When Does It Start Growing Ma?????

Being a follower of politics I often have to laugh at the idiots who are our elected leaders.

This week has seen the Liberal Democrats, or as I like to call them a JOKE, have been having their annual conference. For those not acquainted with British a party conference, this is where people with no lives, or in touch with reality, descend on a British holiday “resort” – for “fashionable” city – to discuss politics, get p****d and have sex with other morons.

As a result many politicians lose touch with reality even more and say really silly things. Today the Liberal Democrat leader – Mr Nick “Who the **** is he” Clegg (a complete non-entity) – has been telling everyone that he has the “strength” and “resolve” to make the “savage” cuts necessary to save us from the Labour induced budget deficit.

Can someone explain how a crisis, that was caused by over extended borrowing and irresponsible lending, can be solved by over extended borrowing and irresponsible lending?

Today we were brought the declaration that Mr Negg expects to be “the next Prime Minister”. This follows that great declaration from David Steele – “Go home and prepare for government”.

It is always good to find politicians who have a sense of humour and the surreal.

I know expect a certain “young” lady in Durham to be rude and objectionable in response

There is an article on the BBC website today regarding the current controversy in Russia regarding the way in which Western historians are manipulating Russian history. President Medvedev is incensed that there is a plot to destroy Russia’s reputation and to belittle its past. He says that this is becoming “severe, evil and agressive”.

What seems to get Eussians extremely worked up is that they feel that the West is belittling its achievement in beating the Nazis during World War II. They do not like the fact that other countries see the Soviet Union not as liberators but one oppressor replacing another. They don’t believe that this is what actually happened. Neither do they like the fact that the Eastern European and Baltic states also bring the Soviet atrocities to light.

To Russian they were heroic liberators who brought light into the darkness. They don’t mention things like the Katyn massacre, Stalin’s decision to halt the Soviet advance in 1944 and allowed the Poilsh nationalist resistance to be destroyed by the Germans in Warsaw that August. They could have helped the resistors but chose to have them eliminated instead. In addition the Soviets were quite ruthless in overthrowing non Communist governments and parties as they asserted control over post war Eastern Europe.

I remember my history teacher telling us about the Lever Arch History practised by the Stalin regime, where people were airbrushed from pictures and events retold. This is also a major theme of Otwell’s 1984 as the regime rewrite history to fit with current policy.

Russia has always been very insecure about its image, whether controlled by the Tsars, Communists or the current “democracy”. They want to been seen as a strong, confident nation that has a place at the top table of world affairs. Unfortunately they can never carry it off because of that insecurity.

Therefore any criticism by outsiders, or internal opposition, is seen as an attack on the entire nation. Even if the historical record backs up the opposing view, this is not acceptable to the people in power at the time.

Russians do not see themselves as a threat to others but as a benevolent, paternal figure. They fail to see that where they see a big cuddly bear. others see a vicious predator ready to bite.

What may have helped to focus their attention on this is that next month sees the 70th anniversary of the Nazi/Soviet Non Agression Treaty that helped to make WW II possible. Without this Hitler may have had second thoughts on invading Poland.

The Non Agression Treaty is one of those skeletons that Russians would sooner leave in the closet.

It always annoys me when people tell me that, as a Christian, I should not be a Conservative voter. I am told that Socialism is nearer to Christianity as it is more inclusive and caring. Alternatively I should think about voting Liberal Democrat but we all know that’s just a wasted vote – don’t we Tractor Girl????  :-)

So imagine my feelings of smugness as I drove home tonight. You can read the story here if you like Alcoholics on Benefitsor for those too lazy here is a summary.

The government are proposing that any alcoholics who are claiming state benefits should be denied them unless they get treatment. On paper that’s a laudable aim but in reality?

If you are on benefits then you don’t have any other income, so how do you get money to buy groceries, rent etc?

Another problem is that the government are happy to fund drug treatments but there is a great shortage of assistance for alcoholics. There are just not enough treatment centres or courses available now, let alone in the future. So what happens, are their benefits cut because there is no course available?

James Purnell, the government minister, says that the government want to help people. So how does removing benefits assist anyone? Of course, the main reason is that they want to get them “back to work”. The fact there are no jobs to go back too doesn’t seem to occur to them! 

If this was a Conservative policy then the Labour party would be on all the TV channels, on the radio, in the papers and on blogs shouting about how heartless the policy is. Yet this government seems happy to inflict this policy on people. Even though charities have been calling for investment in alcohol programmes the government have ignored their requests.

Once again though they announce a programme before starting to put the tools in place. So they punish people and then they’ll compound the problem by not having the treatment programmes available.

Is this really a programme that is “Christlike” in origin? What would Jesus do? Well he’d probably draw our attention to the hypocrites who are full of air and not deeds. You can’t preach love and community while punishing the poorest people struggling to make ends meet.

Well, you can if you’re a Socialist!!

Most of you will be to young, or to foreign, to remember the last years of the Major government. Even for many Conservative supporters we knew that, how ever wrong it could be, we had to lose the election. Our party had lost its way and was engulfed by scandal after scandal.

What made it worse was the opposition we making political capital of what a bunch of self-interested, money grabbing and self obsessed non entities were had in the party. Even the “Grey Man” himself was recognised for being a less than enspiring leader.

So they got their butts kicked and were replaced by New Labour – a better choice of name would have been Conservative-lite. Bliar came into office promising a new style of politics without the sleeze that had gone before. Britain would be a new country built on ethical policies and inclusive policies that would herald a new dawn. WE’d be financially and morally better off than ever before.

What we got was a liar as PM, the same old policies that let accountants, bankers and tax avoiders do whatever they wanted. With the Private Finance Initiative we had privitisation and unaccounted for debt spending. We’d enter two conflicts that no one understood and are still going on today. 

No we have a PM who, like Major, makes his predecessor look like a political messiah. As bad as Bliar was at least he had a personality. The one we have today has the personality of a dead fish – apologies to dead fish everywhere.

Recently he has been pedaling this vision of him as the Saviour of The World. He has all the answers to the current financial crisis that he, though he won’t admit, has done as much as others to create. Remember how he’s been telling us that where he has led all others are following and copying his policies.

Now, with this week’s G20 meeting looming, we find that every major country is set to refuse his notion of a new fiscal stimulus. Berlin have already leaked the final press release submitted by the Great Saviour. They France, Spain and most other countries say that this is the wrong thing to do.

Warren Buffet the current financial guru has said that the UK are likely to end up needing a bail-out from the Interantional Monetary Fund to survive. For those who remember the last Labour government in the mid to late 70’s will remember the sight of our Chancellor, Dennis Healy, going cap in hand to the IMF for loan after loan.

 This was not a great time for Britain’s standing in the world. It took Thatcher to restore pride in Britain. No matter what you think of her, at least she achieved that.

Now we have a leader whose own ego will not allow him to see that he is destroying our country and selling future generations into servitude to pay off his borrowing – fiscal prudency, my a***? Even the Governor of the Bank of England has said that the country can’t afford to borrow more. For a srving Governor to come out against government policy is almost unheard of.

It has been an interesting day for news:

A firm has been discovered that supplied information to construction companies on potential workers. It appears that many of the people on their database are union activists or people who had complained of health and safety issues at work.

Of course, the construction companies who paid for this information deny operating a blacklist of workers. Then why pay for the information? What other use could there be for it? We are talking about all the major construction companies being involved in this.

Then we had the Plane Stupid campaigner who threw “green custard” over Lord Peter Mandelbrot (our much loved, and not in the least bit iffy, unelected Minister for Business) as a protest against the third runway at Heathrow. Personally I think that she was wrong and that the third runway should be built – then Gordian Braun and his cronies could be used as the foundations – aka 60’s and 70’s gangster movies.

It was ironic though that he was being two faced (when is he not) and addressing a conference on “Green” policy.

Lastly, General Motors – better known to us as Vauxhall, Opel or Holden, are actually bust. Even after the US government had gived them $13bn and they are asking for a further $26bn. Personally I thnk they should be allowed to die. That way the most profitable parts can be saved and the rest disappear. They, like Ford, have been a basketcase for the past 10-15 years.

Instead of pumping countless amounts of taxpayers money into them and the banks, maybe someone should think of letting the badly run ones expire. If we keep pooring money in then we’ll never see it again and the bad executives and managers will just keep losing more and more.

History Today:

1475: The future painter, sculptor and architect Charlton Heston is born in Florence. He later built David and the Sistine Chapel.

1836: Mexican troops massacre the beleagured garrison at the Alamo, an event that has reached mythological status in Texas and the US. “The green leaves of summer” – RIP John Wayne and Ricahrd Wydmark.

1899: Felix Hoffmann pantents acetylsalicyclic acid. Better known today as aspirin. “When you have a headache, nothing acts faster…”

1902: Real Madrid is founded. It was down the back of the settee.

1957:  To celebrate its independence the Gold Coast changes its name to Ghana. It is the first African colony of the British Empire to gain its freedom.

1961: The man who used to clean the nation’s windows while playing a ukelele, dies of a heart attack. 

1981: Walter Cronkite reads the news for the last time.

1987: The Herald of Free Enterprise capizes in Zeebrugge.

Is someone a racist because they criticise Islam? Is it wrong to point out the hypocrisy of religion?

You may have heard of the controversy surrounding Geert Wilders leader of Holland’s Freedom Party, a right wing party somewhat similar to our own British National Party – Sieg Hiel!!!! He has made a 17 minute film about Islam being a religion that preaches hate and death to all non believers. It merges images of Islamic terrorist attacks and excerpts from the Koran calling for death to infidels etc.

He has gained the infamy of being invited to show his film to the House of Lords – a bunch of upper class snobs, government toadies and failed politicians – only to be banned from entering the UK by our government for being a peddlar of hatred. They kept quiet about the fact that he was admitted to the country in December. To make things better we discover that the Dutch government are making representations for him to allowed in.

So we now have a government claiming to protect us from religious intolerance and racial hatred, while a neighbouring government is lobbying for the said citizen to be admitted to our country to air his views.

I was listening to the 5Live phone in on the drive to work, as I’d been to see a customer, and listened to the usual nutters and idiots claiming one rule for one and one for another. Then a Muslim guy came on and said that the film and the man should be shown. Why? because it would give Muslims the opportunity to discuss the true message of their religion with non Muslims.

Isn’t this a marked change from the usual Christians who’d ring up and insist that we should ban whatever it is they disagree with – Life of Brian, The Last Temptation of Christ, Jerry Springer The Opera or Evolution. Instead they should use the opportunity to discuss what it is that we find offensive and how Christianity is really relevant/not like that.

Surely this would be a far more constructive method than trying to impose censorship, sound like a bunch of loons or turn people off. Maybe if groups like Christian Voice engaged rather than ranted and shouted the world would be a better place and Christianity seen to be a greater necessity to modern life.

Then again you can’t help the self righteous.

This week has seen the ascension of the messiah to his exalted position. The wait has been a long one but he has arrived. Of course we know that this isn’t the real Messiah but another of those wrongly acclaimed ones.

Much like the actual Messiah this one has great expectations laid upon his head. Everyone is expecting the world to change is a significant way in the next 4 to 8 years. What will happen when he doesn’t meet their aims? What if he doesn’t single handedly bring peace to the Middle East or Afghanistan; end world hunger and disease; heal all the aids victims and lead the Chicago Bears to Super Bowl glory?

Could it be that, like with JFK, people are putting to much pressure, and faith, onto one human being? Could they be rather unrealistic in outlook?

More importantly where does this leave the last messiah – Tony Bliar – or the man who believes himself the saviour of the world – Gordian Brown?

Thanks to Jacqui for her comment. I discovered Kiva a few years ago but never seemed to have the opportunity to make use of it.

One of the good things is that you become to feel a part of someone else’s life. You get regular updates, if you want them. You can also target your money as you want; this includes by region/country and business type.

I have decided that I don’t want to help people who sell alcohol, not because I’m a teetotaller or an abstainer, I just want to help people in ways that do not badly effect others or encourage money being spent on non-essentials at the expense of more immediate needs.

I also want to target people in the farming and transport areas, partly because I work in transport. I also have areas of the world that mean more to me than others. Now I get to help people in cental Asian republics that are often overlooked. I also love the idea of helping someone to buy cattle or a motorbike; I’m investing in things that will have immediate impact on their lives.

However the most important factor is that I’m doing what Jesus told us to. I’m helping the less well off not because I want credit or to have an ego boost but because that is how we should live. As Jesus (paraphased) said:

You clothed me, you visited me in prison, you fed me.

When?

Whenever you help someone else you help me.

*** If others are interested we could always set up a Wibsite team on the Kiva site on t’Internet to show others how we’re linked and how we’r helping.

Today I have decided that I’m going to change the way in which I’m going to help the poor people more. It will also comply with my conservative ideals of helping people to help themselves. So instead of giving my money to charities I’ve decided to loan money directly to the people who will make use of it.

So I have begun loaning via www.kiva.org as this allows me to decide which people I wish to loan to and know that it is making an immediate difference in thoer lives. It also means that as they improve their lot and repay the loan I make recycle my money to other’s who need it.

This helps me feel better about what I give as it will mean that I’m not giving to a faceless charity that will use X amount of my giving on admin costs. I can also choose when I want to give Kiva money towards its admin costs and how much. It also means that I don’t have to worry about the charity using it for advertising campaigns or political lobbying that I may not agree with.

I will still give to conventional charities but not as much as I used to do. Micro financing is a concept that I can agree with and support.

Today is a Black Day in human history. Our government has decided that the environment is no longer a priority. Instead they want to expand Heathrow Airport by adding a 3rd runway and a 6th passenger terminal.

Why is this such a catastrophic event?

Well  the government has lied and cheated throughout the process of deciding whether or not the expansion is needed. When the early environmental studies didn’t agree with their plans on pollution limits they sent BAA back to the drawing board – three times – and then the figures agreed.

In addition BAA based its calculations on emmissions from aircraft and engines that have:

a) Not been built.

b) Not even been thought of or researched.

The emmissions levels at Heathrow already exceed the EU limits that will come into effect in 2010. If this happens now how will they be reduced to these levels with more aircraft flying in and out every day? The government, BAA and the airlines tell us that new aircraft will come on line that will be more environmentally friendly and that these new aircraft will be the only ones permitted to fly into Heathrow.

How will they enforce this? Will they really tell airlines from less prosperous nations that their landing slots at Heathrow will be removed? Will they be willing to stand up to other governments?

We’re also told that Heathrow has to be expanded in the interests of the economy. They vaguely talk about expansion at places like Charles de Gaulle and Schipol. Yet this doesn’t add up. Heathrow is still ahead of these airports and is not operating at capacity. We also have runways at Stansted, Luton, Gatwick and London City. More riunways than the main competitors.

We could spend the money on high speed rail and help to take passengers from short haul flights and onto more environmentally friendly transport. Eurostar is already the largest operator on the London Paris route. Air France is so worried about losing traffic that it is already launching new lanes – not in the air but by rail. They beginning to run trains to Brussels and other destinations this year in cooperation with train operators.

There are also plans to begin moving more short haul freight by train instead of air – especially to Paris and Schipol. This is being done by Air France and several large international freight operators. Thus moving traffic from trucks and aircraft to trains.

How are our government helping this shift in modes? They’re increasing the charges for access on the High Speed 1 line into London by train by 500%. This is especially gauling as this is the only route that can accept modern European cargo wagons. There was much lobbying for this by BA and Virgin who want to protect their freight revenues.

Our only hope is that nothing happens before the next election and that we get a Tory government that will keep their promise to cancel the project in favour of a new High Speed 2 line to Manchester and the North. Many of you won’t like a Tory government but they actually accept that, at least with them, the case for an environmental alternative would be the best option.