SAS

It seems that although the extraction of our fellow citizens from Libya started off as a bit of a shambles it has now become a success story with other countries, even the US, complementing the government on having sent in the SAS to bring British and Foreign Nationals out of the desert. The story given by Cameron to the Commons this afternoon reads like a Boy's Own Story. It will be interesting in a year or twos time to read the various accounts about went wrong and what went right. It will also be interesting to read about how ineffectual that snake oil salesman Blair's interventions with Gaddafi were. It is difficult not to feel nauseous each time one sees or hears Blair speak. As a result of the perceived failings of certain ministers it is being said that Cameron will feel obliged to exercise the central control practiced by Blair. I do so hope not as the Blair idea of central control related specifically to the message rather than to the delivery of the policy as witnessed by the frightening number of anti crime bills Blair's government passed of which few worked properly, if at all. It would have been so much better to have produced a properly functioning Act rather than producing bills simply to catch a headline. Never again we hope but Miliband is still at it with his pathetic speech today on the cost of living rises. Of course people are going to be squeezed. Everyone knows and understands that but where is the humility from Labour for the part their government played in it? It was the Labour government's policies which caused the inflation we are suffering and which is squeezing the middle.          

The Oil Price

The price of petrol at the pump is scary. Osborne will simply have to do something about it in next month's budget. There can be absolutely no justification for 80% of the pump price being tax. The Bank of England also needs to increase interest rates. Apart from slowing down inflation increased interest rates will increase the value of sterling and make our imports of oil cheaper. Any number of commentators have stated that rather than the cuts inflation is the issue to be worried about. As we all know the so called cuts are only reductions in future increases in spending, not real cuts at all. Miliband the great intellectual, son of the communist LSE lecturer Ralph Miliband of whose legacy or whatever Saif Gaddafi is apparently a supporter, has decided that inflation is increasing the cost of living of the less well off. No doubt he has decided to speak in the hope he can use inflation as a stick to beat the Government with but it will not do. Who undertook the policies, including the dangerous expansion of the money supply, that was inevitably going to lead to inflation? None other than the last Labour government. Somehow truth will out and as someone known as HackneyAbbott has said "Blair, Berlusconi and Sarkozy must be nervous. Suppose Gaddafi blabs about all their deals."    

Rugby and Other Things

What a game. Exhausting yet exhilarating but England held out to win today's 6 Nations match against the French. Nothing more satisfying than beating the French and everyone else for that matter. It will be a great weekend if England can also beat India tomorrow in the Cricket World Cup. It is also satisfying that Fine Gael have come top of the poll in Ireland which feeling is matched by the satisfaction of seeing the battering Fianna Fail have received at the hands of the voters. Fianna Fail was the party of that poisonous and treacherous little man De Valera, not really an Irishman at all but a Spaniard who would have risen high in the ranks of the Inquisition so evil was he. Apart from that there is disappointment that no one has yet delivered the coup de grace to Gaddafi and his nasty, brutal regime. Having read Charles Moore's article in today's Telegraph it is difficult not to be concerned about what will come after the current Middle East despots have all gone. Basically Moore is saying that if Lebanon is an example they will only be replaced by other despotic regimes like the Muslim Brotherhood. As evidence that this is possible Moore refers to reports that that Islamist monster Sheik Yusuf Qaradawi delivered a speech in Tahrir Square, Cairo ,shortly after the resignation of Mubarak, to a large and supportive audience. God help us all.    

Obama

Bummer's foreign policy continues to fail. He and Hillary Clinton, his useless Secretary of State, have been totally rudderless throughout this whole Middle East crisis. In order to leave the shifting sands of their desert policy they are now trying to anchor themselves to some stable ground in the form of Britain and France. A somewhat risky proposition knowing how readily the French are to quarrel with their so called allies and to veer wildly off in a different direction if they think by doing so they can improve their status - in this case over oil. As to attaching themselves to the Brits it is difficult to see what we can offer apart from our knowledge of the region since we have reduced our weaponry to probably less than that which is prudent. Perhaps Bummer thinks Cameron is the man to follow in these overseas exploits and it is true Cameron is the most natural statesman of the leaders of the three countries but is our Foreign Office up to the mark? Not if the fiasco over the extraction of our nationals is anything to go by. However Hague has been otherwise quietly impressive. Perhaps there will be a good outcome after all for the UK and an outcome which washes away the shame of the rapprochement with Gaddafi. The US did the West no favours when it forced Britain and France to cancel their Suez operation.    

Conflicts of Interest

Lawyers are not allowed to act for both sides. There is a very good reason for this. How could anyone be wholly committed to his client's cause if he is also acting for the other side. If lawyers were allowed to do so they would know the arguments of both sides, the strengths and weaknesses of both cases and the strategies of both camps. They would find it impossible to be impartial and would inevitably favour one side more than the other, probably the side that they thought had the stronger case or the biggest pockets or which was likely to give them more work in the future. We all know that conflicts of interest are dealt with in banks by putting up so called chinese walls so that that part of the bank advising clients on investments can take an independent line from that part of the bank representing companies using another part of the bank for its share/bond issue services. We all squirm at how accountants rarely find that they have any conflict of interest but that could be jealousy. In any event the Yes4AV campaign should return all donations given to it by the Electoral Reform Society and terminate any further assistance to its campaign of personnel provided by the Society. The Society has a massive conflict of interest. Not only I understand is it involved in the administration of the AV referendum and being paid by us poor taxpayers to do so, it is also most likely to benefit if the Yes campaign wins by becoming involved in the administration of future General Elections and the supply of electronic counting machines. By not being open The Electoral Reform Society must have known it was acting immorally and all its contracts to run any election must be withdrawn. How can one have any confidence in its impartiality.  

Unions

This blog has previously moaned about the impropriety of the taxpayer being forced to make payments to the Unions which then make donations to the Labour party. I cannot see how anyone can think this is either moral or fair. Archbishop Cranmer has a very good blog on this today http://archbishop-cranmer.blogspot.com/ It is iniquitous but hardly surprising that the Labour government should have passed legislation to benefit the Unions out of taxpayers' money. Labour maintains it is the party of fairness and the hard working family but its hypocrisy on this issue is breathtaking. It is totally unfair on those of us who believe the Unions are dinosaurs who never had a constructive role and should be allowed to wither away to be forced through our taxes to support the Unions. What is almost as bad is that the Unions own the Labour party almost lock, stock and barrel. How can the Labour party promote any other policy than those supported by the Unions? The Unions represent a minority and a small minority at that and even in opposition it is simply not good enough to have a Labour party which can only propose Union approved policies. Better by far to have an independent opposition party and if that means the LibDems so be it.      

Gaddafi

To use his language there is no doubt that Gaddafi is a 'mad dog'. Is his total disregard for others and his willingness to destroy opponents psychotic? How can one treat such a person? Does he need to be put in an asylum for the rest of his life? Will he be shot? In his speech today he says that he is a poor man but this is hypocrisy since as leader he will never have put his hand in his pocket and will always have had access to and use of the best of everything. Witness the mansion his son Saif rented whilst he was a student at LSE. Where did the money to pay the rent come from if it didn't come from the public purse or at least originate there. What is it about these people who think they are the only ones who can govern their country, that they are the embodiment of their nation and that only those who are loyal to them, whilst they are loyal to them, are worthy citizens. The defections from the regime clearly demonstrate that its members are well aware that it has run its course although no doubt in the interest of self preservation further defections will wait until Gaddafi has gone altogether. If he remains those who defected will be mercilessly dealt with. It has to hoped that their brave action is not in vain.