ePetitions

October 24th, 2011 22:01

By tomtom

Was there ever any point in the idea?

After several hours of trying to make sense of Parliament’s approach to the EU debate the only conclusion I’m left with, is the words of major statesmen and politicians down the years. Not the pale imitation of statesmen we have today, but real men of stature and gravitas. Men who really understood what European Union was all about:

1. Lord Palmerston:- 1784 -1865 who said:-  “Only three men in Europe understand the Schleswig Holstein question, (aka -  West Lothian question) and of these,  Prince Albert, Queen Victoria’s Consort is dead, a Danish Statesman unnamed is in an asylum ‘and I myself”‘ confessed Lord Palmerston, “have forgotten.”
2. Jean Monnet:- 1888 – 1979 who said:-  “All Europe’s nations should be guided towards a super-state, without people understanding what is happening. This can be accomplished by successive steps, each disguised as having an economic purpose, but which will eventually and irreversibly lead to federation.”
3. Mr Peter Thorneycroft MP:- 1909 – 1994 who said:- “No government dependent upon a democratic vote could possibly agree in advance to the sacrifices an adequate European Plan must involve. The people must be led slowly and unconsciously, into the abandonment of their traditional economic defences, ‘not asked,” he insisted, “for it involves changes, which they may not at first be capable of recognising the advantages of - themselves.”

  After hours of spurious argument in Parliament, as to why it was not to be and a resounding vote rejecting the right of the people to be heard; by 483 to 111. It now befalls me to point out that the politicians are even more completely out of step with democracy than the public at large could ever have imagined.

  With a three party whip ranged against the motion, the outcome was always going to be what the politicians had decided. It is quite clear they have little regard for what the people have to say on the matter of EU interference in our internal affairs.

  Can we really afford to wait for them to re-negotiate the terms of our involvement?   Can we really believe there will be a better time to listen to what the people wish to say on the matter as prescribed by most who spoke against the motion before the house? At the rate of £25mn per day till they decide it is impossible to continue or the whole ridiculous charade implodes.

  Can we really believe that those who voted to deny the people the opportunity to express their angst understood the depth of feeling at large in the general population? Or indeed ever  understood themselves, what they had been forced into imposing as they wriggled and squirmed trying to explain, things they never fully understood themselves, in respect of the actual proposition before them.

  Yes we realise that the politicians can and do have one eye on their own position in respect of advancement through the party ranks, to office of one kind or another. But to deny the prospect of expression to the public by refusing to grant a referendum on the EU was both mean spirited and short-sighted.

  No doubt candidates at the next general election whenever it comes will use this as an opportunity to challenge opponents on their record of anti-democracy voting on the back of the ePetition legislation. And to determine if there was ever any purpose in introducing it, other than to use it put the electorate in their place, as voting fodder with no real voice.
    
Watch this space I’ll be back!

Tom.

At last – The Great Debate?

By tomtom

 Tory Hierarchy out of touch with the Public Mood on Europe

The day of the Great Debate for a referendum, which people across the length and breadth of the UK canvassed for, in overwhelming numbers looms, while the cacophony of protest from PM Cameron and Foreign Secretary Hague to vote it down; will hopefully fall on deaf ears.

 “In Europe but it not ruled by Europe,” he famously quoted, as leader of the Tories several leaders ago and as Foreign Secretary Hague, his tune has not changed. I’ve no idea where this guy has been for the last two decades. But it’s certainly not in the real world we’ve all been saddled with. Maybe it’s on account of the fact that these politicians don’t live in the real world where crazy judgements and dictat are handed down by the judiciary, as a matter of course.

 Perhaps our Foreign Secretary has been helping out on the family pop round again, imbibing of the several pints he claimed to have got through the last time he was called on to help out there. There can be no justification whatsoever for denying us a chance to vote against being led by the nose into a never-never land of dictat and totally incomprehensible rulings, based on the decisions by the European Court of Human Rights. Legal instruments now embedded into English Common Law by the Fabian Socialist misfits who were but a hair’s breadth away from creating their favoured tool of total repression, a Police State.

Whatever happened for the Freedom, Choice and Opportunity we thought would be restored on the back of this brand new Co-alition. Renegotiation of EU liabilities is a myth, as much as talk of any new deal on relations with Europe is. Why on earth do we have to renegotiate to take back powers from Europe, We should just take the same kind of liberties with Euro dictat, which every other Nation State in the EU does.

It’s time to refute all the bogus arguments foisted on us by politicians totally unacquainted with the world in which the majority of us are expected to progress and survive. These men who lead us claim to be Eurosceptic, but they’re just out to deceive us.  In reality they’re rampant Europhiles, there can be no other explanation for this outright deceit.

 Where there is greatness, great government or power, even great feeling or compassion; error is also great. We progress and mature by fault. The people will tell you not to crucify yourself on EU shadows, such as old resentments or impossible loyalties, perfect freedom has no existence.

  “A grown man knows the world he lives in for what it is. For the present that world is Brussels,” sez ‘Call me Dave’. “I crossed the floor and spoke in friendship, but when I go across that Channel, I become the hand of José Manuel Barroso or could it be Hermann van Rumpoy, ready to crush all who challenge their authority. So there!”

Watch this space I’ll be back!

Tom

Crisis, what Crisis?

By tomtom

‘We’re in a Debt Crisis,’ as Dave told the Tory Conference

Well I reckon we’re all pretty clear on that one by now Dave, but what we really need to know is what you’re doing about it. So far, apart from satisfying the International Shylocks their Juice is safe, precious little that really matters in terms of balancing the books.

  With an income to the Treasury of close to £700bn, I’d have thought it was relatively simple to sit down with a piece of paper draw up debit and credit columns. Then what you do Dave, is populate the respective columns, with the real totals of what we spend and what we get in. Then. if the figures at the bottom don’t match it’s a simple matter of pruning the outgoings to match the incomings.

  It’s what every household in the land has to do every week of every year, as we troll this mortal coil. It’s ABC stuff Dave, but it seems to be beyond the wit of your Chancellor and all his bloated over-payed Whitehall Gurus. So what are they there for Dave?

  You and George Dave, are fiddling while Rome burns or like Sir Francis Drake finishing off a game of bowls. (We can only hope for a similar outcome to Sir Francis, Dave). But this strategy of trying to sustain the status quo, while we play catch up is clearly a disaster Dave. It’s not working and throwing more money at the economy does not fix the underlying problem Dave. All that goes away is the money, it’s a daft, daft idea Dave and you should rein in this craze by the BoE, they’re out of hand Dave.  

  If you want to know why we’re in this mess it’s simple Dave. The demand curve lags behind the supply curve and while people are being ripped off by the Utility companies and money is screwed out of every aspect of the budgetary consideration of running a household, it always will Dave. You should quickly put in place a panel of housewives to tell you how to spend the income and we’ll soon be on our feet again.

  There is no one more practical at spending money than a housewife. She knows charity begins in the home and all these massive sums to overseas aid and subscriptions to the EU have to stop immediately. You have not satisfactorily explained why we have to suffer all this crazy stuff you are imposing Dave, why you are going through with it and to what end Dave.

  Why do we all have to suffer on account of these things Dave? The EU is bleeding us dry, trying to drag Perfidious Albion down to their level Dave, by hampering the way we have done our business for a thousand years. Whilst you and your minions are standing by and watching it happen. WAKE UP Dave before it’s too late.

Watch this space Dave, I’ll be back!  

Tom

It’s all in the Game, Rugby that Is!

By tomtom

 Well sometimes you wonder if it is indeed a Game

But you could be forgiven for thinking otherwise, though this business of the ball swapping intrigues me. For if the future destination of the Rugby World Cup depends on the niceties of ball construction. Then it’s no longer a game, it’s a gamble on outside influences.

 With all the skill in the world at your disposal on the training grounds of Perfidious Albion, this must rank as one of the greatest red herrings of all time. For people not actually doing the kicking to be suspended by authority for trifling disagreements that verge on Black Arts, becomes quite laughable. When you think about the odds of actually making every kick count.

 With a point of contact between ball and toe, which has to vary by millimetres with each and every kick, this kind of precision is laughable, unless some one is using it to try and create a level playing field. In effect there can be no such entity where humans are involved and it’s all a matter of getting someone’s brain and body in a comfort zone where insecurity and indecision are vanquished.

 In the end it all has to come down to a developed skill level. The ability for repeat performance within all known parameters, again and again and the ability to take account of all the factors involved. Then to plant a kick in the right place everytime. All in the face of infinitely varying wind speed and direction, muscle control, timing, ball construction, balance, physical fitness and angle of dangle. Without even daring to accept the prospect that Kismet is involved.

 All of these skill factors and other influences therefore, must be considered in a final jigsaw type analysis, by a pint pot-sized brain, functioning at warp speed. These are serious matters of consequence, which need to be factored in, chiming in harmony and worked out in totality. As it cometh down to those last few vital strides where toe meets ball.

Watch this space I’ll be back!

Tom.

Nick Clegg to block moves to abolish the 50p tax rate

By tomtom

While Dannyboy, at the Treasury plays Hardball?

Can this pair of nearly men really mean what they say or is it just to placate the unwashed masses at the forthcoming Lib-Dem Conference, as their Chief Secretary to the Treasury, proclaims:- The idea of getting rid of the 50p tax rate was in “cloud cuckoo land”.

 Well they should know all about Cloud Cuckoo Land, because that’s where they’ve been for most of the last hundred years, till Dave tossed them a lifeline. A taste of power, which had it been used wisely, might have encouraged electors to take a bit more notice of their outpourings. But on the evidence so far, they seem to be intent on self-immolation, as indeed does Dave, in leaning ever closer to Europe.

 There really is no mileage in this cosying up to Europe for Dave, especially after he was so voluble, in telling the world he would call a referendum. Then he rotated one hundred and eighty degrees and tried to persuade us he could not call one, as it would be illegal.

 What absolute piffle, when there can be no doubt that the entire country is totally cheesed-off with the ‘cheese eating surrender monkeys’ in Brussels and Strasbourg? However as Red Ed consistently points out too, whenever he’s quizzed on Europe. We’ve already had an in or out referendum, back in the 1970s.

 Yes Ed but in those days it was nothing more invasive than a Common Market, a trading bloc. It was a similar outfit to the European Free Trade Area (EFTA), an organisation which still exists to this day. There had been no moves back then, leading us to think there was a hidden agenda, to create a Federal Superstate to challenge the primacy of the US Dollar as the world’s reserve currency.

 What an entire load of codswallop it has turned out to be from politicians with little political nous and even less in the way of appeal to either Mondeo Man or Joe Sixpack. The entire world is swilling around in financial cesspit of immeasurable consequence.

 The only thing, which can Save our Souls (SOS), is a return to the gold/silver standard the only measure able to control the money supply of the world, without the interference of politicians, economists or financial regulations. Then we can all make some progress with a bit of ‘Getting-0n’

 There is however a slight snag with this simple approach and that’s the sheer quantity of US$ IoUs issued since Richard Nixon ended the US$/Gold link back on Aug 15^th 1971. He was forced in to this, to block France and Switzerland, as they made overtures about knocking on the door of the US Federal Reserve to exchange their hoards of  US$ bills for Gold.

In order to achieve the Gold Standard today, on the back of the US$s issued by their Treasury over the last 50 years, Gold would need to priced at around $40,000 US/Troy Ounce. So maybe when the escalating price of gold catches up, we can all sit back, applaud the dominance of the Barbarous Relic and live happily ever after, Midas men and women atop our gleaming piles of Sovereigns and Gold Eagles.

Watch this space, I’ll be back!

Tom.

Phone hacking set to rumble-on & other matters off General Interest?

By tomtom

A great big fuss about nothing?

As the post-mortem into phone hacking drags on and on, about who knew what and when, it becomes more confusing by the minute. Though in recent days, it seems to have taken a turn, we’re now exploring things at the slapstick level of a country fair.

Apart from the staggering compensation settlements, it’s become akin to the level of an Aunt Sally Stall, as it descends into the realms of mud-slinging. Possibly it’s in anticipation that if enough of the brown stuff is chucked about, some of it is bound to stick. But to rake up pics of ‘Gid’ from the beginning of time, sucking up to a black beauty, who legal eagles now reckon has a story to tell, smacks of the ‘couldn’t make it up genre’. That’s desperation unhinged.

Another bone of contention is the completely despotic behaviour of this select committee. Half the time the MPs charged with the task have little idea what to ask and resort to nit-picking of the most obdurate kind. They appeared to be out of their depth, when quizzing ‘Rupe’; he had the measure of them before they opened their collective mouth, to fire off their inane questions.

A complete fog is descending over this entire imbroglio and even Red Ed has gone quiet, as he realised he was just making himself look even more foolish than we’d taken him for, after his glorious victory in the leadership poll. That was a debacle which seems to have legs, for it will run all the way to the next General Election.

What is really puzzling however is the how and why of the Unions bosses, in thinking it will reflect on the chances of re-electing a Labour Government.  They appear to have gone off their collective rocker, trying to make a fist out of strike action over pensions. The horse has bolted bros., and the stable door is firmly shut.
There can be no justifiable reason to try and bring the country to a standstill over this, especially when they have nothing to offer other than to retain the status quo. It’s clearly a no-brainer, something we can easily associate with the present cabal of left wing rabble-rousers.

After a decade of Labour profligacy the country is technically skint, a busted flush and that’s the top and bottom of it, till we dig ourselves out of this hole. This is the biggest and best one ever created by Labour and they are responsible for about half a dozen on them, since they first formed a government back in 1924. Will they ever learn? On the face of things highly unlikely, will the electorate ever learn? That’s highly unlikely too.

Watch this space, I’ll be back!

Tom.

The Laughing Assassins.

By tomtom

All the way to the Bank?

Brown, Balls & Darling, that is, the three not-so-wise men who fiddled and fumbled as the UK economy tanked.  They’re nothing more than terrorists, who should be denied the oxygen of publicity, let alone be encouraged to write books about it, as though it was some kind of classroom melodrama. That we permit, nay even encourage such a carry-on; appears to suggest there is no one in this dis-United Kingdom, capable of taking events like this, seriously.

  So here in the naked light of day all is revealed, at the very heart of what should be the nerve centre of a thrusting vibrant nation, playing on the world stage, with all the panache that built the greatest empire the world has ever known. But what is revealed when we get right down to it, is little more than a juvenile game of yah-boo sucks, more suited to an infant school’s playground.

  Though what it really reveals, is the bankruptcy of the British electorate’s political nous when the two thirds and often even less than half of all eligible voters, bother to turn out for an election. In my own town a Labour councillor was elected on a turnout of fourteen percent, which no doubt qualifies for the nub of a situation where a town or city returns the people responsible for the running of the government both local and national, on strictly doctrinaire principles based on, ‘what’s in it for me’.

  It saddens, even sickens me personally, to think that in the end, all things being equal, the electorate in a particular village, town or city, finish up with exactly what they deserve. An administration incapable of doing what is in the best interests of the public at large, only what is good for themselves.

  Mistakenly, I now believe that for several years, I reckoned this was due to the fact that we were failing to pay the going rate, which the best available talent required to make a career in politics at a local level. So I felt justified in this line of reasoning, as the rewards for a local councillor were enhanced to a point which seemed to indicate, this idea had been recognised and was being addressed.

  Sadly however, it appears to have morphed into a kind of pin money thing, which in tandem with a day job or pensionable age, can sustain a sought after life style, on the nod and a wink basis. Something that is readily seen as Freedom of Information revelations, confirm the attendance records and participation levels for all to see.

Often it appears to the point where a game of Musical Chairs accompanies a forthcoming local election. If some elected member fears their particular Gravy Train  is about to hit the Buffers.  Will we ever evolve a system where the best of British rules O.K? Or are we condemned forever, to political Masters of the Universe, who are there because they have sworn allegiance to a useless political agenda or have spotted a direct route, to Easy Street.

  Elected members it might be said, who are merely there to rubber stamp the machinations of the particular brand of civil servant chosen quite often for doctrinaire political expediency. Who populate the various departments of government both local and national, with personal hidden agendas?

  In the end the truth will out, it always does. Though sometimes it gets overlooked, when it’s right under the end of yer nose?

Watch this space I’ll be back!

Tom.