Vacuity

A self regarding vacuous demagogue is a dangerous animal. Demagogues are often bullies, weak individuals who are unable to cope with criticism or a different point of view. It was sickening therefore to see so many of our politicians fawning sycophantically over Obama after his speech in Westminster Hall last week. Obama is full of fine words that he knows will please his audience and I am told by people who say they understand these things that he is a fine orator. He makes my skin creep and his delivery irritates and bores me. I think it is because to me he comes across as insincere with no or little belief in what he says and no understanding of what he says means. If he really believed in the underdog he should be pushing hard for completion of the Doha round but he isn't, he's only concerned with protecting US producers. If he really believed in the rule of law he should have brought Osama back alive to face a trial but he didn't, he had him killed instead. If he really believed in democracy he would be doing more in Libya but his support for the rebels was both late and half-hearted. If he really cared about Nato he would be keeping the protective missile shield in the various countries close to Russia. I suspect that the prospective Republican Presidential nominee Tim Pawlenty must be right - Obama came to Europe for a pub crawl.   

Bargains

As I sit at my window typing this blog I can see any number of people leaving the Chelsea Flower Show with plants, flowers and garden artefacts of all kinds that they have bought at bargain basement prices from the exhibitors. The mostly middle aged seem thoroughly pleased with their purchases showing off their bargains to the policemen directing them across the road. They all clearly think they have got value for money. It is a great shame we cannot feel the same way either about our politicians or our public servants. Over £100 million is today reported to have been spent on expenses by our local councils. Why do they need any expenses? Why do they need to be paid so much? Simply because they work for a Council with a huge turnover does not entitle them to the kind of or better than the salary and perks they would get in the private sector. They risk nothing and their jobs and pensions are secure for life. There is clearly an imbalance here which leads our public sector workers to think that they are the ones who can dictate not only to those who pay their salaries but also the politicians in supposed charge of them. This is the problem with all bureaucrats - they think they know best. They don't as frequently becomes clear. Who in their right minds would have thought the euro for countries like Greece was a good idea?    

BMA

What is it about too many doctors that makes them think they know better than the rest of us? That somehow they are an elite that the rest of us should bow down before? A lot of them are not even very good at diagnosis (I know too many people who have died because their cancer was not diagnosed until too late) so why should they be able to tell us that the proposed reforms of the NHS are unacceptable? Are doctors good businessmen? Do they have a skill that enables them to run a huge organisation like the NHS? I would doubt that anyone has that skill. If the NHS is not to be broken up, as it should be, into manageable and competing entities then reforms to improve its enormous inefficiencies and waste should be encouraged by everyone. What the government had been proposing may not be ideal but it has been well thought through and will at least achieve some benefit for both taxpayers and users. Silly me I forgot - it may inconvenience some of those employed in the NHS and even result in a reduction of employees. I have visited the Marsden hospital a couple of times in the last two weeks and have been surprised at the over-staffing of blood takers and, it has to be said, nurses in the out patients department, more than you see in a private hospital. Furthermore I was not impressed by the quality of some of the staff compared with those who work in the private sector. The BMA is very effective at tugging at people's heart strings but it is nonetheless only a trade union and its role in promoting itself and its members to the detriment of those of us who pay its members and use their services must be exposed.

The English Season

The English season has begun with the Chelsea Flower Show. All the local restaurants have been booked for the week since January although the sign that goes up on the Royal Hospital's railings saying that it's sold out went up this year a few days later than usual. A sign of the times one wonders. Are the Treasury and bankers getting nervous about the record level of borrowing for April and the threatened rating downgrade for the Banks? I think they should be and hope that the Treasury are thinking of ways of saving money like refusing to contribute to any more bail outs and to reverse the potentially disastrous Huhne legacy on carbon cutting etc. In relation to bail outs and the EU it is a great shame that the wrecking motion won in the House of Commons today. It is also a pity that the government seems lukewarm on pursuing the extraction of gas from shale. It needs to get a move on deciding how we are to generate sufficient energy at minimal cost. Wind farms and other such heavily subsidised alternative energy sources are not only hideously expensive but particularly in the case of wind farms hideous as well. Why on earth are conservatives so bent on spoiling our green and pleasant land?    

Canada

Canada is the only country in the World that I can think of which has a true conservative government. Wish we had one, one where the carbon reduction policy would be binned, which would encourage Tata to keep its steel works open as it will no longer be clobbered by the carbon tax, which reduces taxation to stimulate the economy, which protects its borders, which has no truck with privacy laws, which increases defence spending, which introduces a proper cuts programme, which revokes the Human Rights Act, which allows the judges discretion when sentencing, sends foreign prisoners back home, cuts red tape dramatically, encourages competition and will give us a referendum on coming out of the EU. One can only dream and hope that if after the next election the Tories have enough of a majority to rule on their own that they will be a little more like Stephen Harper's Canadian government. In the meantime one has to hope that the measures that have been taken to restore our broken economy are successful and that the government is prepared to boost the economy with tax cuts and drastic deregulation if the present measures are not enough. One also has to hope that the government will refuse to make any further contributions to the bail out of countries in the eurozone and that whoever becomes head of the IMF insists on some kind of structured default without throwing more good money after bad by making additional loans to the likes of Greece. Mme Lagarde may be the favourite for the post but she will see the eurozone problems from a strictly French point of view and will want to follow on from where DSK left off - handing out more loans. Her conflict of interest should disqualify her but notions of that kind are always set aside when it comes to the so called great and the good. DSK's successor should not come from Europe or if he or she has to then it should be someone who has an independent mind and yes somewhat of a sceptic when it comes to the EU and the euro.   

Rapture

Christians were due to be uplifted to heaven (called the Rapture) at 6pm today. It is over two hours later and as far as I am aware nothing seems to have changed. Is that because the Rapture did not happen or is it because I and the people I know are unworthy Christians and Jews? Not quite true as I do know some very worthy Christians but as they are still here I can only assume that the Rapture has not happened or my worthy friends have dirty little secrets which have precluded their uplift. It is all very disappointing. Did the American cleric who predicted the Rapture was due to take place today get his calculations wrong? How embarrassing for him. How is he going to explain it away? The point is though that we can laugh about all this and take the mickey without feeling in the least bit threatened. Sad to say that we can't laugh at things Muslim because if we do we could end up in a wooden box. We should be able to say what we want to about the Muslim religion and so should our newspapers, radio commentators and television companies. Why then does the BBC feel it has to pull its punches when reporting on things Muslim? Why should the Muslim religion be given special treatment? It is alien to the fundamental beliefs of this country and unless we want to go back to the dark ages we must stand up for our own way of life. 

Two Rants

There are a number of things to rant about today such as the review by Lord Neuberger of super injunctions. Super injunctions are an odious protection of the rich and powerful and according to Neuberger can apparently only be granted because Parliament has given the courts the right to grant them. Parliament must therefore correct the balance in favour of the rest of the population and the freedom of the press. Other 'rantable' subjects are the EU, the Climate Warmists and the level of taxation but today the two issues which really need to be commented on are Bummer Obama's speech about the Middle East and Brown's desire to replace DSK. Bummer has demonstrated by his speech that he is both an appeaser and less intelligent than we have hitherto been led to believe. He fails altogether to understand how the extreme Islamic lot are hell bent on destroying Israel and that this might well happen were Israel to revert to its 1967 borders as Bummer proposes. One has to wonder if the fact that Bummer's father was a muslim has something to do with this view. As to Brown's desire to become Managing Director of the IMF one can only splutter and be amazed at the sheer gall of the man to assume that anyone would support the application of the chief architect of this country's appalling financial plight.

IMF

Now that DSK has resigned who will replace him? It must not be someone from the EU since like DSK anyone from the EU has a conflict of interest when it comes to the bail out of the PIGS. We have seen the disastrous DSK/IMF promoted policy of forcing more loans on the PIGS and thus desperately need a new Managing Director who knows how to be cruel to be kind and who has the necessary strength of character to force a more sensible policy through. Dan Hannan has suggested the ex New Zealand Finance Minister Ruth Richardson. She is certainly worth considering for the post having had the very necessary experience of successfully re-balancing the New Zealand economy which was in dire straits before her appointment. 

Not That Anyone's Asked

Not that anyone's asked me but in light of the allegations that DSK organised prostitutes to visit him when staying at hotels in New York I believe it is possible he mistook the maid for a prostitute he'd asked to be sent up to him. If so this would explain the fact, if true, that he was naked when he met the maid and supposedly tried to have sex with her. If this is so then I guess he cannot be guilty of the various charges against him as he will not have had the necessary mens rea (guilty mind). This is a line of defence that I imagine DSK's lawyers will be considering. Being innocent until proven guilty is not a concept the Napoleonic law nations are conversant with but why are the French so exercised by the sight of DSK arrest and remand into custody? The police were satisfied that the maid's allegations and their own investigations were sufficient to indicate that there is a case to answer and the prosecutors were also able to persuade the judge that there was a high enough risk of flight that DSK should be remanded in custody. He will probably be granted bail today though having made certain assurances to the court in addition to the $1 million bail he's posted. Is the French anger at his treatment because despite the Revolution the French always expect their elite (and particularly their socialist elite) to be treated with kid gloves? Have they been offended because the common law treats all that come before its courts the same rather than differently depending on the status of the accused? Give me the common law every day.     

Rain

It is currently raining in London which is a good thing as we have had practically none over the last few weeks. The climate warmists are sure that the drought we've experienced is evidence of their view that the world is getting warmer and that we must reduce our carbon footprint. Being a healthy sceptic I say that it is just part of a cycle rather like for example cycles in cricket when this or that nation goes through a winning spell and then a losing one. No only have we had a little drought but also a chilly wind from whichever direction it has blown. The wind has not been enough to produce any meaningful electricity though other than the kind that the receipt of subsidies causes as they slip into your pocket. The blot of wind farms on the landscape is now attracting some resistance and rightly so. It is taking a long time though for people to realise that subsidy is causing those interested in receiving it to rubbish or even to try to block alternative fuel alternatives. The Adam Smith Institute reports on the findings of the Legatum Institute that those wedded to subsidy see the arrival of an energy source that is cost efficient and clean as a threat. We should badger our politicians to insist that only cost efficient and clean energy alternatives are used and that alternative energy sources which require subsidies be banned. Perhaps the departure from the scene of the awful Mr Huhne will enable a sane energy policy to be introduced. Perhaps we should thank our lucky stars that his troubles over penalty points have come to light in the nick of time. Perhaps also the Strauss-Kahn affair is a lucky break - who needs a socialist economist in charge of the IMF after all the damage done to the economies of the West by economists of that persuasion. Curious that the BBC regard Strauss-Kahn as a brilliant economist. 

Ethnic Cleansing?

My forebears were protestants and came from County Cork where I understand most Irish protestants live to this day. I have also been told that over the last 20 years or so the percentage of protestants living in the Republic has reduced from 10% of the population to 1% most of whom work in the financial services sector. Why do these protestants live for the most part in West Cork? Why has the number of protestants living in the Republic diminished to the degree it has? Do protestants feel uncomfortable living in the South? Has there been some subtle ethnic cleansing? Has the emigration instead happened for economic and family reasons? Is it a bit of both? It would be interesting to know and to find out to which countries the emigrants will have gone to. I would suspect mainly to the USA and other English speaking countries like Australia, Canada and New Zealand and even to the UK. Despite the bombs and bomb scares the Queen's visit has started well and it is to be hoped that the Tories do not make the same mistakes relating to Scottish independence as they made in the case of Ireland. It would be an acknowledgement of better relations between the two countries if Ireland's return to the Commonwealth could be discussed. De Valera's decision in 1948 to leave was a monumental mistake, particularly as if you scratch most Englishmen a bit of Irish blood will seep out along with Scots, Welsh and English blood. The English are a mongrel lot. Who else would have a Syrian as their patron saint?         

Human Nature

Isn't human nature wonderful! It delivered wonderful scandals in the past, continues to do so today and will do so until the end of time.  These last few days have given us two potential mega scandals. We have the accusation that the managing director of the IMF, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, sexually assaulted a maid in the hotel he was staying at in New York and as if that were not enough to get one's teeth into we have the allegation that Chris Huhne asked a third party to pretend she was driving his car so that her driving licence would be endorsed with speeding penalties rather than his. Whether these stories are true or not it is a fact that some mud is going to stick to the two individuals concerned as there will always be those who will believe them to be guilty. There will also always be those who will believe them innocent even if they are found guilty. Either way conspiracy theories will abound. Could the two accusations be linked in some way? Would it be too much of a stretch of the imagination to think so? What would people think if the maid in the New York hotel was in some way found to be linked to the person who originated the story about Mr Huhne and the speeding penalty points? The mind bogles but no doubt at some point the truth will be revealed even if there will be those predisposed not to believe it. I can't wait for the next episode. 

The Rally Against Debt

The small turn out would, on the surface, indicate that not many believe in the Government's policy of putting the Nation's finances in order. Opinion Polls though indicate that the silent majority does indeed believe in what the Government is doing is right and most probably would also support extending the cuts to reducing the debt Labour landed us with rather than just the deficit. Thus there will have been implicit support for today's Rally but I suspect the organisers may have been naive in thinking that such a dry subject is one about which many will feel passionate enough to join in a demonstration. Unwavering agreement with the aims of the Rally but not of the need to spend time shouting about what is a self evident truth. Perhaps to ensure greater attendance the Rally should have covered some other issues about which the Labour Government was guilty, like the lies about Saddam's weapons of mass destruction, the extraordinary number of things that were made crimes, all the otiose equality legislation that was enacted, the blind acceptance of everything the EU proposed, the agreement to help with eurozone bail outs and the need to say no to any further requests to bail out Greece or any other eurozone country. There is no reason why we should have to ensure that the French and German banks escape the consequences of their bad investments i.e. their purchases of bonds issued by Greece, Portugal etc. Let the German and French taxpayers bail out their banks. After all the German and French economies are doing well enough just now out of the mess they helped create - much better than we are.   

Madeleine McCann

This story has become political following the decision of the Met with the support of David Cameron to investigate Madeleine's disappearance. There seem to be any number of people who think that it is wrong to give the McCann's any help for threes reasons, first because the McCann's are getting special treatment, second because Cameron is giving the support in order to curry favour with the electorate and third because of the cuts to police numbers the money would be better spent elsewhere. Jenny Jones, the Green Party member of the Greater London Assembly, believes all three reasons but a cynic might say that she is exploiting her own politics of envy by her somewhat staged anger statements. This also seems to be true in the case of the Labour Assembly member Lord Harris. Funny isn't it that no Tory or Lib Dem member has complained about the assistance the Met is now going to give. The McCann case is one which caught the imagination of the public like no other modern kidnap case. My view of the case started off as one of scepticism of the McCann claims but has over time changed to one of belief in the story Madeleine's parents have told. We all like happy endings and it would be a great feather in the cap of the Met if they can solve the case. Helping to try and find out what happened will also make us feel good about ourselves and remind us that from time to time we can act like the good Samaritan who after all could only help one victim even though he must have known of others. Does one really turn down giving help to one victim because you cannot help all victims? A flawed logic in my view.  

Muscular Liberalism

Clegg says that the Lib Dems will be ensuring that henceforth the Coalition government will be subjected to muscular liberalism. One wonders precisely what that means. Will every Coalition bill or regulation come with a picture of a muscular member of the Lib Dems on it or will they have attached to them a note setting out on which particular clause the Lib Dems exerted their muscles? If the latter is the case presumably they will only want the note to emphasise those bits where they think they won the argument and not those bits where although they exercised their muscles they lost the point. All very confusing as the broad policy decisions to be taken by the Coalition are set out in the Coalition Agreement. Surely the Lib Dems are not seeking to re-negotiate the terms of that document? If so they may find themselves on difficult territory as not unreasonably the Tories may decide that they want to re-negotiate the terms as well. The Tories will increase in confidence over the coming months as Labour continues to lose momentum. If the Lib Dems were sensible they would continue more or less as they have have over the past year, perhaps clipping Cable's wings and letting the disastrous Huhne go the way of all flesh. If they were to follow that course their standing with the public can only grow on the coat tails of the Tories.      

Politicians

What is it about politicians that they think they are above the general law or at least that they can get away with behaving badly without recriminations? If the stories about Huhne are true and he persuaded people to pretend they were driving his car instead of him so he would escape penalty points on his licence for speeding, what on earth was he thinking of? If true he must have known that it was inevitable that there was every risk the whole sordid mess would become public knowledge at some stage. Is this arrogance or is it the need to live dangerously? If the latter, is being able to stand up and ask and answer questions in the cooker pressure of Commons debates an addiction which inevitably leads to a love of danger? Politicians all through the ages have done the kind of thing Huhne is alleged to have done but in my view it is arrogance that drives them to take these types of risk. An arrogance that they are so much more clever than the rest of us, that they are the centre of the Universe and that their needs and wants must be given priority over the common man. It is this kind of attitude which gives politicians a deservedly bad name and which led to the expenses scandal about which we have been reminded today. Will David Laws be able to rejoin the government? Surely someone would have to go before a space became available for him. Which Lib Dem minister will stand aside for him? I suspect he'll have to wait a long time.

Referenda

Now that the referendum on the AV system has been held there is to be another one in Scotland on independence but where is the referendum on getting out of the EU? This is going to have to be held at some point and frankly the sooner the better. The festering boil of hatred for the EU needs to be lanced so that we can then get on with those important things in life like pushing through the Doha round and ensuring that the euro is brought to an end. Frankly it is a disgrace that the Germans, in order to support their banks which stupidly bought bonds issued by the PIGS, insist on the PIGS bankrupting themselves rather than take a loss on the bonds. Better for all to allow the bonds to be devalued rather than risk total default which is going to happen with Greece going first. We should help this process along by refusing to subscribe to any further bail out. 

European Union Day

Who knew today was Europe Day? I only know because of the stories over the weekend that Cameron, Hague and Osborne were refusing to fly the EU rag today on their respective government buildings whereas that uncut Cable stated he would be flying it over his ministry building. No flag should fly from any government building other than the Union Jack. The EU is not a country - yet - and despite the fact that most of our laws to our shame emanate from that nasty fascist undemocratic institution we should fight tooth and nail against the very idea that it is a state. We should remove the shameful reference to the EU that defaces our passports and refuse to buy number plates for our cars that show the EU star circle. We should paint over the circle wherever it appears. Yesterday was the anniversary of Victory in Europe Day in Western Europe although in view of the time difference between Eastern and Western Europe Victory in Europe is celebrated in Russia today. In light of the similarity in the way the EU and Russia are run it is perhaps appropriate that the completely irrelevant EU day is held on the 9th May.

Adolf Eichmann

I imagine that we can all agree that Adolf Eichmann was responsible for killing tens of thousand more Jews than Osama killed innocent citizens in all the Al Qaeda attacks he either planned or supported around the world. Why then did the Israelis kidnap Eichmann and bring him to trial rather than shoot him as they could so easily have done over the 6 months they observed him? The Israelis wanted in part to demonstrate that they believed in the rule of law and in the need to show that all criminals should be brought to trial. It is incomprehensible that the US forces could not have done the same thing particularly as Osama was unarmed and there was only one man in his compound who had a gun and who was killed as I understand it before the Seals got to Osama. This is my last word on this subject but is it any wonder that some of us who admit to being to the right of Gengis Khan are of the view that Osama's death was murder. I do hope that before Bummer's visit here later this month the Government will have changed that nasty little Blairite law allowing members of foreign governments visiting these shores to be arrested for crimes they have supposedly committed outside the UK. Otherwise I fear that some nutcase might try to have Bummer put on trial.   

Obama and Osama

Even my Lib Dem friends (with one exception) who I thought would all be upset about the killing of Osama accept it as the only practicable solution. They all though deplore the way many Americans are cheering the killing. The view of these friends has not changed even after it has become clear that contrary to the initial reports Osama was unarmed and that he did not seek to use a woman as a human shield when they shot him. I still condemn the shooting and the fact that there was only one person in the Osama compound with a gun makes it even more incomprehensible as to why the US Seals did not take Osama alive. Arguments that to have done so would have invited hostage taking and the like are less than convincing when one knows that Al Quaeda will now have to retaliate by murdering people in order to show they are still a force to be reckoned with. We seem to have fallen into a vendetta which even the ancient Greeks realised was worse than futile. To kill Gaddafi as the commander of an army meting out death and destruction against his own people is seen by these Lib Dem types and possibly Obama as something wrong as is the killing of the pirates in the Indian Ocean. Why? Somebody has got something upside down and it sure as hell isn't me.  

AV

So the No camp has won the referendum by a conclusive majority.  Well done and thank goodness for all the reasons advanced by the No camp so eloquently and intelligently through out the campaign. It must be said though that the No camp had a considerable amount of help from the Yes camp who frankly made a number of ridiculous claims that any child could see through. I do not see the Coalition weakened in any way by this result nor by the results of the other elections which have been counted today. Labour though will be most worried by what has happened as clearly they have not been given any resounding vote of confidence or indeed any other reason to be happy. By contrast the 17% vote the Lib Dems received in the local elections is no meltdown and far better than expected and supports the view of Nick Clegg that once the benefits of the deficit reduction policies pursued by the Coalition come through the Lib Dems will be on the up again. As for the government I do hope that they will have the confidence now to crack on with their reform programme in all its aspects and go even further. For example it is about time that the Unions were brought to book and strikes affecting people's livelihoods were banned, starting with the tube strikes.   

Another Wedding

Off this evening to a wedding reception being held at Hertford House, Manchester Square W1. The wedding took place earlier today - the groom is in his 40s and the bride is I understand 25. Is a difference of about 20 years a good basis for a marriage, for nuptial bliss in the long term? It could work I suppose but when the bride is 60 and the groom in his eighties will he have the necessary oomph to keep her smiling or will she need to take her pleasure elsewhere? Will he mind? Something for the happy couple to find out but every marriage that I have observed where there has been a similar age gap, even where there have been children of the union, have come to a sticky end. Is that a reason though for not getting married and having children since so many marriages where the couple are of roughly equal age fold anyway. I just like a party and seeing old friends and of course a glass or three of champagne - hope it's a good one. Apparently we are going on afterwards to a restaurant near King's Cross but are there any restaurants near King's Cross worth going to? I am always open to being pleasantly surprised but remain dubious.   

Sweeney Todd

It seems that few people agree with my take on the killing of Osama bin Laden. In fact I have not found one although there is a religious website (Ekklesia) that calls it murder. Ekklesia's point about the killing is not the same as mine which is that the rule of law was ignored in the act of revenge. Bummer no doubt believes that the killing will enhance his chances of re-election but I'm not so sure. There must be those who felt nauseous like me at the sight of the White House watching the killing through the cameras attached to the helmets of the American troops who shot bin Laden dead and who were sickened like me by the chanting mob outside the USA gloating over the killing. Not even my barber agrees with me and to lighten the atmosphere after our disagreement on this subject this morning he told me a rather amusing anecdote. He was due to do the hair last Thursday of an invitee to The Wedding who rang to cancel due to illness and to say that even if she recovered in time she would not be able to go as her mother, a personal friend of the Queen, was dying. A little later that morning a Lady in Waiting came in to have her hair done but on being asked had not known about the Queen's friend being on her deathbed. A second Lady in Waiting came in for her hairdo that afternoon and told my barber that she had heard he'd told the previous Lady in Waiting the the Queen's friend was dead. Horrified, my barber corrected her. The Lady in question knowing that the Queen was just about to be told of her friend's death then 'phoned the person who was to tell the Queen and told her what the accurate state of play was so that the correct message could be given to Her Majesty. This was done but the Queen then wanted to know who was source of the information. On being told the Queen apparently retorted "One gets all the best news from one's hairdresser".

Osama Bin Laden

Somehow I find the 'assassination' of Osama disturbing. That Osama was evil I have no doubt but because he was so evil and despised everything the West stood for and was prepared to kill in furtherance of his barbaric beliefs it does not seem right to have killed him like a dog in the same way he killed so many people. Surely we are better that that - surely we should never have stooped to his level. He should have been captured, tried and sentenced in order to show those who follow him that not only can no one can escape the law but that it is the rule of law which must prevail over us all. This killing is outside the rule of law and something I doubt we would have done ourselves given the reaction to the purported 'assassination' of members of the IRA several years ago and the recognition that 'assassinations', despite the seeming justification for them, make things worse - not better. What would also make me uneasy about this killing is the fact that it was carried out by foreign soldiers in Pakistan. Were the Pakistanis aware of what was going on? If they were unaware then I find the action of the US even more reprehensible. They would never tolerate a foreign army acting within their borders so why would they not respect Pakistan's borders. such action seems to support one of Osama's claims against the US. I can imagine the US fear of a leak if they had told the Pakistanis in advance of their intended action but there are ways of doing these things so that the intended action could not be leaked. The chants of "USA", "USA" outside the White House today is also shocking in its tone of aggressive hatred.