious that the BBC have made no reference on its website that I can see to Lord Glasman's astonishing statement that the last Labour government lied about immigration. Presumably to do so might lead the BBC into having to explain its lack of impartiality when it comes to immigration and its support of the last Labour government on this issue. 

Is there a point to Vince Cable?

If anything it is my view that Cameron was too wishy washy in his statement on immigration today. He basically repeated in a very low key way what he has said previously. I think we have a right to be extremely angry at the way we have had immigrants foisted on us who want us to change our traditions, our laws and indeed our very manner of existence and no politician has got anywhere near to expressing that anger or, even worse, offering a solution to the them and us problem. I am not suggesting repatriation but I am suggesting that it should be made absolutely clear that we will not accept a refusal either to speak English or to integrate with our society and that anyone who finds that objectionable will just have to put up with it. We did not invite these people to come here, they came because they thought it would suit their purse. Thus for Vince Cable to call Cameron 'very unwise' and to accuse him of risking inflaming extremism is not only ridiculous but is, well, very unwise. Cable is a joke and it is becoming increasingly difficult to see the point of him although I guess he will survive even this last foray into the limelight which he so obviously craves on the basis that the Lib Dems need him to demonstrate that they, like the Tories, are also a broad Church. This is another fine mess Labour got us into. 

Anti-Government Bias

It is important, even if a Tory, to make one's voice heard when one thinks the Conservative led coalition is doing something wrong and the writer has to admit he has done so on several occasions. It is also right to commend the government when it is right. Osborne was absolutely right to say in the mail today that it stinks that the Electoral Reform Society, which is being paid by the taxpayers to run some of the referendum ballots and stands to benefit if AV comes in, is funding the Yes to AV campaign. I think the ERS should be banned from providing further funding and that the Yes to AV campaign should be made to repay the donations it has already received from the Society in order to ensure there is a level playing field. There are other institutions where a level playing field should be imposed such as the BBC which, if it is not going to be broken up and privatised, should be forced to dismiss half those lefties that work for it and to take on replacements who favour the Tories or at least Tory policies. Furthermore heads of e.g. the Royal College of Nursing, ACPO and so on should all have to declare their political affiliations so we know where they're coming from. The law should also be changed so that taxpayers or employers are forbidden from making contributions to or paying trades union officials whilst they spend time on union matters (see a Guido Fawkes blog of today on this topic - http://order-order.com/ ). 

Freedom of Speech

For France to have banned the Burca is an abuse of the freedom of the individual. Even though walking around with a veil covering your face is in my view demeaning, even cowardly, and should never be allowed when it comes to appearances in court or where someone needs to be identified it is wrong to ban it altogether. It is also an abuse of the freedom of the individual to prevent people from mocking religions of any kind. Knocking Christianity is considered fair game but for some reason or other we must not knock other religions. This to me is quite wrong. To prevent people from knocking Mohammedanism is to give its adherents and maybe others the idea that it is somehow special and superior to other religions whereas of course it is not and in the way that some of its adherents choose to interpret it it is without question inferior. We have the rule of law in this country and if those who wish to practice sharia law here may only do so in so far as it does not offend the laws of this country. If certain muslims cannot accept that then this country is not for them. Those muslims will have to decide whether their country or their religion is the more important to them and if, like the first emigrants to what is now the United States, they decide their religion is more important to them then they should emigrate to a country that is more compatible with their views, at least until Parliament decides we should become a muslim country. If I am alive at that point I shall emigrate.    

Book Burning and Other Things

Why does the BBC accept almost without question statements made by those who are opposed to anything the government does, in particular any government in which the Conservatives feature? A lot of air time has been given to Dr Peter Carter's statement that the proposed reforms will be a disaster without emphasising his vested interest and without discussing in any real detail the rebuttal of the government on the question of the increase in the numbers of nurses employed by the NHS. The BBC gave considerable air time today to the head of the Patients Association who was an unthinking supporter of Dr Carter. Unthinking in the sense that she stated calls to the Patients Association helpline proved that there were fewer nurses and that the cuts would reduce the NHS front line staff. She represented that  calls to the helpline amount amounted to irrefutable research to which the BBC should have said "Hang on a moment - aren't your members going to use your helpline when they need help and why does that prove front line staff have been cut?" Apart from checking his facts and not making ridiculous statements about the numbers of black students admitted by Oxford or about how most of the faults in the world are down to us Cameron should be making sure his administration is run efficiently and trumpeting the incredible advantages this country has given to the world as indicated by Niall Ferguson in his book Civilisation. Cameron should also ensure that his government sticks to the NHS reforms and treats those who burn the Koran in the same way as those who burn the Bible.

Nuclear Power

We read from time to time that unless more power stations of one sort or another are built in short order we shall suffer serious power cuts. If true where is the urgency to build these new power stations and which types are going to be built. Supposedly we are to have both coal and nuclear power but in the case of coal only if the pollution problem has been sorted out. The building of new nuclear power stations has been put on hold so that another safety evaluation can be undertaken following the tsunami damage to Fukushima plant in Japan. Why we should need to have this safety evaluation is pure politics of the worst kind. It is meant to assuage peoples' fears but how many of us, apart from the nuclear antis who will always be anti, are afraid that the new nuclear power stations will be worse than the existing ones? These have an unbelievably good safety record in this country and any concern about an Act of God like a tsunami affecting our power stations is stretching credulity beyond reason. What then should be done to ensure that we do not have power cuts? We know that solar power, wind farms and the like are not the answer and we know that CO2 emissions do not cause global warming (see Christopher Booker in today's Sunday Telegraph). We should thus go full speed ahead with our nuclear plants building programme and also with our coal fired power stations even if there is no technology around today to scrub its emissions.   

Jasmine Spring

The fragrant Jasmine flower with its almost overwhelming scent is not producing the political results we would all like to see. Gaddafi is still in power in Libya, Assad in Syria and Ali Saleh in Yemen. Perhaps we should describe the 'uprisings' in all these countries as part of an uncertain spring since it seems likely that even Gaddafi will remain in power for some time to come. One result of all the turmoil in the Middle East/North Africa though is the upsurge of interest in the London buy to rent market. So much so that flats with relatively short leases are being sold at significant prices. I heard today of a small two bedroom flat in Redcliffe Square which is being sold for £1.2 million. The buyer's idea is to let the flat out to wealthy Arabs and North Africans who have fled from their homelands in fear of their lives. Truly an ill wind blows no one any good - unless you are in the buy to rent business. One can but hope that these visitors to our shores come with plenty of money in their pockets and are able to afford everything their hearts desire and boost our economy to boot. We need as many boosts to our economy as we can get what with our deficit getting bigger by bailing out Portugal.  

Abner Stein

I went to the Abner Stein Memorial this afternoon at the Hurlingham Club. There were about 250 people there which is quite a lot considering that not many people will have heard of him. Abner came from Boston, Mass. and landed on these shores in the '60s to set up Sphere books for the Thomson publishing company. He subsequently worked for a time for Hatchette and then struck out on his own as a literary agent, mainly sourcing his authors from US literary agents whose clients wanted representation in the UK. Although business was slow to begin with he had a knack for picking winning authors like John Grisham and Dan Brown. Although a private man Abner's lunches were famous in the literary world and eventually all the smoking and drinking resulted in kidney failure requiring dialysis 3 times a week and the amputation of the lower parts of his legs. All of this he seemed to take in his stride. He never complained and carried on pretty much as before. I last had lunch with him about three years ago and although he did not seem to smoke as much he had certainly not lost his taste or thirst for fine wine! Sadly he died about three months ago after having had a nasty fall.      

All that Glisters is not Gold

The EU if it were not such a duplicitous, costly, anti-democratic, fascist, corrupt organisation would be a farce and as is appropriate for all such organisations has a leader who matches its ridiculousness. Mr Van Rompuy, who looks like a scarecrow who has been dragged through a hedge backwards, is not only a joke but is pretentious as well. He has said that the EU "should take the credit for international action which prevented a 'bloodbath' in Libya". He went on to maintain that the air strikes would not have been possible without the clear position taken on Libya by the EU. This is an extraordinary claim as I seem to recall that Germany decided to abstain from voting on the UN resolution sought by the French and the British and that nothing would have happened to help the rebels if it were not for those two countries and the grudging support of the Americans. Is it any wonder that even the young are turning away from the EU recognising how insular is mainland Europe and how the UK is a global player and indeed always was until that little Englander, Ted Heath, did his deal with Pompidou and signed us up to the Common Market. My father always told me it was a big mistake. He voted against in the 1975 referendum. I voted in favour thinking we were part of a super market. How wrong I was and how much I regret my vote. All that glisters is not gold!     

Today

Today has been a truly glorious day with temperatures reaching 23 degrees. Apparently it is the hottest 6th April since records began but do not tell me it has anything to do with global warming. For a start if there were global warming of the kind the eco-fascists pretend the sea level would be rising at the same rate it has been rising over the last 30 years rather than now rising at a slower rate. We also learn today that bio-fuels are causing people to die which does not seem to be a very friendly ecological result. I would say we should go back to the drawing board and that until we've got it right we should be careful about the introduction of supposedly environmentally friendly solutions. Let's get on with the building of nuclear power stations as any more delays will result in long periods of outages.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

NHS Reforms

Fraser Nelson has written an interesting article in today's Telegraph about the 'paused' reforms. If what he says is correct Lansley has obscured the sensible changes he wishes to make by blowing his own trumpet and introducing a monster bill that like all modern bills is incomprehensible in parts. (Why are bills so badly written today? Look at the Merchant Shipping Act 1894 as an example of a piece of legislation that is clear and easy to read and compare it to any modern day Act of Parliament and you will see immediately what I mean. But I digress.) Nelson stating that Lansley has been 'bigging himself up' may just be a reflection of No 10 spin but I seem to recall that Lansley pushed himself forward as a replacement for Hague when we were told that the latter had lost his mojo and was otherwise unjustly under attack. In my book the NHS needs to be disbanded and replaced by a system whereby the patient chooses his doctors and pays for all his medical treatment with vouchers issued for this purpose by the government. I know this is not going to happen but it does not mean that the NHS does not need reform. I just hope that the 'paused' reforms do go ahead as something needs to be done to bring the NHS under control and Lansley's proposals are probably those that realistically have the best chance of success in so doing.        

Bomb

If it is found that the semtex used in the bomb that killed PC Kerr was from a batch supplied by Libya to the IRA then how did the new IRA spin off get hold of it? All weapons, which unless I am much mistaken included semtex, are supposed to have been put beyond use and thus made unusable. This was all supposed to have been verified by a chap whose name I have forgotten. Clearly something will have gone wrong and apart from the verification guy having had the wool pulled over his eyes the natural scepticism of the British public will have been proven right - that Blair's Peace Agreement with the IRA was a wholly unnecessary or even cowardly surrender. The IRA was beaten militarily and it was a huge mistake to have let the criminals off the hook. I hope that Gerry Adams and his sidekick Martin McGuinness investigate who within their hierarchy could have resurrected the semtex from its unusable state and what other weaponry is about to become usable again. I hope they will tell the police who the guilty persons are as it seems unlikely to be one person and a one off incident. I will not hold my breath as I suspect that the police will be told nothing and that there will be no arrests. Appeasement leads to greater troubles than early intervention.

Saif Gaddafi

It has been reported that Saif Gaddafi has sent one of his senior aides to London as an envoy of the Mad Dog's sons to see whether some deal can be brokered with the rebels. Apparently the deal that was offered was the removal of the Mad Dog and his replacement by his sons as head of government with possibly some rebel leader thrown in. Not surprisingly the aide returned to Tripoli empty handed. This kind of approach is evidence of the too little, too late approach of tyrants of all kinds and the arrogance of dictators and their offspring who assume that they are the only ones who can run their country. No one is irreplaceable, not even a successful leader like Churchill or Margaret Thatcher. Will there be more defections from the Gaddafi regime? We have heard from the UN that they expect more but how reliable are these reports and even if true will those contemplating defection be allowed to depart or will Gaddafi have them murdered in their beds before they start their journey overseas? It must be terrifying being a subject of someone like Gaddafi since if you refuse to work for him you or your family could meet with an 'accident' and if you agree to do so out of fear will you be compromised by 'accidents' to others? One of this situations where you are damned if you don't and damned if you do.