Monday 30 July 2012

The Silly Season?

Sky News reports, via Yahoo, that A Conservative Home poll of Conservative Party members shows Boris Johnson to be the preferred successor to David Cameron.  Suspecting the report was some sort of April Fools joke that had failed to detonate four months ago I checked and found it to be genuine.  Further comment is pointless.

Saturday 14 July 2012

The Old Swan Hotel, Harrogate, Saturday 14 July, 2012

Those attending the meeting organised by Richard North of EUReferendum, at the Old Swan Hotel, Harrogate, will now be well into their afternoon session and I hope they feel they are working towards something useful in their efforts to frame a new charter with six contemporary demands.

Whatever the outcome, I offer my sixpenn'orth:

1 MPs to be accountable to their constituents.
Unprecedented technological advances, and the speed with which the benefits have been distributed throughout the general population, have made accountability and the representation it offers, easier to achieve than at any time in our history.  There is no reason why, in this digital, on-line computer literate age MPs cannot have interactive web sites at which constituents can communicate ideas, make contact with others and create polls.  It should be taken as read that MPs would have no control over or influence on the management of constituency  web sites.

That however does not go far enough.  To be truly accountable MPs must be absolutely under the thumb of those who pay them and accountable to their lash, as is the case for those of us who must work for our livings.  MPs go to Westminster to represent us and do our bidding, not to vote on how thickly to line their pockets; an MP should be wholly dependent on his constituency for his salary, his staff, his office, additional accommodations, costs and allowances and parliament should have no part in the provision of any of those.  

Constituents must have the power to dismiss a sitting MP at any time.  

Government forbidden to borrow money.
On the principle that no government can be bound by its forerunners so our descendants canot be bound by obligations consequent upon current borrowing decisions.

Parliament to elect a 'Prime Minister'.
No system can ever eliminate corrupt, self-serving glory seekers from positions of power and authority.  However one in which no one is able to manipulate and exploit party structures and public opinion to achieve the highest political office at least offers the possibility of more suitable candidates leading a government.

Abolition of The Royal  Prerogative and Crown Immunity.
In principle, no one can be allowed to make a fateful decision such as going to war without consulting those who are going to be affected.  In more humdrum matters, nobody is above the law and no one can interfere with the operation of the law.

Abolition of the Whip System.
The whip system merely makes an elective dictatorship of what is ostensibly a representative democracy.  The political ambitions of an individual or group can never be allowed to override the wishes of the people.  MPs must therefore be free to act in accordance with the wishes of their constituents.

6 Reform of the Franchise.
Universal suffrage has, arguably, led to the trivialisation of politics and it is not unreasonable to question whether those who have little or no understanding of or interest in the political process should have a right to vote.  Further, it is not unreasonable to consider whether those who have made a decision to live out their lives at the expense of others, without contributing in any substantial or constructive way, should be able to vote while those who do contribute are denied that right because they are, for example, not citizens.  Participation in the democratic process must be seen as a privilege possessed by those who show they understand the consequences of their decisions and can never be taken for granted as a basic human right.


Those are just six points; there are at least a dozen more I could have put down but six were sufficient for the original chartists, six are sufficient for the Old Swan chartists and so six are enough for me, for now.


Thursday 12 July 2012

Send Three and Fourpence

Since losing the will to live some years ago I've found it almost impossible to write anything of any worth, although I haven't given up trying, and subsequently deleting, almost daily.  I tried to write something of any worth about the attempt by the occupants of Fred Wigg, or whatever the block is called, to stop 'THEM' from mounting Tower Block to Air rockets on the roof of their homes, and failed, as did the the occupants of Fred etc.  However, I really could not let this pass by without comment.  Sadly, I'm unable to write anything more eloquent than 'aye right', as they say somewhere north of Lancashire.  A 'whistelblower', presumably not David Shayler, says there's an even chance of someone spoiling the big knees up in the all singing, all dancing, living, breathing paradise (72 virgins guaranteed) multi-culti East End.  Aye fucking right.  With unsold tickets changing hands on eBay for less than the price of a sheet of used lavatory paper the chance of a false flag operative 'terrorist' slipping in under the press of the crowd must be slim at best.  However, there's always another Brazilian illegal to shoot seven times in the head at close range so don't be surprised when 'stenders is interrupted with an important announcement that your safety has been assured yet again by brainless psychopaths with a history of doing you harm.

I've no idea what tune we are expected to dance to these days; I'm certain, however, that I shall have to fork out a fucking sight more than £0.17, in the short, medium and long terms, for admission.

I shan't be watching the farce that has always been the Olympics and I recommend those who think it a waste of our great great grandchildren's yet to be hard earned cash to 'vote' for someone else as soon as possible.

And that is all I am able to say about that (What price education, and I've had a bit of that?)

Friday 4 May 2012

Britain Today


Having long ago abandoned the broadsheets and, about twenty years ago, come to understand that the BBC is institutionally Anglophobic, I take my news wherever it finds me.  I tend to ignore the usually superficial offerings of Yahoo unless they strike me as particularly appropriate to my mood.

This is the picture of 'Britain' painted by Yahoo today:

Grandmother, 94, Beaten At Home As She Slept

A 94-year-old grandmother is seriously ill in hospital with a fractured skull and partially severed finger after being beaten in her own bed as she slept.

We no longer believe anyone can turn in his grave yet we seem still to believe that those we persist in returning to parliament can make gold from lead, while blaming the alchemist when the lead turns to shit before our eyes.


Sunday 12 February 2012

Roy C: Shotgun Wedding

(Words by Milton Friedman):



Shotgun 'industry' output and employment up; benefits bill, teenage pregnancy, youth unemployment, vandalism, housing problems etc. etc. etc. down. Problems solved and a great song too.

Not too long ago there was a report, in the 'meejia', of an unusual judgement somewhere in Africa. A man had been caught with a goat in a situation that is still not considered normal, even in the most 'enlightened' societies, and so, according to the customs and practices of the place he was taken before the tribal elders for judgement. As I recall, there was a distinctly condescending tone to the report but I thought the decision of the elders eminently sensible. Mindful of the magnitude of the offence, of the heat of local outrage, perhaps the costs of paying for psychiatrists, social workers therapists; of building a courthouse with Human Rights Act respecting catering and toilet facilities; the cost of retaining a couple of silks, building a modern, user friendly prison and paying for turnkeys, social workers, therapists, counsellors, probation officers and so on and on and on, and knowing well the power of the opprobrium and scorn of one's relatives, friends and neighbours, of the pain of humiliation before them and lifelong ridicule in deterring miscreants, and others, from repeating their offences they decided that since he had taken the girl's honour he must marry her, and what ordinary, over-taxed and long suffering man or woman would disagree with them?

Here's a reminder of the sort of thing elders like them prevent:




Gruff thanks to Philtheone for the link to the video.

Thursday 9 February 2012

Sunday 5 February 2012

Shooting An Elephant

Ever read it? It's been a good few years since I last did, although I have it in an anthology, somewhere on the shelves, but if I recall correctly Blair recounts his unwillingness to slaughter a noble, even if troubled, beast simply because the natives, on whose acquiescence the empire depended, demanded it. How ironic it is that the British government, itself slaughtered by the Elephant's firing squad, is reported to have begged the erstwhile natives to accept its pathetic attempt at largesse, preferring the contempt of those it once ruled to the scorn of those it thinks it still rules.

EUReferendum frequently asks: 'the reason we don't rise up and slaughter them is ... ? Gruff answers that perhaps the reason is that as a people we English have yet to be sufficiently degraded by the British. I still believe that day will come.


Gruff thanks to EUReferendum for the link to the tale.