Saturday, 27 June 2009
Armed Forces Day 2009
Today is Armed Forces Day. Today is the day we honour our Armed Forces. Today there'll be parades - and bands - and celebrations. Today we'll hang out the flags - already the Union Jack & St George's Cross flags are fluttering from one of my upstairs windows. Today we'll wear our badges - I still have a Union Jack badge that the Sun sold back during the Falklands war to show support for our troops - and I'll be wearing it today.
Tomorrow the widows & widowers, orphans & bereaved parents of our Armed Forces will continue to cope with their loss. Service personnel who have returned home minus limbs, blind or horribly scarred will still be like that. Those who have returned with their minds torn & confused will waken to another day of bewilderment.
Today, while we celebrate, let's also remember tomorrow's people.
Iraq Inquiry
With the promised Iraq Inquiry finally going to take place, you may like to watch this YouTube video HERE
Thursday, 4 June 2009
Today's the Day
Today's the day we have to decide - to vote or not? If we choose not to vote, are there any consequences? If we do vote, which Party should we vote for?
If we don't vote, we can hardly complain when the Same Old Party gets in & continues to run things in the Same Old Way - which didn't work before & will certainly not work now, with the country almost bankrupt.
I can't/won't tell you who to vote for - that's your decision - but perhaps before each of us votes, we'll take a moment to think about the sort of life we want and the sort of life we want for our children & grandchildren & vote for the Party we think can best provide that. Even if that means voting for a Party that isn't the one the family always supports and has voted for for generations.
Best of luck with your decision - and I hope we all make the right one.
If we don't vote, we can hardly complain when the Same Old Party gets in & continues to run things in the Same Old Way - which didn't work before & will certainly not work now, with the country almost bankrupt.
I can't/won't tell you who to vote for - that's your decision - but perhaps before each of us votes, we'll take a moment to think about the sort of life we want and the sort of life we want for our children & grandchildren & vote for the Party we think can best provide that. Even if that means voting for a Party that isn't the one the family always supports and has voted for for generations.
Best of luck with your decision - and I hope we all make the right one.
E-mail to Gordon
Over on Sky, there's an email that's purportedly going to be sent to Gordon from his not-so-very-loyal MPs begging him to stand down.
Unfortunately they waste time & words buttering him up.......
A much simpler & shorter one could be :
Dear Gordon,
We have supported you as our unelected PM for two years now. During this time you have made a complete dog's dinner of it. Sadily you are just not up to the job. According to opinion polls you are the most unpopular British PM of all time. You have completely ruined the British economy, firstly by selling off all our gold at a bargain basement price, secondly by borrowing, borrowing & more borrowing during the good years instead of saving for a rainy day, by not regulating the financial services properly & by not letting your appointed Ministers get on with their jobs without constantly micro managing over their shoulder. Now that the rainy day is here, you've mortgaged our childrens' & our childrens' childrens' futures to bail out greedy & incompetent bankers while hardworking British families are losing their jobs, their houses & their families. 'No more repossessions' has a fine ring to it but the banks & building societies are just ignoring you & throwing families onto the street. Thanks to you and your cronies (let's not forget McBride & Smeargate), Labour's standing at the polls has never been lower & today we are likely to get completely swamped in both the Local & EU Elections. A lot of that is due to the expenses scandals & we have to admit almost all our MPs have been caught out. However, you have also been complicit in this - how about claiming expenses for your flat when you also had a Grace & Favour residence in Downing Street?
For the good of the country, for the good of the Party you must stand down immediately. If you refuse to go quietly, we will get the Opposition to call for a vote of No Confidence & we will vote with the Opposition. It's your choice Gordon, but either way you are going. You have untill 12 noon to consider your actions. After that the No Confidence vote will be requested.
Your Backbenchers
Unfortunately they waste time & words buttering him up.......
A much simpler & shorter one could be :
Dear Gordon,
We have supported you as our unelected PM for two years now. During this time you have made a complete dog's dinner of it. Sadily you are just not up to the job. According to opinion polls you are the most unpopular British PM of all time. You have completely ruined the British economy, firstly by selling off all our gold at a bargain basement price, secondly by borrowing, borrowing & more borrowing during the good years instead of saving for a rainy day, by not regulating the financial services properly & by not letting your appointed Ministers get on with their jobs without constantly micro managing over their shoulder. Now that the rainy day is here, you've mortgaged our childrens' & our childrens' childrens' futures to bail out greedy & incompetent bankers while hardworking British families are losing their jobs, their houses & their families. 'No more repossessions' has a fine ring to it but the banks & building societies are just ignoring you & throwing families onto the street. Thanks to you and your cronies (let's not forget McBride & Smeargate), Labour's standing at the polls has never been lower & today we are likely to get completely swamped in both the Local & EU Elections. A lot of that is due to the expenses scandals & we have to admit almost all our MPs have been caught out. However, you have also been complicit in this - how about claiming expenses for your flat when you also had a Grace & Favour residence in Downing Street?
For the good of the country, for the good of the Party you must stand down immediately. If you refuse to go quietly, we will get the Opposition to call for a vote of No Confidence & we will vote with the Opposition. It's your choice Gordon, but either way you are going. You have untill 12 noon to consider your actions. After that the No Confidence vote will be requested.
Your Backbenchers
Monday, 25 May 2009
Nadine Dorries - whatever happened to the right of free speech??
It appears that Nadine Dorries, MP for Mid Bedfordshire has had her blog closed down at the behest of lawyers working on behalf of the Barclay brothers, owners of the Daily Telegraph.
The millionaire Barclay brothers who own their own island, Brecqhou, part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, C.I., made the news recently over their actions in Sark HERE
Ms. Dorries, who was herself the target of some Telegraph finger pointing, had been complaining that the way the Telegraph is 'dripping' their disclosures is 'torture' for MPs & subsequently she queried the motives of the Barclay brothers on her blog. At which point, apparently, lawyers leapt into action, contacted her ISP & had her blog closed down & removed from public perusal.
I say 'appears' & 'apparently' because, with her blog closed down, Ms. Dorries is unable to communicate exactly what has happened.
As a taxpayer & member of the public, my feelings towards the tender sensibilities of MPs fearful of exposure via the Telegraph, is to repeat their favourite mantra of 'nothing to hide, nothing to fear' back at them.
However, also as a member of the public, I am very concerned that the words of an elected representative of the British people can be censored in this way by 'big business' - or by anybody, come to that.
Luckily, as I understand it, she can quote freely from her blog in Parliament, under Parliamentary privilege. That decision is up to her.
I may or may not agree with what Nadine Dorries has to say but I 100% support her right to say it. Isn't that what free speech is all about? Isn't that what democracy is all about?
Or has free speech & democracy become as dead as a dodo in Britain 2009? And if so, who is to blame?
The millionaire Barclay brothers who own their own island, Brecqhou, part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, C.I., made the news recently over their actions in Sark HERE
Ms. Dorries, who was herself the target of some Telegraph finger pointing, had been complaining that the way the Telegraph is 'dripping' their disclosures is 'torture' for MPs & subsequently she queried the motives of the Barclay brothers on her blog. At which point, apparently, lawyers leapt into action, contacted her ISP & had her blog closed down & removed from public perusal.
I say 'appears' & 'apparently' because, with her blog closed down, Ms. Dorries is unable to communicate exactly what has happened.
As a taxpayer & member of the public, my feelings towards the tender sensibilities of MPs fearful of exposure via the Telegraph, is to repeat their favourite mantra of 'nothing to hide, nothing to fear' back at them.
However, also as a member of the public, I am very concerned that the words of an elected representative of the British people can be censored in this way by 'big business' - or by anybody, come to that.
Luckily, as I understand it, she can quote freely from her blog in Parliament, under Parliamentary privilege. That decision is up to her.
I may or may not agree with what Nadine Dorries has to say but I 100% support her right to say it. Isn't that what free speech is all about? Isn't that what democracy is all about?
Or has free speech & democracy become as dead as a dodo in Britain 2009? And if so, who is to blame?
Thursday, 21 May 2009
Victory for Joanna & the Gurkhas
Congratulations to Joanna Lumley for her work on behalf of the Gurkhas & for winning a stunning victory. She has been a brilliant tactician & has out-manoeuvred the Government & its Ministers at every turn. Now all we need is for her to get involved in politics as an MP & to fight for electoral reform in the same way that she has fought for the Gurkhas.
Monday, 18 May 2009
There are some honest MPs out there....
Not my own MP, but an MP around my area, Annette Brooke (Lib Dem) does realise how appalled the general public is over the scandal of MPs expenses & has spoken out strongly in the local paper saying that MPs should not be above the law. She also talks about her own expenses in the same article.
Annette's stance is a welcome change from the attitudes of many at Westminster & proves that there are honest MPs about.
Annette's stance is a welcome change from the attitudes of many at Westminster & proves that there are honest MPs about.
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