Ron Paul bazookered from the bushes!

Here's a shot from Bazookaman aka Michael Bradbury, from somewhere up a mountain in Idaho. He rues the day that the Republican Party squeezed out Ron Paul. He says, "As many of you know, I was solidly in Ron Paul's corner. When he was intentionally barred from some of the eastern debates, I KNEW Ron was the right guy. When he was mathematically out of it, and officially withdrew, I wasn't going to vote at all."

That's how many perceived it. Bazookaman puts it well. "Nope...........I didn't support BUSH last time, and if the GOP can't put Ron Paul, Mike Huckabee, or someone of that caliber, into that running slot, then we probably DESERVE to lose! Looking at it realistically, in the pack of jackals the Democrats have to choose from, Obama probably WAS the best they could do."

The "right" isn't always right, and over the last year in America the ruling elite appears to have lived under a vaporous cloud that has addled their brains. Read Bazookaman's piece. I think he speaks for a lot of people out there.

Coalition or National Government Mr.Brown?

In the Daily Mail today, Peter Oborne suggests that Gordon Brown might be considering some sort of deal regarding future governance. Perhaps a coalition with the Libdems? Get rid of the Speaker (Oborne doesn't rate him) first, then install Sir Ming Campbell, then cosy up to senior LibDems by offering plum jobs. Does it sound plausible? I don't think so.

It may be that Gordon Brown is pally with Ming, but that doesn't imply all LibDems are pally with Brown. Oborne rightly suggests that the younger brood on the LibDem benches would be appalled at a coalition with New Labour. And I can understand why. Gordon Brown may have certain qualities, but he is also prone to grumpiness and vendetta-like attitudes. His meddling in the traditional parliamentaty processes is deplorable. No wonder the Tories are furious with him.

I feel that Brown may consider that his best bet in remaining Prime Minister is to contemplate a coalition or a national government before the next election. If he thinks he will go down as a big loser, why not blame the credit crunch ("It started in America") and say that a unity government is the answer? Trouble is that the public won't buy it.

We know that New Labour is a busted flush. All spin and no substance. If it is true that Vince Cable is "on good terms" with Brown, that he is after a job, he won't last long in the scheme of LibDem politics. The only possible coalition after the next election (not before) is that of the Conservatives with the LibDems (and that is a long shot!), because both have been in opposition and the public would accept this over keeping a failed government in power.

One thing Peter Oborne says is curious. He writes, "before 1979 it was common for two minority parties to enter into alliances in order to form a government. Indeed, analysis shows that for at least a third of the past century, the country was governed by parties which had failed to win an election in their own right but had created temporary mergers with another party in order to form a ruling coalition." I'm not sure what this means. Certainly there was no coalition after 1945. Ted Heath tried in vain to bring the Liberals into government in 1974, but this was vetoed by the Liberal hierachy. The odd Irish MP has helped in tight votes, but that is not a coalition. And I don't consider wartime national governments are to be considered in the same vein as peacetime coalitions. So that leaves the period when the Liberals were going down and the Labour Party coming up in electoral terms.

The truth is that we live in a democracy that was originally created around two political philosophies. Conservatism and Liberalism. Then these splintered over the years and the result is we now have a multi-party process in a two-party system. Hence New Labour gets to govern on the votes of only 20% of the total electorate. 80% of us either voted for some other party or didn't bother to vote.

Coalitions are only good if they are supported by the system. In the UK system, our adversarial instincts are now centuries old. A coalition will not last long, even if agreement is reached. It is far better to look at changing the system first rather than to plot an outcome based on present formularies.

Ooh Matron! Nurse is waving her wages at me!

It is a sad reflection, following on from the Settle shopkeeper, that there are organisations where money isn't exchanged so well. The National Health Service is one example. Admittedly being vastly larger than a small shop, it is nevertheless proper budgeting that is a necessary requisite. So we now hear, through the Freedom of Information Act, that some agency nurses cost £250,000 a year (pro-rata) to the NHS. In all, the NHS spent almost £800 million on agency staff.

Of course, if the hospitals were managed better, then none of this extravagant nonsense would be happening. Agencies are getting rich because of others' incompetence. Nothing new there, but surely it is high time to change this slack attitude to easy hiring of staff. And it's not the nurses getting all this money, although some do better than permanent staff nurses. It is the agency contractors who have "overheads".

Tory health spokesman Andrew Lansley is right. He obtained the figures for us to see. He says, "For years the Government have been telling us how many extra staff they have hired for the NHS. So surely we should have reached a situation by now where we no longer need to keep paying out millions each year to agencies and their staff? It is a dreadful waste of taxpayers' money at a time when we can least afford it."

But New Labour are rather like the Pushmi-pullyu. The want to say they are spending money and getting things right whilst at the same time saying that everything is managed by agencies, imlpying a hands-off approach to responsibility.

So £800 million being tossed in the direction of employment agencies is no real surprise. Onwards with the change!

Honesty box nets £187 for shopkeeper!

Here is some good news for the New Year. A shopkeeper in Settle, Yorkshire, decided to open his shop on Boxing day but just put an honesty box there. He himself was at home playing a game of Risk! No such risk with the good folks of Settle. They bought and settled up by putting the money in the honesty box.

It just goes to show that, although we live in straightened times, most people are just plain decent. It has always been the few that spoil it for the rest.

Tom Algie, the shopkeeper it was, says, "I didn’t think twice about leaving the shop open. Settle is a lovely quiet town, there’s never any trouble here. I put faith in my customers and I wasn’t disappointed". Great news!

American muslims ordered off jet

Being a muslim in the USA today is not exactly the same way of life that others expect or accept. Officials ordered nine Muslim passengers, including three young children, off an AirTran flight headed to Orlando from Reagan National Airport yesterday afternoon after two other passengers overheard what they thought was a suspicious remark. Thought is the operative word here.

All nine are native-born Americans. However, some would seem to be more American than others when it comes to security. AirTran spokesman Tad Hutcheson agreed that the incident amounted to a misunderstanding. But he defended AirTran's handling of the incident, which he said strictly followed federal rules. And he denied any wrongdoing on the airline's part. "At the end of the day, people got on and made comments they shouldn't have made on the airplane, and other people heard them," Hutcheson said. "Other people heard them, misconstrued them. It just so happened these people were of Muslim faith and appearance. It escalated, it got out of hand and everyone took precautions." It's all alleged stuff. Who said what when.

No doubt it is best not to discuss the possibility of the jet engines falling off. However, I suspect that if this had been a group of white born-again Christians going to charismatic knees-up in Florida nobody would have batted an eyelid. If a muslim had mentioned he had overheard inappropriate talk, would the airline have acted in a corresponding manner?

We all make assumptions, but the world is such that some have to live with more than others do. In that, I suppose change will take a little longer this year!

Fatal crash plane hits rail line

Two people are feared dead after their light aircraft crashed into the overhead power lines of the West Coast Main Line in Staffordshire, reports the BBC. The aircraft came down in Little Haywood, near Stafford, just before 1200 GMT.

There are a lot more light aircraft flying around the UK. It may be premature, but the likelihood of a smaller plane crashing appears to be significantly higher than a commercial jetliner. It is always unnerving when a plane crashes. Regretably there were no survivors.

BBC Report.

Happy New Year!

So another year comes round. Today is January 1st and 2009 is hear. Let's hope it will be the year of change in what is right to change and the year of maintaining what is right to maintain.

I wish everyone a Happy New Year.