Winter is coming – along with the ghost of the winter of discontent

It’s been a while since I had a good old rant here. It’s not because I haven’t had anything to rant about, it’s had more to do with having the time to actually write this stuff down. Now that I have got a couple of minutes it’s difficult to know where to begin.

I want to start with what’s in the news today. The first item on my radar is that the postal unions have voted to strike. I see this as just the fist straw in a wind which heralds the onset of a coming hurricane, or in this case I fear the onset of an Arctic winter of discontent.

Those of us old enough to remember, or even those of us with enough education to read our history books, will be able to understand that our wonderful Supreme Soviet of a government is performing like any sad old centralist, ‘control-freak’ regime at the fag-end of its inevitably bloated parasitic life. The result of its “Tax and Spend” lifestyle means that the years it has spent artificially inflating the public service and stuffing the commissariat bureaucracy with inspectors, checkers, snoops and busybodies, to whom it pays artificially high salaries and generous pensions, means that the country is broke and the government’s coffers are empty.

All of these civil service employees are beginning to realize that the good times are over and their friends and mentors in Downing Street will inevitably have to shortly start a whole round of axe wielding. The Civil Service, Teaching, Health Care Workers, and Local Government unions are beginning to realize that the diabolical contract they entered into with Tony Blair and New Labour to get them into and maintain them in power is about to be spectacularly broken.

I am sure that each of these sectors wants their particular enclave to be ‘ring-fenced’ and protected from any cuts as a ‘front line’ service. When they find that this just cannot happen then the sort of action taken by the postal workers, strikes, go-slows, work to rule’s etc. will obviously follow. Welcome to another “Winter of Discontent”!

Comrade Brown and brothers Mandelson and Darling would have us believe that all of this fiscal embarrassment is entirely due to the banking crisis and the global recession. The question I ask however is “where has all the money from the good times gone”?

When a business is profitable you would expect it to take some of that profit and invest it back into the business. I suggest that you wouldn’t expect said business to hire a whole load of extra staff to sit around playing solitaire on the PC and raid the stationery cupboard while other staff are employed to spy on them. When the average person has a windfall, or is in a good well paying job, if they are sensible, they put money aside “for a rainy day”. Well here in the UK the rainy day has arrived but suddenly we don’t have any money to afford to buy an umbrella.

I don’t think that the Socialist wonders currently wielding power can lay any of this at the door of the opposition parties. Tovarich Blair and Brown inherited one of the healthiest and most robust economies in the world and were so convinced of the Conservative way they undertook to maintain the previous government’s fiscal plans for the first four years of their time in power. If you are looking for blame for the banking crisis look no further than the Iron Chancellor who set up a system of banking checks which let a group of irresponsible greedy Chavs pay themselves obscene amounts of other people’s money for gambling (and often losing) yours and my hard earned funds. All this after he had raped and pillaged our pension funds and burdened us with more taxes (stealth and overt) than any government in the whole history in the world.

So, back to those of us who are old enough to remember, or can read the history books. I fear that the cold chill specter of the ghost of Christmas Past this year may well be the haunting phantom of Jim Callaghan, back from the grave of the Winter of Discontent whispering loudly into Gordon Brown’s ear “Crisis – What crisis?”

Another Drip On The Stone

This week has, for me, seen the cult of celebrity that has invidiously pervaded our society like a rot reach a new all time low.

The economy is not just stagnant but actually in decline, while, in spite of our ‘Central Committee’ of a so called government languishing in a state of denial, we are all struggling under a mountain of debt unprecedented in any of our lifetimes. The said government is in an apparent total meltdown with disgraced ministers either resigning, (jumping before they are pushed) or announcing that they won’t stand at the next election. The protectionist German government is busy buying General Motors jobs, luring Fiat or the Canadian company Magna away from Vauxhall with loan guarantees.Meanwhile a diminutive French ego maniac is seeking to revise our history by claiming that the 65th anniversary of the Normandy D-Day landings were only important enough to warrant the invitation of the ‘cool’ American president and his wife, while the Queen, and Britain in general was supernumerary . And that was only on the Monday of this week.

While all this is happening what is our great leader doing? Is he marshalling all of our resources to skilfully guide us through these turbulent times? Is he using all of our accumulated skills as a nation to work through these crises toward a solution?

The answer is he is seeking to gain a cheap headline and stay in the good books of the great British unwashed by phoning the producers of Britain’s Got Talent to enquire about the mental state of the loosing contestant.

Can we assume that because she is Scottish Gordo now realises that every vote is precious and she might be the feather that will tip the balance of the election he is too scared to call? Maybe he thinks that his fellow Picts  are the only ones who will continue to support the Westminster subsidy he has maintained, at the expense of the English who pay the bulk of the taxes to the United Kingdom treasury. Or, perhaps he realises that the mass of the Mirror, Sun and Daily Star readers don’t recognise the news stories I spoke of earlier and so wants them to believe that by submitting to the lowest common denominator of celebrity he is in fact the leader we all want? Is it just possible that if I therefore express myself in the language of masses he might just understand? If so then my messages is:

“Push off you one eyed Scottish idiot. You’ve done a crap job and we want  the chance to vote for somebody else”.

They Just Don’t Get It Do They?

There are many things wrong with our current Central Soviet. In fact their faults and failings are legion and too numerous to mention here. Their chief crime however appears to be deafness.

It may be that all Labour governments are cursed with a congenital condition which renders them incapable of hearing the electorate? Therefore, in these days of political correctness, it could be that we are all too polite to mention or draw attention to it, or it could be that this lot are so imbued with arrogance, hubris, and possibly ennui, that listening to those who elected them is just not an option?

We all told them we didn’t want a war with Iraq, a million people took to the streets to say that its ban on hunting with dogs was not wanted, the whole nation, the courts, as well as both the opposition parties, have clearly said that the Ghurkhas should have a right to live here and now the Judiciary have ruled that the DNA of innocent people should not be kept on file. All of these democratically expressed views have been blatantly and wilfully ignored by a government which is obsessed with its own sense of its own right. I don’t believe in government by plebiscite or referendum, however when the obvious view of the majority is ignored by a control freak ‘Nanny State’ then surely it’s time for a change.

Comrade Gordon, and the rest of us, may have to wait until May of next year, but I believe that there will then be a public declaration of disapproval that even this arrogant, ignorant excuse for a government will not be able to ignore.

Swine Flu – A Global Pandemic Not Many Dead

I don’t think that I am given to ostrich like tendencies and burying my head in the sand is not my usual adopted position. However I can’t get excited about the current outbreak of Swine Flu. The media would have us believe that millions of us are all about to catch this dreaded lurgy and hundreds and thousands of us will be dying in the streets. RUBBISH!!

The truth, as far as I can see, is that some several hundreds of people in this country will suffer a varying degree of flu like symptoms. Some, the very young, the very old, the weak and the infirm may die (or may have their demise hastened by this additional complication). Why then are we being subjected to this mass propaganda campaign? Could it just be that the newspapers and broadcast media have decided that we are tired of hearing about the economy and they now need a new story to try and capture our attention?

Cyclists – Just A Whining Nuisance

This blog is not actually about cyclists. That particular bunch of the “don’t pay as you go” lobby still annoy the hell out of me and do, as it happens, fall into the group I want to rant at today.

The reason for my ire is simply that; post an opinion that cyclist, by slowing down traffic and refusing to pay for the infrastructure they demand to use, are selfish parasites, and up they spring to defend themselves. Point out, on the other hand, that many of our fundamental rights to law and liberty have been stealthily stolen by the Central Soviet you call a government and NOTHING, Nada, Zilch, Zero, happens!

Where are the commentators who want to discuss issues of import rather than bloody bicycles for God’s sake? Jade Goody, Amy Winehouse, Footballers who can’t keep it in their pants or dowdy spinsters who can sing a bit, all manage to arouse fervour and passion from the Great “actually we once used to be, but aren’t any more so deal with it” British Public. Is the whole country so ego centric and self absorbed that the only things we now hold dear are those things which, quite frankly, only amount to navel gazing?

And talking of human rights; how can this excuse for a government possibly justify its treatment of the Ghurkha ex-servicemen? Having lost out to a High Court judgement they have set about a shameful, mean and beggarly so called compliance, which will deny these brave warriors who served to support the freedoms (and expenses) they all so lavishly claim, the right to a dignified retirement in the country they fought for.

I have always believed that “with rights, come responsibilities”. In the case of the Ghurkhas I believe that they have faced up to and faithfully discharged their responsibilities, now they deserve the rights they have, in many cases, fought and died for.

Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes? (Who Will Watch The Watchers?)

As anyone who knows me, or has read any of my blogs, will attest, I could hardly be described as a ‘bleeding heart liberal’. In fact the phrase “well to the right of Genghis Kahn” I take as a compliment. I am however increasingly worried by the continuing erosion of fundamental elements of our civil liberties, which we all used to believe were our inalienable right.

Today all 12 suspects arrested in a security operation intended to thwart what the Prime Minister said was “a very big terrorist plot” have been released without charge. These arrests were, you may remember, precipitated by Scotland Yard’s head of counter-terrorism's accidental disclosure of details of proposed raids, by exposing a secret and confidential dossier.

This is not the first time that so called terrorists have been spectacularly arrested only to be later released, much more quietly. It seems that in the name of “The War On Terror” the age old adage of “Innocent Until Proven Guilty” has been replaced by “Innocent Until Proven Pakistani”. The sacrificing of our rights to the god of the war on terror is, sadly, only the tip of what I believe to be a disturbing murky iceberg.

I believe that this Socialist, Central Soviet, government, formally of comrade Blair (or B. Liar as he should more accurately be known) and currently headed (I can’t bring myself to say “lead”) by  tovarich Brown, has steadily steered us down a path toward a Stalinist police state.

Presumably fuelled by its insatiable desire to control every aspect of every individual’s life (and thought processes if they believed that they could get away with it), rights and freedoms we have enjoyed for almost a thousand years have quietly disappeared from the statute book.

Gone are the days when you had the right to remain silent. When you did stay ‘schtum’ British law was very clear that just because you did not say anything your silence could not be construed as guilt. This was because the burden of proof was always on the prosecution; so I did not have to prove my innocence, it was always assumed. Today judges can direct a jury to assume exactly the opposite and a failure to testify can be assumed as guilt. There used also to be the right of Habeaus Corpus. Now the police can kick your door down at 4:00am and hold you without charge for 28 days (remember the government wanted this to be 56 days). It appears that no needs any actual hard evidence to do this as you can be released, after this period, without charge, as in today’s case. When you are released the police don’t even have to say they're sorry, nor apparently do they have to justify locking you up in the first place, beyond saying that it “was in the interest of national security”.

If the police did have a valid reason for arresting these young men why, now that they have been released, can we not see it? Whatever happened to the concept of “wrongful arrest” (itself a crime)?

It is becoming clear to me that the police are increasingly acting as an arm of the government, who are arming them with powers to ride roughshod over the rights of the individual. Even opposition shadow cabinet ministers are not exempt. Armed with such powers the police themselves seem to be taking a stance of not being our guardians but our warders. Flushed with their seemingly limitless power, and the fact they are divorced from any consequences, they appear to be operating from the view that “everyone is guilty and we will catch you eventually”. They also feel empowered to physically attack protestors, or anyone else for that matter, willy-nilly, again without consequence.

When servants become masters in this way I suggest that there is something fundamentally wrong with our society. I believe that people should not be afraid of their government, or their police force, the government, or the police, should always be afraid of their people. Our rights and freedoms give us the ability to exercise our power over our government and police force and we should all be afraid when they are, taken away from us.

Comments - Come One Come All

 I’m pleased to see some comments on this old blogspot.

The main point I want to make is that my comments and opinions are my own and I don’t expect everyone, or anyone, to agree with them, neither am I in the business of proselytising. The main purpose of this avenue of publication is provide me with an outlet to say the kinds of things which our increasingly politically correct society attempts to deny me.

Please do feel free to comment – for or against- and, provided they are not obscene, or illegal I’ll happily publish them.

One thing I would say about comment is that I don’t appreciate those who choose to take the cowards option of pontificating for the safety of anonymity. If you have an opinion at least be brave enough to “sign-up” to it.

In answer to Kirsten comments on “Sod Your Bike – Mind My Car!:

Yes Kirsten you are correct I am “quite angry”. I am also somewhat surprised by the naivety of your arguments in support of the parasitic lycra clad loonies infesting our fair highways and byways . You state:

“Cyclists pay for the roads - and cycle paths - via income tax and council tax, just like everyone else.” So, are the people who don’t have cycles and are paying the same taxes as cyclists subsidising them? If so why should they? You could, by this argument also state that the group who don’t have a car or a bike are subsidising both, howeveras the motorists ARE paying it’s the cyclists who are getting all the freebies.

“as bikes cause so little wear and tear on the roads, you could argue that actually cyclists are paying far more than their fair share of road costs”
My point was not about ‘wear and tear’ but about the amount of congestion and consequent pollution cyclists cause by clogging up an infrastructure they do not directly contribute toward.

“Are you going to argue that "green" cars should be banned from the roads because they're zero-rated too? “
No – only that they should bear the burden like the rest of us. If you really want to know what I think of the militant Green lobby see my blog http://mistermerlin.blogspot.com/2008/08/eco-warriors-please-dont-represent-me.html

“cyclists are on the road as of right, as are pedestrians and horse-riders.”
With rights come responsibilities. My argument is for cyclists to shoulder their share of their responsibilities not just expect the car drivers to pay for them.

“Roads were actually built to facilitate easier cycling, long before the nation became obsessed with cars.”
I think you will find that history shows that the practical modern cycle and the motor car are virtually contemporary. I’m not sure if you proposition can by supported by the facts? Cycling has almost always been a leisure activity rather than one of the great drivers of commerce and it is the generation of wealth and investment brought about by the motor car which, I would contend, has lead to (and paid for) the development of better, mettled roads.

“As for your remarks about accidents - do you know how many pedestrians have been killed in collisions with cyclists in recent years? Less than 10, and there's nothing to say the cyclist was at fault in all of them, no matter what your own prejudices. Do you know how many pedestrians are killed by cars on the pavement? More than 10 a week. There is a killer on the roads, but it's not cyclists.”
My point was not about the number of accidents caused by either side but that fact that cyclists seem to be increasingly immune from the consequences of their actions. You may note that I only argued for a ban on cyclists “until they are forced into obeying the rules like the rest of us (motorists) and, more importantly, are made to pay for their privilege of sharing the roads with us “

As for my prejudices I am please to say that they remain my own. 

Okay - So I'm Now Officially Old

Okay, so maybe it is me and I am officially getting old. The problem seems to be that I am increasingly at odds with the current manifestations of modern society. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still pretty computer savvy and fairly techno-literate, I like to think that I have a reasonable grasp of current events, politics and the current economic disaster that is Labour party politics. It’s just that as soon as I turn on my television, or radio, I seem to be seeing and hearing a picture of a society that I no longer recognise.

Firstly I no longer agree with what I perceive to be the modern interpretation or definition of “celebrity”. As I said in an earlier Blog, I believe that there is a definite distinction between the modern concepts of celebrity and, what I believe used to be called fame. With fame, those people who are acknowledged, and indeed may be lauded, for their talent and/or abilities should always have a place in our society. Those who contribute to politics, the arts, science, sport or entertainment etc. deserve recognition, acclimation and applause. For me the problem is that we are now deluged with an increasing raft of people who appear to be “famous” for no more than being famous. What have these people actually done; what is their achievement; where is the evidence of their having paid their dues to the actual effort of learning their craft or profession?

Which leads me on to “The Apprentice”; I’m sorry, but I just don’t get it. From the little I have seen of this sorry excuse for a so called ‘Entertainment’ program is filled with a pathetic bunch of sad “Wannabes” who think that they are “Already-ares”. I thought the whole concept of an apprentice was of someone who wanted to learn the skills of the master, i.e. someone who was prepared, in humility, to acknowledge their ignorance in order to be taught. What I seem to be seeing is a bunch of people who want to demonstrate that they already know it all and that they are better than the other know –it-alls against which they are competing. For me this program is not about who would make the best apprentice, it’s about who has the greater hubris. What I don’t understand is, when did hubris become a virtue?

The second thing that is exercising my mind at the moment is the total erosion of our civil liberties. Those who know me, even a little will testify that I am not, by any means, a bleeding heart liberal. I am however at a loss to understand how we have arrived at a state where the police can kick down anyone’s door at 4 a.m.  and then be incarcerated for 28 days without, apparently, any evidence of any crime or offence having been committed. Over the last couple of years literally hundreds of people have suffered this trauma, all in the name of the fight against terrorism. Then they have been released without charge. I find this confusing. If the police or the intelligence services believed that these people were guilty of an offence then surely they should have been charged and prosecuted. If, after 28 days the authorities have failed to find any evidence of wrongdoing then surely we should be told what the evidence was that caused them to act in the first place? What happened to the concept of “wrongful arrest”?

I know that we can’t turn the clock back and all go and live in St. Mary Meade next door to Miss Marple but can’t these excessive swings of the social pendulum be addressed and adjusted?

Celebrity Still Lives (Unfortunately). A Plea To Stop Emphasising With The Enemy

I have a piece of news for everyone.

Someone you don’t know and have never met, a young mother, has, sadly died.

How do you feel? Well I’m sure that, given the circumstances described you feel sorry for the family left behind and sad at the potential of a life cut short. I’m sure too though that the news won’t radically affect your everyday situation and having paused for just a brief moment you will move on with the rest of your day and never give the matter another thought. All of which, I think, is very right and proper, after all how do you empathise with someone you don’t know and have never met?.

Why then has there been this national obsession with the death of Jade Goody? Frankly my attitude is that, apart from a brief acknowledgement about the grief of her family, I care not one jot. Let’s get real here.  I did not know the woman, apart from the lurid details of her sad life which she managed to ram down the throat of my attention seemingly on every occasion. It’s not that I don’t care about Jade Goody (I don’t, but that’s not the point I’m trying to make) it’s that this national obsession with the lives of other people (so called celebrities) is, to my mind, total madness.

I’m not arguing for the eradication of fame. People who are acknowledged, and indeed may be lauded, for their talent and/or abilities have always had a place in human society. Those who contribute in politics, the arts, science, sport or entertainment etc. deserve recognition (as something of an actor myself I freely admit I do it for the acclimation and applause). I believe however that in the case of the famous it is their talent, ability or achievement which should be honoured, not merely their lifestyle. Having such individuals as role models and striving to emulate their achievements is a good and positive thing, I just don’t believe that empathising with a group of people who flaunt their excessive and decadent lives helps any of us in any way.  

Jade Goddy’s approach to and use of  her so called celebrity, like that of all the other parasites who live off the bloated, rotting, corpse-like body of “star publicity”, leaves me feeling as though a particularly unattractive, smelly, vagrant has suddenly whipped up their T-shirt and forced my face between a pair of wobbly, rancid breasts. I don’t care about how many drugs Amy Winehouse has taken, how much botox some sad old soap star has had injected into their face, or which drunken football player has shagged which silly girl in some over priced hotel room.

I do however have a circle of friends whose lives touch mine in ways that change and affect it every day. I hope too that I touch the lives of those I know. The fact is, that apart from this small group, the rest of the world’s population have very, very little relevance to my physical or emotional wellbeing. It is virtually certain that non of the ‘celebrities’ who parade themselves across the pages of the glossy magazines will ever affect or change my life in any way.

I think we should concentrate on those we know, love and can actually interact with, rather than these posing ponces who constantly, drunkenly debauch themselves across our televisions and newspapers.

Jade Goody, like that other rabid, ravenous, slathering put-bull of a publicity seeker Princess Diana, is dead. Jade, again like Diana, is someone you only ‘knew about’, not ‘knew’ in any real or meaningful sense. Don’t waste any emotion on either of these women, or any of their ilk, save it for those real people whose lives you are a part of. Show them you care; not about some fantasy idiot your saw on TV or in Hello magazine, but the real people who also care about you. Save you emotion, love and care for those you ‘know’ and stop emphasising with the enemy. 

Please Stop The Whining of The Bleeding Hearts

I am just sick and fed up of the increasingly long line of tragic and pathetic people who are paraded on our televisions and radios with some tragic story and who are used to promote a case that something or another should be banned, or a new law further curbing our ever diminishing freedoms should be enacted. 

“My child/husband/wife/dog/cat/hamster (strike out which does not apply) was run over by a drunk driver” is an example of their whining cry. Therefore, their so called logic dictates that all cars should only be driven at 30 mph anywhere, even on motorways (20 or 15 if past a school), and the sale of alcohol to anyone who has a car, or who even possesses a driving licence, should be stopped immediately. Why do people believe that an increasingly stringent set of ever growing rules, implemented and overseen by the thought police, will make our society totally safe? Another example of "shoot from the hip" law maiking was when some clearly deranged psychopath gunned down a class of school children. The reaction was to ban handguns for everybody – has this stopped gun crime, has it prevented anymore shootings? The knee jerk reaction of the imposition of yet more laws is not always the answer. 

Don’t get me wrong; I’m not a total anarchist and I do recognise that in a civilized society some rules must apply. I realise too they have to be policed; however we seem to have forgotten that, in the main, people are ultimately able to regulate their own lives within a set of broad guidelines which we all recognise are for the common good. Just because some poor unfortunate has suffered a tragic accident surely it does not mean that the rest of us have to suffer the restriction of our choice and liberty? 

When will this control freak of a government realise that all the weapons it has tried to use to socially engineer our society,  to a point where we are all good little drones who think what we are told, are far too crude to achieve their goals and should really be classed as ‘weapons of mass destruction’?