Student's £100bn overdraft shock

The bank described the terrible blunder as a "technical error". Donald Moffat is a student from Irvine, Ayrshire and he was left in a state of shock when his online banking statement showed him to be overdrawn by almost £100bn. I must admit I'm a tad apprehensive when I go online. Not because of anything I've done, but because of all the stories you hear.

Barclays is the bank in question here. Mr. Moffat says he had "been passed from pillar to post" after making the error known to the bank. Of course, the problem is that banks offer a nonetity servicethese days. There are no bank managers, just managers of the bank. So the average person gets the runaround from Calcutta and back.

Mr.Moffat talks about stress, but I would be wary about campaigning for compensation. What we need to campaign for is better communication with bank staff. It's no good having jobsworths in the front line, however pleasant they may be, if they are never allowed to use their brains to sort things out. I find it can take a good hour to do ten minutes when the telephone comes into play. It's not much better in the branch.

Maybe we could have a summit where all the banks and customer representatives get to decide want we really want. Otherwise I'm distinctly afraid that 2009 will be more of the same. Considering that this whole credit crunch is some huge "technical error" - nobody is to blame we are told - it will be to the benefit of all to start the process of change from a clean sheet!

More drop off the wall into the mire

My post about Ten Big Businesses Hanging on the Wall is now about to be realised quite soon. It is a very sad reflection on our society that businesses that would normally be viable are in such a precarious position. We are living in a giant South Sea Bubble, which is still being blown up.

As Woolworths was the first major casualty, we now have MFI, Whittards, Zavvi, Adams, Officers Club and fashion retailer USC. All are in adminstration but Whittards and USC are doing deals to save parts of these businesses.

Yesterday it was announced that those with Zavvi gift vouchers (received at Christmas) could not use them in stores. They were effectively useless. However, Zavvi continues to trade. So it is OK to take cash now, but not to honour cash taken in advance of a purchase. I have to hand it to these accountants. Remember, receivers are in a recession-proof business. They have ring-fenced, copper-bottomed, and diamond-tipped their stash! They get their money before anyone else does.

It is interesting to note that these so-called experts were so dilatory in warning us all of the nonsense of the sub-prime fiasco and all the other "accounting practices". Perhaps it is all self-fulfilling? Create a giant mess and then gorge on the results.

Am I being too unkind to them?

Speedy Gonzales to slow down?

When it comes to speeding on roads I'm in a kind of bind. I'm all in favour of getting arrogant mindless drivers to change their ways, but I'm totally against arbitrary speed fines and new ways of getting policemen to poke their noses into cars without just cause. Traditionally, the local authorities have seen cars and all forms of road transport as an easy conduit towards revenue raising. Road safety comes a poor third on the list, after spending money on disabled crossings in second place. Now don't get me wrong, I support good traffic management including proper wheelchair access. But it has to be properly funded and not as some pot-scraping exercise at the end of the financial year so that the budget isn't compromised!

So the news is that speed-limiting devices could be fitted to vehicles on a voluntary basis to reduce speed. These will use satellite positioning to check a vehicle's location and when its speed exceeds the limit, power will be reduced and the brakes applied if necessary. If on a voluntary basis, then I have no problem whatsoever. This could well encourage the arrogant to go no faster than the speed limit allows.

The BBC has a report on the topic. Jon York, fleet manager for British Gas, has a telling point. He largely agrees with the idea, but says, "It does aid road safety, it does reduce incidents, but it is part of a wide-ranging number of initiatives within British Gas and one of those is driver training because you have to change people's behaviour." That's the whole point. Changing behaviour.

However, a contrary view is rather baffling. Derek Charters, from the Motor Industry Research Association, believes limiting speed automatically could cause accidents. "The last thing you need is one car to be overtaking and then pull back in, in front of the cars in front, because that braking event will then cause everybody to start to slow down, which will then compress the traffic, which then causes an incident." Come on, Mr.Charters, think please. Why would somebody be overtaking, at speed, in a restricted zone? You don't need to be a researcher to know that that is nonsense. Unless of course, you are in favour of racing between these zones. On seeing a 30mph sign does one attempt to overtake at 40mph? We are all supposed to drive with "due care and attention". I sometimes wonder about people like Mr.Charters.

The government's transport advisers claim the technology would cut road accidents with injuries by 29%. But it would also just make the roads are far more pleasant place to be driving on. Get rid of the racers, stop the speedos and the weavers and those just out to please themselves. Life is complicated enough without feeling the roads are like shark-infested waters!

Caroline Kennedy has eyes on Senate seat

The Times has suggested that Caroline Kennedy, daughter of the late president, has fluffed her lines so badly that she may not make it to the Senate. She wants the New York Governor, David Paterson – who has the sole power to pick a successor to Mrs Clinton now that she is becoming Secretary of State – to appoint her to the seat once held by her uncle, Bobby Kennedy. That would make the Kennedy clan all the more ubiquitous as well as politically powerful.

I'm not sure that fluffing your lines is a cause to say no. The question is, does she have what it takes. Unlike in Britain, there is no by-election on offer. The people of New York State get no say in the matter, other than lobbying a passing politician. This is all down to the TV channels giving the governor a few videos to watch! Democracy in action do you think?

The Kennedy family make an odd lot for the supposed first family in Democratic Party politics. The name is given up as some magical cure for the nation's ailments. Caroline Kennedy (she won't be running as Mrs. Schlossberg , I take it!) has been mocked for speaking in a dull monotone,“Um, this is a fairly unique moment both in our, you know, in our country’s history, and, and in, in, you know, my own life, and um, you know, we are facing, you know, unbelievable challenges, our economy, you know, healthcare, people are losing their jobs here in New York obviously um, arh, you know. . . ” Well, we do know. The economy is in freefall. If she can get to grips with some of the nonsense being peddled at the moment, she will be doing a hundred times better than the average politician who has been plucking imaginary dollar bills off fairyland trees! If not, then she's not going to be much use.

Caroline Kennedy has something far greater to claim fame for, though. She was the person whose name was so attractive to Ronan O'Reilly that he gave Radio Caroline that name. People like me, sixties teenagers, see that as the passive resistance to authoritarian nonsense. It was once illegal even to listen to that station!

So, Ms Kennedy is only good for this Senate seat if she can rock and roll in the aisles and give change a chance!

Radio Caroline at Sea in the '60s

Has the record got stuck?

I've resurfaced from the Christmas break. Still rotten news on the TV. It seems the Arab/Israeli conflict will be with us for all time. Neither side will back down. Back down from what exactly, I hazard to guess. "He who keepeth Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps" and that is true today as it was in Biblical times. So this is one recurring theme we should do our utmost to halt. My son today saw some of the mayhem. "Is Bethlehem a real place?" he asked. "Yes, it is," was the feeble reply. Not much peace on earth there, though.

For those old enough to remember the great invention of the record changer on a gramophone player will remember when it got stuck. It happened in that wonderful film Sea of Love with Al Pacino and Ellen Barkin, in the opening credits. But a stuck record was always something of a nuisance. Kids today will never have that to cope with. The Israeli conflict is a stuck record. So is the attitude of some white Americans to their black countrymen. It always makes me laugh (in a very sad way, that is!) over the palpable hypocrisy of some in US politics.

There is a portly chap running for the National chairmanship of the Republican Party. His name is Chip Saltsman. Good name for someone like him to have. A chip off the old block, eh? Salt of the earth? A man's man? I doubt he's any one of the three at the moment. The silly man thought it fun to put out a CD song entitled "Barack the Magic Negro". Now you have question whether he's got all his marbles, haven't you? Does the Republican Party really want this kind of person at the helm?

It's fair cop to have a go at Obama over his policies, his political actions or his connections with other people, but not to slur him racially. Saltsman must have been on some bender when he came up with this wheeze.

I'm all in favour of good political debate. This is not that. It is cheap, childish and rather nauseating. That a few black Republican colleagues have defended him does not change the situation. The word "Negro" is offensive to the vast majority of people these days when used in this way. He knows that, but chose to be cocky and arrogant.

According to CNN, Republican Party reaction is divided. Pity! I'd have hoped for something better. Maybe 2009 will be the year for a change in this small part of American politics.

Merry Christmas!

I'm going offline for the festivities or because of them. Happy Christmas to one and all. I am sincerely hoping 2009 will be a better year for the world. Hope is better than fear so I go into the New Year looking for the positive things in life.

If I was giving presents to a whole group of people, it would be a new set of spectacles for those who made a mess of things this year. These glasses would let the person see straight, not deviate and be good to his/her neighbour. Robert Mugabe needs a new pair for one. It's not too late for him to redeem himself. If he met up with Archbishop Tutu and started by saying, "Guess what, I'm going to see things differently from now on!", would we not feel a whole lot better, especially those suffering at his hands presently?

I live in hope for 2009!

Pope in "Saving the World" controversy

It is very much a case these days of the the secular society at odds with the Catholic Faith. Unlike in previous generations, though, many of us think the ways of the secular world are trying to get into the church. Trojan horses come to mind.

The Pope has a traditional end-of-year address to senior Vatican staff. This time he said that saving the dignity of the human race was just as important as saving rainforests. We live in an era where the word "sex" has been erroneously translated into "gender". So we have more than two genders suggested to us. Any government form now will have abandoned the word sex. "What gender are you?", the various documents will declare.

The church has an understanding of the role of the male and the female. These are not blurred by fashion, but understood to be a part of a timeless Creation. Of course, it is perfectly reasonable and legitimate for others to have alternative views. My case is that taking the church's doctrines and somehow mendaciously twisting them is doing the debate no good whatsoever.

Rev Sharon Ferguson, chief executive of Britain's Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement, has described the Pope's remarks as "totally irresponsible and unacceptable". "When you have religious leaders like that making that sort of statement then followers feel they are justified in behaving in an aggressive and violent way," she said. I doubt that is the case. It is her hyperbole. She is suggesting things that are not so. I do not know of any Christian leader (other than those of crank sects) exhorting followers to be aggressive and violent.

Ms Ferguson has her views. This is a democratic society. However, the church has an understanding of the relationship between the sexes. It is not "totally irresponsible and unacceptable" as she says, but the basis of the Catholic Faith. It may not be easy, but it is certainly not the travesty she and others suggest.

Baltimore Pantomime

Anybody in the Baltimore area should consider this. I've just spotted that there is at least one pantomime in the USA. Have a break from the dreary credit crunch, take your mind off things and enjoy! Tickets at very reasonable prices, I notice.

Puss in Boots. A great show I'll be bound!

Ron Paul in the clear!

According to The Market Oracle, Ron Paul does not have the Fiscal Insanity Virus. FIV is spreading like a contagion. Gordon Brown has it. It turned Alistair Darling's eyebrows into what they are!

The Market Oracle quotes, "Hair samples taken from Ron Paul, member of the US House of Representatives, have now been analyzed. Scientists report that Ron Paul has the only known double repetitive occurrence of the A-Marker. Scientists speculate that such individuals would be highly immune to FIV, even in the most highly diseased environments such as US Congress." We should all be wary. FIV is more contagious and far more dangerous than the common flu virus now making its rounds. The primary symptom of FIV is irrational, often delusional fear of deflation. The virus has an uncanny ability to seek victims in positions of authority. Those afflicted with the virus start taking (or promoting) fiscally reckless actions guaranteed to damage the host country.

Thankfully it is mainly confined to a small number of people, but as such, they are in a position to do much damage. How Ron Paul managed to escape the virus in such a "highly diseased environment" is amazing!

Americans in Pantoland!

It is often said that pantomimes are traditionally a very British thing. A time of the year when families can go to the theatre and see fun and laughter, mild innuendo and ridiculous slapstick. It is all very innocent, all very traditional and hardly mentioned on the lips of those outside the British Isles.

Americans have virtually no notion of the concept of the pantomime. Their stars do not act in a silly manner in front of children and their adult family members. However, I sense that the desire is in an American actor no less than in a British one. This year Henry Winkler is starring in Peter Pan at the Milton Keynes Theatre. He is Captain Hook. I bet he goes back to the US feeling that the occasion was one of the best of his acting career. Coming out on stage to children keen to boo and scream and giggle and laugh, sometimes in quick succession, is a magical thrill for any actor. Last year, Mickey Rooney was having a ball. Henry Winkler is a natural for pantomime. I guess there a few other American stars who would probably get just as much satisfaction out of such an adventure into this type of theatre.

Police chief quick to apologise

Met Police Assistant Commissioner Bob Quick has unreservedly apologised for his inappropriate remarks. Today he issued a statement saying he had reflected on his comments and apologised "for any offence or embarrassment" caused. Very good!

I couldn't put it any better than George Miller from Hampshire on the BBC website. "Mr Quick's remarks show unthinking bias and poor judgement from a man whose position demands total impartiality."

At least he had the good sense to repair his mistakes.

Biden gets to see the books!

"There is no short-run other than keeping the economy from absolutely tanking." So says Joe Biden, Vice-President elect. He and Barack Obama have had a look at the Bush books.

"The economy is in much worse shape than we thought it was in,' said Barack Obama's number two in his first TV interview since last month's election triumph. "We've got to begin to stem this bleeding here, and (start) the creation of jobs,' he said. "The day we're sworn in, the thing that we have to worry about is the further collapse of this economy. No president since Franklin Roosevelt would have had such an immediate, urgent obligation." But he and Obama are just carrying on with the bailout baloney.

So we have had fake money going after bad, and now they intend more money to go chasing after the bad. Has anyone considered doing a proper job instead?

Archbishop warns Brown over credit crunch

The Queen is famously quoted as saying, "Didn't anyone see it coming?". The trouble is they did but preferred to have cloth ears when being told about it. Now we have fake money going after bad money. No amount of bailing out is going to help if the general public see it all as just one big contrick. We all know we will have to pay for this "borrowing" in higher taxes later on.

So the Archbishop of Canterbury is again the centre of attention for suggesting that the Government's actions could lead to something similar as happened to the Weimar Republic. I don't know the ins and outs of his lecture, but he is very right to be concerned about the effects all this bailout and money-laundering activity is going to have on us all.

If you glance at the BNP website, you will be under no illusion that they intend making capital out of misery. Let's stop the misery before it is too late!

The quick and the dead of New Labour

It isn't really surprising that a senior policeman should go off the handle and attack the Conservative Party in a most peculiar way. Over the last ten years, the politically correct and secular mindset of New Labour has permeated every section of society. The police are no exceptions. That a man by the name of Quick should be so quick as to declare his innermost political thinking through diatribe speaks volumes.

Mr Quick has taken umbrage because the Mail on Sunday revealed that Mrs. Quick was running a vintage car rental business from the family home. Quick off the mark, her police boss husband, says, referring to the Damian Green inquiry, "The Tory machinery and their press friends are mobilised against this investigation in a wholly corrupt way, and I feel very disappointed in the country I am living in. I think it is a very spiteful act, possibly to intimidate me away from investigating Mr Green, and I feel it has put my family at risk." Not only is it outrageous for a policeman to behave like this, it shows how he really thinks. Using perjorative words and phrases, like "Tory machinery", "mobilised", "wholly corrupt way" and "very spiteful act", without having the wit to check anything out before opening his mouth, shows how cosy this policeman's mind is with being anti-Conservative.

I think the Conservative Party has acted with restraint and deserves an apology! And Mr. Quick - a little message for you. I too feel very disappointed in the country I'm living in - with it's politically correct nonsenses, financially corrupt government and the general elevation of weasel wordsmiths to positions of authority.

Gordon Brown the loan shark!

Gordon Brown's economics are the stuff of Alice in Wonderland. Actually, it is more the Mad Hatter, with his insistence in claiming that Britain's debt is about 40% of GDP, when in fact it is more like 160%! His hatband has a ridiculous note stuck into it with this inaccurate figure brazenly advertised for all to see.

But not content with being a fantasist on financial figures, we now hear that a government discussion paper had proposed to charge interest on emergency state loans given to the UK's poorest people. The government was quick to say the reform was "never our intention", blaming a poorly drafted paper on the social fund, which a minister signed, for the confusion.

Which minister? None other than the cretinous James Purnell. The document, signed by the hapless Work and Pensions Secretary, stated that the government was considering offering contracts to credit unions "to take over the provision of credit to social fund customers in their areas". As well as providing "affordable loans", they could also offer other services such as savings accounts and financial advice, it said. "To fund the cost of these extra services, we are proposing that the credit offered under these arrangements could attract an interest charge of 1-2% per month - the same criterion which applies to credit unions."

Shadow foreign secretary William Hague told the BBC the proposal was "right out of order". "This is astonishing. It is outrageous," he said. "Here we have a proposal under Gordon Brown's government for interest rates up to 27% - the interest rates of the worst store cards or the loan sharks - to be imposed on some of the poorest people in the country."

Quite right of Mr. Hague to point this out. Purnell read it. Purnell thought it all up. There was never any confusion. He just got caught out. Doing his master's tasks.

So Scrooge is now the prime minister's political companion, with Prudence consigned to the attic Mr. Rochester style!

Theologically a catholic?

The Sunday Telegraph is reporting that there are mutterings and murmerings on the Labour benches about disestablishment. This is in response to a vague aside by the Archbishop of Canterbury that it was “by no means the end of the world if the Establishment disappears”. No it wouldn't be, but as a previous Archbishop of York (Dr Habgood) commented, it is like unravelling auntie's jumper. Once started it won't end!

The usual suspects have come out of the New Labour closet. Alun Michael, David Cairns (former RC priest) and Peter Kilfoyle. There are not many in the Labour Party now who appreciate or understand the Church of England.

My advice to them is to leave well alone. It may all seem a bit odd to them, but I don't see many Roman Catholic women queueing up to be Queen Consort. Even though this is a shambolically religious country, the English seem quite happy today to keep their clerics at arms length (or further, if possible), but have it all as some kind of heavenly insurance policy (paid pro bono!) should the need arise. I'm relaxed with that, but New Labour isn't.

The Church has been linked to the state since 1534, when King Henry VIII broke from Rome in order to get an annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon so he could marry Anne Boleyn. Henry, although theologically a Catholic, took the position of Supreme Head of the Church of England to ensure the annulment and was excommunicated by Pope Paul III. Henry did his utmost to keep out of England all manner of continental calvinist thinking. He failed in part with that.

Today I was at Mass. Henry may well have liked it, bar the prayers for Pope Benedict! The Church of England contains many a cross-section. It is perfectly and legally possible for the heir to the throne to marry an Anglo-Papalist, or any other person who is "theologically a Catholic", so long as they are not in communion with Rome. Cardinal Newman was said to have remained at heart an Anglican. Henry remained at heart a Catholic.

This is all lost on New Labour. They see the icing on the cake is a bit thin, but they never bother much about the cake itself. If they start attacking the fabric of the Church, not only will we lose much, but others will suddenly reflect on its impact on their own lives. My bet is it won't be happening any day soon.

Ten big businesses hanging on the wall!

It is predicted by an insolvency expert that there are more than 10 national or regional retail chains that are at risk of going bust next month. The warning comes from Nick Hood, a partner at Begbies Traynor. "Not a lot of them are profitable because of the discounting at a time when they would normally generate all their profits for the year," he said.

Who they are we are not told, of course. That would be reckless in the extreme. However, the problem here is not that these businesses are necessarily unpopular with their customers, rather that the banks are not willing to support them as they did.

It seems that the businesses will drop off the wall one by one. Who is singing the song? It seems those that started this mess are the ones who have a certain amount to gain from the demise of those going to the wall and falling off it!

More from Ron Paul on the auto bailout

I'm just keeping these posts going as my contribution to the drip drip technique. Hopefully it will get through one day!

King Canute in Detroit?

King Canute had a way about him. He knew the waves would wash around his temporary beach throne. His courtiers, probably as sycophantic as those today, had tried a publicity stunt. Canute replied, when the waves had done their stuff, "Let all men know how empty and worthless is the power of kings, for there is none worthy of the name, but He whom heaven, earth, and sea obey by eternal laws".

There are empty gestures in Detroit today. The American automotive industry is in crisis. With much posturing over the last few weeks, the US government has succumbed to bailout these lumbering giants. They have until 31st March to get their act together.

The losers here are the American public. They have a semi nationalised car industry on the way, with no sign of giving the buying public what they want. It's not as if cars are not being bought in the US. They are. It's just not as many of the ones Rick Wagoner makes. So the market is skewed to protect jobs. But it is the taxpayer who will end up the poorer, including the General Motors' workers.

In the UK, various retail businesses are doing very well because they are giving the customers what they want. Poundland, Primark and Aldi. Woolworths went to the wall because they didn't do that.

If General Motors goes to the wall, it won't be a catastrophe. Instead of $17 billion going into some analyst's number crunching machine, that money could be better spent assisting those who need to find alternative work. Because there are people out there who can run businesses, can give the public what we want, and do care about the future.

The French have a saying. "If you drain the swamp you don't consult the frogs". George Bush should have stuck to his guns. But he threw them in the swamp a long time ago!

Shoe-shine goes mad in Baghdad!

George Bush got a parting shot in Baghdad. Some reporter thre his shoes at the outgoing president. I have to say he was pretty nifty with the shoulder dodge. "So what if the guy threw a shoe at me?"

However, this democratic expression of free speech (or free shoe throwing) should not be taken as a right to clamp down on people. At most the journalist should get no more than a similar punishment meted out in London or Washington.

Now the Iraqi regime has the prospect of thousands of people out on the streets. Maybe they can swap notes with the Greeks?

Liberal churchpeople cheesed off!

I remember the Bishop of Hereford flushing his diocese out. He wanted traditionalist priests removed. By that he meant to cleanse his patch of any who would not conform to the new notions of female ordination.

Now the Bishop of Chichester is being reproved by liberals for not ordaining women. Or even permitting suffragens to do the same. However, it is not a ban on women in the Chichester diocese. One senior cleric says,"It's a very unhappy position for those who support women priests, and it's hurtful for those who have been campaigning for their ordination. There is no other diocese in the country where this attitude prevails. It's the last bastion of something that is beyond the pale. I think that the bishop must be very lonely right now. He is trying to stick his finger in the dyke, but for one diocese to try to go it alone is completely crazy." This cleric has a selective memory.

Those liberals are propounding the view that female ordination is somehow a God-given truth. Currently it is supposed to be in a period of "reception". The fact that the Roman Catholic Church and Orthodoxy see the innovation as inconsistent with the Faith escapes them. Far from being "the last bastion of something that is beyond the pale", Bishop John Hind is only maintaining the Faith as it has been received. That is what tradition means.

Personally, I have no trouble if people wish to have female priests so long as others who do not are not forced to accept the idea over conscience. When I hear clerics speak as if others are fossilised pagans from the dark ages, then I have a strong sense that they are only speaking for themselves.

Sexism does exist!

I'm not given to thinking that sexism is necessarily as prevalent as it is made out to be. However, there are stupid and insensitive people around. Liberal Democrat MP Lynne Featherstone called out fire crews as a motor jammed on her boiler causing it to spark, shake and make noises. She dialled 999 for what she thought was an emergency.

However, Brian Coleman, the Conservative chairman of London's fire authority, is reported as saying she wasted fire service time and should have called a plumber. He said it was "a waste of time and money". "You don't call the fire brigade - you switch your boiler off and call a plumber. She has shown herself to be completely dizzy," he opined!

Now only quite recently there was a terrible explosion in some flats in which eight people were injured in an explosion at a block of flats in Wigan, two of them critically. No worries for Mr.Coleman - "Just call a plumber!".

By jumping to conclusions, Mr.Coleman does himself no favours. But by adding comments like "completely dizzy" and basically denigrating Ms Featherstone, he shows he's no gentleman either!

As the fire chief said, "If it's obvious that there has been an ongoing problem with the boiler, then you can call a plumber. But if your boiler suddenly starts making strange noises in the middle of the night, call the fire brigade."

Spanish practices?

The credit crunch is crunching quite well for some people! By that I mean they are getting the frights from frightful bankers. You'd think some coroporate types would engage their brains before pushing the button on the computer so that the machine could spew out another unread missive?

Abbey National is not what it seems to most. It is now a Spanish owned bank. By Santander to be precise. They want to keep their coffers sound in 2009. Now I don't blame them for that. What I do say is that it is underhand to be sending out letters warning customers of the impact of lower house prices on their mortgage contracts, by alluding to a clause in the contract. A clause that was so far down the small print that nobody thought fit to mention it in the first place!!

A spokeswoman for Abbey has reassured customers the bank had "not invoked this particular clause" and had "no current intention to". "What we would say though, is that in a falling house price environment, it is prudent for people on flexible deals who find themselves at over 90% LTV [loan-to-value ratio] to look at whether they can afford to make any overpayments," she said. "If they can pay off some capital to bring their LTV down, we would encourage them to do so."

So this is a way of getting hard-pressed people to cough up extra cash at a very hard time. Here's how one couple felt about the shocking news!

"Give us the money!" Church demands

I have always thought the Church of England is a law unto itself. When Henry VIII decided that the Pope wasn't listening hard enough, he took it upon himself to do two things. Firstly, reorganise the cashflow and second to imprint his understanding of the Catholic Faith on people. With the latter, he caused so much upset, that his desire to put a stop to such things as monks selling sheep's blood as the actual Blood of Christ to poor ignorant peasants was severely overshadowed. His puny son saw to it that the Church was riddled with protestant sycophants. So it is that both catholics and protestants have sat, uneasily at times, side-by-side in the State Church.

On the financial side, Henry ransacked the monasteries for cash. He also came up with the idea that wealthy landowners should pay for the upkeep of their local churches. Now wizzbang into the 21st century and we find Coventry diocese digging deep into old glebe laws. Ho-ho, they go. We've got a likely candidate for paying off our debts and keeping the church in order. Not far from me is the village of Aston Cantlow. Here Gail and Andrew Wallbank have a house which also has glebe land. Now the law has caught up with them. The law in question dates back to medieval times, when the parishioners had a duty to repair the nave - the part of a church in which the congregation sits to worship - while the rector had a responsibility to repair the chancel end. A rector would pay for his share of the repairs using income from land attached to his rectory - 'glebe land' - as well as from tithes. After the dissolution of the monasteries, that land was dispersed but never separated. Hence the Coventry coffers are rattling. The clue for me was the farm being called Glebe Farm. However....

What I find rather detestable here is that people professing to be Christians are hellbent in obtaining money from people who haven't got it. The churchwarden says, "Oh, they've got the money". How does she know? Very nicely put, I'm sure! Then on top of her remarks comes Canon Mervyn Roberts, director of communications for the Coventry diocese. He says, 'Once I took on responsibility for a church, I saw another world of pain - that of the church wardens who aren't paid a penny for what they do, but carry the weight of responsibility. I've had it through the neck with people who ask, "How can the Church of England do this to this poor couple?", and I feel like saying, "Look, there are no winners."' No winners indeed!!

For those who don't know, the Coventry diocese is very liberal in its understanding of the Faith. So it comes as no surprise to me to see liberals behaving so illiberally.

The law lords have had their say. The Wallbanks must now find the money. Selling Glebe Farm at its true market value (which in 2007 was estimated at £2million) in order to raise it is not an option as long as the chancel repairs liability remains, since any purchaser would (understandably) be unwilling to take on such an open-ended commitment.

As the canon says, "No winners". What a world!

Ron Paul on the auto bail-out

It's all about nationalisation, says Ron Paul. This is a great speech. Anybody want to be the Car Czar? Sooner or later these money-grows-on-trees merchants will realise they are using the wrong manure!

Deloittes not a delight in Woolies "sale"!

I'm not alone in thinking that Deloittes have been acting in a rather cavalier manner regarding the disposal of Woolworths. They, of course, have ringfenced their fees before they even think of anything else. Today, shoppers have been going to various stores hoping for knockdown prices. Instead, the discounts were as before.

Deloittes is not acting any differently from any other coroporate entity in this country. The ethic is "stay as quiet as you can". This method of manure treatment only feeds the grapevine. Staff in my local Woolworths knew nothing of the final sale until they saw the TV news. I'd say it was no way to treat people, but it is par for the course.

If Deloittes get their hands on another recession casualty perhaps they will be a bit better in the news department. We don't want to know all the confidential details, but a bit of civility wouldn't go amiss!

This what shoppers think of Deloittes "sale" (although they may not have known who was responsible.

John Redwood hits it on the nail again!

This piece from John Redwood's blog is very good. Why should the Irish vote again? The EU democracy deficit counter is adding up!

Ron Paul economic adviser Peter Schiff was right about, well, everything

According to the The Shotgun Blog on Canada's Western Standard, Ron Paul economic adviser Peter Schiff was right about, well, everything! JC comments on this post "Economically speaking, Schiff and Paul have been dead on with every prediction they've made since about 2000. When will we learn?" When indeed!

I have a hunch that those in power are rather more scared of losing their positions than those of those below them. So they concentrate on bailing out the three car giants of the US, who have CEOs with more front that Sainsbury's, rather than aiming their eyeballs at the profitable businesses and the services that most of us want.

Did it ever occur to the guys on the Hill that Americans bought Japanese cars because they wanted them over the ones GM, Chrysler and Ford were pumping out? JC, you're right. When will we learn?

German finance minister saves the world!

Gordon Brown may think he has saved the world. He may think he has saved the banks. But he hasn't saved the UK economy. Not according to the German finance minister, Peer Steinbruck. He has described Gordon Brown's recovery plans as "breathtaking" and "crass". And to a great extent he has a point. He questioned the effectiveness of the decision to cut VAT from 17.5% to 15%. "Are you really going to buy a DVD player because it now costs £39.10 instead of £39.90?" he said. "All this will do is raise Britain's debt to a level that will take a whole generation to work off." Apparently, the 2.5% cut in VAT will cost the UK £12 billion in one year. OK it is a "temporary" move, but surely that money could be well spent elsewhere. After all, it will be money we actually have, not plucked from his money trees that he planted in No.11 Downing Street.

Brown is upset with the minister. I can't think why! It's all his own doing. He failed to see the knock-on effect of the sub-prime fiasco, he dithered over Northern Rock (now into knockdown house auctions!), he waffled about saving the banks and he waffled about the economy as a whole.

He claims to be doing everything whilst the Tories do nothing. The trouble is he is only window-dressing. Like Woolworths, the windows tell one story, but inside it's all getting a bit messy.

Oliver Postgate dies

Bagpuss creator Oliver Postgate has died aged 83. He created some of the best-loved children's TV series including Ivor the Engine, the Clangers and Noggin the Nog. I used to watch then, especially Noggin the Nog.

I can't put it better than Ian Barker from Bolton on the BBC website. "Oliver Postgate's work was a big part of my childhood. Noggin the Nog, The Clangers, brilliant, inspired stuff". Well said, Ian.

Police state? I'm still thinking!

The latest bunch of moronic menaces to trample on our wellbeing as a nation are those snoopers from Cambridgeshire County Council. These jobsworths give the Stasi the look of incompetence! They seem to revel in snooping, being underhand and generally causing the rest of us to think the worst.

Shame on Cambridgeshire County Council. The lot of them!

Nobody has apologised. They think this behaviour is normal. Well it is not. They used anti-terror legislation to prey on a shopkeeper who has employed paper boys without a valid permit.

Instead of using common sense, they act like they are control freaks. Common sense would have suggested that the council sends an officer round to see the shopkeeper to warn them of an infringement and then, polititely, say that any future infringements may result in prosecution. That would be the common sense way.

However, we live under the New Priggery Party's rule, which encourages jobsworths like those at Cambridgeshire County Council not to employ common sense. Instead, they gladly use anti-terrorism laws to crack down on hapless shopkeepers, to spy on them from cars and to shove them through the courts willy-nilly. So another criminal record, another person done down by the new order.

Get a life Cambridgeshire County Council. We do not like your ways! Andrew Lansley, the Conservative MP for South Cambridgeshire, is quite right to say, "These powers should only be used for the scope they were intended, which is to tackle serious crime and terrorism." The trouble is we have a hopeless Home Secretary and a government that wallows in these kinds of attacks on people.

From the website, "Cambridgeshire County Council's community and living pages focus on citizen's interests". Question is - Do they really?

The Sadness of Woolies!

Woolworths is in administration. It's a terrible end to a once mighty name of the British high street. However, it might not be over. It has been said that Dragon's Den star, Theo Paphitis has an interest, but that Deloittes won't deal. If anyone can turn the ship around he has the best chance. Let's see what happens in the New Year with the business. I hope its a case of victors not vultures!

I was in the Solihull branch of Woolworths yesterday. All very sad. Demoralised staff - "We don't know anything" - and a couple of trousered policewomen watching the punters - and the customers behaving in part as if they were bit players in Survivors. Two things came to mind. First I thought, why do corporate bosses, now the accountants, never give proper instructions to staff. A simple straightforward message is all that is required. Just as Stansted Airport bosses yesterday were apparently mute with passengers, Woolies staff get to know only what drops from the boardroom table.

The second was that a fine name in toys could go down the pan too. Chad Valley Toys have been going for nearly two hundred years. This is a Brummie business. The Chad is a stream in Harborne, Birmingham. Hence the name. Chad Valley toys were in every toy shop when I was young. Woolworths bought the brand and had toys made for them. Will we see Chad Valley Toys re-emerging from all this? I wonder.

Another thing for the memory. Every Woolies own brand product used to carry the Winfield name. It was a smart move in that most people thought it had nothing to do with Woolworhs. It came from Frank's middle name. He was a man who wanted his name to live on. He had the Woolworth Building erected in New York City. In Britain it used to be "nothing over 6d", which tells you how far inflation has gone! It was the UK version of a five and dime store.

Now we wait and see. Will Woolworths make the century, or is a case of 99 years and out?

Are the police helping the BNP?

I sense I'm not alone in wondering if we have a police state. My mind tells me not. I do think, though, that they are interfering where they should not. The House of Commons is not the only place for unwarranted intrusion. In Northumbria, a publican has had his pub raided by the New Labour thought police. It was Peter Mailer, the landlord of the Black Bull Hotel in Warkworth. Following a formal complaint over newspaper clippings, political cartoons and other items displayed on his bar-room walls, he got a visit. Rather pompously, a spokeswoman for Northumbria Police said, "A 52-year-old man from the Alnwick area was arrested on Tuesday, November 25, on suspicion of committing a racially-aggravated public order offence, and has been bailed."

I've been into countless pubs where landlords shove stuff up on the walls. A lot take pride in saying who has visited, such as George Clooney, to make people think of who sat where they sat. Mr. Mailer put up copies of the Daily Mail (probably they were looking for puns too!). Now this front page headline was displayed all over the country in newsagents, supermarkets and corner shops. The police didn't object then. Surely one officer must have seen the "offending" tabloid? Or even read it! Plenty of policemen without a self-righteous trigger mechanism?

What I find so sneaky about this is that the complainant was an off-duty senior police officer from Nottinghamshire, who was on holiday in the region when he paid a visit to the Black Bull the previous Friday night. Mr Mailer said, "This chap was in with a friend and their respective wives for a drink, and I had a chat with them. It was their first time in Northumberland. There was absolutely nothing said about the so-called racist items on my wall. About 90 per cent of them were clippings taken directly from national newspapers. On Tuesday night two Northumbria officers turned up and arrested me, took everything off the walls and I had to go to the station to give a taped interview."

So he has had his DNA taken to be held on file. Thank goodness he will be able to cite the court case in Europe which has outlawed this practice. The police are only fools to themselves. Why did ?this senior officer not mention his discomfort at seeing the offending literature. I think it is because he is a spineless man who has to go behind peoples backs. He was probably the sneak at school. If he thinks for one minute this helps to confront the BNP he is living in a fantasy world.

The police may want BNP types out of the force, but this kind of entrapment only fuels the fire. The officer is wantonly stupid, but we seem to have an afflication cast upon our police currently.

It's called HUMBUG!

Obama not British enough, says Supreme Court!

In the Obama citizen stakes, several wannabe troublemakers have issued or attempted to issue lawsuits claiming Barack Obama is not a US citizen according to Federal election law requirements. The US Supreme Court has rejected a claim that Obama was British at the time of his birth. Quite right too. All this "British Obama" nonsense could muddle the feeble-minded severely into thinking they had obtained a kind of Lenny Henry substitute as Commander-in-Chief. From Dudley to D.C! A kind of King Ralph in reverse.

No, it's all schoolboy-type malevolence. Leo Donofrio, the retired New Jersey lawyer who thought this up, should know better. Hawaii became a state in August,1959. Obama was born in that state in August, 1961, two years later. Any legal eagle with even the gravest myopia would be able to spot the time lapse. If a baby is born into the USA, regardless of parentage, it becomes an American. This is known as birthright citizenship. How this lawyer thought otherwise..... well, he did. His flimsy case was built on the concept that Barack Obama Senior was a Kenyan. Part of his case read "Since Barack Obama's father was a citizen of Kenya, and therefore subject to the jurisdiction of the United Kingdom at the time of Senator Obama's birth, then Senator Obama was a British citizen 'at birth', just like the framers of the Constitution, and therefore, even if he were to produce an original birth certificate proving he were born on US soil, he still wouldn't be eligible to be president." That, sir, proves nothing!

What a waste of time. Just because you are born somewhere does not imply citizenship like this. Barack Obama could well claim that he was British but why would he want to. He hardly sounds it, he doesn't think it, and he has never lived there. In a convuluted way he may be able to convince Jacqui Smith that he is the real thing, but really, it's fantasy stuff.

So the Supreme Court was right to reject this lawsuit. I hope they suggested Donofrio receives counselling because nobody would want his counsel in a court!

Queen Bee of the New Priggery Party

Harriet Harman is the type of socialist that gets you wondering how socialist she really is. Of course, if she's signed up to this New Labour control freakery programme, then she isn't much of one. Her problem has always been an ambivalence to moral certitude. She says she has always been for civil liberties, yet she gives the impression of one who never was a campaigner. Her smug situation today confirms that this is a woman prepared to sacrifice all her principles for power and control. It rather ressembles a Jewish or Muslim butcher selling pork in order to turn a quick profit. The very thought is enough to establish hypocrisy as fact.

The Government has interfered in the Speaker's desire to have an inquiry led by senior members of the House of Commons. The debate was a travesty in that Labour stooges spoke of the events with made up logic. Gerald Kaufman does not understand what a warrant is. He seemed to think that the police had very right to enter without a warrant. No sir, never. This was put very eloquently by Simon Hughes. No police officer may enter any premises without permission if there is no warrant. The case here is that the Sergeant-at-Arms was woefully misguided. Either she has a vague understanding of the most basic right of rights or she had short-term memory loss. It is completely correct that the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats have nothing to do with Ms Harman's kangaroo commission.

Let her confront her own devilish hypocrisy and simpering sinisterism before she embarks on a convuluted inquiry that will have the long grass covering the Palace of Westminster and Mr Green severely traduced!

Biffo seeks second Irish vote

Not content with the answer NO the first time, the Irish government, aided and abetted by President Sarkozi and the EU machine, are attempting to get a second slice of cherry pie. The trouble with EU democracy is its "our way or the highway" approach. So no voting no to anything. No voting for parties that the EU consider unsavoury, unpalatable or just downright awkward.

Mr. Cowen, the Irish prime minister, whose dullness is in marked contrast to his dodgy predecessors' flair for financial irregularities, is of the opinion that the present economic crisis will persuade voters to say yes in huge numbers. According to the Daily Telegraph a "deal had been struck between France, which holds the rotating EU presidency, Ireland and EU legal services in Brussels under which the Lisbon Treaty could enter into force by January 2010."

A deal has been struck!?! Any consideration given to Irish voters? It appears not. All they are expected to do is go out and buy a rubber stamp to use in the voting booth. Far better that Biffo gets a stamp right across his forehead which will tell all that the answer is "NO - AGAIN!".

American Church moves on

What ever else Katharine Jefferts Schori has done since she left the Roman Catholic Church with her mother and father and went into the Episcopal Church, she has been a one woman crusader for demolishing catholicity and erecting a new vision at odds with tradition.

Mrs. Schori is pretty good at dismissing those she thinks are out to wreck her mission. She has been pivotal in trampling on consciences, acting in an authoritarian way and denouncing those she diasagrees with. Her actions tempt me to think of "there will come a day when those who think they do God's will....", but that may be off the mark.

The Los Angeles Times reports on the "hundreds of conservative Episcopal congregations in North America, who reject liberal biblical views of others in the denomination, and have formed a breakaway church Wednesday that threatens to further divide a global Anglican body already torn by the ordination of an openly gay bishop." All this is very sad.

One bit caught my attention. The Rev. Charles Robertson, advisor to the Episcopal Church's presiding bishop, said in a statement."We reiterate what has been true of Anglicanism for centuries -- that there is room within the Episcopal Church for people with different views, and we regret that some have felt the need to depart from the diversity of our common life in Christ." For those not in the Episcopal Church, this statement should be seen as something in need of a trip to the confessional!

Charles Robertson knows in his heart that this is not true. The current leadership want only those that will accept the new ways, so it is disingenuous to say that "people with different views" have room. They only get to have the key to the door if they accept all the innovations or will not seek alternative episcopal oversight.

It could have been a whole lot different. If you seek to maintain the faith, you get pilloried. Only those with revisionist mindset will feel at home in the present-day Episcopal Church.

My Blogaround Moments

I've been looking around some of my Witanagemot liked-minded blogs. There are some good posts on the lacklustre approach of Speaker Martin to the Damian Green Affair, as some are calling it.

Cynical Chatter From The Underworld says that Gordon Brown's declared confidence in the Speaker "is the kiss of death for him, and it isn’t as if anyone else is backing up Gordon Brown by openly stating their confidence in the Speaker." No, it's more a case of the New Priggery Party seeking to suggest they would never make use of leaks.

A Very British Dude has some excellent points on civil liberties I noticed. It's not just the Left that cares for civil liberties, and this is well put in this line - "Many on the left point to Damian Green and David Davis' views on Homosexuality as evidence that they have no deep love of civil Liberties, and they are therefore Hypocrites. In Green's case in particular, this is scraping the barrel. Part of this is Because in Left-wing mythology, no Tory can ever be concerned with anything except tax and Europe, without being called a hypocrite." It's just such times when the New Priggery Party gets all uppity because their pereceived territory is being invaded!

Archbishop Cranmer has uncovered something that the BBC and other missed! That the Queen was apparently reading about her demise as Supreme Governor of the Church of England. Again, the New priggery party is up to its tricks. The Archbishop reveals - "The Bill potentially spells the end of the privileges of the Church of England, the elimination of prayers in Parliament, the end of the Head of State being Supreme Governor of the Church of England, the end of Christian acts of collective worship in schools, the end of restrictive Sunday opening hours, and the embracing of national holidays around non-Christian religious festivals." Is this what we really want? It will mean dismantling the parishes, and the rights of the Church of England to make its own laws (canons). This could mean some tough times ahead for traditionalists, who may find themselves in prison for disobeying the New Priggery Party's diktats!

Man in a Shed - "We should all weep for our country and its misfortune at having the bunch of self interested selfish and ignorant charlatans who current lead Her Majesty's government." Very true. He quotes an economist speaking on the Today Programme. Read it and weep! Or listen and weep! The curse is upon us, the Lady of Chalot.....

And Wonko has a few things to say about the Queen's Speech. I get worked up sometimes about this lot. I know how he feels!

Big brother's helpmate!

I don't like racism. I don't like people being verbally degraded. However, I dislike intensely holier-than-thou people with a jobsworth mentality to political correctness. It's happened again. Some nosepoker from the Penwith Housing Association went round to a pensioner's flat and asked for a questionnaire to be filled in. Tony Stafford wrote a few comments which were not very tasteful about the subject of immigration. He then got a jobsworth popping round to say he had broken his tenancy agreement.

Penwith Housing Association has a Respect and Anti Social Behaviour Policy. Fair do's, but this is not carte blanche for 1984-style tactics. What these silly people who police these policies never get into their thick heads is that people like Mr. Stafford are only antagonised and are fuel for further propogation of such views.

If the people running this housing association have any sense at all, they would explain to Mr.Stafford that such views may cause offence when read by another person. A friendly discussion would suffice. If he persisted in ventilating his views then that's another matter. Also, if they had prior knowledge of his views and were trying to entrap him by suggesting he could say anything he liked, then they are just as morally guilty.

Political correctness has no place in our society. Both sides here should learn a lesson.

Councillor quits over IRA link

I've just seen that a Conservative councillor in Croydon has quit her cabinet post over links with the IRA in the 70's. A Croydon council spokesman said Councillor Maria Gatland confirmed that she is the author of To Take Arms - My Year with the Provisional IRA. She is now being asked to quit as a councillor altogether.

My reaction to this is has it in anyway affected her work as a councillor on this council? It appears she has gone simply because of this link with the IRA 36 years ago. I take it Mrs Gatland's politics have changed radically otherwise she would not be a Conservative. People change. Opinions change. Heaven help us all if we cannot redeem ourselves over past mistakes.

I think those on Croydon council should ask themselves why they are seeking to have her resign from the council. After all, those with a far more serious background with regard to IRA activity are in government in Northern Ireland. These former IRA members are deemed satisfactory and they haven't changed their spots.

Mrs Gatland is on the receiving end of something rather nasty. It's called self-righteousness and it should be rooted out of politics. She has resigned from her cabinet post but that should be the only scalp her rather sour-minded colleagues get!

It doesn't do what it says on the tin!

Chris Grayling, Shadow work and pensions secretary, has a very good take on the dodgy characters sitting opposite him in the Commons. He has said he hoped the banking bill, due in today's Queen's Speech, offered a "sensible path" to help the flow of lending and small businesses. He noted however, "I think we have to be very careful and read the small print. The government has a track record in using occasions like today to grab headlines, to bring forward pieces of legislation to catch the attention of the nation but when you actually look at the small print it really doesn't do what it said on the tin at all. We've got to be careful that these are real measures that are actually going to make a difference and that they are not just an exercise in public relations."

That's what we need to do. Study the small print, make sure we are not being hoodwinked, and protest strongly if we are. Gordon Brown will be on our TV screens with all the avunculur sweetness of a man trying to sell stair lifts, but we should not be taken in that easily. This is still a government that takes no responsibility, blames "systems" they thought were "robust", and generally desires catchall legislation to further their control freakery.

We will be watching!

Leaking the truth?

If Damian Green is being accused of leaking government "secrets" by the New Labour outfit, there's been past history when a cocky young politician was ever so proud of his Best Leaker of the Year title.

Here he is, with slightly longer hair!

Balkanising England?

John Redwood was quite right to get up in the House of Commons and denounce Harriet Harman's English regions committees idea. Nobody apart from New Labour apparatchiks, the European Commission and the quango merchants want them.

What Ms Harman is trying to do is stuff a few Labour backwoodsmen onto these committees to run things in defiance of the electorate's wishes. In the "South-West" there is a Conservative and LibDem ascendancy. Labour is the minnow party. In the "South-East", the ridiculous region that goes from Oxford to Dover, the Conservatives overwhelm all other parties. However, just like New Labour say they "won" the last election (with 20% of the total electorate's support!), they are gearing up to run these two regions with gusto.

I hope none of this nonsense comes to pass. We already have ministers for the regions. The one dumped on the West Midlands is Ian Austin. He describes himself as “the West Midlands' man in the government”, but I doubt if he will be terribly effective.

The people of England don't want fake regions. They don't want to be controlled or cajoled. What they want is fairness in government and for England to be one country with its counties, its heritage and its culture. New Labour wants something radically different.

A battering for Bombay in the nomenclature stakes!

The Times is starting it's first Mumbai day, having succumbed to the merciless pressure to resist describing the Indian city as Bombay. It's all rather sad I think. It's just pandering to the rather noxious sentiments of the PC brigade.

This modern righteousness of the "liberal elite" tells us what we should be doing and thinking. I cannot for the life of me see why it is so. The BBC tried saying Myanmar for Burma, but were told that the regime there was despotic and evil, so they desisted. They do not consider it an affront to fellow European countries to continue with anglicised versions of their place names. In fact, each European country has a different name for London. I don't hear the BBC rebuking the French for Londres!

No, it is all a parody of the facts. Most Indians who speak English in Bombay do not describe Bombay as Mumbai. They are not shaken to the core if they hear the word. Neither is it disrespect.

When all this has died down I am fairly certain it will be the case that Bombay remains the name that most Britons think of when that city comes to mind. Anyway, I've said my piece, probably too much, but I am glad that blogging does allow us a few pin pricks against the pomposity and puffed-up importance of those claiming that they know best!

Jacqui Smith - a hopeless woman!

She takes the biscuit, she really does. She rabbits on about not interfering. No apology for Mr Green. She just allows her permanent secretary to do his stuff so long as he doesn't tell her anything. That way she can say she isn't "controlling things in a Stalinist way".

The woman is a shambles and must go for all our democratic sakes.

BBC Andrew Marr Show

Blueberries 'reverse memory loss'

Good news for all democrats. Get your forgetful politicians eating blueberries. Gordon Brown should have them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner (both courses!).

It should be mandatory for all Senate and House Hearings for the witnesses to have blueberry muffins, with extra blueberries, of course.

Wow! We live in a world where the leaders have severe memory loss. This is brilliant. No more excuses. Give Jacqui Smith some. She needs double rations.

No credit crunch for the blueberry growers, then!

Ron Paul Warns Of Secret Plans To Create International Central Bank

You have to hand it to Ron Paul. He knows what they are up to. He is on Bernanke's case. "At the same time the G20 was meeting, we also had the central banks meeting in Europe. Bernanke was over there, and they are doing the same type of planning, so real planning will not be out in the open, until they want us to know about it."

There's more good stuff here. It's really going to be wake-up time for us. We must, in the US, Britain and in all democratic countries, elect politicians who will not connive to control. Otherwise it's more of the same!

Kilroy-Silk step down!

Here's a bit of online democracy! It's called Kilroy-Silk Step Down! It's a petition to get the MEP, former Labour MP, former daytime chatshow host, former UKIP leadership challenger, former Veritas Party founder and leader, recent celebrity in an Australian jungle, and erstwhile speaker in the European Parliament to step down.

I've added my name.

Police State Britain!

Undoubtedly, all New Labour ministers are either dissemblers of the truth or inept managers of prevailing issues. Some are both. It doesn't surprise anyone outside this rather self-serving band of irritatingly provocative busybodies, that an MP got arrested. Not only is it an affront to democracy, it is an affront to all of us as constituents.

Ron Paul got my support because he had the guts to stand up and expose the crass nonsense being peddled by Bush and his cronies. David Davies was right to stand up to New Labour's posturing on 42 days detention. Wherever and whenever governments seek to trample on the democratic rights of the people, we should resist them.

So it is no surprise to me that the ineffectual Jacqui Smith knew nothing about Damian Green's arrest. Of course, her mandarin at the Home Office was off doing his own thing. Sir David Normington should answer now to the people. Is he a cunning political operator? Is he out to subvert Parliament? Is he just paving the way to allow a smooth run for the gravy train? His actions, by giving the police time to raid the inner sanctums of Parliament during a recess, need to be answered. I hope there is a public enquiry, so that these democracy ursurpers can be questioned at length, possibly for more than nine hours apiece.

It is outrageous that this raid happened! Every opposition in a democratic society must hold the government of the day to account. The New Labour Stasi Machine thinks differently. They have no love of parliamentary democracy. They are mainly apparatchiks. So we, the people, suffer in the long run.

We are allowed our freedom to speak so long as it does not interfere with their running of democracy as they see it. Sounds a bit like what Mugabe told Morgan Tsvangerai. "You can sound off if you like, but you don't get any democratic control!".

Damian Green was fingerprinted, had his DNA taken, and thrown into jail. The police took a certain delight in the raid. Am I imagining it or are some officers pleased by being New Labour's poodle power? One officer told those present, as he plodded around Mr. Green's office, "You are at the site of a crime scene".

Sorry, chum, but the real crime scene here is the sight of our disreputable Prime Minister gulping in air as he feigns memory loss!

Ron Paul on the bailout - a bit more

Ron Paul is maintaining the good work in keeping tabs on various characters, Ben Bernanke being one of them. Here's Ron Paul's latest message (which I've just seen!).



I like this piece - "An essential element of a healthy free market, is that both success and failure must be permitted to happen when they are earned. But instead with a bailout, the rewards are reversed – the proceeds from successful entities are given to failing ones. How this is supposed to be good for our economy is beyond me." It's beyond a great many of us, but these fiscal phonies are really in some kind of dream world.

Here is Ron Paul painting a mental picture for Ben Bernanke. I'm surprised the Federal Reserve Chairman sleeps at night seeing as he's counting all those noughts on the end of the dollar sign!

BBC wins - The Times loses - It's Mumbai!

The BBC, with its slavish attachment to calling Bombay Mumbai, has caused The Times to bow out gracefully and, from 1st December, refer to the city “formerly known as Bombay” as Mumbai.

Richard Dixon, chief revise editor of The Times, says, "Key to policy at The Times on the usage of place names is that they are adjudged to be recognisable to a majority of our readers. After the events that started on Wednesday the name Mumbai has been used extensively in other media to which our core British readership is exposed. It would be foolish to ignore that context. We also have a global online audience to consider." I would think that when all this has died down, many in the UK will still think of Bombay as Bombay.

I wonder if anybody who said Bombay on a BBC broadcast would be corrected or whether it would be allowed to pass. Maybe there's a naughty room for those who prefer to say Bombay. It is a sad reflection that such an insiduous adherence to this perceived political correctness has caused The Times to consider this move. I'm not convinced that a "majority of our readers" at The Times are helped by the change.

If the BBC is of the opinion that this name-changing is important, let them revise every Italian city for starters. That would be a sign of consistency. They won't, though.

I realise that this is of minute importance compared with the other problems in the world, not least the outrage in Bombay itself. However, I am miffed by the ever-so-slightly pompous way this has been brought about in this country.

I think The Times should have stood firm, but there you go!

PS - Another interesting take on this in The Guardian. And this gem from a BBC blog - "As a regular traveller to Bombay, it has been impressed on me many times by Bombayites, that Mumbai is a politically invented name and as such is deemed by a large majority of Indians to have racist conotations. General chit-chat in the bars of Bandra or Worli will always refer to the Anglicised Bombay when English is the language being used." So much for the BBC's local knowledge!!

What's with this Mumbai ya stuff?

Here's a man after my own heart. He quotes Winston Churchill as saying "Everybody has a right to pronounce foreign names as he chooses".

So how come the BBC is so slavish to all this Mumbai talk? Would Indians be offended if we said Bombay? I suppose some would, but as Paul Battley says, "I don’t call Paris ‘Paree’ unless I’m speaking French."

I see The Times Online refers to Bombay still. Funny old world!

Tory MP arrested and Government is "unaware"!

It beggars belief that a senior Tory MP can be taken from his home by police, questioned and arrested, and that not one single government minister got an inkling of it. I simply do not believe Gordon Brown. He has cloth ears when he wants them. The Queen is still waiting for an answer to her question "Why did nobody see it coming?", referring to the credit crunch!

Brown's rather odious little bag carrier, Phil Woolas, said he was "taken aback" by the arrest. He's the immigration minister who knew that a Home Office official had been suspended from duty ten days ago over a number of leaks and the matter had been referred to police. This person was arrested but not charged. So is Woolas saying he was never told by police that they were thinking of interviewing Damian Green, the Tory immigration spokesman? Surely not?

And are we to believe that the senior police officers monitoring the case just buttoned their lips? Woolas says "As far as I am aware no ministers had any knowledge of this". I like his use of as far as, because this allows him to deny now facts he may know so at a later date he can unravel his dissembling. I do not trust the man. Neither does the whole Conservative Front Bench it seems. What on earth did the police have to ask Mr. Green for nine hours? Was he just put in a cell to make him sweat? Surely a simple set of questions would suffice?

Stalinist behaviour is how it has been described. New Labour is a troublesome outfit. All pompous pretention on matters of unimportance and severe dithering over serious things that should be done. Mandy Rice-Davies had one of the best lines in the 20th century, during the Stephen Ward trial arising from the Profumo affair. When the prosecuting counsel pointed out that Lord Astor denied an affair or having even met her, she replied, "Well, he would, wouldn't he?".

Gordon Brown denies knowing about Mr. Green's arrest and nine hours in detention. Well, he would, wouldn't he?

Birmingham and the bmibaby blues

Birmingham Airport has made much of vast numbers of passengers wanting to go on flights all around the world. That is the reason for their desire to expand. Sometimetimes I think the management can only see as far as the end of the not yet extended runway. Yes, we in the area have a lot to thank them for, but are we being taken for a ride?

bmibaby is not so sure that passenger numbers stack up. They say that on five routes they have seen a weakening of consumer demand. So you can't blame them for not wanting to fly empty planes. The airline is not a charity. And think of the unnecessary fuel wastage and pollution if they did.

However, the airport is still hoping to have planes on these routes. It's a kind of "management with rosy specs on" which has got us where we are. Birmingham Airport has responded by suggesting that they are trying to reinstate the routes, although they recognise the economic downturn has meant challenging times are ahead.

The truth is that these 30 million passengers are never going to materialise because people will not take the trips required to sustain the numbers, fuel costs will always be a concern, and the green issues will not go away.

We need to get away from pie in the sky economics and management dreams and provide the flying public with truthful information about what will be best for all of us.