Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings..........

Daniel Hannan, on his Daily Telegraph blog, writes about a move by MEPs to take away what is presently allowable funding from the BNP.

In respect of the BNP, Hannan writes:

"We are, without question, talking about nasty parties, extreme even within the foetid world of neo-fascism....Most of parties in question subscribe to an ideology called ‘Third Positionism’, whose roots lie in Strasserism and National Bolshevism, and whose adherents describe themselves as ‘beyond Left and Right’. They want authoritarian governments, high tariff walls, regulated economies, confiscatory taxation and the repatriation of immigrants."

"Authoritarian governments"; "regulated economies"; "confiscatory taxation" - hell, Daniel, thought you were writing about the Conservative Party for a minute......

Later, Hannan writes:

"Not that greed is the main motive here; narcissism is. No one really imagines that €289,266 will pay for a pan-European Nazi revival, but plenty of MEPs see the opportunity to preen and look important and, in effect, say: ‘Look how nice I am: I hate those evil fascists even more thanyou do!’ They are all for diversity, provided it doesn't extend to diversity of opinion."

And Conservative eurosceptics don't preen and tell us they hate the evil EU even more than we do? That they hate the EU provided it does not involve cessation of EU membership?

Tsk, tsk: it is indeed fortunate for Carswell and Hannan that their disciples among the public suffer from blinkered vision, that their disciples seem unable to see two politicians who's stated beliefs are at virtually total variance with the party under who's flag they sail, yet retain the cover of that flag purely to enable their careers to continue.

A credibility gap

Subrosa posts questioning the apparent lack of gravity in the platitudes paid to our military dead by the leaders of our political parties in the House of Commons. I, too, feel that these expressions of regret and sympathy have become routine and are now uttered with the same degree of intonation as might be the latest trade figures. That these announcements of those who fell are so closely followed by the 'Cameron/Miliband Show', in which the two participants trade what amounts to schoolboy insults, further undermines the solemnity due to our fallen.

This leads one to question whether when MPs talk about, for example, the plight of the poor or the pain felt by consumers with rising energy bills, they actually mean it. Why is it that when an MP raises the plight of one of their constituents at PMQs invariably it is done in such a manner as to make a political point?

That Subrosa is moved to raise her concerns, as I am to raise my questions, just demonstrates the nadir to which politicians have sunk in pursuit of their careers.

Just saying.........

Brilliant, Edward, just brilliant

Commenting on a post over at England Expects, Edward Spalton hits the nail on the head when the question arises as to what happened to honour and principle amongst politicians. He quotes from Gilbert & Sullivan's 'Ruddigore':

"You supple MPs who go down on your knees,
Your precious identity sinking,
Who vote black or white as your leaders indite,
(which saves you the trouble of thinking).

For your country's good fame, her repute or her shame,
You don't give the snuff of a candle -
But you're paid for your game when you're told that your name
Will be graced by a baronet's handle"

And on 'democratised dictatorship' (iron control by party leaders) I am prompted to add these words from Private Willis (Iolanthe) - also prompted by Edward Spalton:

"When in that House, MPs divide,
If they've a brain and cerebellum too,
They've got to leave that brain outside
And vote just as their leaders tell 'em to.

But then the prospect of a lot
Of dull MPs in close proximity,
All thinking for themselves is what
No man can face with equanimity."

So all those Tory rebels were 'eurosceptics' were they?

"I'm not upset that you lied to me, I'm upset that from now on I can't believe you."
Friedrich Nietzsche

With all the political commentators, Conservative Home and Jacob Reese Mogg maintaining that the Conservative Party are by nature eurosceptics and that 81 of their number voted accordingly, a small paragraph at the end of an article by James Kirkup in today's Daily Telegraph caught my eye (unfortunately it does not appear to be on line). In this article he quotes Conservative MPs who say they are worried about reselection come the new boundary changes and at the end of the article comes this:

"One rebel confessed: "I'm actually not particularly anti-European. If there was a referendum tomorrow, I'd vote to stay in. Supporting the motion was partly about keeping faith with the people who sent me here and partly about taking a swing at No10."

This unnamed rebel will not be the only one from the 81 holding similar beliefs and reasons for rebelling, hence the electorate has every reason to be doubtful when a Conservative MP declares himself a eurosceptic. The fact that this rebel is prepared to disregard his/her constituent's faith speaks volumes about polititians principle's and their sense of honour.

And people are petitioning for a second debate on the referendum question? Bearing in mind the above - for what and why, exactly?

Lobbying one's MP - or as I wished, just lob!

I spent a delightful day yesterday in London, sharing the company of Mark Wadsworth, The Boiling Frog, The Talking Clock, Katabasis and Harry Aldridge amongst others. Having previously assembled on College Green where a demonstration of defiance was staged by Ukip against the impending debate and vote in the House of Commons, processed around Parliament Square, it was time for a drink or two prior to queuing to lobby our individual MPs. Having waited for two hours, the queue being allowed entry in groups of 30, it was our turn, where security is akin to that at airports. Never having visited Parliament previously it was an intriguing experience - on entering one has to obtain a green card on which it has to be stated the MP you wish to see, your name and address and the subject matter to be discussed. From 'the lobby area' a short corridor leads to another vestibule area beyond which are the doors, opposite the Speaker, into the chamber. The short corridor is guarded by two members of Plod to ensure that those members of the public who do not have the requisite piece of paper cannot proceed further. After two hours, during which my MP appeared not, I approached one Plod and requested whether it would be possible for him to go and finger the collar of my MP and inform him he was wanted for questioning. This met with a wry laugh from Plod and, needless to say, a refusal. 

At 6:15pm it was necessary to leave as The Boiling Frog and I wished to attend a debate held by the Bruges Group, the debate being entitled "Euroscepticism or Secession". The speakers were supposed to be Peter Hitchens and Mark Pritchard MP, however with the parliamentary debate having been brought forward obviously Mark Pritchard was unable to attend and his place was taken by David Campbell-Bannerman MEP who had, a few months ago, defected from Ukip and joined the Conservative Party. Peter Hitchens was on good form and tore into the Conservative Party and Cameron to the extent that both were left in tatters. At one point Campbell-Bannerman made the statement, in answer to a question, that he did not believe in 'renegotiation' and preferred a 'free trade' type of association with the EU. This prompted me to ask him the following question (verbatim):

"It would be agreed by most people gathered here that a most important deficit in our democracy is the lack of principle and honour of politicians. Bearing this in mind I would like to ask Mr. Bannerman whether it was political principle that made him join a party with whose views he was at such variance"

Needless to say the question was not answered. There will no doubt be a video of the proceedings produced by the Bruges Group and when available I will post a link to this. It was also a delight to make the acquaintance of Helen, Your Freedom and Ours, a most delightful lady and one whose views I hold in high regard.

I am now going to listen to the debate in the HoC and will be posting on that later today. 


Update: The Bruges Group have made available videos of the speeches by Campbell-Bannerman and Hitchens:

No news is good news

so the saying goes, conversely we also know that, unfortunately, EU news is bad news.

First up is the news that Eurogendfor are carrying out an 'exercise' with the Greek police - advance apologies as the link is a 'google translation' from Greek, although the general gist of what has been written can be understood. Bearing in mind the recent demonstrations in Greece, the timing of this 'exercise' is questionable to say the least and it can only be assumed Brussels has decided that repression of the Greek people is necessary. In any event it would seem that they have practised the art of repression already in Brussels, using the Belgian police to hone their tactics on the 'Indignados'.

Next up is repression of the freedom of thought by means of 'teaching' the people of the EU about the 'benefits' that being a citizen brings them. At least that is what Employment Commissioner Laszlo Andor believes when he states that citizens are educated about what are the costs of Europe, but they are not informed about what are the costs without Europe. (That problem could easily be solved by an 'Andor' cost benefit analysis - but I digress) Graham Watson MEP wishes for the benefits of EU membership to be a core subject in schools, again believing that promoting the idea of not being a member is vitally important. On the same subject of what can only be described as propaganda, Mary Ellen Synon's post about the opening of the European Parliament's 'visitor centre', an article which is well worth reading. An extract:

"Besides being a vanity project for MEPs, the thing is also is a way for the EU institutions to brainwash school children, who are invited to come in groups to join a 'multi-modal role play game' in which they can take on the role of an MEP and go through all the steps need to approve a new European law. Yes, laws come from Europe, not from Westminster anymore, but I'd hardly take a British child on a holiday to Brussels to celebrate that disaster. Take him instead to the House of Commons and let him lay a wreath."

It may be recalled that I posted about the conditioning of young minds here and the fact that our political elite appear to be content in breaking the provisions of our education acts, where political content is raised in our schools, speaks for itself. That they and the representatives of their respective parties in Brussels allow such an exhibition as that in the 'visitor centre' to continue without protest also speaks for itself.

Our political elite are becoming more and more blatant in their use of propaganda too, an art not just containing lies but one that also uses omission of facts. An example of this occured only the other day in the House of Lords. Lord Stoddart asked a question (Lord's Hansard Col: WA254):

"Lord Stoddart: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they could agree to an European Union financial transaction tax without parliamentary approval and a referendum. [HL12084]
Lord Sassoon: Agreement to a directive on a financial transaction tax would require unanimity in the Council of Ministers, giving the UK Government a veto over any such proposal. Therefore such an EU tax cannot be imposed on the UK without the UK's agreement. While the UK Government are not opposed to financial transaction taxes in principle, the Government do oppose a European financial transaction tax. Any EU directive on a financial transaction tax or any other tax could not be implemented in the UK without parliamentary approval of the requisite Finance Bill legislation."

The omission in this instance is that were the financial transaction tax to be introduced by means of unanimity, such a possible directive could be vetoed by the UK government, however it is on the cards that such a directive may not be necessary. As Kay Swinburne, MEP, informed the Conservative Party conference moves are afoot to have this financial transaction tax introduced as a VAT measure, one which would be 'sanctioned' by means of qualified majority voting - and obviously means it could be imposed on the UK without the agreement of the government.

Just what is it about this creeping totalitarianism, one that is being foisted on the people, that remains invisible to them? As I posted previously, whilst the political elite in this country continue their ploy of making us believe that only they are right where matters affecting our country and our lives are concerned, do people no longer think about, or question in their own minds, what is happening to them, what they are being told? When someone lies, someone to whom one looks for guidance - be that a politician or anyone placed in positions of trust - and that lie is discovered, all trust in that person is gone, never to return. In the words of Thomas Paine, Voice of Reason, when a man has so far corrupted and prostituted the chastity of his mind as to subscribe his professional belief to things he does not believe, he has prepared himself for the commission of every other crime.

Perhaps the biggest joke played upon the people of our country is Members of Parliament referring to each other in the House of Commons as 'Honourable' Given the choice I would rather our country still had honour without the MPs, than MPs without honour. That is why there must be a cleaning of the 'Augean Stables', that is why there must be change to our system of democracy thus ensuring that this country never, ever again has to suffer the decades of political deceit which have been inflicted upon us.

MCC

It is ironic that the initials of what were the governing body of cricket in England, Wales and throughout the world, a game that personified all that was good about our country - our sense of fair play, honour and principle - should become sullied by a politician who should have those same beliefs.

I refer to yet More Conservative Crap being reported by the Daily Telegraph and in particular the latest utterances of William Hague who, in an interview in The Times (£), is apparently blaming the LibDems for his party's inability to be more 'Eurosceptic'. From the Coffee House we learn Hague tells the paper that ‘A point of difference in our manifesto was the aim to repatriate some powers. Clearly that’s something I’m in favour of, but that’s the area we had to compromise on in return for other compromises'. That is, I believe, the first admission by a politician that two parties of opposing views were prepared to ditch sections of their manifestos in order to pursue their personal political careers. 

That Hague obviously has no honour nor principle I believe I amply demonstrated in a previous post and which coupled with this latest interview illustrates that we can no more trust what Hague says anymore than we can trust what Cast-Iron Dave says - the latter who, according to Neil Hamilton in his address to the Ukip conference in Eastbourne, appears to be suffering from metal fatigue.

With Cameron telling the Liaison Committee that he believes any Treaty change unlikely in the foreseeable future being immediately contradicted by Merkel and others, the point made by the Coffee House that any opportunity to achieve the impossible - repatriation of powers - is likely to occur during the lifetime of this Parliament whilst Hague and his cronies are dependant on LibDem voting support is one well made. I am reminded of the old adage that when in a hole etc etc..........

When considering the political elite's belief that membership of the European Union has, in Cameron's own words, "no case to answer" it is perhaps again ironic that Hague's own words may well come back to haunt him (and it won't be the first time - see previous linked post) when history comes to pass judgement on the subject. From the Telegraph article:

"would stand as a monument in time to how group–think can go so seriously away from what is realistic"

Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings...........................