The Brown Tartan

Thats the Brown tartan up there and Mac Broon trying to flog a dead horse.Apt ?


Perhaps my favourite Tory Blogger is Croydonian . Let me recommend anyone who wants up to the minute repartee, gossip and sheer good humour to his blog . I look in very day and generally lower the tone . He has been doing all the work as usual comparing the heterogeneous origins of London MPs to the racially selected Scottish ones. I must also recommend Praguetory , another superb commentator whose idea it all was. Hat tips and genuine admiration to both.
http://www.croydonian.blogspot.com/
http://praguetory.blogspot.com/



I decided to have a look at the situation in these parts and took on London: out of 70 MPs I can offer - by birth - seven Scots, two Welsh, two Northern Irish, two Germans, one Egyptian (hello Margaret Hodge), one Swede, one Hollander, one American and one Indian. Beyond that, there are six MPs from the Midlands and 12 Northerners of various stripes. There are a further four from the SE or the West and four who have kept their place of birth well away from the public gaze, so if anyone can help out on the origins of the members for Ruislip, Islington South, Ealing North and Hackney South, I would be much obliged. Unambiguously London born MPs make up 26 of the 70, so on a like for like basis, 91% of Scottish seats have Scottish MPs, whereas only 37% of London seats have London MPs.

Now to me this is all about the end of the Union and the attempt of the Broon to hide it from the English . I had this to say:

Scottish attitudes are driving the Union apart and this process has been going on for a long time.When I am not happily giggling at Lord Snooty and his merry capers in the Beano I leaf through such books as “Death of Tory England” In it there is good chapter ,“celtic fringes”, charting the decline of the Conservative Party ,“Unionist Party”, in this context” in those areas. As late as 1955 the Conservative party had 36 Scottish seats in Scotland, Labour 34. Astounding don’t you think how strong that “British National “sentiment was , and when you think of what British National means now .. Oh dear .

The death of the Conservative party in Scotland especially is bound up with the death of the concept of Union . People who echo Margaret Thatcher ,”every Conservative should be a unionist in their bones” are like Angels beating their wings in a vacuum , to misquote Mathew Arnold.. There is no point applying the kiss of life to a corpse and Margaret Thatcher never believed it anyway. It will be interesting to see if nationalistic themes come to predominate in England , I suspect it will not be quite the same .

. By the way this staggering shift since the 50s is one of many that are dealt with in the book “The Chosen People”. Sometimes we think , by a sort of chronological illusion we are in the same period as the Coronation of our present Monarch . We are more remote than they were from the Victorians . You notice this trick of time when , in Alan Clarks diaries he writes “thirty years ago when the Luftwaffe flew over London “ in 1973!!! Thirty years ago was the Sexpistols. Times they are a changing and the attitude of the English to the UK is about to change . Scotland behaves entirely as you would expect any nationalist sovereign country to.It has felt that way about itself for along time now . It has been hidden from the English because Conservatives are still sentimental about the old days and the Labour party , more venally , need the votes

All of this of course has one important point for us . It is the Laird MacBroon of the clan Broon unwilling to let Scots in England vote on devolution , let is not forget , is in a sticky spot. Let us join with Alec Salmon in shouting “the Mac King has no clothes” He is going to try to govern England with Scottish votes and it will be the greatest imposture on any electorate in this land in all history .

God I do feel sorry for the Scots Tories though , what marvellous people they are .

Social JusticeWhat class am I ?

I see an active role for the state in disrupting what you might call class monopolies of opportunity . This could be through the educational system , which means taking on the NUT . This could be through providing outlets by grammar style streaming . It must include buttressing the working class communities from within , protecting them from without .

Not all of this is pretty , most of it will fly in the face of what I think of as the "Liberal "consensus" about the benefits of multiculturalism and undermining traditional family structure .

One thing that horrifies me is the disappearance of working class political representation from parliament . On this basis it is hardly likely that much will be achieved . I would like to see the Conservative party reconnect with its working class support , not focus exclusively on the centre "Liberal " voter. I would like to see more talk about social justice and less about image friendly subjects like the "environment ". I am concerned at the rampant inequality between classes that widens daily .What we get as our "representative MP s ? Priti thingymabob . Asian , oh goody, but the sprig of a long line of bureaucrats last seen getting kicked out of Uganda by the blacks for feathering their nests at their expense. She knows nothing of disadvantage .

I want to see class back in the political agenda and Bennetton ad smarm dispensed with . By the way inside the EU all of this is somewhat problematical.

Here is a thought . What about a what class am I quiz ?


1 Did either of your parents have tatttoo ?
2 Were you educated at the states expense
3 Do you like X factor
4 Did you ever devote a lot of time to dance impressively at clubs
5Did you play out ?
6 Did either of your parents attend any educational establishment after 16
7Can you fight , or have you ?
8 has anyone in your family ever done anything creative for a living


I may come up with some more ideas

Toyn Bee in the Tory Bonnet

Subtle eh ?

Well this has been going on all week one way or another and I think it raises interesting issues about poverty and exclusion. Polly Toynbee however has nothing to add, and I fear it is more toffish Liberals agreeing about what nice people they are

I have just had an awful week , I `ve got gastric flue and the tinnitus I always struggle with is out of control . My hollow voice echoes directly from white faced Hades.
What is the Toyn bee in the Tory bonnet ? .A political philosophy cannot be only a means for safeguarding the privileged the successful and the lucky . How glib and fatuous it is to say "yaaas well you are giving disincentives to pile up more cash as a Lawyer by obliging me to support this "work -shy" family " ; as if the disincentivised one would exchange places for a second .
People are not of fundamentally different sorts ,given any numbers ; the barriers between classes are higher than they were in the 60s . Quite clearly new Labour have little interest in the poor except to infantilise pacify and bribe. Conservatives , if they were sincere , and many have doubts , must think of new approaches.

One point is ,that the most worrying trend is not relative poverty but, "absolute poverty." Absolute poverty, in a bottom detached level of the population, has worsened ,and in the context of overall growth ,and increasing incomes ,it is like a chasm. We have created a whole culture that exists not inside but beneath society , parasitic on it becomes and detested as a carrions feeder. This is something we must be concerned about , it is expensive , it creates nihilism and terrifying crime It is wasteful and wrong .

Other fissures have grown ;the barriers between those outside private education and without capital as compared to those with those advantages . It is telling that top Public schools are now abandoning the A levels , the last redoubt of reliability, because they are worthless internationally . All of those in public education with money are stratified away from the remnant . These escapees include the children of Polly Toynbee . Naturellement.

Liberals like to bleet loudly about all this, mostly to advertise their own class qualifications . Graduate , professional , Guardian reader was , for a long time a statement of class superiority , it still is in the less "with it" Universities like Oxbridge . They are safe in the knowledge that they will not live with the objects of their staged concern and their children will never meet . Time and time again this nauseating double standard is replayed . This is why many Conservatives hate Polly Toynbee , not her supposed "caring qualifications ". Her sickening hard hearted hypocrisy

In my youth working-class credibility if not solidarity was something to aspire to .Now it has been replaced by a faint smear of social concern worn more or less like an accessory.People forget that some of us became Conservatives out of moral outrage at the duplicitous smarm of middleclass ,"worriers". Norman Tebbit is a hero to all of us who have this thread in the skein. Neo Con monetarist thinking makes for a good essay and a cogent argument . It is fairly useless to deal with education , opportunity and social exclusion but without a strong policy here Conservativism , for me , implodes.

Margaret Thatcher`s "Right To Buy " , was brave attack on entrenched positions on behalf of the poor . . One hopes the rumours about a Cameron rent to Mortgage scheme are true . I equally hope the Conservatives will immediately come to the aid of leaseholders who have been the doctrinal whipping boy of the inner city hard left ever since.

So Clark , who is himself a creepy little wonk has touched , perhaps accidentally, on a key issue . Society is drifting apart. "Opportunity" the prerequisite for moral Capitalism does not exits for whole geographical and social trenches. We can hardly suggest more credits , more benefits , more means tested goodies which has been an unparalleled disaster . So what can we do ?

Not easy is it . Firstly accept that the state cannot solve the problem it can only try to create better conditions for people to solve it for themselves.

Cuts on Reggressive indirect taxes
An increase in the tax allowance
A slow squeeze on points based Council housing and benefits
The development of new mortgage products and housing association schemes
The reintroduction of grammar schools by some other name ( which T Blair quite obviously sees as essential himself)
Major public investment in education which must be keyed directly into work , not floating in a NUT dreamland
Tight curbs on further immigration
Rigorous policies of cultural coherence for those here , especially on language
Schools with eight languages should not be inflicted on the most dis- advantaged
All of this would help working class communities to re -establish
The end of the state will provide assumption
AND A Large tax allowance for married couples
.Cash rewards for exam results
I also think you have to attack the glacial snobbery that has descended on the country by finding ways to mix people and extend the experience of everyone .
Perhaps the internet will help , thus far I'm not greatly encouraged
The Trade Unions have a vital role to play in all of this especially in training schemes

David Cameron has talked about a Responsibility revolution. I wonder if he means it. So far he has shown little appetite for political risk taking .The concept of responsibility is exactly what must be reintroduced to the deserts where the poorest live.
re. Let us hope not

Can anyone draw ?

Now what I need is someone who can draw . I had an idea for a cartoon as below but can I draw it . Nope . The idea , obviously , is the end of the planet of the apes but it was the line itself I like .

. A man crawls along a beach , ........he does not recognise the land , ...before him is the rotting disregarded symbol of past glories.........It is titled “Planet of the Liberals”,

The statue is of Margaret Thatcher,.... half in the sand ......

He cries to the pitiless sun

"Damn them all! Damn them all to hell!!"

The Sound of Music !!!

A bit of a break really , having seen the Sound of Music I can vouch for the brilliance of Connie Fisher and the strength of the whole production. This week there has been a lot about paedophiles in the news . The absurd BA ban on men sitting next to children . The publication of names on the web and Michael Jackson .After being booed of stage he says he`ll never sing in public again . If only we had known it was that easy .
Lets forget all that and remind ourselves of innocence and hope . The Sound of Music is a show you have to take on its own terms . If you are able to do so the rewards are considerable

We think of it as something that's just there; overly sentimental and , those worst crimes against the modern (in)- sensibility, light , comic , poetic and sophisticated. It opened on Broadway in 1959 and, I would guess , was the last show of the incomparable duo R and H. There is an elegiac delicacy about it that is absolutely not what you expect Few big numbers for the coach party , but music scenery character and story knitted almost magically
It is strongly thematic .Music , life and the Hills of Austria are the subject of the arresting overture stating the main symbols, that will gather meaning. In the Nunnery Maria is, significantly, still out on the mountain ,, she is a "problem" , but Maria "makes me laugh" . The moral centre of the story is the Abbess, and in the show ,shorn of the need for cluttering reality ,the importance of the Nuns is more to the fore than one expects . The abbess sends her to find ,"Her dream "., to find herself In the house of the Von Trapps she meets a bereaved man ,distant from his children and headed for a marriage he feels would be "appropriate", with a Viennese sophisticate . She is everything that Maria is not She is rich , knowing and glamorous , but she cannot speak to the children and she does not know the mountains of Austria in her heart . Typically she is treated kindly as a divided character who seeing the nobility of Von Trapp , but unable to share it .Crucially she makes an accommodation with the Nazis. The Captain cannot
Maria rediscovers the Von Trapp music and through the course of some of the best songs. "Doe a deer .." , "favourite things" , reawakens the family through musical fun . Half childlike herself she and the children create a new hope, "When you know the notes to sing , you can sing most everything " This is music that does not advertise its complexity it appears to flow from the situation . The captain joins the life that Maria has brought
She dances with Von Trapp , a much older man than her , and says ."Its different to when you are girl isn't it ". All is decided , "lets ask the children". She returns ,once more, to the nunnery , now a woman ,and they are married.
Max the impecunious social butterfly ,who provides a cynical counterpoint , has mischeviosuly arranged that they appear in Salzburg for the folk festival . With the Nazi threat looming, Captain Von Trapp is offered a commission , and cannot refuse it outright . They must escape . He agrees to go as the newly invented ,Von Trapp family singers . They win the competition with Edelweiss. Edelweiss is the national flower of Austria and the song articulates mourning for its loss to the fascist jackboot . The children play their part ,with a comic orchestration of their play songs . Max finally shows the goodness we suspected ,and , by sacrificing himself ,allows them to escape to the nunnery.
Evil shows its dark face, as the family hide from stalking soldiers silhouetted in the moon light .Lisel , who herself is "sixteen going on seventeen" , sees Rolf , her first love for the last time as he redeems himself by passing the family by. Another passing from childhood to adulthood .
Then how will they escape , what can save them ? The roads are blocked .They must go to the mountains .
Finally the forces of good combine. The Nuns and the children climb through the night , the mountain protects them as the Nunnery had .The last tableau is of the iconic group looking down on Switzerland . The bright dawn is rising. The show builds to this end which coincides with the reprise of "Climb every mountain " . Not the strongest song in the show but its placement is powerful. With all the threads tied ,and Leslie Garret on hand as the Abbess ,to give it some serious welly , the happy ending is entirely satisfying.
I would argue that the American wave was the cultural fact of the last century , that Rogers and Hammerstein are the best exponents of its most distinctive form .In this their swan song they created the most complete work of art ,bar none ,in the last hundred years . It is as perfect as Pride and Prejudice . It will last forever .

Cameron`s Camelot

( Who will be his Lancelot )

Boris of course
. I have been raving about this titanic Conservative .



Boris , who I have just watched on question time performing brilliantly , reiterated the point that Reid is posturing by framing a law that will be resisted on Libertarian ground, so as to appear to be tougher on Terrorism, than thou .This is typical of the sophisticated news handling that Nu Lab have made the signature of their government . In this case they are appearing the opposite of what they are . From the Blackpool conference onwards ,they have been a party without the rudder of principle. As a result, the natural tendency for bureaucrats to want more power, for interest groups to want more tax money, and for politicians to want more laws has drifted calamitously. This is what the electorate have had enough of .They must therefore appear decisive, but it is sham . Most of the queens speech initiatives have no chance of becoming law, and exists for pantomimic effect. Reid ,( between the lines), is the worst offender .
There is an interesting code going on here . Nick Griffin has just been discovered ( oh my goodness) to be racist , or not, because he says Muslims are evil people intent on no good . We are , apparently , in such imminent Terrorist peril that we must be bunged in chokey , at the whim of plod . Meanwhile, further laws are being framed to deny me the right to say this is all the fault of Islam with its encouragement to ,"find the faithless and slay them". It is absolutely no coincidence that Boris mentions the telling fact about the number of Muslims who believe in Sharia law . The dove Muslim majority is largely a myth.
Behind all of this is the revolt of the white working class against Labour and often into the hands of the BNP . The Labour front bench have over the last two months made endless anti Islamic comments , ( quite rightly ) for the benefit of this audience , but they dare not take on their multicultural support .So , despite the official abandonment of catastrophic multicultural policy the Labour party ,hugely in the thrall of minority pressure groups , cannot act . As Boris points out there will be no compulsory English or cultural, induction of any sort.. No move to value the working people of this country to won two world wars for us .They will continue to be betrayed . Labours answer is to threaten to lock everyone up and to drag out M15 and Plod to back up their need to be tough .As if they were immune to political pressure ; I don't think.
Its birthday and Christmas for me . News lead legislative initiatives , coded racism, ( with no real help on immigration and housing), Braun Haus fire emergency shouting and illiberal statist bullying. Well done Boris well done indeed !You are the smiling cavalier who ,with a laugh and a swagger, impales the NuLab deceit time and time again.
What a fine cabinet minister you will be. Personally I hope to see you ,as Deputy Prime Minister ,Lancelot to Cameron`s Arthur in the new Camelot of the Conservative Administration.

Huzzahh!!!!!

The good the bad and the ugly

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 .

Getting hot hot hot!

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.

Elephants , Angels and Abortion

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_.html


To 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 ?

Good Old Dick

I rather like the idea of a Dick Whittington theme to the Archway development . The consultative schemes , I have seen are , resolutely ugly and modernists , as you would expect , and this would be a welcome relief. Thanks for your efforts Councillor Stefan Kasprzyk .
I wonder what Richard Whittington (1350-1423 ) would make of Islington today . His tale in one of inspiring independent business enterprise . He arrived at Highgate Hill with nothing but a cat , as many still do , made a fortune and became three times, Lord Mayor of London . Like most celebrities, he ended up in “panto”, for what feels like centuries.
I `m not sure he would like the anti business dispensation of modern Islington. His licence to catch rats would be denied on ,“elfansafety”, grounds. His shop could not survive Islington’s draconian parking policy. Between completing endless council forms and paying flabbergasting local taxes , it is likely his domestic arrangements would suffer . Before long the social services would come to take tiddles. .
Richard Whittington was a real and generous man . His philanthropic will, still benefits disadvantaged Londoners today . By contrast The “Whittington” Hospital , with other London hospitals , profits to the tune of £12,000,000 per year, by taxing illness, through its extortionate parking charges. You can still make a fortune though . Bob Kiley the notably unsuccessful London transport commissioner ,was paid £1,000,000 in his years tenure .Perhaps Dick would have followed suit , become a government “rat “commissioner “ sat on his hands , and taken the money .
Don`t be such a kill joy Kate Calvert of Archway Forum , let us have our statue of Dick . Councillor Kasprzyk might like to consider why, today ,ghostly imprecations to ,“turn again”, not withstanding , our hero would have trudged straight back home to Gloucesteshire

Mayoral Hopeless ?Turn again Newman.

Good old Coucillor Stefan Kasprzyk , well half of that is true , is trying to get Dick Wittington some sort of shrine ,in the new Archway development . It is an inspiring story isn’t it . A man arrives in London with nothing but his wits and , possibly , a cat , makes a fortune, and becomes Lord Mayor of London. There really was a Richard Wittington, but the pantomime character probably accounts for most of his continued fame . What is Stefan up to then . Just the usual Lib Dummery I `m afraid ;advertising some vague niceness with no substance behind it . The real Dick Wittington , an independent small businessman , would have loathed the sort of politics Stefan believes in with its high taxes, busy bodying and anti individualism .

I `m afraid the way to become Mayor now is rather different . A career starting in Lambeth Council and avoiding economically productive activity at all is the way the current incumbent chose . I `m not all that keen on the Tory suggestion either, at the moment . Nic Boles is absolutely not what we need and it was as a protest I submitted my own application . I really don’t take myself that seriously but who knows , it might be interesting seeing what they have to say.
Here is what I wrote ( I had really no idea how to do it so no laughing…)



9. LONDON’S TOP PRIORITIES
In no more than 600 words state what you consider to be the most important challenges facing London, and explain how you would approach them in your role as Mayor.
KEY POINT
The legend is that Margaret Thatcher said "There is no such thing as Society". but in fact she added "Only Community" My vision of London is not of a Grandiose single entity but as a series of communities. These communities may be geographical, religious or virtual for example but it is London’s ability to include difference that I would like to re -emphasise. This would have a number of implications only some of which I have room for here.
1)
In my own Borough we have recently been the subject of GLA bullying over the number of new and Social accommodation to be inflicted on Islington. The Mayors targets are nothing short of a new Hells Kitchen and this is repeated throughout the Capital. I do not agree with much our locally elected Liberal Council do, but I deplore the Mayors creeping influence over planning and strategic decisions. My vision of London is of one that has a less important Mayor. I am entirely happy with the paradox.
2)
The acceleration of net migration into the Capital for example is not sustainable and to pretend it is, is to sacrifice all commonsense in order to dance around the politically correct maypole. As many who worry about immigration, unfortunately, are racists, those who worry but are not, must be crystal clear about their ground. It is quality of life within communities for Londoners, all Londoners, that is a stake. My own family will, I hope, demostrate, this is a workaday problem for us all.
The effects of Home Office blunders and Policy in this area are felt disproportionately in London, we have little control. The role of Mayor is highly plastic however, as we well know, and my ideas for a new type of Mayor would enable him to speak effectively for London against Central Governement when required.

3)
The use of any Regional authorities has been chiefly to confuse the voters, esepcially with regard to national planning strategy. I would like to unravel the Central Government, Regional Authority, Local Authority knot and engage in continual transparent debate. This debate would include, vitally, a direct, formal and strong decision making role for London’s Boroughs. It may be counter intuitive, but increasing the Mayors paper powers leaves him powerless to affect London’s real problems which to a large extent are the remit of national Government. A population the size of Scotland with much larger tax revenues should be able to wield political power. We call Ken Livingstone "King Ken" but he is a King of America, a nonentity in representing us to the outside world . To speak for London the Mayor must be more Presidential, a conduit for democratically expressed wishes. Not a Dictator or worse still an apologist for New Labour mistakes.
KEY POINT
The Mayor is currently too powerful, we know. That he is, as a consequence, isolated and powerless is a problem that deserves our attention as well.
4)
The problem, encroaching state coercion. Measures? For example, I would remove the pointless congestion charge and press hard for less draconian and anti car local policy, where possible. I would try to work with Local Authorities in adjusting their increasingly intrusive policies on the use of CCTV and I would leave cyclists alone. The logic of public safety is capable of infinite extension.
KEY POINT
William Pitt "Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the arguement of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves".
5)
I have the space for a mention of crime. Until such time as the police are properly accountable to the "local" people they serve I would use the position to apply whatever pressure I could for greater value for money. It is my belief that of all the institutions we rely on this is the worst performing and local Councils are currently fobbed off without proper information or any real input . Again my imagined City is locally empowered. Improving trust and performance here is a vital balancing strut to the Libertarian agenda but we should not forget the role of strenth in earning respect.
KEY POINT
A politically powerful but formally weak Mayor will about face to represent all of London against Central Government policy not to its liking. My London would have been recognisable in some ways to its Medieaval citizens, free, plural, local, independent and on occasion a nuisance to its National Rulers.

10. TIME AVAILABILITY
How much time could you give to the role as Conservative Mayoral Candidate? Please be as specific as possible.

I have full time job. Other than that all my time. In many ways this is the heart of what is partly a protest application . David Cameron has encounterd the problem a lot of reformers do . Unitl he mentioned it we hadn`t noticed how bad things were . ...... ( I call it "Now you`ll have to do the whole thing syndrome").

The Sterne Report and the Threat of the Super State

This was a post on Boris Johnson`s site . It is a reaction to three things
1 The new research assistant (Rachel)
2 The suggestion that laws are the only thing that stops us beating our wives
3 The suggestion that buying a Toyota Prius was a “Move in the right direction

Rachel: Newmania, I'm not going to give you my measurements, so don't ask-
No need to. Good old Boris, I like her already. I feel certain she has great things ahead of her.


...and this is more serious bit .

THE FALLACY OF PATERNALISM

Gamon - You make the classic mistake of all bureaucrats . You assume that the reason for social development is because laws were made. Sometimes this is the case, but more usually it isn't . Governments don`t exist to make us nicer people , they exists for the careers of the governors . Insiders are far worse than everyone else nowadays ,but its been better . I think in the 19th century they may have been ahead of the game. The main drive towards social improvement came from below .

In Britain, in the Victorian period, it came from fear of the French Revolution ,and the various Liberal rebellions of 1845. The British ruling class were preserving as much of the old order as they could, in the face of, a loss of confidence within, and the possibility of armed rebellion without .

Disraeli`s Great Reform Act was intended to hegemony of the Aristocracy ( of whom he had romantic ideas which informed everything he did ). Also, it had an immediate electoral aim which was to out flank Gladstone and his non conformist middle class support . The invention of "One Nation Conservatism " was early spin . Disraeli , a dodgy pot boiler scibbler, and money grabber ,was always a bit of a genius and a bit of a Geoffrey Archer. His marriage was worthy of the "Producers " ,(does anyone gets the reference?).Pressure from below forced him to act.

The often quoted Factory acts were driven by the new non conformist conscience. They were fought by vested interests who were well entrenched in Government, as they always are. Opinion movers were outside . Notable amongst them were, Charles Dickens and the Romantic Poets ,none of whom , like me, would get on the Z list .This remember, I have accepted, was a good phase of government.

Now, if we take other countries, the position is worse .Take a mental trip around Africa , which I gather you lose sleep about . I don't think. It is a common-place that the "aid" cash ,that floods in ( 10% of the GDP on average in sub Saharan Africa) does no good whatsoever .It does extract torturous trading terms, in return for guns and dams and palaces . I cannot think of any African regime that has not added to the problems, with the possible exception of the South African one ;overall .
Germany ,Russia Japan etc. ,I need hardly mention.

Incidentally you , who no doubt think South Africa was evil incarnate ,might pause to wonder why we were so shocked at the racism of the White South Africans, and not by the rest of Africa`s racial genocides . I know why , can you own up to it?
THE TOYOTA PRIUS LIE

No it is not a "move in the right direction." Perhaps you noticed today, that the Sterne report was out . I happened to see Ruth Lea discussing it with some green, jobs-worth, in a corduroy jacket . When Ruth Lea says something , we had all better start listening . She predicted, in detail ,the events leading to Black Wednesday ,which destroyed the Conservative Party for years . To my great pleasure, she recently dismantled the "reputation for economic prudence " that Brown-nose found left in the desk, like an old stapler, as well She knows her onions . So indeed, does the ,under-tall but Leonine Boris , whose phrase ,"breaking wind in a hurricane ", I wheel out like the children in a Christmas single. It sums up domestic action on climate change exquisitely . It is a myth. Most of what passes for environmental policy would be better called "Tidying up ", and its mostly to employ more blood suckers in Brussels anyway

With the Sterne Report , thank god , the subject can move onto an adult plane . Ahead of the mainstream media ,as usual, I was quoting figures like this last week."If we all stopped driving completely the carbon emission slack would be taken up by Chinas growth in 60 days " . This morning Ruth Lea added that if we shut down all the power stations, you could add 80 days . So basically, if we all , tomorrow ,went back the horse and cart plus wood fire and bodkin , we would have saved four months. Into this context you plop the Toyota Prius ;the acquisition of which we can now see is like pissing into the Grand Canyon.

By the way the Sterne report is pro Green but in a realistic way . So am I .

Meanwhile, back at the fort, Emily Thornberry our local Nulab, and the worlds most spherical hypocrite, sits in her mouth watering Georgian pad, with her kids safely at Grammar school . What does she think ? She thinks , hmmm, I `m far to stupid to provide anything worthwhile ,so what can I do that may impress a few and will look as if I am in that ideal position ;for good ,and against evil.
Could it be ; risk my career by agitating for huge taxes on air travel ?
Could it be; annoy the PM by attacking the US for maintaining petrol and about a farthing per tonne ?
Could it be ;announce that we have to give up growth or better still apply cynical pressure to the emerging economies so as to pull the ladder up?
Or..... Shall I buy a Toyota Prius which does nothing net for the climate ( actually).

...........I bet she thought long and hard .

It trivialises the debate , implies we can have our cake and eat it and distracts attention . Incidentally Thornberry weighs about 30 stone ,and claims to cycle everywhere, so she is a big fat liar in every way. Paul Newman, film star ,has a Prius and runs racing team . Prince Charles has one in his collection of posh mota`s requiring the oil output of Quatar to start in the morning. Typical ; and with these frauds you want to ally your self Sir Gamon.? Shame shame shame!

The Chinese have a good point .Their emissions per head , to take one measure, are a bit over 2 . Ours are a bit under 10 . Why exactly should they care ,until they have quintupled their economy ? Tough negotiations will be needed , and as, in reality, neither you or I are going to go back to 1490 to save the world , this means twisting the arms of Asia and the far east. It also means stopping the poor from flying, and applying brutally regressive taxation to everyone.( Because Green taxes are indirect).

I can understand the value of a pointless gesture , I liked the toga party in Animal House, but this is so stupid as to be damaging . Its only possible justification is symbolic, and as a symbol it is just wrong.
Idlex is absolutely spot on with his concern that the green global threat will be used to brush aside freedom , so are all emergencies . As I have explained above, Governments are necessary evils at best . The trick is to organise things so as to have state intervention where it works best ,the NHS say, and by permanent vigilance, keep them from becoming the crooks they by nature are .

As the only real green issues are Global it will require Global supranational action.. Years ago Boris , ,apparently, lurched down a Brussels street crying "Someone`s killed nanny" ..and then we pitched into the demos free democracy of the EU, disaster ! What on earth are the collection of chancers, crooks and little Hitler's, worldwide going to do ,when their services are actually need . Sadly I `m afraid they are . The only possible stance is to believe nothing , find out for yourself and refuse to be befuddled by asinine gestures like a Toyota Prius. Are you with me Gamon , are you ready to cast childish things aside ?

Hope so .

Broken Fridges and the Government

Inspired (ahem…) by my fridge and the following snippet from Croydonian
“Over in Gotham there are plans afoot to make "restaurants with highly standardized menu items and portions that already make their caloric content available" (that's Maitre D's, Starbucks etc) publish "calorie counts next to menu items in type that is as large 'as the name or price of the item'””.
PS Croydonian is my new favourite blog , have a look it brilliant
http://croydonian.blogspot.com/2006/10/coming-soon-to-place-near-you.html#comments


It doesn’t do exactly what is says on the tin.

I `m not at work , and the reason is that the fridge has broken . Two years old , a solid German name "NEFF" , and its cream crackered. This slipstreams neatly into neatly into a flock of thoughts that have swirling around ,as I watch the pound notes drift out of the window ,like confetti. For a long time consumer products were very good. ,“Which “ ,became redundant as competition drove greater utility and value into the customer’s hands . Then came the “sophisticating” of brand value selling, and out -sourcing. The chap who is now emasculating me, by talking to my wife about mechanical things , laughed when I said “German” .“Put the label on in Germany maybe “ he said . I gather even the phrase ,” Made in the EU “ does not by any means guarantee it actually was .

So now the consumer is at sea again .They are even doing it with cars , Mercedes notably , ie running down the quality to maximise brand value in the short term.Recently it has been reported that the number of crisps in a packet chave been getting slowly less . Then a big maxi size pack is popped in , only slightly larger than the old crisp packet, but much more expensive. It is easy to see why having established the value of a brand there is short term profit in selling it out, to the point of actually removing the contents.In this environment of caveat emptor, the seller and the consumer are in an escalating war of withholding, and finding information .

Long ago we established the principle of varying contract law so as to protect the Consumer . This Statute is fairly unique, in that it removes responsibility from one party to a contract . The justification for this is that the seller is better informed ,and will use his advantage to warp the “consensus ad idem” until it invalidates the whole basis of any contract .I very much doubt any of it has a net beneficial effect myself. Nonetheless we can see that the consumer is uniquely protected . We can also see that misinformation about the provenance of a product of indeed its contents will be tempting. The market is a garden , not a wilderness and weeding the garden is a legitimate area for state intervention

.All well and good and the advert “It does exactly what it says on the tin” has been super effective as we flounder to obtain reliable information. Its as if everything we bought was on the basis of a Time Out review . ( Never Never see anything because Time out said so).

Now ,reflecting dietary concerns, there are a variety of codes in the air to oblige packets to reveal, in a simple and coherent way ,the levels of salt , fat and so on . I don’t , just for once, have a huge problem that such a requirement should be extended to fast food .In a supermarket, packaging requirements are there to allow the market to work towards beneficial ends, by stopping sellers from lying, and freeing choice. I can see that with fast food this might be a good way to proceed . Much better at least than denying health care to the fat, or taxing fatness. Both of these are on the table ( that’s not more food fatties) ,and I would guess the health care one ,is happening already . They are doing it to smokers in Nottingham and its a similar fascist principle .


I daresay , if anyone has bothered getting this far, its pretty obvious where I am going ……There is a dastardly group of cowboy suppliers are guilty of the following crimes.
1 Operating dishonestly by splitting areas of trade into regions and so as to confuse the national consumer on price and value.
( Are they beer sellers often taken to a task for this by the monopolies commission ?)
2 Selling a policy that costs far more than to would appear by hiding the costs in various ways .
3 Deferring costs but tying the buyer in so as to misinform at the point of purchase.( Is it the Pensions sellers now beaten daily by the FSA?).
.4 Operating as Cartel with the only other supplier in the market whenever their mutual interests are served?(Could it be the Supermarkets themselves whose market share is monitored assiduously?)

IT IS OF COURSE THE GOVERNMENT ! They would-be in court in a second ,and never let out ,if any of the rules of honest trading

Quick translation:

1 The deliberate use of Regional assemblies to obscure responsibility for Housing Policy and thereby to obscure the consequences of misguided immigration policy ( and much more especially the GLA)
The growing tendency to implement unpopular legislation region by region since the poll tax riots
2 Escalating stealth taxes
Indexing to inflation by increasing indirect taxation
Indexed to house prices no less and failing to index bands
Destroying pensions
Inheritance tax
And so on ad infinitum
3 Europe Taxation
Criminal Justice


So to get back to showing the calories in a Pizza. More information is basically good . Stipulating that the Consumer is protected , yes if that means requiring information to prevent anti market short termism and rip offs . Maintaining the integrity of the relationship between the Consumer`s choice and the product .Abso -bleeding-lutely !For all these reasons we need to move towards flat tax , no regional assemblies and clear costed decisions for the tax payer .We must also stop branding British laws “British” when they were outsourced the to the EU many years ago

Politicians should be straight with us.

Well blow me if it isn’t raining men today, and more particularly men who like men. I must admit, I am one of those embarrassing heterosexuals who find them alternately fascinating and hilarious .I cannot ever recall meeting a gay man I didn’t like, so I hope they can put up with me .

On the other hand the behaviour of Greg Barker is quite disgusting and I don’t mean his little game of Lady Chatterly with Mr. Brush Strokes.

I have slightly amended the following plot summary and I imagine this is much the sort of vainglorious self fantasising Mr. Barker was up to. I wonder who was decorating whose interior ?

Lady Gregina`s Lover ( a story of unbridled passion across the class divide)

Lady Gregina Barker enjoys an extremely passionate relationship with the interior decorator on their estate. The truth is eventually uncovered and the novel ends with a sense of fulfilment for both Gregina and the decorator , although the situation is never fully resolved. The story and its sentiments suggest that the sexual relationship is the most profound of all and that it may be debased either by treating it lightly or by viewing it with shame ….its so beautiful I could cry !

He is, of course, not the first gay man to lie to the electorate, and while I can, to some extent sympathise, lying is lying, and only politicians think the rules do not apply to them . A particularly odious liar is ,“ nice”, Simon Hughes, who is about as nice as the rest of the Lib Dums. Let us take a trip down memory lane to his early career ……………through the round window….

“Hughes was first elected to Parliament in the Bermondsey by-election of February 24, 1983. The byelection was described by Gay News as "the dirtiest and most notorious byelection in British political history" because of the slurs against the character of the Labour candidate and gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell by various opposition campaigners. The Liberal Campaign leaflet described Hughes as the "straight choice". Hughes won the seat with 57.7% of the vote.”

Yes yes I know he apologised, but if I were Peter Tatchell, I would want him tarred and feathered, nonetheless.

To tell you the truth I have little sympathy for Celeste Barker, the wronged wife . I do not believe for one second that she managed to live with a man for that long and have no notion that he might, one day, snog the handy man . Oh no, her protestations that it was all out of the blue, ring false . Those of us that are married will know that you can hardly hide the odd cigarette . She knew , take my word for it . Another wife that knew, is the utterly implausible Tessa Jowell

Remember in the 1990s David Mills the hubbie acted as legal adviser to Signor Berlusconi, during the acquisition of Mediaset. The prosecution at that time , claimed that Signor Berlusconi set up a scheme that helped him to evade more than £40 million in tax, and kept a little something for himself . Every single married woman in the country must have laughed themselves sick, at Tessa`s ridiculous claim to be “shocked” . She knew , take my word for it , she bloody knew.

So if we know they knew , then what exactly were they up to ?Well in the case of Tessa it was of course spending the booty and having a good time, but for Celeste it’s a bit more complex.

There are many fake marriages in public life, and the most obvious of all of them is Gordon Brown`s. Have you seen the awful pictures of his off-the-peg, family . Try as he might to look fatherly he remains a reanimated corpse. The accessory wife is just a little something he picked up for his image . The Barker marriage was a deal they did between them, and to admit to it is probably more shameful to Celeste than the news of Greggy`s painterly high jinx. I feel sorry for the children, who have been unwitting extras in this farce. My suggestion is that they are immediately removed to the kind and affluent protection of Madonna .

Of all the press pickings, the most tragic was this from Georgina Harrison, the mother in law. She tried ,desperately, to make sense of the corruption of human feeling involved.
“Its sad”, she said ,“But its not unusual any more . Its modern life isn’t it ? Men think they can get away with it now …” No Georgina the vast majority of men have absolutely no inclination to do any such thing even if they could get away with it .. Poor woman..

So what are we to make of gay men in public life .Nothing much actually, today there is a gay liar in the news, tomorrow there will be a straight one . Only yesterday we were chatting about the world’s `s ugliest politician ,there was ,of course, no denying the urgent claim of the Deputy Prime minister. A corrupt lecher batting on our side and there are many more.

For the Conservative Party there is a more serious problem , the Mayoral fix is in for Nic Boles, the lifetime Policy wonk and “out” Etonian Cameroon . Ken will make mince meat of him. You see, for gay men there is a problem. They are tolerant of us, and we are tolerant of them, but there are far more of us.

This is fortunate for everyone involved, otherwise where would all the little gay chaps come from. Generally sspeaking, it would matter no more than having red hair. In London though, there is one big issue they cannot address. Families.

Families are under desperate pressure. The cost of housing requires a high income ,and usually two, so the marginal affect of Nu Labs wicked taxation has nailed us all to the budgeting wall. When Nic Boles opens his mouth to speak on this subject, Ken Livingstone,and everyone else, will chorus ;“What do you know about it?”.

In fact he may well go on to ask what Nic Boles knows about anything, as a privileged life avoider. This will be the height of hypocrisy as King Ken is himself is the possessor of an accessory family and a long career ,starting in Lambeth, of “public service”. We need hardly say that a teeny problem of this sort will not dissuade the great fraud from punching low, whenever the ref`s back is turned.

Sorry Mr. Boles, but whatever your qualities, you are absolutely not the right man for the job. You will do the Conservative cause great harm (.We must hope he decides to take the safe seat his connections will provide, but the appearance of a Boles Bus at Bournemouth is not a promising sign.)


The Conclusion:

The conclusion oh best beloved is this . Gays are no better or worse than anyone else . Politicians are a lot worse than anyone else and live hermetically sealed lives to prevent them or us noticing it .
Nic Boles is the wrong man for London now, but like all minorities, gay men and women, should have a proper representation in as much as have a specific agenda, which is not much. Tessa Jowell , Greg Barker , Simon Hughes , John Prescott and many more are liars In short the passionate story of Lady Gregina`s Lover changes nothing at all.


P. S.
The single most surprising thing is that Tony Blair continues to stomach Jowell in the cabinet. This is one of the many signs that he has entirely ceased to care about the country .

PPS I will be interested to see if the one man Conservative tidal wave Justin Hinchcliffe makes of this,if he bothers . Now there is a gay man who is straight with the voter.

Beatrix Potter and Freedom

The following is slightly adapted from a discussion I was having about fox hunting . The subject , which frequently crops up is a good test of Libertarianism. From the general it drifts via the semiotics of the burqa to the Alan Johnson’s proposal that all Church Schools should accept pupils from other faiths . I am against the idea of mucking up faith schools, for fox hunting (just), and firmly against burqas in schools . I should explain that the “Squire” as I call him had tried the old , “I have far to much respect for you …“ ,gambit. His point was that hunters were merely out for a jolly good ride. Now , are you listening carefully ...then I`ll begin.

The Beatrix Potter view of animals should be discarded at adulthood. This country has a peculiar attachment to anthropomorphising, which I attribute to the early industrial revolution, and the consequent separation from agri-business. I eat meat with relish, and would be prepared to kill my own if I had to. In fact, I suspect I might rather enjoy it. I can shoot the dickens out of a clay dish!

Like any sane person, if pushed, I will admit that the taxing moral conundrums of torturing animals for pleasure, are not worth much political time, and I wouldn't disturb it myself . Nonetheless there are moral difficulties that the threat of a bucolic bewhiskered squire, in deer stalker and plus fours , tapping my door with a blunder buss will not dissuade me from probing a little further.

Speaking of an old blunderbuss, congratulations to the Squire for getting this one out to the closet ." I like you enormously ...BUT...etc." ...Ooo sneaky! Have you been reading Potter's one-upmanship? Allow me to assist you in clarifying your argument for hunting, which at present is full of holes. This I do in a charitable spirit, and because I like you, if possible, even more than you like me......( The standard , not the Sicilian counter)

Yes fox torturers are probably better people than puppy burners, but this is beside the point.If , Squire , you were under sentence of death, for the sheer pleasure of some charming rustics, I imagine you, incarcerated like woebegone Toad in a cell, in no end of a funk.. Never fear, for around the corner Newmania is hurrying to announce the good news..." Thank god, sirra , we've persuaded them to enjoy an invigorating ride while the torture proceeds " How you would thank me for this stay of execution,"God bless you Newmania .", you would cry ," the sheer knowledge of the wind in their hair reconciles me entirely to the show . Taran tara , bring it on!!" In short you have forgotten how the fox feels about it ? Having done that, quite obviously, there is no problem with fox hunting; neither is there any difficulty with puppy burning.I conclude that if you are going to justify hunting, it is not sufficient to vaguely assert that hunters are jolly good chaps , true though that may be . You have to examine the human relationship with animals, the importance of custom, and the Libertarian backdrop, which in itself, as I have quite clearly shown ; will not do.

So how do we decide what is allowable and what is not , some say that if I does not harm anyone else then it must be ok. Well yes ,that is a good starting point, but the definition of harm proposed must be adequate to the connected lives we have in a modern society . To take one example; the burqa . Does it harm anyone?Yes it does
1 It tells little girls that their nascent sexuality is wrong and sinful
2 It tells little boys that woman are property
3 It offers support and succour to fascists and terrorists worldwide
4 It challenges the free society in which we live and is a quite deliberate political statement to that effect

Does it actually leap of the face of the anonymous wearer like the a clothy "alien" and inflict physical pain ? No it does not , but it will cause pain and suffering endlessly as the ripples of its effect spread outwards into the actions of others.

While I am happy for the rustics to enjoy chasing wily Monsieur Reynard . I do not want burqas in schools. This distinction is to do with custom. One is a custom of this culture, the other is an alien political attack on it.
If the Labour party, or the politically correct in general, accepted there was such a distinction, how quickly we could solve absurd mess they are in, disrupting our best C of E and Catholic schools. The real objective is to be seen to be bullying two or three Islamic schools and therby suck up to the working class they betrayed . For this tawdry end thousands of our best educational institutions must be undermined ? .The answer is simple .The church schools can stay , the Islamic ones cannot .

The Chimera of UKIP

I have been bashing a UKIP defector on Conservative Home . I seem to write better when I `m not thinking to hard and amongst the ad hominem abuse you will find my reasons for a Euro sceptic like me not to join UKIP. My foe was a certain MH who , if truth be told, seems not at all a bad chap and took it all in good spirit. I do worry about defectors , I know David Cameron is on the right electoral path and I think I trust him but when Conservatives like MH leave the party it is upsetting there’s no denying it. I will put MH`s profile below to show he is not a person the Conservative party should be taking lightly . Troubling , but in the end the system we have forces us to take grown up decisions . Otherwise I would simply start the Newmania party…….
Don’t think I haven’t thought of it.
This is exactly the area where I would like to see the shadow cabinet reassuring true Conservatives that in its heart this is still the Conservative Party. It isn’t a job for David Cameron.

Any way this is what I had to say ( oh MH had called me barely literate ….poor thing)


Barely literate eh? Well my punctuation is better than Shakespeare’s. I can be quite confident that like many, who profess to be attached to this countries heritage, you know nothing whatsoever about it, so I had better explain. He wrote plays. As to your own style, you manage a fair impression of a smug little bureaucrat and seem inordinately proud of your achievements in precisely this role. It takes a certain sort of person to describe what, he thinks, is his own vast importance to the world, like an Estuary English speaking estate agent, and you have not let me down. We can safely assume you are the modern incarnation of the bitter brilliantined oddities that were the typical anti marketers of 1975.
You are too young to remember, but the thrust of the Yes campaign, as described by its treasurer McAlpine, was, “to depict the anti-Marketeers as unreliable people - dangerous people who would lead you down the wrong path”. This tactic was greatly assisted by the right wing detritus that clung to the campaign as the only log floating nearby. It reminds me of the miscellany of wastrels attached to the anti -hunting and animal rights lobby .Often these people were embittered Tories who for very good reasons had been unable to gain the advancement their ego’s craved within the party.Do you know anyone like that MH ?
The rational, democratic and self interested argument against Europe, which I broadly support, has made great strides into the world of moderates since .This is what has saved the Conservative Party, not a drift in the other direction as wrongly perceived by political illiterates like MH. On the other hand, because Euro scepticism has won ground across a broad spectrum, the same rules apply today, to those who have actually become traitors. People like MH, who would rather let Brown-nose in than knuckle down to winning an election. Look at the party he is joining. Richard Suchorzewski(defeated UKIP leadership candidate) recently pulled the rock up to reveal business as usual
“Nothing however prepared me for the scurrilous behaviour, defamatory comments and downright dishonesty of some of Nigel Farage's & David Bannerman's staff, supporters and members of the Press Office staff, in which they clearly colluded. I was accused of having associations with the BNP – even when these scoundrels knew that my grandfather was murdered by the Nazis in a concentration camp and my Great Grandfather was discovered hanged by them from a lamp post near his home by my 14 year old Father.” ………………………and much much more of which I trust you are aware. .
From what I can tell MH will fit right in, and this was clear from the moment he began to attack Justin Hinchliffe in the infantile way he did.Moving on from pointless fantasists l there is a real problem here both for the Conservative party and, ironically for UKIP. The types of people that become involved, not only undermine UKIP, which so badly needs respectability, but also the debate within the Conservative party. If you were go to the Bruges group, as I have done, you feel amongst friends with a valid point of view that you might have a slightly different take on. Other UKIPs remind me far too much of the doctrinal religionists of the Labour party or, at worst, of the BNP. They remove the ground on which a Christopher Booker stands the moment they open their mouths …..Salutations MH
The Europe case is sound but the baggage that comes with it is unattractive and in any case a world of electoral dreams The other problem is that this attitudinising will leave the Conservative party entirely in the hands of Liberals with any move towards UKIP policies, which are widely supported, appearing actually treacherous This is very bad indeed and entirely the fault of UKIP who have failed to maintain respectability and civility. I see there will be no end to this.
I am not the same sort of Conservative as Justin Hinchcliffe. He is on the other hand worth any number of self satisfied poseurs who have expressed, in effect, an intention to work on behalf of the Labour Party. As for Conservative home , if it is going to be renamed, “Conservative (and those who hate the Conservative Party) , Home” , then you can expect frank exchanges of opinions which , in Islington and Tottenham ,we are more than used to.


MH Profile :
My resume is that I was a Conservative Party member for 20 years. I was Chairman and then President of a safe Conservative seat from 2002-2006, where we were a Premier League association and had 1,300 members. We never lost an election in my time as Chairman, returned our MP with 13k majority and 53% of the vote in 2005 and gave £15k to other local marginal seats. To boot, I am also a serving councillor who took his seat from the LibDems after it had not been Conservative for 30 years.
Yes, I have resigned and joined UKIP because, like many people I know (and yes, some like me who work in the City and are in their 30s), despair of what Cameron is doing and refuse to participate in him turning the Conservative Party into a social democratic farce.

My Summary is this , with the prospect of a virtually Stalinist Labour Council hoving into view we should all get the things that divide us into proportion . We need every good man and woman to role their sleeves up put differences aside an get involved in the fight to stop the Brown years ever becoming a reality .Once the battle begins there are only two sides and those unable to pick one are “useful idiots “ for Labour .

A Picture of Mel (plus bits)

Women and gags , I `m going for the Loaded Audience.

This is pretty much a gratuitous picture of a very lovely and charming woman and I am filling up with a couple of things that have amused me . Mel is Boris Johnson`s PA and a delight both to look at and to listen to. Conservative women cannot be beaten.






NEW WORDS FOR LONDON

Faux -mosexual -A word for men that pretend to be sensitive to get action .

Foxier-moron - A word for women promoted because they are pretty

Had a chat with Croydonian about a silly story:

Under-Statement Of The Day
The detective constable pursuing a serial defecator who has caused £60,000 worth of damage to trains over the past year by smearing excrement inside carriages on approximately different 30 occasions has described the culprit as "being exceptionally anti-social".

CROYDONIAN: In Ulster they would call it a dirty protest
NEWMANIA: In the Tate Modern they would call it "Genius"

The spirit of levity also overcame me in a discussion following the letter in the Telegraph comcerning a Constitutional Convention to discuss the "English"question.
I said this :

"Chris Whiteside has a refreshingly calm summary of the position on his excellent blog. He concludes:“Frankly, whether you call this "an English parliament" or "English votes for English laws" is a matter of semantics rather than substance. What I am clear about is that I want to see a fair and even-handed democratic solution for the UK and I want to see it without an increase in the number of politicians.” Worth reading as is everything he writes actually .

This is not quite the Iain dale position which to me is unduly nationalistic ( calls for a full seperate English parliament), a most un-English trait.
I prefer to leave the tit for tat mud slinging to the non-footballing , oil greedy , racist, Barnett Formula teat sucking , pictish horde sulking in their midge infested bogs. We must retain our sange froid, recognising the childish inferiority complex of a nation whose contribution to literature is third rate novelty act they cannot bear to read themselves. Burns night ?! Why not Pam Ayres night. Also the only game of rugby they ever won was by constantly lurking offside."......ahem.

In fact I wento to school with Chris Whiteside and would dearly like to see him in parliament. Have a look at his blog which includes the piece I refer to above . An erudite thinker and a Conservative to his fingertips .
http://chris4copeland.blogspot.com/

Someone`s Knocking at Door.

Judging by the Letters in the Gazette this week Labour are starting to get the old arrogance back . The mask they have worn so long is beginning to slip and our own wonderful Oriel Clohessy seems to have startled them into letting their fangs show :

This is my reply . Their load of nonsense is below:

Neither Councillor’s Kelly nor O` Sullivan would have supported the creation of the Leaseholders in the first place. To them, Leaseholders are class traitors and their homes were stolen for them , by Margaret Thatcher, from the state. We need hardly dignify anything they have to say on the matter further. Meanwhile councillor Peasnell would like the good old tax payer to dig deep, and buy her a house here, because she “Loves Islington”. I rather fancy Mayfair, Kelly, but if you could stretch to Highgate that would be nice.

On the other hand, how kind of Mr. Kelly to remind us of Labour Councils under Margaret Hodge. We all remember that period with a warm glow of nostalgia do we not? Oddly, Catherine West the Armani clad leader of local Labour, hardly ever refers to these halcyon days. Why would that be?

Back then Islington was a veritable paradise. At this distance it’s hard to know which stories of the “The Socialist Republic of Islington “,are apocryphal, and which were true .These all appeared in the press.

Council funded lesbian self defence classes, non sexist jigsaws and the bust of Lenin in the town hall. An Islington action group for the unemployed collecting money, food, booze, fags, cans and bricks, to send to striking miners. The collection of only £4,000,000 of the £20,000,000 of council tax due in 1990, and the attempt to ban dealings with the Islington Gazette. Child care was, of course, a scandal which is too fresh and distressing to repeat.

The sole SDP Councillor was David Hyams, and he has had much to say. Labour, according to Councillor Hyam, “.left the chairman of social services to negotiate with the unions despite the fact that the unions were led by his brother.” They “ divided up the council into a series of 24 neighbourhood offices that cost a fortune, and cut a deal with the City to fund services we are still paying for” .Is this the “imaginative borrowing”, of which Councillor Kelly is so proud ?

This is why we have had a Liberal Council for so long, because the long shadow of those terrible years still darkens Islington. Now things may well be about to change .The Liberal majority was only one, and at least one of them is having “loyalty issues”. They have been held to ransom by a single Green party extremist and some sort of power sharing is going on. Any by-election could tip us back into the arms of a Labour Party some of whom think the Hodge era was one to be proud of.
Thank you Councillor Kelly for your timely reminder of what a delightful prospect that is for us all.


Councillors Phil Kelly and Mick O` Sullivan have done a team job on Oriel:

LABOUR councillors in the 1980s and '90s knew that we were not spending enough to keep homes in decent order. The level of local spending on housing was determined by the then Conservative Government. Labour in Islington tried some imaginative off-balance sheet borrowing to get extra resources but that was stopped too.The Labour Government has tackled the cumulative effect of Conservative restrictions through the Decent Homes Standard. The current programme of investment in social housing - for which the Lib-Dem Council can take no credit at all - is the result. Oriel Clohessy (Viewpoints, Gazette, October 12) has done some valuable legal research for Islington leaseholders. There seems to be a legal precedent that leaseholders should not be liable for repairs which are required because of past neglect by the freeholder. If I were a council leaseholder, I would put all my effort into pursuing this through the courts. - Councillor Phil Kelly, Labour member for Finsbury Park ward, Town Hall, Upper Street, N1.Oriel Clohessy (Viewpoints, Gazette, October 12) failed to mention that 20 years of neglect of the council's housing stock was thanks to successive Tory governments siphoning off tens of millions of pounds from Islington resident's service charges and rents. This left scant resources for the vital, regular maintenance that should have been carried out. - Councillor Mick O'Sullivan,
Town Hall, Upper Street, N1.

Meanwhile another Kelly thinks she is hard done by

I'm a social worke (What else ...), I grew up in Islington and like many other people my age I want to have a place of my own, but in the current market I don't think I'll ever be able to afford it. That's why affordable housing is so essential.I love Islington, I don't want to leave and I'm glad we are making real changes to ensure that our young people and young workers can go on calling Islington their home. - Councillor Kelly Peasnell, Clerkenwell Ward, Town Hall, Upper Street, N1.

And what of Hodge nowadays . Well I think it may give us a clue to what Labour will have in store for us
“In BarkingCouncillor was strongly criticised for giving the BNP publicity in the local election campaign, which combined with heavy media coverage, and led to the BNP delivering a bouquet of roses to her office to thank her for her contribution to their cause”

There maybe trouble ahead………….lets face the music and COMPLAIN!!!

Presidents Reception

What a fantastic evening it was. I met my hero Boris Johnson and his lovely assistant Mel and was highly gratified at the attention the great man bestowed on me . Oh yes I `m very `umble in the presence of quality. Thanks to Margaret for organising the whole thing and encouraging to see so many Islington Conservatives about .

The words of the dedication are : "To dear Newmania , with thanks for all your brilliant blogging contributions . Best Wishes Boris Johnson"


The man is without equal .

Tax Hurts

I picked up this quote from Hansard . There has been a lot about taxation this week and this gives a good perspective in my view


Mr Dorrell ... there was an unheralded tax increase after the 1997 election and another after the 2001 election. ... Last week, the Institute for Fiscal Studies published a report on the movement of disposable incomes during recent years. It reported that, for the first time since the early 1990s, real disposable incomes fell in 2003–04 compared with 2002–03. Why did they fall? They fell because of the £8 billion tax increase that the Chancellor introduced after the previous general election, having promised beforehand that an increase would not be necessary. ... The Chancellor is very fond of saying that he has not increased rates of income tax. That is a dishonest argument for two reasons. First, it draws a polite veil over the fact that he has increased the rates of national insurance contributions. ... when the Chancellor of the Exchequer talks about tax rates not having gone up, he is wrong on two counts: first, national insurance contributions; and secondly, the unplanned and unfair effect of holding down the allowances and bands in the tax system and not indexing them to earnings.

Sorry Gays .

Justin Hinchcliffe( North London Conservative legend ) has taken me to task on the use of the word. Homosexualist. I think , despite the feeble defence I attempted he is right and would like to withdraw it . On the other hand I am not going to start taking the whole thing seriously . See below:

Its amazing to think that for all of time
There must have been an unbroken line
Of fathers and sons , ending with me
It started in the Cretaceous sea
When a single celled whats-it first procreated
Leaving its girlfriend drowsy and sated
Then a fish that crawled up on land with its fins
That handsome one there , (yes that’s him)
All manner of lizards and birdlike things
With feathers and teeth and claws and wings
And furry animals furtively mating
While dinosaurs slowly forgot about dating
Bears and apes and cavemen to
Each one of my fathers knew just what to do
Neither famine nor pestilence, clashes of nations
Stood in the way of their copulations
And now I have managed to pass the baton
To you ,little Elliot , my only son
No pressure we’ll love you anyway
But think of your fathers
And don’t turn out gay !

A correction

JT has asked me to correct my misrepresentation of his views on the provision of health care. I am delighted to quote his eloquent summary:
“The widespread takeover of healthcare provision by the state in the twentieth century, centrally directed and controlled, and funded exclusively through taxation, was a mistake. It has not led to the benefits which were promised. There are various reasons for this, which are the subject for a lengthier posting at a later date. But I think that there are a range of other options which need to be seriously and urgently considered. For example, along with some state provision, I think that there is scope for a greater role for private insurance and co-payments in the funding of healthcare. The delivery of healthcare services should also be opened up to independent companies, charitable organisations and other such bodies. In many circumstances, people would get a better service, with shorter waiting times, if they could choose where their own money was directed. I think that more people could afford some degree of health care insurance to complement other provision if their taxes were cut. There is no doubt that there is ample scope to cut a significant amount of waste from current Government spending; blogs such as http://burningourmoney.blogspot.com/ list examples every week. Whilst I support a campaign against what new Labour has done to worsen provision in the NHS, I think it is important that the Conservative party should look to develop new models for healthcare delivery. Keeping exclusively to the current top-down, centrally controlled system is not sustainable”