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"Mr Martin may have reached the end of the road as Speaker, but tonight we will be asking if his ousting is simply the first step on the path to monumental reform of Parliament."

In the wake of a) the ratification of the EU Lisbon Treaty and b) devolution/abrogation to global neo-liberal anarchistic market-forces, do we really have any say in the matter, and aren't we just being entreated to yet more theatrics?

NO ONE JJ Arty Farty TheaTricks wont/dont Impress/Entreat Me.

Lets be Having/Halving their Pensions. IE NOW

We Can Bury their Bodies later

"And on the issue of reform, in the last few minutes Prime Minister Gordon Brown has just been speaking about the need for British politics to open up to more outside scrutiny, saying that: "Westminster cannot operate like some gentlemen's club where members make up the rules and operate them among themselves.""

The conventional way to open politics up to democratic scrutiny is to organise a General Election. Did Gordon Brown miss that key Politics 1
lecture when he was a student in Edinburgh University I wonder?

There were reports on Channel 4 that up until mid-morning Downing Street was apparently hoping that a byelection in Glasgow North East could be avoided even if The Speaker resigned? Sounds typical Gordon Brown ....

And while Scotland was watching Alex Salmond on Channel 4 News Labour
(at least in marginal Dundee West) was ringing up to drag folk away from their television screens to aks them how they were intendind to vote ...

If it had been a real person on the other end of the line they might have got a dusty answer - but it was a recorded Labour Party message.
I put the phone down just as the voice said 'please enter your answer on the keypad using the following numbers ...' And they call this democracy.

Labour must be really scared.

Channel 4's Lobby Correspondent has just reported bumping into several people already canvassing for candidates for Speaker ..... but then he
apparently met someone who told him they were canvassing 'for Alan'. He
then asked: 'Who's Alan?' And was told: 'Alan Johnston!'

[Channel 4's Gary Gibbon talking to Jon Snow at the end of C4 News]

As the monarch, I believe that the Queen should have the right to immediately dissolve Parliament, when the Government of the day has failed to uphold the democratic principles of this country.
The ability of the Government to carry on as if their mandate is still intact is to deny the overwhelming will of the people, and must be overridden.

We are not hearing much about our role as the "Mother of Democracy" right now.
What are people around the world saying about our politics in the UK right now?

do we honestly think it will stop them dressing up in frocks and wigs and calling each other Rt Hon and carrying maces about the place....away with all this humbug and hoodoo and join the 21st century. I used to think we are different from most countries, we are civilised, they are a bit banana republic and we are the home of democracy when all we were stunk to high heaven with a system of moat diggers and oneupmanship gone mad. The speaker was one of theirs in the end, he went along with the humbug ritual and after his lowly beginnings you would have thought he would have known better but no, he, like Kinnock before him joined the club and sold out. The system eats everyone in the end as it will surely do this time no matter how many 'reviews' we get how many 'MP's reports' we get. We need a 1789 moment, a new speaker won't cut it....

The 7/7 bombing story is surprising - not least the reference to alleged lack of resources. My recollection is that prior to G8 at Gleneagles the budget for the security services in the UK was roughly equivalent to the budget for British overseas aid. In the runup to G8 moreover the whole of Scotland was on alert for a year and the only incidents that marred the occasion were the London bombings and the activities of some of the thousands of police brought up to Scotland from England to keep lawful
demonstrators as far away as possible from the actual G8 Conference ...

10,000 police were diverted from England to Scotland during July 2005:

Aew we just seeing a shaking up in order to reconfigure? Next to media/entertainment professionals, politicians have to be dab hands at theatrics.

When does Mr Martin (rightly) take up his seat in the House fo Lords?

7/7 Catalogue of missed chances.
Really... How can our security services be expected to keep tabs on everybody.
They are far too busy following orders to watch this control freak government's opponents, or indeed anyone who dare challenge their hideous dictatorship and dangerous immigration policy.

"5. At 8:02pm on 19 May 2009, schniper wrote:
As the monarch, I believe that the Queen should have the right to immediately dissolve Parliament, when the Government of the day has failed to uphold the democratic principles of this country.
The ability of the Government to carry on as if their mandate is still intact is to deny the overwhelming will of the people, and must be overridden."

This Constitutional Crisis story really is fast moving ..... when did
'schniper' get voted in as Queen? Must go and check Schneefachs ......

The speaker done the right thing by stepping down,now is the time for the MPS who been abusing the system to do the same or the public will force them to do so by calling for genaral election.

Stephen Fry thinks the expenses row is media-hyped nonsense and not important in the greater scheme of things. "I've fiddled my expenses- you've fiddled expenses"! He has a point, but overlooks the significance of the possible consequences. For the first time some of the institutional corruption that goes on in high places is exposed for all to see. Surely this gives the public an unprecedented opportunity to take the initiative and sweep away the structures that harboured and nurtured the culture of the midden. We, the public, need to do this- after all, when did the horses ever muck out the stables?

I don't advocate a revolution; I believe the necessary changes can be achieved within our existing electoral system. These changes, though, are more radical than the existing establishment is capable of imagining. During the discussions about external regulation, I've heard no-one point out that having MPs set their own salaries and pensions is just as preposterous as the internally-formulated benefit rules. Public servants, they call themselves when feigning humility. Who ever heard of a servant setting his own pay and benefits without reference to his employer?

There is a clear need for an external regulatory body, and I was glad to hear Gordon Brown say as much this afternoon. I wonder, though, what remit he imagines such a body should have? I propose that it assesses the performance of Parliament and sets members' pay and perks accordingly. It would be empowered to cut the size of the legislative work force if necessary. It will of course be provided with the necessary information in an open way and its decisions will be published with reasons.

In the General Election which will I hope take place before long, the candidate who gets my vote will be the one who advances the most convincing picture of a new Open Parliament, serving the people and regulated by them.

I'd like to hear others' suggestions on how the Board of Masters of Parliament should be constituted- and how MP's productivity could be measured. While we are at it, should we not look at discarding most of the UK parliament and replacing it with a suitably-sized English one? A small unit could be incorporated with inputs to each of the regional assemblies to handle national security issues.

After we've sorted this one out, we can turn our attention to Europe...

PARTY POLITICS PRESIDING IN A PALACE -

Presiding over the inexorable eradication of all that is wholesome in governance. Shiny-Boy Dave, fresh from 20-20 failure to see anything 'going on' under his sharp little nose (prior to the Telegraph tapping on his scrubbed head)is now announcing that a General Election empowers the people. 20-20 blindness again Dave? Has no one told you that VERY FEW votes actually count? No Dave - a REFERENDUM empowers the people; you should know; on Europe, you keep demanding one. So you are at it again Dave - and we are not supposed to notice - right Dave? By the way - a word in your ear: The more you attempt to be commanding and statesmanlike, the posher your voice gets. Now me, I am totally without prejudice - don't even notice - but, do yourself a fave Dave: take some oikycution lessons.

And those other jokers Incapability Brown and Calamity Clegg - well, where to start. They are playing the same game as you. Suddenly the skies are full of incredibly competent proto-leaders, none of whom saw EITHER of the two money messes coming: global or globular. Listen Dave, you may not be smart enough to organise a Beetle Drive in a Scout Hut, but just you keep on with "let that people speak in a General Election" tosh, and I'll be round there wearing my best waistcoat.

REFERENDUM QUESTION: Should Westminster politics, as currently set up and operated, be replaced absolutely? (Note that last word.)

Although I am not a supporter of the current lot, there are far worse in the world. Of course there are some outrageous expense claims and some MPs need to be investigated and punished as appropriate. But in the real world, we do have to have some sort of legislature and I am not persuaded that any other system would be any sort of panacea.

Schiper at #5 suggests something along the lines I have suggested before - that there should be some way of causing the monarch to exercise his/her residual prerogative powers to dissolve Parliament otherwise than on the PM's advice. The problem would be finding a mechanism to do it. Even though I'm a monarchist, I'm not comfortable at the idea of going back to the days of a monarch having unbridled executive powers.

To provide some protection from abuse, we could maybe allow the monarch to dissolve Parliament on receipt of a petition with, say, 20% of voters signatures on it, provided at least 3 years have elapsed since the last election. We should also perhaps allow "recall votes" for individual MOs like they have in some US states. That would keep some of the worst MPs on their toes (provided people don't always vote along party lines without question).

HAVE YOU STOPPED CHEATING MY LIFE? FOOL OR KNAVE - CHOOSE.

When you MP comes fawning round, these are two defining questions. The bankers were robbing the bubble and the MPs were bathing in bubbly.
AND NO ONE IN AUTHORITY KNEW IT WAS HAPPENING.

No wonder children get abused under the watch of authorities. No wonder bombers make bombs under the watch of authorities. No wonder prisons fill up, alcohol damages more lives, tobacco refuses to die and military force is misapplied.

Under the present ethos - Westminster Governance - the wrong kind of mentality is selected and, of them, the barmy ones reach the top. We are in very serious do-do.

# 5 & 6
What a good idea! if I were the Queen I would definitely give it some serious thought!

One thing that is really beginning to bug me about the situation outgoing Speaker is all this nonsense being spouted by "friends" of his that he is the victim of snobbery. I've even just heard one of his political friends say it's partly because he's the first Roman Catholic Speaker. What a load of old tosh. Apart from the expenses stuff, the reason he's having to go is that he's not good enough at the job.

Betty Boothroyd and George Thomas were working class Labour MPs before being elected to the Speakership. But that didn't prevent them from being able to string a sentence together, especialy in a written speech, and from understanding the rules of the House. It's not being snobbish to say that anyone being elected to such a position needs to be able to do it properly.

So why are Jacqui Smith and Hazel Blears still in Brown's Cabinet? Too weakened to fire them? Why too is Gordon's old flatmate Nigel Griffiths
a member of the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee? Loyalties??


What action is being taken too to stop Lord Kinnock's British Council
secretly offering MPs freebie overseas trips?

barrie (#14) "Now me, I am totally without prejudice - don't even notice - but, do yourself a fave Dave: take some oikycution lessons.

And those other jokers Incapability Brown and Calamity Clegg - well, where to start. They are playing the same game as you. Suddenly the skies are full of incredibly competent proto-leaders, none of whom saw EITHER of the two money messes coming: global or globular. Listen Dave, you may not be smart enough to organise a Beetle Drive in a Scout Hut, but just you keep on with "let that people speak in a General Election" tosh, and I'll be round there wearing my best waistcoat."

Excellent Barrie. I tried christening them Gaffy, Daffy and Naffy in a blogdoged satirical sketch in an effort to get across just how disaffected many of us are with their 'transparently' affected theatrics - but you've done it, and you've not been censored either.

Rhetoricaly question: Why all the drama? The Speaker was traditionally due to stand down about now anyway wasn't he? There weren't lots of MPs demanding that he went, there was a tiny minority which had the air of theatre about them. Why all the distortions and hyperbole?

Well at last Newsnight panel tonight has caught up with what I have been blogging over a year, that the old party system has gone. The Whigs went, the Liberal party went, old Tory went and now New Labour, my party has gone. Well it was really Old Tory.

That is why all the talk of an election without reform is a nonsense. It will be the same old corrupt lot this time with a Tory landslide. As someone said tonight we could be sliding to an American system.

Personally I am disgusted with the lot of them. I just wish we could find out how long this has been going on and how much they hsve ripped us off for the last 100 years or whenever this corrupt syatem came in.

The interview with Mullins and Baker (not Carswell) was more like a comfy chat between three (Paxman included) smug, self satisfied participants who have just overcome a minor inconvenience. Paxman being sychophantic towards Mullins was a bit like watching Jonathan Ross crawl around Elton John. Nauseating.

So we are to have another Speaker elected by the crooks of Westminster and be grateful for it while the whole Westminster, ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ etc etc cabal closes ranks. As a display of what is wrong with the governance of this country that item pretty well had the lot.

Quite revealing that under gentle questioning from Jeremy Paxman Michael Mates MP who is on the Security Services Oversight Committee conceded it was not after all a question of 'resources', but that the resources were
'diverted' whenever West Yorkshire police asked for additional resources
to keep an eye on those 52 potential terrorists 'on the bottom of their
list' ...... But how many of the 10,000 additional police 'diverted' to
Scotland during the July 2005 G8 at Gleneagles came from West Yorkshire?

10,000 divided by 52 is incidentally 192 ...... they could have had 192 policemen tailing each of the 52 suspects had decisions been different?

There was of course a need to police Gleneagles - but I remember that a large part of Dundee's Kingsway was closed off to traffic during the G8
when fertiliser was found in a disused lock-up by Tayside police. The fact that some of these suspects in Yorkshire had been investigated in connection with fertiliser purchase should therefore have been one of the criteria used down south to be extra vigilant surely?

The Glasgow airport attack did also not come out of the blue entirely: it coincided with a transfer of power from Tony Blair to Gordon Brown,
and widespread speculation in the press that Al Qaida might 'test' him.
Scottish airports were an obvious target given that Brown was Scottish.

REGULATION - INTERNAL v EXTERNAL (2000 words - in by Monday)

External regulation is rules, supervision and penalties - and is defeated by cunning. Internal regulation, to the simpletons of the NN studio, is intrinsically bad people being impossibly good - cos they said they would. Yeah - right.
But there is a better form of internal regulation - it's called integrity (even HONOUR) but you have to choose your MPs with care - not party-pre-selected ciphers bearing rosettes. How do we address this? Get shot of parties AND ROSETTES (placards and balloons) and seek out the best. Some worthies, tonight, danced all round this, but have still not twigged: we must SPOIL PARTY GAMES.

THE BUSHBLAIR AXIS OF DECEPTION?

Before Bush-Blair congealed, we used to speak of Black Days in Britain Black Monday, Black Wednesday. Since that holy alliance was forged, resonance of 9/11 with 7/7 is inescapable.

NOW it is emerging that 7/7 was not out of the blue in intelligence terms; and those who have cared to look, will know that Americas New Pearl Harbour was not without warning signs either. Perhaps, only now, are the shaken pieces of Blairs kaleidoscope settling and the picture is not pretty.

Both 9/11 and 7/7 are characterised by the same sort of melting away of defensive strategies, as preparation for the attack proceeded, that I can only liken to something out of a Batman film.

When you sup with the Devil, vile conspiracy is not table-gossip, it is the main course.

I agree with #18 that the removal of The Speaker had nothing to do with him being Scottish, Glasgwegian or a Catholic and everything to do with
serial incompetence and defence of the indefensible. Interestingly, one
of the people trotting out this line on Newsnight Scotland was marginal
Dundee West MP Jim McGovern (see my earlier post tonight at #3 about a recorded message received by his constituents while he was waiting in
the Newsnight Green Room!) McGovern is also working class - but he is
also a defender of the status quo ..... He voted against The Gurkhas,
resigned as a PPS over privatisation of Royal Mail but only after the
post-offices in Dundee West had been closed down while he was the bag
carrier for post-office Minister Pat McFadden, and his recent attack
on Dundee's Lord Provost led to the Lord Provost voting down Labour's
minority administration in the City Council and ushering in the SNP -


Mr McGovern said about The Lord Provost's principled decision to vote the largest party in the Council in to power instead of Labour cronies:

I am extremely disappointed to hear of this. John Letford and I were elected to the then Tayside Regional Council on the same day in May 1994 and I can recall at both Labour group and Council meetings, he struck me as a politician with principles. In fact, I am sure I can recall him saying of himself in one meeting that if you cut him in two he would be like a stick of rock with Labour and Trade Union movement written right through.

Sadly, it would seem that the status and perhaps the financial consideration s which come with the chain of office have served to gnaw away at the principles contained in that stick of rock, until they no longer exist. If Mr Letford wishes to be reminded of what principles actually are, he need look no further than his former colleagues in the City Council Labour group. They still have them.

Mr McGovern said:

I am extremely disappointed to hear of this. John Letford and I were elected to the then Tayside Regional Council on the same day in May 1994 and I can recall at both Labour group and Council meetings, he struck me as a politician with principles. In fact, I am sure I can recall him saying of himself in one meeting that if you cut him in two he would be like a stick of rock with Labour and Trade Union movement written right through.

Sadly, it would seem that the status and perhaps the financial consideration s which come with the chain of office have served to gnaw away at the principles contained in that stick of rock, until they no longer exist. If Mr Letford wishes to be reminded of what principles actually are, he need look no further than his former colleagues in the City Council Labour group. They still have them.



This same guy is now defending The Speaker of The House of Sleaze -
nuff said .......

Did I hear correctly: Douglas Carswell, presumably with the consent of David Cameron, displaying the beginnings of the Conservative's public support for democracy? Will wonders never cease? I fear it may be too late, however, given the Tories aren't up for the 'European' fight. Most democracy has been, treacherously, ceded to Brussels, so what could this new democracy be used for? I suppose, though, we should be grateful for small mercies and hope a few more are thrown our way.

I now await the abandonment of 'hug a hoody' and 'hug a polar bear' and other wishy-washy nonsense.

I fear I'm becoming a bit giddy with this new talk of 'democracy', so hope I don't get carried away.

[Talking to myself: 'remember, remember [hit myself on the head, repeatedly], what you did in 1997. Wait and see what the Tories propose. Don't make a vote for the Conservatives the second biggest mistake in your life.']

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

I must say if our new political classless are 'getting it' at last, they have a darn funny way of articulating it.

Just watched a Minister pay homage to ex-Speaker Martin, 'who showed just what a person he was by his noble deeds for the sake of the country', or some such horse manure.

I don't think his tongue was in his cheek.

Which part of presiding over a decade of abuses, trying to cover everything up and clinging on by his fingertips until prized loose by his equally tush-concerned mate Gordon, all in trying to score one last, wafer-thin £130k, factored into this quaint notion?

I also find this latest 'gentleman's club' thing rather clever... for a politician of a certain hue, if not for any in theory objective media that go along with it.

Beyond being merely interested in what the actual balance of 'toffs' across all parties might be, as I have found some sport in whispering in the ear of Aunty's sisterhood, another might be to ask whether there are no female public schools (or at least that churn out anyone with a serious career), as this is the impression that seems to be created... with help from their male counterparts at almost every turn.

And I have yet to have explained how 'voting' in the next overseer, albeit in 'secret', by the very clowns who have a vested interest in who oversees them, is something that the public needs not to be troubled with.

Other than funding, of course.

Again.

THE GRATE AND THE PUD STEP OUT

How predictable and depressing that the likes of Shirley Williams and Benn-Boy are now talking in terms that show they have 'known all along' of Parliament's slide.

They are stepping out of the lie that they - by clear inference - CHOSE to stay in while it suited. Not ONE of these pale grey puddings was prepared to risk annihilation ON BEHALF OF BRITAIN by denouncing the Westminster Swamp, while swimming contentedly in it. And as if to underline their lack of acumen, they have not a clue how visible their strategy is to those with a bit of mental competence.

I note that Benn-Boy has dropped his 'Blair Glottal' - AT LAST. Miliband D stopped some time back, while Limited Ed (always slow to catch on) only does it when stressed, now. Poor Hilary; did it take a slap from papa to get him to drop that banal homage to our greatest War Leader of all time? The foregoing all points up the need to elect COMPETENT, MATURE INDIVIDUALS as I have been crying in the wilderness for years. That means: SPOIL PARTY GAMES. Rosette-stands and whips are a destructive combination, lending nothing to good state management.

PS Alan Duncan plays a 'fine statesman' when he stops giggling. Is he Rada trained? Impressed - what?

PPS It has been noted that they applauded Speaker Martin, just as they applauded Tony Blair - in both cases: as they departed. There should be UNENDING applause in that Putrid Palace.

- evidently the Pope isn't contrite enough in other areas.

The revenge for inquisition - it never stops does it? ;-)

Yet again, last night, Jeremy Paxman sneered when the Lib Dem spokesman raised the issue of proportional representation.

It seems it's not good enough for us but wherever we (ie Her Maj's Govt) impose a democratic process we impose proportional representation.

Stop sneering and have a proper look at the subject.

Wrecked

the good old english religion of preserving things comes up again.

which is how the house of commons financial 9/11 came about? preserving old customs and habits which is why they dress like they are part of a 18th century cult?

we also need a written constitution, a new oath [that protects more than the privileges of one family], a new national anthem [not a monarchy singsong] and a head of state that is not based upon the idea of discrimination dressed up like a role game.

ideally in a new building.

How many Holocaust Deniers and Agnostics will be putting their "evidence" to the Djemjanjuk trial (no death camps no death camp guards)?

I am assuming that the number will be somewhere between zero and zero point zero.

I am not sure that the German legal process would permit such a detour but the chance to refute the "agnostics" is there. If they take it I hope the UK media will pick up on that.

#31 barriesingleton

"....risk annihilation ON BEHALF OF BRITAIN by denouncing the Westminster Swamp..."

I think you will find the huge majority of British citizens would regard the odious views of the far right as "the swamp".

Even today when there is the clear need to regenerate democracy the kind of people considering the far right were probably frothing at the mouth before the expenses crisis.

#33 stool-pigeon

I utterly agree. The expenses crisis is a symptom of the constitutional arrangements and resolving how MPs are paid does not resolve the problems - such as the "'umble" cheating Labour Peers and the Iraq war.

Men in tights, unelected peers, a monarchy (in my world), no checks and balances, a vague constitution give birth to these problems.

But the current arrangements are still better than the evil tyranny of the far right.

#22 , Billbradbury

I for one don't believe you are an old Labour Party activist. Think you could be far away from the right of the Labour Party.

Read the 11 page reference at the end of famous UNESCO statement from 1950, taking a very close look at the authors, what do you notice? Give some careful thought to the available facts and how they just don't seem to matter. Ask, apart from Hayek who was also an asylum seeker, who else was one of Thatcher's and at one time persona non grata down-under? Why?

What is invariably left out with respect to heritage? Why?

Meanwhile, unfitness ever more shows up in both our demographics and economics, whilst in the Middle-East do we see universal brotherhood illustrated by example? Why not?

ABUSE AND COVER-UP IN EARLIER TIMES - AND TODAY (#32)

The Grammar School that I attended in the 50s, had a sadistic, homosexual PE teacher. When I tried to alert the head, I was threatened with expulsion (by a devious ruse). After I left the school, the master was 'removed' under clouded circumstances.

All institutions and organisations (e.g. Church, Military and Parliament) will sacrifice any ideal and any individual to protect an unwarranted 'reputation'. That's civilisation for you.

Thanks for kind words recently JJ. (:o)

My favourites of the night were the lively debate by Jeremy with Michael C and Chris Mullins & Co, and also David and Richard's reports too :o) Very interesting report by Stephen too.

What depresses, but does not surprise, is the collection of 'moving on' attempts I am now seeing.

Slightly more surprising is the motley collection of individuals who see themselves, and whose party evidently sees as being the best embodiment of this culture.

Er, no.

It minds me of a comedy skit (I wish I could remember which), where a confused punter is confronted by an ever-rotating collection of service representatives at the counter, who are in fact always clearly the same person. And saying the same, nonsensical thing over and over, if in different ways, as if that will satisfy.

What is worst in all this, are how many in the MSM now seem to feel this is fine, as the circus simply moves on.

I watched on SKY as the genuineness of the PM's smirk was shuttled too and fro in the edit suite several times to assess, and his 'performance', and that of others, rated by a self-satisfied collection of WUVI's, as if what they saw and now think has any bearing on what the rest of us can see and still think.

High on my list is that actions count, and a lot more from the past will need even more from the future, and changing the drapes in a house of ill repute doesn't make the professional practices within any different.

Try again guys. It ain't washing in Worcester yet.

MOVING ON - MOTIONS - BEING DUMPED ON - POLITICS (#42)

Well put Junkk. It is all smoke and mirrors with a view to getting the fuddled masses back to sleep again. What hell for the political classes that there is no tax-money to bribe us or pocket-money to buy gewgaws and anaesthetics. We might even stay awake long enough to see how the trick is done!

Ben Bradshaw (the alternative mans Hugh Grant) was on Daily Politics, busy proving your point. He declared himself a 'constitutional radical' when i have only ever seen a fawning acolyte. Odd that. And you will LOVE this: he did not go public with his exemplary expenditure, to avoid pressurising colleagues. So we know which side he is on. There's radical.

Incidentally, some other guy was on shouting how the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ is INCREDIBLE VALUE! I wonder if he watches Newsnight and sings along . . .

You know what they say: "If it won't wash in Worcester" it ain't worth the Persil." (POLITICAL EVASIVE RABBITING SERVING IFFY LOGIC)

I don't know if people already caught the Charlie Brooker piece in the Guardian:

"Here's a fantasy. We - the decent British majority - spend years toiling in secret, creating a life-size replica of Britain in the middle of the Pacific. It's identical down to the tiniest blade of grass, or branch of Gregg's. And one night, while every member of the BNP is asleep, we whisk them via helicopter to this replica UK, this Backup Britain. Put them in replica beds in replica homes. Then we fly back home to watch the fun on CCTV.

For several weeks, they walk around, confused, but pleased. The weather's nice! More importantly, there are no black faces! Then the infrastructure breaks down and they start to starve, and there's no one to blame but themselves. And then someone with GPS on their phone works out what's happened, realises they've all become immigrants in their own land. Half of them go mad and start attacking each other. The rest desperately apply for asylum in Britain. The real Britain. The decent, tolerant Britain. The country you can be proud of."

You know I think they would look for other characteristics like eye colour. I think it was California where children were led to believe, in an experiment, that kids with blue eyes were inferior and .... bish, bash, bosh they were isolated.

Propaganda makes slaves, education liberates.

Perhaps those that were thinking of voting BNP will watch the excellent "Incredible Human Journey" and to see we all have much more in common, socially and genetically, than divides us.

But then I am in the camp that is going to be VERY surprised if this "swing to the BNP" does result in Euro seats - so there are very few people who are so disgusted with Parliament they would vote for the evils that the BNP would bring.

Then the soft part of the BNP vote will collapse and the "hard" part will break into factions (again) and feed off each other.

Hoorah!

When does the media and the HoC track down McBride and find out whether the smear campaign fuse wire does stretch back to Gordon Brown?

I find it hard to believe that he could go to ground for this length of time without help - and if there is no concern over what he may say why help him?

My personal views -

All the world is a stage or should that just be Westminster ?

So with nearly 1 in 7 MP's named and shamed by the Telegraph (any writs for slander or defamation issued yet ?), we are now expected to allow them to Make Good the issues over their expenses or is it so they can do a Fred and approve their own pension terms (are they not on finally salary pensions ? )?

If a new Speaker is voted in on the 21st of June , when a general elections comes there is no guarantee he/she will win his seat back , as there is no enforceable rule to stop another party from putting up a candidate in the Speakers constituency , as shown by the SNP.

Some Reforms Needed -

Then there is the subject of empowering MP's again to actually hold the executive to account , this must include of a minister , even the Prime Minster as it use to be (or still is ?) and a limit on Parties use of Whipped Votes and the ruling parties use of the guillotine to restrict debates (as seen in the Lisbon Treaty Debates, MP's given less than 10 mins to make a speech (including other MP's interventions) and a lot of MP's were not even called because of the time limit placed on the debate, it was shameful to watch).
Then there is the matter of clarification on how a constituency can (for breach of manifesto promise and or collective loss of trust) , I personally believe there are no Laws currently to stop this , but there is no defined way to do it and would take trial and error in a court of law to do it. I am surprised No One in the legal profession is willing to fight this for free and go down in legal history for clarifying the peoples Liberty to select their own representative as and when they collectively choose to do so.

For the above to happen , I think we need a general election , it's the peoples parliament and the people should have the defining say in what happens.

#40 barriesingleton

"All institutions and organisations (e.g. Church, Military and Parliament) will sacrifice any ideal and any individual to protect an unwarranted 'reputation'."

From the people who want the BNP in power and are "agnostic" on the Holocaust.

By the way Rohm was homosexual and was shot, not because he was gay, but because Hitler feared for his own position and could get rid of a rival. Himmler oversaw one of the most sadistic manifestations of state power, for Hitler, seen for a thousand years.

Did he not have furniture made from human parts, or was that Borman?

But if you were abused I am genuinely sorry for that.

Ida

Is it me or does Ida look just like a dinosaur with a very long tail? Given the common wisdom that dinosaurs once ruled our planet, I assume paleontologists have discovered fossils of similar species in the past? Which body features on Ida illustrate the missing link between human beings and our ancestor? What is the missing link in Darwins evolution theory? I wish the two scientists interviewed last night had more time to explain these points. Nevertheless, hats off to the science team! This piece and Stephen Smiths story on fishing at shipwreck sites are much more interesting than the tuna business I had to sit and endure on Monday, which sadly has ruined one of my favorite food for the foreseeable future : (

thegangofone (#44) "Perhaps those that were thinking of voting BNP will watch the excellent "Incredible Human Journey" and to see we all have much more in common, socially and genetically, than divides us."

So, BNP supporters have much in common with you then? You must presumably also have far more in common with me than you realise too? who would have thought?

Also, if we all have so much in common, why aren't the Arabs and Israelis living in peace and harmony guided by their love of the same God and many prophets? Also, how do you explain assortive mating, and why doesn't Sir Alan Sugar talk/behave like a hippie? ;-)

Incidentally, speaking of assortive mating, we also have much in common with bananas and sheep - and no, I suggest we don't go there ;-)

See earlier post for some enlightening reading from UNESCO.

BANKANISATION: WHAT A DIFFERENCE A LETTER MAKES

Thought for the day:

Why is it OK for there to be a SNP but not a BNP? ;-)

thegangofone (#45) "I find it hard to believe that he could go to ground for this length of time without help - and if there is no concern over what he may say why help him?"

Have you given much thought to which things you find hard to believe and which things you don't? ;-)

WHAT HAPPENED THERE THEN?

A 'Daily Politics' emailer made the point that, while not actually fiddling, THEY MUST HAVE KNOWN. But DP went straight to the mug competition and then moved on. That Westminster, as a body, knew the fiddles were rife, can be in no doubt, and that senior politicians were 'good' men doing nothing, is axiomatic. So why did The DP run away? Fool or Knave time again. So soon?

Would the rush from come-uppance for the politicians in the studio be a decision taken buy some producer-with-agenda and fed through an earpiece to the front-dummies? i think we should be told.

Where did Ahmadinejad say "Iran has successfully test fired a new medium-range missile capable of striking as far as Israel or southern Europe"?

Perhaps thegangofone can help given he's a dab hand at 'spotting' this type of assertion?

Watching the unfolding story of the Speaker's demise, I was uncomfortably reminded of that thing you used to do as a child, when someone has you well and truly cornered and you suddenly shout "but hey look, over there!!!" and run away.

#40 Barrie

"All institutions and organisations (e.g. Church, Military and Parliament) will sacrifice any ideal and any individual to protect an unwarranted 'reputation'. That's civilisation for you".

One local authority asked me to produce an executive summary to create 1000 jobs. Think by-election last year. A panicking County Councillor contacted me to say they had submitted it to the Government pretended it was theirs and had got £10 million for it. He warned me not to draw any attention that I was the author as it would be dangerous.

The proposal gave the dates of catastrophic flooding in the UK and the extent of a UK recession if not avoided. I had to do something.

The local police asked to attend police station. I was tortured and nearly killed. A few weeks later I got a large envelop of custody and arrest documents, for a non existent arrest. Plus forged witness statements.

This was bread and butter to me I had worked on quality control on MOD projects. I didn't take me long to work out the how, when and who involved in the fabrication. The police were running a scam with solicitors. The police forge the custody records, a solicitor signs them to give them credibility. Police get 100% clear up for non existent crimes and the solicitors use the forged custody records to claim for 'seeing' non existent clients.

The police were furious they threatened to kill me or put me away for a long time by making up other false offences. The courts wouldn't allow the prosecution case to be cross examined or me to give evidence. The magistrates were from the local authority. Neat. I had had my business closed down, my job taken off me and was made homeless. Discredited.

So in 2007 £5 billion of flood damage occurred and 13 people died. Hundreds of people knew it was going to happen more than 10 years before. An 'incident' done from the inside.

Children were being abused and tortured, put into care and prison for no other reason than fabricated crime stats and the money from forged custody records, used to make false legal aid claims.

It still goes on.

" 50. At 3:00pm on 20 May 2009, JadedJean wrote:
BANKANISATION: WHAT A DIFFERENCE A LETTER MAKES

Thought for the day:

Why is it OK for there to be a SNP but not a BNP? ;-)"

One fundamental difference is that any citizen can join the SNP if they are committed to Scottish independence. When I joined the meeting began
with the clarsach player Katie Targett-Adams - who was Alex Salmond's warm-up in the Tierra Nuova Room at Dundee's Discovery Quay - asking us all to close our eyes as she sang a song written by an Englishman: John Lennon's 'Imagine'. She also sang in Chinese, as well as explaining the
historical context of the song 'Loch Lomond' and doing a ditty about a man in a kilt which prompted Salmond to tell a hilarious story about an
Early Day Motion tabled by Tory Bill 'Biggles' Walker MP calling for a vote on the Union ...... which was opposed by Nikkie Fairbairn on the basis that Dundonian Walker was not (as claimed) a true Scotman because he wore red underpants under his kilt. Salmond later asked how he knew?
Apparently Fairbairn noticed this on an all-party MP visit to Israel as Walker (aka 'Biggles') climbed into the cockpit of an Israeli air-force
jet .....

We were then given copies of a Secret government report by Gavin McCrone (Chief Economic Advisor to The Scottish Office) written in 1974 that the SNP had just got hold of using the FOI to back up the historic grievance that Scotland really was robbed of North Sea Oil by Labour ....

After signing on the dotted line we then all queued up to get our CDs signed by Katie and chat with a delegation of English Met Office folk
based in Aberdeen whose jobs were being cut by the MOD who wanted them
to produce a single weather-forecast for the whole of Britain ........

That underlined the emphasis laid in the meeting on the need to tailor policy to individual micro-climates.

Salmond also used the occasion to take issue with The ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Office who had suspended 'habeas corpus' that week without consulting the senior
Law Officers in Scotland.

The SNP is also the most pro-European party in Britain these days -
apart from the Liberal Democrats.

And was the first party to get an Asian elected as a Scottish MSP:

" 39. At 1:17pm on 20 May 2009, JadedJean wrote:
Read the 11 page reference at the end of this famous UNESCO statement from 1950, taking a very close look at the authors, what do you notice?"

The names I recognise are Julian Huxley, Joseph Needham and Gunnar Myrdal - all of whose scholarly works I have on my own bookselves?

Needham's 13 volume magnum opus 'Science and Civilisation in China'
has been compared to Proust by George Steiner; and I bought a copy
of Myrdal's 'American Dilemma' on the night Obama won the caucus in
Illinoir ....... it is a carefully documented account of US racism.

neilrobertson (#57) "The names I recognise are Julian Huxley, Joseph Needham and Gunnar Myrdal - all of whose scholarly works I have on my own bookselves?"

The names you recognise are the critics. Huxley was a

The authors of this 1950 piece of Lysenkoist nonsense were all Jewish bar the Indian and Black American. Later 'perpetrators' were Lewontin, Gould and Kamin.

WAKEY-WAKEY

It was the excessive expenses and benefits in those in Financial Services which people were outraged about, not these relatively minor excesses of MPs. All this theatrical hand-wringing of MPs for their alleged misdemeanours is really a sleight-of-hand, because in reality, MPs and Civil Servants have no legal control over the major, venal excesses of those in the Private Sector which they have left to anarchistic 'market forces'.

#56 Neil Robertson

Ideologically there was no bigger supporter of the SNP than myself. To me representing a country was beautiful and realistic rather than supporting some gone with the wind political philosophy.

On Jan 9th 2006 I had a meeting with a SNP MP. I had my full portfolio of work. These included letters and emails from DEFRA to the Cabinet Office recommending me to advise them on various aspects of policy. I had so much back catalogue of work, the SNP knew I was the real deal.

The SNP knew the UK economy would collapse 3 years ago. The media are not reporting this. This is an advantage to the SNP. People believe the economic problem is Labour's fault. However much Labour has got it wrong, the SNP had the power to stop the UK economic crisis. They allowed a preventable situation to manifest.

Labour got the blame but no one has put the spotlight on the skulking SNP. Neil I love Scotland, but as I found out the SNP are first and foremost politicians. Everything else is secondary to that.

The SNP could have stopped the economic crisis 3 years ago. But would have that exposed that I may have been a better economist than John Swinney. The SNP have benefited from the economic crisis. Only because the truth that they knew about it 3 years ago and could have prevented it has never been exposed.

Political electability above country? They are still first and foremost politicians.

Celtic Lion

Of course they are still first and foremost politicians ..... but Swinney has always struck me as a pretty straight sort of guy ...

I found the Newsnight Scotland show from Dublin tonight interesting
and it was quite instructive to see the bursting of the bubble was
predicted there as well a few years back.

It is sometimes very hard for technocrats to reign in politicians!
But what matters is that those like Celtic Lion keep on trying ...

GOING WITH THE FLOW...(OUT TO SEA)

neilrobertson (#61) "It is sometimes very hard for technocrats to reign in politicians! But what matters is that those like Celtic Lion keep on trying ..."

Scotland is an ideal at ~6m, and its nationalist politics is premised on devolution, which is I submit, at root anarchistic. Perhaps you have thought/should think about this? Cf. Eire. As to your advice to KCL, it will just drive him potty, as it's like herding cats in the current zeitgeist.

#61 and 62 Neil and JJ

If you Google, Celtic Lion Cultural View, you will get the original of the assessment I did for Newstart, a glossy for economic development professionals. I had to write to editorial brief 850ish words.

It covers the Irish situation. I knew the global economy was going to crash, which was the cryptic 'increasingly out of control global dynamic' etc. near the end of the piece.

Both the Irish and Scottish economies were unstable as they depended too much on outside influences. They both were on a piggy back model depending on high and sustained levels of growth of the global economy, without a plan B.

It was published on 18th January 08 and the global economy crashed on Monday 21st January. I think it was part of the basis of a studio discussion on NN with Paxman on Wed 23rd. Some of the guests were subscribers, the part they might have picked up on was the 'new development model'.

"Scotland is an ideal NUT at ~6m, and its nationalist politics is premised on devolution, which is I submit, at root anarchistic. Perhaps you have thought/should think about this? Cf. Eire. As to your advice to KCL, it will just drive him potty, as it's like herding cats in the current zeitgeist." writes Jaded Jean at comment #62.

We used to use that NUTS statistical nomenclature in the 1980's - when Strathclyde Region effectively had its own European policy in Brussels
as did Highland Region. Curiously under the first decade of devolution Scotland has seemed more inhibited than the old larger local authority regions were in dealing directly with the outside world but that is at
long last beginning to change as the UK-appointed civil servants start
to go native down there in Edinburgh .....

Enoch Powell, of course, famously observed that 'power devolved is power retained' - hardly 'anarchistic' - hence the emphasis in 'The Claim of Right for Scotland' on the ancient Scottish tradition of popular sovereignty enshrined in The
Declaration of Arbroath (which also established the right of recall if
the monarch ever got out of line with the people). We demand a General Election! Herd up the cats!

I've just realise it may be relatively easy for a lion to herd cats, they might even have a name for it-pride.

HERDING CATS



Celtic Lion