Here we go again - Smokin'

The question of a ban to make it illegal to smoke in one's car has reared its head again with the latest demand by the British Medical Association - and one which is but a repeat of that made last March by a letter which appeared in the Times signed by 20 'senior doctors'. I can but refer readers to my post of 24th March 2010 and the comments about passive smoking.

Michael White has an article on the Guardian website and this doyen of British journalism - aka the cut 'n paste industry - blithely writes that: "It's not a case in which the medical facts are open to much dispute any longer. Everyone knows that smoking is bad for one's health and bad for those close to a smoker whose smoke they may inhale". With a view to increasing White's education perhaps he would do well to refer to this post from Raedwald, following the link contained therein, coupled with the extract from Booker and North's book 'Scared to Death' (pages 269-270) quoted in my post mentioned above.

A car is an extension of one's home, namely a private place in which it should be possible to smoke or not. If this ban were to be enacted - leaving aside the question of how it could be policed - then how much longer would it be before these health zealots demanded and received a ban covering one's home? I may be mistaken but I do not recall such a proposal being included in any political party manifesto last year, which leads me back to the argument that our present system of democracy allows for dictatorial decisions without any consultation of the people affected by said decisions.

Update: On the point the BMA makes about 'toxin levels being 23 times higher than in a smoky bar', yet another article pours scorn on this claim, one that appears to have been 'doctored' somewhat.

Moore's the pity

In his op-ed piece in today's Daily Telegraph, Charles Moore is of the opinion that the EU's journey to ever closer union has screeched to a halt. Assuming that Moore's opinion is correct - which I don't - nowhere in his article is there any mention of the logical question that should surely follow his assertion, namely: "What happens now then?".

While the leaders of Member States continue to pour money into the ever widening maw of fiscal incompetence that is the European Union and the dream of maintaining the failure of it's euro currency, the journey to ever closer union remains very much on track.

That the charge of 'guilty' can be be laid at Cameron's door is illustrated by his belief that the euro must be maintained and that the 17 eurozone member states should integrate even further just creates another self-made problem for the chief executive of EU region UK. Andrew Grice, writing in the Independent, rather starkly expands on Cameron's self-made problem when he writes:

"The inevitable fiscal union among the euro countries will push the UK into the outer zone. British ministers fear the 17 eurozone nations will form a "caucus" which fixes the key decisions before they go to all 27 EU members. Brave talk about Britain heading the 10 second-division teams is just that; seven are committed to joining the euro. Whatever pledges are made not to exclude the "outs", the reality is that many of the rules affecting the single market, the City of London and British industry could be decided by the 17, who might not exactly have UK interests at heart."

The UK may have an opt-out from euro membership but, unfortunately, with that membership due to increase, coupled with increasing EU 'oversight' of member state's budgets, it is easy to see the situation whereby Cameron will be the one seated at a white covered table, having the riot act read to him - and being reminded that legal agreements can just as easily be 'amended'.

One day the British public - and possibly just not them, but also the public in other member states - will wake up to the fact that all this money being used to prop up a failed idea and failing currency is actually their money. When that realization finally dawns, then events really will get interesting. Earlier today I linked to a podcast involving Richard North and Christopher Booker discussing matters EU, euro and the New World Order. At the end of the discussion Richard North made the point that matters will eventually need to be resolved either by the people halting this madness through the ballot box, or the alternative will be civil wars within individual countries.

That this madness can only be prevented from ever reoccurring is by means of a move to a participatory form of government, one that as I posted earlier finally does put the master/servant relationship back to where it should be.

A must listen!

Radio Free Delingpole has a podcast featuring a discussion between James Delingpole, Richard North and Christopher Booker, dealing with the EU, the euro and the New World Order. 40 minutes of pure sense!

While aimed at listeners in America, Enjoy!

Note: It begins with an advert and then extracts from Cameron's Press Conference at the end of the G20 at Cannes. Disregard the 'listen here' link and just click the play button.

What works in one sphere may well work in another

In a post headed by a quotation of Lenin - Give us the child for 8 years and it will be a Bolshevik forever - Restoring Britain writes about an education paper presented to one of his children, a post well-worth reading and one that every parent who cares about his/her child - and the education he/she receives - should read.

On a similar theme, one of child indoctrination, an article appeared in yesterday's Daily Telegraph by Peter Stanford in which he queries whether the best is being achieved for children in care, in particular where the question of adoption is concerned and asking the question why is the system seizing up. He offers various reasons, one being an institutional bias within the social work profession against white middle-class adopters. Links to the two charities he mentions can be found here and here. (Interestingly, the annual accounts for the first can be found via their website, whilst it appears those of the second cannot.) 

Reports have appeared in the media detailing instances where couples have been refused permission to adopt, or to act as foster carers, for what appear to be bizarre reasons, here for their Christian views on homosexuality and here for once having smacked a child for swearing. As with the education of children, so with the care and adoption of children - in each the 'rules' are set by people over whom the customer has no control.

If we also include children taken into care by social services, a subject on which Christopher Booker has written endless examples where this has been done and has catalogued examples of 'rules' set again by those over whom the people have no control, one has to wonder if there exists an unseen programme to create model citizens of the future - a programme that may have a hidden 'common purpose'?

Not insinuating anything, you understand - as usual, just asking.......

The Stupidity of "Repatriation" & "Change From Within"

Having been in a fit of depression all day, as previously mentioned, my 'gander' has suddenly arisen hence some posting............

In his column in tomorrow's Sunday Telegraph, Christopher Booker's article - containing a picture of Edward Heath signing our entry into the Common Market in 1972, flanked by Sir Alec Douglas Home and Geoffrey Rippon - hits the nail squarely on the head when, mentioning Max Hasting's article of the previous week, he writes:

"It is noticeable how Sir Max and all our other born-again Tory “Eurosceptics” do not say “we must leave the EU”. They merely say we must curb its powers, we must reform it; we must “repatriate”, we must “loosen our ties”. In other words, they are calling for things which are never to going to be on offer, because they defy the bedrock principle on which the European project was founded, and which has guided every step of its accretion of power to the centre since the Treaty of Rome was signed in 1957.

This is what generations of Britons, Europhiles and Eurosceptics alike, have never managed to get their heads round. This is why they still babble about the possibility that we can change it, or our relationship with it – because they imagine that the project is something quite different from what it is and was always intended to be.

It is very likely that the EU will eventually disintegrate. But if and when that happens, I wouldn’t mind betting that the last people still in there will be the British, still bleating about the need to reform it, as the pillars of the whole mad edifice crash around their ears."

And that dear reader is why I despise every last MP sitting in the House of Commons who, collectively, have been content to ignore the majority wish of the electorate, whilst blindly obeying the diktats of their party's whips in the hope of furthering their own career; why I despise those MPs who have signed the Better Off Out pledge but who do nothing whilst still taking their party's whip; why I despise all those who have held the office of Privy Councillor and in so doing totally disregarding their Oath that no foreign prince, prelate etc should hold sway in this realm; and, in particular, why I despise David Cameron who blatantly lied to and misled the electorate at the time of last year's general election.

It would seem that the 'Arab Spring' has spread to the United States:

"Building on the momentum of the Arab Spring movements, protesters in the US are gathering in New York City's financial district in a bid to show mass resistance against the dominance of the country's financial system. What started as an online campaign has translated into action on the ground, with protest organisers calling for thousands of people to "occupy Wall Street" on Saturday. "On the 17th of September, we want to see 20,000 people flood into lower Manhattan, set up beds, kitchens, peaceful barricades and occupy Wall Street for a few months," organisers wrote on the www.occupywallst.org website. "Like our brothers and sisters in Egypt, Greece, Spain, and Iceland, we plan to use the revolutionary Arab Spring tactic of mass occupation to restore democracy in America. We also encourage the use of nonviolence to achieve our ends and maximize the safety of all participants."

Now us Brits have always felt we can show the Yanks a thing or two.......................

Hint, Hint...........