Tuesday 14 February 2012

Transparency,Truth, Honesty - There isn't any!

"There is not a crime, there is not a dodge, there is not a trick, there is not a swindle, there is not a vice which does not live by secrecy.Joseph Pulitzer
The Guardian picks up on a story to which I linked in my preceding post to this, namely that the Ministry of Justice is maintaining that the Freedom of Information Act has not improved government. Too true it hasn't - at least from the politician's and bureaucrat's point of view. The FOIA has turned the spotlight on the behaviour of the political class and they obviously don't like it - one only has to think back to the expenses saga to realise that.


Apropos that preceding post, it is only necessary to give a little thought as to why Dominic Grieve will not release the  minutes of the Cabinet Ministerial Committee of Devolution to Scotland and Wales and the English Regions, dating from 1997 and 1998. Grieve's decision only reinforces the fact that there was an element of 'EU' involved and that our political elite do not want that information known by the public. That decisions have been taken that affect the United Kingdom without the people being aware of the reasons is tantamount to dictatorial government - or as I prefer to term it, democratised dictatorship.


On a related matter, Chris Snowden - aka Velvet Glove and Iron Fist - posts here and here on what may be termed the dictatorial use of public money, yet another decision over which the people have not been consulted. Where was the element of 'referism' involved in either of these two decisions? Come to that, where is the element of 'referism' where any government spending is concerned - be that national or local? If these so-called charities were charities, instead of being paid vassals of government, then should not their existence be maintained by public donations? Why should people have money forcibly extracted from them to fund organisations whose 'cause' is one in which they may/do not believe?


Did the Coalition not promise transparency in government? If so, how can an anonymous website be set up to lobby for government policy, unless of course the government has redefined the word 'transparent'; how can Dominic Grieve veto documents if he wishes the public to know the truth, unless of course he doesn't - in which case he cannot lay claim to honesty.


The longer the political class are allowed to continue with their system of democratised dictatorship, the longer they will be able to commit crimes against us, dodge us, trick us, swindle us and maintain their life of vice!

4 comments:

The Gray Monk said...

While I'm not sure there is an "EU" element to be concealed, I'm pretty certain there was a gerrymandering one. The Plan, if you recall, was to have 9 Regional Assemblies for England, a Parliament in Scotland and an Assembly in Wales and Northern Ireland. The only "Assembly" that got off the ground in England is the London Region. The rest were resoundingly rejected.

What may lie in those minutes is the fact that our friends in Labour planned to emasculate England completely and ensure that there could never be anything but a Labour government in Westminster. If you look at the demographics it becomes very clear that they hoped to have complete control of the Assembly in Wales, the Parliament in Scotland and at least four of the nine "English Assemblies." The Conservatives could hope to control only three and the LibDems might have the other two.

Since Labour depend on their Scottish and Welsh MPs for a majority in government, the intention will have been to make sure that the representation in Westminster reflected the Assembly makeup. Ergo, permanent Labour Party government ...

I seriously suspect that this is what is being hidden.

WitteringsfromWitney said...

TGM: There is an EU link, methinks you may not have read the CoR link nor that of IPJ?

It is the EU that set the NUTS 'boundaries for the regions, it is the EU that by having regional 'governments' intends to bypass national governments.

Whilst you be right in your idea re gerrymandering what I would like to see is all minutes of conversations with EU officials, copies of every EU to UK correspondence and vice-versa. That is where the EU element I believe is hidden and would no doubt show the willing compliance of our politicians and civil service. It is those elements that I believe are hidden and I believe it is why Grieve will not release the data - no politician would dare let that become public knowledge.

If of course I'm wrong then all Grieve has to do is release every piece of paper on matters EU......

TomTom said...

Kenneth Clarke is as useless at Justice as he was at Health and at the Home Office......this Government is going to hit the rocks within months as the economy lurches into disaster. Oil prices are rising rapidly because of QE which means food and energy prices will simply soar......as unemployment climbs.

I think July-August will be interesting........but I think I will keep well out of London

WitteringsfromWitney said...

TT: A nice summary - I intend visiting Scotland July/August.....