Author Archives: johnengland55

Condescending Politicians

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In the midst of the news of UKIP’s victory in the Rochester and Strood by-election came an example of why so many people are disenchanted with modern politics.

It was the report of the crass stupidity and insensitivity of Labour MP, Emily Thornberry, who posted a tweet stating “Image of Rochester” picturing a small ordinary town house draped with three flags of St George and outside of which was parked a white van.

This woman, no doubt enjoying life in her smart luxury London apartment, obviously thought it was clever and funny to mock an ordinary working class person who clearly happens to love his country and is proud of its flag. As a smart lawyer (in an academic sense at any rate) and the shadow attorney general with hopes one day of taking national office (Lord help us!) one would have thought she would have thought her actions through.

Not a bit of it. Sadly she is just a typical example of the many hypocritical, politically correct metro-liberals (particularly among the champagne socialists of the Labour party) who fill our parliament. Superior, out of touch and contemptuous of those who do not share their warped views of pride and nationality.

Is there any wonder that UKIP (and across the border) the Scottish Nationalists are doing so well? Well, maybe these last two by election victories by UKIP are showing us that, in the words of Bob Dylan, “The times they are a changing”. I truly hope so. It is no more than our arrogant and condescending political elite deserve.

A Trading Community

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Last week APEC (the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) met in Beijing for their annual convention. This trade group comprising over twenty countries, including the USA, Canada, China, Russia, Japan, Singapore, Chile, Peru and Australia, was set up in 1988 with the sole aim of advancing trade between its member states.

It now comprises 54% of world trade with few tariffs and minimal red tape. It has no common currency, no common defence policy nor any form of political union, but why should it? It is a trading community and nothing more.

Just like the European Common Market was supposed to be.

Hitting the Target

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After 30 years the Band Aid Christmas record is to be re-launched as Band Aid 30, but instead of Bob Geldoff telling us to give our “F+++ing money” to relieve famine in Africa we are now being urged to hand it over to defeat the threat of the Ebola virus in the same continent. It’s a nice idea. If only it were that simple.

It isn’t, of course, and I can immediately think of two reasons why many people may decide to make their charitable donations elsewhere.

Firstly, whilst I have no doubt that the members of Band Aid 30 have the best of intentions in releasing their Christmas record (and at the same time pushing their careers a little further into the limelight!) it does seem a little incongruous for the general public to be told by multi-millionaire pop-stars what to do with their hard earned money. Incongruous and patronising; why don’t these stars just quietly divert some of their own private fortunes to such a worthy cause? Maybe they do.

Secondly, the original Band Aid 1984 was hardly an unqualified success with subsequent reports showing that millions of pounds worth of aid ended up paying for weapons, mansions, luxury cars and boats for corrupt rebel warlords. I am sure that a sizeable proportion of the aid went to the appropriate targets but that isn’t enough.

If the public are to be encouraged to provide charitable relief they need to know that that relief is going to the intended beneficiary. Can Bob Geldoff and his friends provide such a guarantee?

The Best Act of Remembrance

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Unsurprisingly, most of the major news stories of the last few days have focussed on the memorial services taking place throughout the land to mark yesterday’s Remembrance Sunday and tomorrow’s Armistice Day. The services are all the more poignant this year since, as we are all aware, 2014 is the centenary of the outbreak of World War 1.

In the midst of the tales of suffering, courage and death one particular newspaper article seemed to me to strike an important chord. It was an interview in the Sunday Times with Michael Morpurgo, the novelist and author of “War Horse” who said that every British school pupil should be given the opportunity to visit the cemeteries of the Western Front of Belgium and France with the cost being borne by the State if necessary.

His argument was that children, in many cases obsessed by computer war games, need “to understand the human tragedy of conflict”.

That has to be right. Though we must never forget, and should always honour, the memories of those who suffered and died in the terrible conflicts of the Twentieth century and beyond surely the best possible act of remembrance is to do all that we can to ensure that the mistakes of the past are never repeated by future generations.

Saving our Seas

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Greenpeace revealed this week that one foreign-owned fishing vessel (a Dutch super-trawler with huge nets covering vast areas of the ocean) controls 6% of the entire UK fishing quota. Meanwhile approximately 5,000 small family-owned British fishing vessels, (comprising nearly 80% of the British fishing fleet) between them control just 4% of the UK’s fishing quota. It almost defies belief.

Fishing quotas were introduced in the 1980s to safeguard fish stocks throughout Europe and the fact that one large foreign-owned commercial vessel has the right to catch considerably more fish than the entire British small fishing boat fleet is nothing short of scandalous.

How and why have successive British governments allowed this to happen? No wonder so many family fishing businesses have gone bankrupt and no wonder our fish stocks continue to suffer in the face of these huge factory ships vacuuming up the ocean.

There is, however, a glimmer of hope since fishing quotas are due to be discussed and re-fixed next month, presenting our government with the opportunity to do something about it. Greenpeace have set up an online petition to put pressure on the government (https://secure.greenpeace.org.uk/fair-fish).

Whilst we may be sceptical about the success of such petitions it is surely a worthy attempt to both protect the UK’s seas and prevent further struggling fishing communities from sinking into oblivion.

Transparency of Office

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It’s pretty appalling and embarrassing, in equal measure, that both women selected to chair the Government child sex abuse inquiry have now been forced to resign because of alleged links to possible suspects.

In fact, a brief look at how most officials are selected in this country doesn’t exactly inspire one with confidence. In the main, it is done secretly behind locked doors by committees whose members are unaccountable to those who they are appointed to serve. Just look at our legal system and at some of the judges who have made headlines in recent months through various bizarre rulings and out-of-touch statements. Nobody can say for certain how those judges are appointed but you can bet your bottom dollar that their old school tie, gentlemen’s club membership and Masonic lodges all play a big part in it.

Perhaps we should review the whole system and consider adopting a more democratic and open system such as that of the United States where judges, sheriffs and other public officials are all elected democratically and are directly responsible to those who appoint them, namely the public. I am not saying that the American system is perfect but it certainly seems a lot fairer, open and more transparent than ours.

A Soft Touch

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I have often wondered whether politicians are unique among human beings with their apparent ability to see only what they want to see. Or is it that they simply ignore those inconvenient truths obvious to the rest of us?

This week, it took a Frenchman (a woman actually – the Mayor of Calais, Natacha Bouchard) to tell our government what many of us have been saying for the last 30 years or so. Madame Bouchard is evidently driven to distraction by the problem of thousands of African and Middle Eastern illegal immigrants camping on the streets of her city while they wait to cross the Channel to the UK. She said that these immigrants see the United Kingdom as a “soft touch” and that our generous benefits system “acts as a magnet” to them.

These unfortunate people are clearly desperate to try to get into the UK by whatever means they can and the British government (to quote the Mayor once again)is doing nothing to dissuade them of their belief that Britain is “El Dorado”.

Our government needs to get a firm grip of this problem and, after it has strengthened our border security, needs to make clear to the European Union that it is not solely a British problem. In fairness, it is not solely a French problem either but instead is a problem to be dealt with by the EU. Unfortunately we all know what that means and that really is a problem.

Political Posturing

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The European Commission (the unelected decision makers of the European Union) has just ordered the UK, and therefore the British taxpayer, to pay an additional budget contribution of £1.7 billion to the EU because our economy is performing better than the rest of Europe. In effect, we are being punished for our economic success whilst countries like France and even Germany are getting rebates because they are not doing so well.

The figure represents an increase of 20% of our normal annual contribution to Europe’s coffers and predictably our Prime Minister has responded by saying that the demand is “totally unacceptable” and the UK will not pay up by the December 1st deadline.

It would be quite an achievement and a considerable victory for David Cameron if we didn’t pay up especially since such a move would actually be illegal under EU legislation. However, I suspect that this is just a bit of posturing by our Prime Minister and an attempt to appear strong and forceful in the face of EU bullying particularly since there is the small matter of a general election coming up in 7 months’ time.

In spite of all the bluster and sharp rhetoric there will no doubt be some horse trading behind the scenes and the UK will end up paying the monies one way or another. The fact is the European grandees don’t want the UK to leave the EU and nor does Cameron. So if something can be done whereby Cameron appears to look strong and the UK caves in behind the scenes it’s a victory for both Cameron and the EU.

The British public will think that their PM has acted tough in apparently refusing to allow the UK to be bullied and so they will be less inclined to vote against European membership in a referendum. Our rulers take us for fools but if and when we do get the chance to vote on our continued membership of the European Union they may well be forced to reconsider their opinion.

Street Food

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I drove past a restaurant the other day and noticed a line of people, maybe 20 or 30 yards long, waiting to go in. I later found out that this particular restaurant was extremely popular (it clearly was) and the food was excellent. So what? Why would anybody choose to queue up for food when they don’t have to? Why not either go back another time when the restaurant is less busy or just book a table somewhere else?

This seems to happens a lot in both the UK and the USA, where people with clearly enough money (or probably too much) think nothing of lining up like paupers for their food. I just don’t get it. No food is that good. I don’t care who owns the restaurant or how good the menu is, affluent Westerners waiting in line for food is unnecessary and demeaning.

Or maybe I’m just impatient!

Explosive Sushi

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I recently dined in a bar/restaurant called Steak & Sushi in Chattanooga, Tennessee where, among the items featured on the colourful and imaginative menu was a selection of hot spicy dishes. These were given names like “Dynamite” and “AK47” to indicate how hot they were.

As I perused further I came across two more dishes, called “Kamikaze” and “Atomic Bomb Roll” and, not surprisingly, they grabbed my attention!

I can well imagine that some people would be horrified at what they would consider to be a shocking display of insensitivity towards the Japanese, some 70 years after the end of World War 2.

On the other hand, many would regard it as a bit of fun and a raised middle finger to political correctness and the Thought Police.

I know which viewpoint I prefer!