Don't be Vague, Ask for Hague

So the embarrassing 'capture' of British diplomats and their SAS escort was due to a 'serious misunderstanding' of their role, whatever that might mean. Misunderstandings generally signify a cock-up as a result of someone misinterpreting someone else's intentions. Is it significant in the great scheme of things? Probably not as all's well that ends well. We will have to wait for thirty years to know what exactly happened unless of course there is a prior leak. What is certain is that for the failed politician Menzies Campbell to state that the infiltration of the diplomats into eastern Libya to talk to the rebels was 'ill conceived, poorly planned and badly executed' is irresponsible. What does he know that we don't know about the events surrounding this embarrassment. If he knows more than we do then he should tell us what happened in order to justify his remarks and so that we can then judge whether his criticisms are pertinent or not. On thing that is concerning though about the various Jasmine Revolutions swirling around the Middle East are the reports of attacks on the local Christian communities. Archbishop Cranmer has the story about all this in his excellent blog of today - see http://archbishop-cranmer.blogspot.com/        

Cameron's Speech

Cameron is right, there is far too much regulation and much of it should be withdrawn but how is he going to do this when so much of it comes from the EU? How is he going to control the burden put on business by quangos when the burning of the quangos proved to be such a damp squib? How is Cameron going to keep down the cost of doing business in this country when energy prices are so high and will be increased as a result of the madness of the wind farm policy where the electricity these farms produce has to be paid for at twice the market rate? How will his natural supporters be kept onside when the tax regime hits them hardest? Why doesn't he reduce both the corporation tax rate as well as those of individuals to incentivise the entrepreneurs he wishes to encourage? Why is biofuel encouraged when it reduces the amount grown for food and is hardly environmentally friendly? Why do we not expand our nuclear power stations and oil from shale extraction? We know that politics is the art of the possible but syou cannot please all of the people all of the time so you have to take risks and do so for the right reasons. Following Labour's bankrupt policies on the EU, on global warming and taxation is not the way to go.   

Bank Bonuses and Other Evils

To use that hackneyed expression, 'back in the day' bonuses were only ever given for some truly exceptional work which was above and beyond the call of duty. More recently bonuses were given for over achieving a target but it seems many bonuses these days are part of the contractual compensation package and are paid for simply doing the job with the amount being a specific percentage of the bonus pool. This easy money leads inevitably to arrogance on the part of the recipients, to sloppy performance and an attitude that the money is a God given right and worse that it is deserved. Many of the recipients often carry out only the most mundane of tasks in order to achieve their bonuses which anyone could perform if they were lucky enough to be employed in the right part of the bank. It seems there are quite a number of such lucky employees which I for one would not complain about if the games the bankers got up to had not contributed significantly to the recent banking crisis and which are set to bring about another such crisis if there is no reform. Charles Moore has a most interesting article about all this in the Telegraph today as well as his interview of Mervyn King. Yes something has to change so that banks can never be too big to fail and bonuses can go down as well as up and where there is bank failure clawed back.  

Whose Life Is It Anyway?

The lives of the rebels do not belong to Gaddafi. Gaddafi came to power on the back of a coup and thus even though he has been in power for over 40 years can hardly be said to have any legitimacy other than the spurious kind given him by other nations. His fellow Libyans, the only ones who can give him real legitimacy, have themselves never had the chance to appoint him their leader in any meaningful elections. In these circumstances it is hardly extraordinary that knowing they will never have the chance to vote on who should be their President a significant number of Libyans have decided that regime change will only happen following a successful rebellion. As we believe the least obnoxious form of government is that of a democratically elected one we should be ready to support by all means possible those rebels who ask for our help. It is odd to say the least of it that the Americans are seemingly pouring cold water on the no fly zone proposal. Is it because the Americans or NATO do not have the capability of enforcing one or is it because the idea was not proposed by the great Bummer but by that upstart Cameron? NATO could certainly operate a no fly zone and in my view should do so straightaway. 

Freedom

When is it a duty to ignore the rule of law? When the rule of law relates to a decision made by  institutions that have not been democratically approved. If the European Union as currently constituted  had been accepted by us the people rather than imposed on us fraudulently then the stupid decision by the European Court of Justice made this week about premium rates for young women would have to be accepted. We the people though did not approve the current constitution. We were told we would have a referendum on whether or not to approve it but the then government reneged. This thus gives us the people the right to ignore every decision taken by the EU and its Court even if approved by our Parliament because Parliament cannot approve anything coming from the EU or its Court as we have not authorised parliament through the referendum to do so. Thus all directives etc that emanate from the EU are void ab initio as far as we are concerned. There will no doubt come a point in the future when a crisis in the relationship between this country and the EU will come to a head. VAT is an EU tax so no taxation without representation (and do not tell me the the EU Parliament is other than a sop, without any powers) seems to be a good issue on which to fight. We need our own Jasmine Revolution.

Gaddafi Fightback

It is very difficult to know what the overall position is in Libya. Gaddafi is saying that there are no protests in the east of the country although presumably he is not saying that because the east is now under rebel control. He is presumably saying that by way of confirmation that everything in the garden is lovely.Who is to say? The journalists do not believe Gaddafi has total control but is that wishful thinking? It would be awful if true. This morning there were reports of explosions in Tripoli whilst Gaddafi followers were demonstrating but who was responsible seems to be a bit of a mystery. Might it have been those follower? There has been fighting in Brega with reports of a fighter plane circling overhead. Each side is now claiming they are now in control. Two fighter planes are also said to have attacked Ajdabiyah which is being defended by the rebels. Is Gaddafi a total Walter Mitty figure making it all up or is there a fightback and if so how is it going? Do the rebels have sufficient support to oust Gaddafi once and for all or do they need help and should we give it to them? Do we even know who the rebel leaders are? We ought to help if the rebels are truly democrats. If Gaddafi falls will the Syrian dictatorship be far behind? If the Syrian tyrants go how will this affect the Iranian regime? Can we dare hope it will be the next in line to fall? Giddy stuff. Also most interesting that there has been no or very little said in the media that all these regimes style themselves as socialist regimes. It was only when the spotlight on Mubarak that his socialist party was expelled from the socialist brotherhood. That tells us something about our media.     

European Court of Justice

The trouble with logic or indeed philosophy is the places it may lead you. We all know the French love logic/philosophy and indeed insist that it is taught in school. We prefer common sense and common sense tells us that the decision today of the European Court of Justice may be founded in logic but it is sadly lacking in any common sense as it ignores human nature.  There is a difference between the sexes which indeed the French are supposed to celebrate. 'Vive la difference' as they say. The difference between boys and girls is well known when it comes to driving. Boys are in general aggressive drivers and become involved in more accidents than girls. There is a difference between the age to which men and women live with the women beating the men hands down. These factors have sensibly been taken into account by insurers when calculating car insurance premiums and annuity rates. The ECJ has decided such calculations by the insurers are wrong as they infringe the EU equality laws. In other words the Court is denying that there is any difference between a man and a woman. Admittedly this equality fad has gone too far as we know with Harriet Harman's equality law that was passed in the dying hours of the last Labour government. Admittedly the EU thinks it necessary to meddle in all sorts of things it should keep away from but for even the ECJ to come to the conclusion it has on this issue is staggering. This will prove to be another nail in the whole EU project as far as this country is concerned. On that issue I await with baited breath to learn how the Eurozone is going to deal with the Irish request for a re-negotiation of its bail out terms, assuming that the Irish have the guts to pursue their cause to the end. There is no question that if they were dealing with the nasty English as opposed to the nice Germans and French they would be intransigent.