T_i_B
T_i_B's JournalTories call for new media inquiry that has recommendations they agree with
http://newsthump.com/2012/11/30/tories-call-for-new-media-inquiry-that-has-recommendations-they-agree-with/Speaking in the Commons, Prime Minister David Cameron opposed the recommendations of the Leveson inquiry on the grounds that they were different to what he had in mind.
“Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s a brilliant report,” he said. “It’s got loads of really good words in it and it’s impressively heavy. But what it fundamentally lacks are the recommendations that I want.”
Denis MacShane faces 12 month suspension from Commons over expenses
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-20178332A Parliamentary committee found he had submitted 19 false invoices which were "plainly intended to deceive" Parliament's expenses authority. The committee said it was the "gravest case" which has come to them for adjudication.
The committee's report described Mr MacShane's false claims as "far from what would be acceptable in any walk of life" and "fell far below the standards of integrity and probity expected of every member of the House".
The false invoices related to work Mr MacShane carried out in Europe and he was particularly criticised for his use of public money for European travel.
Things Rich People Never Understand about welfare
http://lauramcinerney.com/2012/10/23/things-rich-people-never-understand/Police and crime commissioner elections November 15th
In just under a month from now we will be having elections for Police & Crime Commissioners (PCC's). Rhe below is a description of what this will involve
http://www.choosemypcc.org.uk/
A police and crime commissioner (PCC) is independent and will be elected to oversee how crime will be tackled in your police force area. Their aim will be to cut crime and to ensure your police force is effective. They will bring more of a public voice to policing and they will do this by:
•regularly engaging and meeting with the public to help set police and crime plans;
•ensuring the police force budget is spent where it matters most; and
•appointing the chief constable, and (if necessary) dismissing them if they have not performed well.
Please feel free to let us know who's standing in your area, and how the election is progressing.
Below is a very worrying article about what's going on in Lincolnshire
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9623068/The-secret-US-lobbyists-behind-Police-and-Crime-Commissioner-election.html
Unusually for a rural local election, he has employed professional campaign staff, commissioned weekly opinion polls, opened “field offices” and is driven in a chauffeured Mercedes. He has poured tens of thousands of pounds into the elections, far more than any other candidate anywhere else in Britain.
Mr Barrett describes himself as an “independent”, opposed to “party politics” in policing. He has refused to disclose who is funding him, despite widespread local suspicions generated by the intensity and professionalism of his campaign.
However, it can now be revealed that it has been run by a team from a US-based neo-conservative think tank, the Fund for the New American Century, funded in part by a variety of corporate donors with an interest in public-sector privatisation.
Ah, Irvine Patnick
I grew up in Sheffield Hallam, and as such Patnick was my MP during my formative years.
My (VERY right-wing) parents had dealings with him as a constituency MP and rated him highly. However, looking at his record as an MP it's difficult to concur.
Conservatism in Sheffield died in Patnick's time as an MP, he was one of the last Sheffield Tories to be booted out. He lost Hallam to the Lib Dems with an 18% swing against him. I think that might have been the biggest anti-tory swing of any constituency that election (and that took some doing even in 1997 when the Tories were decimated).
For some time now there have been no elected officials at any level from the Conservative Party in Sheffield. During Patnick's time they only ever seemed to campaign in the very poshest areas of the constituency, and these days the most you ever see of Sheffield Tories is anonymous bile on Sheffield Forum.
Patnick was not exactly sympathetic to people suffering due to Thatcher's economic polices. Given how badly a northern manufacturing town like Sheffield was affected that was an incredibly bad attitude to take. It should have served as a warning to the current Sheffield Hallam MP, Nick Clegg but sadly he's currently repeating many of the same mistakes made by Irvine Patnick.
Patnick was a government whip during John Major's government when the Tory Party was tearing itself apart over Europe. I remember him mainly as a loyal party man, although right now all anybody is noticing about him on Twitter is his support of Apartheid, the death penalty and opposition to gay rights. He was knighted in 1994 and a Labour MP (John Mann) has already written to the prime minister requesting that he be stripped of his knighthood over his porkies regarding the Hillsborough.
Apparently the press are outside his house right now waiting for an apology that may or may not be forthcoming. Even that scumbag Kelvin Mackenzie has offered an insincere apology, trying to pass the buck onto Patnick.
I am increasingly worried about the debate on EU membership in the UK
It's being dominated by people who have not got the slightest clue about international trade, which is the biggest benefit we get from EU membership.
Contrary to what the likes of UKIP would have you believe, leaving the EU would greatly increase red tape and taxation in the form of import duties, which would make UK businesses much less competitive as it would be much less easy to export and would drive up the cost of imports (which would be very bad for our economy given how much we do import).
There is a lot about the EU that I dislike, but I do wish that debate on the subject of Europe could be just a little more nuanced. The "Europe right or wrong" mentality of some pro-EU types doesn't help either if I'm honest.
It's time to demolish the myth about Tony Blair
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/owen-jones-its-time-to-demolish-the-myth-about-tony-blair-7808282.htmlTake the privatisation of the NHS. Under Blair, private sector involvement began to flourish and a commercial directorate was set up in the Department of Health. Gove is now expanding Blair's Academy schools programme, and free schools are a logical extension of them. The Coalition trebled the tuition fees that Blair introduced. Across public services, Blair expanded the role of the private sector – though not as fast as he would have liked, thanks to internal party opposition. But Cameron is taking this "reform" (the Blairite and Tory code word for "privatisation"
ever further. "Public sector reform" has come up in the many conversations Blair has apparently had with Cameron, and I'm sure the ex-PM has had much advice to offer.
It was the murderous invasion of Iraq – described by former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan as "illegal" – that, for many, makes Blair unforgivable rather than a mere disappointment. It competes with the expenses scandal for the damage it did to faith in politicians. While in power, he courted despots like Egypt's Hosni Mubarak, whom he described as "immensely courageous and a force for good" when the Egyptian people rose against him. Today, the man who partly justified the invasion of Iraq with Saddam's sickening human rights record is being paid $13 million to advise the brutal dictator of Kazakhstan.
His defenders argue that Labour could not have won without him. It is a myth. Black Wednesday in 1992 finished off the Tories, and Labour enjoyed subsequent massive poll leads under John Smith. Of the five million votes that Labour lost in its 13 years in power, four million went awol under Blair's leadership. It wasn't so-called "Middle England" that deserted the party. According to Ipsos MORI, while middle-class professional support for Labour declined by five percentage points between 1997 and 2010, support among skilled workers plummeted by 21 per cent.
Hatred of those on benefits is dangerously out of control
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/owen-jones-hatred-of-those-on-benefits-is-dangerously-out-of-control-7763793.htmlSix of the biggest disability charities have warned that the campaign of demonisation – by both journalists and politicians – has led to a surge in abuse towards people with disabilities. According to Scope, two-thirds reported abuse in September last year, up from 41 per cent just four months earlier.
But this campaign helps sustain public acquiescence in a massacre of the welfare state. George Osborne plans £10bn of further benefit cuts; Cameron's parting spinmeister Steve Hilton has proposed £25bn. Half a million people are to have their disability living allowance taken away, even though the estimated fraud rate is just 0.5 per cent. People with serious illnesses are being stripped of their employment and support allowance, after undergoing the horrendous (and often humiliating) ordeal of a points-based assessment by French corporation Atos. One man with a degenerative lung disease, Larry Newman, was awarded no points – just a few weeks before he died of his illness. Under New Labour (let's not forget who started this), one woman had her benefits cut after missing an assessment appointment – because she was in hospital having chemotherapy for stomach cancer.
But we rarely see this reality: it is intentionally hidden from us. The Government and much of the media divert anger from those who caused the crisis, to your "scrounging" neighbour down the street. And so we end with Carole Malone arguing that a family whose children died in a fire brought it on themselves. It is beyond shameful. And it must be challenged.
From the Telegraph article.....
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/phone-hacking/9238358/MPs-phone-hacking-report-Rupert-Murdoch-not-fit-person-to-run-News-Corp.htmlThe report says: “On the basis of the facts and evidence before the committee, we conclude that, if at all relevant times Rupert Murdoch did not take steps to become fully informed about phone-hacking, he turned a blind eye and exhibited wilful blindness to what was going on in his companies and publications.
“This culture, we consider, permeated from the top throughout the organisation and speaks volumes about the lack of effective corporate governance at News Corporation and News International.
“We conclude, therefore, that Rupert Murdoch is not a fit person to exercise the stewardship of a major international company.”
George Washington named Britain's greatest ever foe
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/9204961/George-Washington-named-Britains-greatest-ever-foe.htmlThe American was voted the winner in a contest run by the National Army Museum to identify the country's most outstanding military opponent.
He was one of a shortlist of five leaders who topped a public poll and on Saturday was selected as the ultimate winner by an audience of around 70 guests at a special event at the museum, in Chelsea, west London.
In second place was Michael Collins, the Irish leader, ahead of Napoleon Bonaparte, Erwin Rommel and Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.
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