Category Archives: Politics

Political Poseurs

Posted on by

I don’t doubt for a minute that our Prime Minister and the US President are as concerned as any of us by the abduction of the Nigerian schoolgirls. However, the release of photographs of a sad looking Michelle Obama and, a couple of days later, a similar one of David Cameron holding placards stating “Bring back our girls” is somewhat cheesy to say the least.

What we want from our politicians is action not talk nor cheap posing for the cameras. These publicity shots were just that, all style (of a sort) and no substance.

What is it with our leaders?  I tried to imagine a Winston Churchill or a Franklin D. Roosevelt holding up placards and looking sad for the cameras and of course, I couldn’t.  They had rather more class and gravitas than that.

Cut the posing, take positive action and just get those girls back, whatever it takes. Leave the gimmicks to celebrity airheads and the social media.

 

Break up?

Posted on by

Last week the Council for Europe announced that Cornwall was being granted special “Minority Status” meaning that the region, for the last 1000 years a county of England, will now have a similar standing to Wales and Scotland.

Most people probably shrugged their shoulders and wondered briefly whether the change of status would really make that much of a difference, a response initially shared by me. Like many people, I like Cornwall and have a warm feeling towards the place with its ancient folklore, its beautiful scenery and delicious pasties! I have similar feelings about many other parts of England and have always felt that our regional differences are part of what makes us what we are.

I’m sure that people in Yorkshire, Kent and Cumbria, for example, feel that their counties are equally special and unique and they are. But should they strive for “Minority Status” and seek separate representation leaving the land as it was prior to King Alfred the Great and the creation of England in the 9th and 10th Centuries?

The more I thought about it the more I remembered something I read years ago by the author Vernon Coleman who warned that one of the primary aims of the European Union is to abolish the idea of nationhood and encourage, in its place, the creation of many smaller regions. These regions will offer less of a problem than nations and, because of their size, will become dependent upon the European government in Brussels. Coleman warned, nearly ten years ago, that ultimately Scotland and Wales would go their own way and that England would cease to exist and be broken into separate regions.

Of course, many people have dismissed Coleman as being a crank or a scaremonger and maybe he is. But when I think about Cornwall’s new status and the fact that later this year Scotland (as Coleman predicted) is going to vote on whether or not to remain a part of the United Kingdom I can’t help but feel a little uneasy.

A Christian Country?

Posted on by

Last weekend, our Prime Minister was in trouble for daring to refer to the United Kingdom as a “Christian country”. A number of public figures were so upset that they signed a petition denouncing such an outrageous statement, no doubt concerned about offending the non-Christians living in the UK.

What is wrong with us, if we are not a “Christian country” then what are we? I appreciate that there are many non-believers in this country and plenty of citizens who have different religious beliefs. Good, it shows that we are a fair and tolerant society embracing many varied beliefs and cultures.

The fact remains however that this country was built on Christianity, the Queen is the head of the Church of England and both Parliament and the Judiciary were founded on Christian beliefs. I’m not in the least bit religious but I recognise how important Christianity has been to our development and culture.

Yes, it’s true that Christianity is in decline in the sense that fewer and fewer people attend church regularly but that doesn’t mean that we lack Christian principles. We struggle enough with our sense of identity and the fact that our society is still largely run on Christian values and morals is surely to our benefit.

How can anybody be offended by what David Cameron said? I’m afraid that the reaction to his comment is just another example of the trendy political correctness that is choking the life out of this country and it should be dismissed as such.

Europe – The Drip of the Tap

Posted on by

The European Parliament recently announced plans to introduce uniform vehicle licence number plates throughout Europe, meaning that the distinctive white and yellow British number plates will be discontinued and will in future be identical to all other European number plates.

Supporters of the European Union (and even some of those who are not) will no doubt say, so what, it makes sense and it’s only a small concession, it makes transport administration that much easier and why should the UK be different from the rest of Europe? As usual, anybody who questions or offers opposition is dismissed as being small minded or labelled a” little Englander”.

This is the standard response whenever EU plans are questioned or opposed and it’s been going on for over 40 years. Each small concession is like the drip from a tap, small and relatively insignificant by itself but eventually, ten thousand drips later, the trickle becomes a torrent and the whole dynamic has changed.

This is how The EU works. It is government by stealth. As this blog has pointed out many times in the past, it is both wrong and anti-democratic. And what will be next, driving on the same side of the road? Why should the British and Irish drive on the left while the rest of Europe drives on the right?

We must never lose sight of the fact that when we voted in the 1975 referendum we voted on whether or not to be part of a trading community called the European Economic Community. We were not asked whether or not we wished to completely lose our identity, our sovereignty and become part of a United States of Europe.

Our government and particularly our Euro MPs have to resist this proposal vigorously and without compromise. Better still, give us the further promised referendum. If we have that referendum and do vote to be part of a United States of Europe with all that that entails then, fair enough, at least it will have been a democratic decision and we can then no longer complain about the flood of legislation and regulation that carries away our independence.

Lack of Compassion

Posted on by

Uncontrolled immigration has been a big problem in this country for the last 50 years or so and the fact that the present government has taken steps to alleviate the situation is to be welcomed. It is now harder for people to enter the country and easier for the Government to deport those who enter illegally. However, whilst the rule of law must always be obeyed and upheld there must surely be occasions where a degree of flexibility can come into play.

The story of Yashika Bageerathi, the 19 year old Mauritian girl sent back to her country last Wednesday evening, is a case in point. She arrived in the UK in 2011 to escape abuse at home and settled well here with her mother and siblings. The immigration authorities looked into the case and after due process of law it was decided that she had no lawful right to remain in the UK. She was thus ordered to leave the UK (and her family) and return to Mauritius.

The human side to this story is that Yashika had shown herself to be a hardworking and popular pupil at her UK school and was only two months away from taking her A level examinations, arguably the most important examinations in any pupil’s life.

Both the school and the girl’s family pleaded for her to be allowed to continue her studies, take those examinations and then return to Mauritius afterwards and in fact the girl and her mother promised that she would do just that if given a stay of execution. The Government and courts said no, she had to leave straightaway and so she did, two days ago.

The Government is right; of course it is. We all want our country to be secure and for the law to be upheld but on occasion can we not show just a little imagination and, more importantly, a little compassion? Would an extra two months have made that much difference to us?

Waste of Time

Posted on by

Earlier this week it was announced that 2.5 million young adults have skills that are not being used because they are either unemployed or they are working in jobs for which they are overqualified. Part of the reason for this is that there are too many youngsters chasing the same jobs but also because many of them possess completely useless degrees mostly obtained in the new universities created by Blair’s New Labour Government at the turn of the century.

The idea of lowering standards so that more and more schoolkids could attend university and obtain a degree has now been proven to be the complete waste of students’ time and effort (and taxpayers money) that many experts warned of back in the late 1990’s. What is the point of obtaining a degree that cannot possibly lead to useful employment, such as a Staffordshire University degree in Sports, Media and Culture which evidently includes a study of David Beckham and his lifestyle? And what is the point of studying for a degree where there simply aren’t enough jobs to go round, for example, a Law degree?

 We now have a chronic shortage of electricians, joiners, plumbers and other tradesmen because school kids were given unrealistic expectations by the liberal clowns who taught them instead of encouraging them to spend their time training for something that could actually lead to a job.  

It’s far better to earn a wage clearing out drains than to sit at home beneath your nicely framed degree in 1960s Pop Music whilst awaiting your next welfare handout. Nobody thought to tell the kids that though, did they?

A Notable Anniversary

Posted on by

Today is the anniversary of the first speech made by a woman in Britain’s House of Commons, back in 1920. The woman was Nancy Astor, an American by birth, who became an MP in 1919 just one year after women were first granted the right to vote following the end of the First World War. Even then the right only applied to women over the age of 30 and it wasn’t until 1928 that women received the same voting rights as men.

Astor, who had become Lady Astor through marriage, was a formidable, energetic  and sharp-witted woman who more than held her own in the company of men (she was a noted sparring partner of Winston Churchill) and remained a Member of Parliament until her retirement in 1945. Among her most famous witticisms were – “I married beneath me. All women do!” and “One reason why I don’t drink is because I wish to know when I am having a good time.”

I wonder what  she would make of the world today, which in spite of the two terrible world wars experienced in her lifetime, still shows no sign of settling down to lasting peace. Perhaps the world would be a safer place if it had more female leaders; men don’t seem to be doing that good a job of it, do they?

As Lady Astor herself said “Women have got to make the world safe for men since men have made it so darned unsafe for women.”

A Force For Good?

Posted on by

Whilst touring Jordan over the last few days my thoughts have regularly drifted to religion which I suppose isn’t surprising since a large proportion of the Holy Land is situated here.

It struck me that whatever your views on God’s existence, religion has hardly been an unqualified success in the history of the world. Not only do believers in God kill other believers in God because they have given their God a different name but believers in the same God kill one another because they worship that same God in different ways! Thus, not only have Christians, Jews and Muslims been killing one another for millennia but Christians (Catholics and Protestants) and Muslims (Sunnis and Shias) have been doing the same thing and continue to do so on a regular basis.

If an alien were to look down on this planet and see what we are doing to one another he would scratch his head in amazement, conclude that we are all nutters, forget about invasion, put his spaceship into overdrive and hot tail it as fast as he could into the next solar system! And who could blame him?

Religion should be and often is, of course, a force for good but organised religion often seems to be about power, fear and control. On balance, maybe the world would be a better (and safer) place without it. If you believe in God, fine; go ahead and worship your God in whatever manner you wish but don’t try and impose it on others and we’ll all get along just fine.

The Floods

Posted on by

England has just suffered the wettest January in 248 years and February is not shaping up to be any better. Parts of the South West of the country have been under water since the start of the year, the West coasts of England and Wales have been repeatedly battered by continuous storms and the River Thames is about to break its own record for flood warnings. Farmers have lost their livestock, businesses have collapsed, thousands of homeowners  have lost their worldly possessions and the Met Office says that there is still no end in sight of this freak weather.

This is a humanitarian crisis of high proportions and what do our politicians do? They point their fingers at one another and look for blame, trying to score points while families try desperately to hold their lives together. Government departments accuse each other of incompetence whilst telling the media that it’s not their fault. And politicians wonder why we dislike them so much?

Forget the posturing, you idiots, and do something about it. Ensure that all of these poor people are re-housed and their possessions replaced and then take whatever steps are humanly possible to ensure that British citizens, their homes, property and livelihoods are protected against future calamity.

Oh, and if the Government is wondering where the money is going to come from, do as one sensible Member of Parliament suggested over the weekend; for this year at least, suspend payment of the billions of pounds we give in Foreign Aid – £11.5 billion in 2013. We have enough problems of our own.