The Good
Sickened by the tainting slither of Blair we must turn to reminders we have something in this country worth saving . I have a small story. Sentimental I know but something that just happened:
Getting of the tube I bought a poppy and while I was there as little boy ran over , from his mother and asked “Why is everyone wearing them then ? “ The smiling lady on duty said, ” To remember the soldiers that died for us and help the ones that didn’t.” He said “That’s so sad “ ,and the woman replied;“ Yes but it makes you proud as well “.
Now he knows .A small act of a nation remembering.
I thought of this driving home and later reading WF Deede`s reminder that Earl Haig was hero to his men and devoted his life to their welfare after the war.Now you won’t find that version of Haig on the BBC will you .
The Bad
I thought that the Blair thing on identity cards was one of the single most mendacious statements from any politician I can remember for a long time . He constantly implied that immigration was a problem for which ID cards were urgently needed . In other words, he was stirring racial fear in an oblique and sickly sanctimonious way that was the textual equivalent of an icing sugar covered turd.
Immigration chaos has been caused by the shambolic execution, of the bad policy for which his government is responsible . Similarly , crime and anti social behaviour , caused by deluded Liberalism in the judiciary and inactivity on badly need police reform , has nothing to do with the absence of ID cards . As for terrorism it has become the Braun Haus Fire emergency for every acquisitive little Bureaucrat from Ian Blair to the Spy Woman . We do not , I repeat NOT curtail our freedoms out of a hysterical fear on a few mad terrorists .
The single thing that impressed me was that the cost was mostly incurred by the introduction of bio metric passports . I discovered the next day that this was an outright lie and the computer systems for tracking us all were the main expense , Entirely unrelated. Lies lies and more lies.
True he raised the issue of freedom “The Issue !!!!”. What next the issue of whether abundant air might be helpful for breathing. It is not an issue Blair you maniac. You are building your bridge over he river Kwai . Stop!I believe there is no reason for doing this beyond an instinct to control and a wish to be the busy busy busy little pest he has become in his snippy dotage .Away with you and give us Brown nose . I have high hopes that his brief reign will be , if possible , even worse!
The Ugly
Blair has no right to this country I hope he buggers of and does lectures abroad . Its all he really cares about .
You have to listen very carefully, but once in a while the truth pops out . This Council loves your money, and hates your car.
It is no surprise that cabbies think Islington is London’s worst borough for drivers . Answering them , Councillor Lucy Watt let the cat out of the bag . She said ,“ We get money from Transport for London to set up 20 MPH zones - this money cannot be used for anything else.”. Now we know .The real reason for more driver persecution is to get a new budget .Such things are like the smell of bisto to bureaucrats . They cannot resist.
The Liberals say the 20mph scheme was, “In the manifesto”. In fact, they are perilously close to losing control of the council largely as a result of tormenting motorists. This does not spell “mandate” to me.
Another truth that bobbed to the surface was Chief Executive Helen Bailey`s. In the Council’s prodigiously well funded propaganda magazine, she sighed, “Imagine Islington without any cars“ , continuing with the usual green liturgy . This is exactly what they would like. Actually, in the early medieval period, the climate here was about the same as in the Loire valley today. Getting a bit chilly isn’t it.! We obviously need more carbon emissions .
Speed bumps are irritating , sometimes justifiably, they do not collect revenue though and are therefore due to be replaced with surveillance technology. Consultation will be circumvented, as usual, by asking only the beneficiaries. Soon, yet another source of fine income will available . Gas guzzler taxes and , most importantly , the house price tax , are also on their way.
The Sterne report reassures us that the end of the world continues to be nigh. Having survived, mad cow disease, bird flu, dangerous dogs and the ice age ,due in the 70s, I am sceptical of apocalyptic prophecies. I will make one prediction though. For anyone who owns a house and a car in Islington, a 600% increase in local fines licences and taxation can be expected.
As we may all be obliged to holiday at home, perhaps it would be nice to get a tan .Keep driving; it’s worth a try.
As a lifetime atheist I have experienced of late what you might call a ,“crisis of faith”. There are a number of reasons for this , not least that it may be convenient for getting my son into a decent school . Apart from the obvious social benefit though, I notice , for example , the unreality surrounding the abortion debate as it proceeds outside a religious context .Nadine Dorries ten minute bill concerning the termination of pregnancy. It provoked much discussion centred on what science can tell us about drawing the line .
http://conservativehome.blogs.com/torydiary/2006/10/nadine_dorries_.htmlTo me it seems clear it can tell us very little, so I made a “Reasonable proposal “ ,…
.” The relevance of foetal sentience seems to me to be fairly moot out side a religious frame work that draws an absolute distinction between a human being and any other sort of life. A fish, I suppose, is sentient, probably more so, and we are not yet seriously discussing banning anglers. The ability to sustain life outside the womb is similarly free floating. A three year old would not last long unaided.I suspect then, , that the discussion of medical or scientific boundaries is a code for religious or metaphysical beliefs which perhaps should be more explicit than they are .
The notion of allowing abortion after full term, might be justified scientifically, on the basis that the foetal stage in humans, as compared to our near relatives, continues long after full term. This is a very distinctive adaptive feature of humans, and key to some of the variant features we have, as compared to other apes.I would not make such an argument of course, but if science is the answer, I do not see any special reason, why one should not . I could scientifically construct numerous reasonable proposals, up to and including chasing miscreant teenagers down the street with a baseball bat, if they failed the boy David’s, “Adult “test. In fact he’s a bit young himself….. The Christian view says the unborn child has a Soul and would not countenance any sort of abortion. The non religious view might conceivably take us to a disgusting end point . As I am not able to find any good reason except squeamishness and mess to stop the culling of a three month year old child , less sentient than a cat say , I am inclined to the view that the Christians are right and its murder from day one .This will no doubt be a disaster for the mother on occasion , also the father and ,very possibly, the child. Shame ; the continued health of my current employer is quite astonishingly inconvenient to me and this brings me onto euthanasia.So here is my point , as Science is quite clearly not the moral point and nor is convenience , is this a question of morality , or is it something else . If so what ? “
Then this week , the Daily Mail ran an editorial Titled “Do animals deserve human rights ”, in which , “scientific proof “, shows the following:
“ Elephants can join the small elite of species that have true self awareness ".This is following “Happy , Maxine and Patty” , Asian Elephants, demonstrating full sentience by means of self recognition in a mirror . So, we can flush a three month year old baby down the toilet, but we had better leave the elephants alone . You might think this was an absurd extrapolation, but what do I see today ?….
Roy Nikkah ( DT) “A leading medical college has called on the medical profession to consider euthanasia for seriously disabled new born babies ." Sounds ghastly doesn’t it but their point is more subtle . They point to the fact that late abortions ,which sometimes are based on incorrect prognostications, might not proceed with this possibility of post birth"abortion" ,and some healthy babies saved .
Strangely then, what I intended as an irreverent conundrum, turns out to be seriously problematical ,and out there in the real world . Richard Dawkins is currently number one in the best sellers list
http://richarddawkins.net/godDelusion#firstChapter with the God delusion. He has pointed out the continuum between us and animals ,“scientifically” , so has Desmond Morris .
Scientifically we are atoms and forces and one set is much as another . Is it not obvious that in any discussion where you admit there is a moral problem we must look elsewhere for guidance? For the modern man there is no obvious home for these doubts to rest in. Mathew Arnold’s exquisite corpse is all that is left of Christian certainty.“A beautiful ineffectual angel beating in the void his luminous wings in vain”
Its has sentience . So what ?
