Every year, year on year of this NuLab government our education standards have fallen, ask any businessman who is reluctant to employ the growing army of illiterate candidates, who now are invading the halls of power, but their lack of knowledge and history shows as they try to implement policies that failed in East Germany.   more »

A SELF-help guide that tells women to stay thin and follow their man's orders if they want to keep him has become a bestseller. One piece of advice reads: "Men never really ask for anything. They command. And believe me, what you won't do, 10 broads around the corner will."   more »

NATO naval grouping in Black Sea to be brought to 18 warships - Gen.Staff MOSCOW - The Russian military is concerned about the build-up of the NATO warship grouping in the Black Sea and does not believe their mission is to deliver humanitarian aid to Georgia. "The flurry of activity of the NATO naval forces, which continue building up their grouping in the Black Sea, arouses suspicion," Russian General Staff Deputy Head Col. Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn told the press in Moscow on Tuesday.   more »

It's nothing to do with me. Not my fault. Yes, it's serious and quite honestly I haven't a clue what to do about it. No, I've no idea what's going to happen over the....   more »

Tory policy makers are again in total disarray. Again we see the spin machines at work, trying to play with the 'Nudge' but getting it badly wrong. As we wrote earlier this month, they cannot make up their mind over the big brother databases, with policies and statements that clearly counter each other (the only thing that is clear is that the Tories wont be getting rid of them), and then today there is this.   more »

HM Revenue & Customs inspectors are to gain new powers to enter business premises and private homes, investigate and fine taxpayers, but safeguards for individuals and businesses will not come into effect until at least four months later.   more »

Security guards and town hall workers are being armed with sweeping police-style powers, it has emerged. This allows them to hand out fines for a raft of offences, from dropping litter to riding a bike on the pavement. They can also stop cars to check their tax discs, seize alcohol from underage drinkers and demand people's names and addresses.   more »

Police files were opened up with the aim of helping to protect children from sex offenders, but are now being sold for as little as £37 to employers who simply want to find out more about job applicants.   more »

When you sign up for a Bank Account, or take out a Bank Credit or Debit Card, did your bank tell you that they would be storing all your details with a 3rd party data processing company in a warehouse in Essex? I bet they didn't.   more »

Strangely, this has nothing to do with technology, really. It's more about knee-jerk reactions: A flagship database intended to protect every child in the country will be used by police to hunt for evidence of crime in a "shocking" extension of its original purpose   more »

Fresh questions have been raised over the Government's ID card project as it emerged that PA Consulting (at the centre of the criminal data fiasco) is at the heart of the £20bn ID Cards project. Home Office ministers have placed the company at the very centre of the controversial ID card project. Its consultants were each paid £160 an hour for working on the mechanics of the ID system as well as for pushing it through the legislative process, documents released by the Government show. The legal questions need to come thick and fast, with the primary question being WHO OWNS THIS DATA.   more »

The US Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) announced the results today of their, three-year scientific and technical building and fire safety investigation into the collapse of WTC 7 on 9/11 - which has intrigued many observers. The fall of the 47-story World Trade Center building 7 (WTC 7) was "primarily due to fires," and "was the first known instance of fire causing the total collapse of a tall building". No shit Sherlock!.   more »

He flies thousands of miles to Afghanistan, waking at 3am local time for a stomach-churning Hercules ride to Camp Bastion to meet Our Boys in the blistering heat, going on to talks in Kabul, and he still can't get away from his local difficulties with David Miliband.




As Brown dodged yet another question about Miliband with his stock response - "I'm getting on with the job." - Mr Karzai clearly decided the PM needed a little help.

"Cabinet ministers plotting is nothing new," he declared airily. "We have it in Afghanistan."

There was a squawk from an appalled-looking Afghan politician sitting beside the platform, and the president hastily added to laughter: "Not my foreign minister, though."

Brown turned a shade greener than he had when we finally got off that lurching Herc an hour earlier.

(Rosa Prince blog)


Its all over Brown, your just making yourself look totally bloody stupid. The greatest display you could give of what it is to be British would be to resign. Give it up quietly and let Britain regain some of its pride.

This country used to have very strict laws that made it illegal to pass or share information between government departments or 3rd parties. Those laws were there for a very good reason, this and former governments over the past 30 years have systematically destroyed EVERYTHING that made this country free, safe and legal. The UK Government is now the biggest threat to the life and public safety of every UK citizen. These amateur meddling politicians of all the parties need to be physically removed from Parliament and torn limb by limb then thrown to the baying dogs of public opinion before they can destroy anything else.   more »

THE US is sending a third ship, the USS Mount Whitney, to the Black Sea at the end of the month with humanitarian aid for Georgia, the US Navy said today. The Mount Whitney, the flagship of the Sixth Fleet, will join the guided missile destroyer USS McFaul and the Coast Guard cutter Dallas in delivering relief supplies to Georgia, it said.   more »

Following his blogging break, Steve over at Daily Referendum roars back into action with this fine rebuttal of Nick Clegg's insane march to utopia (if anyone is stupid enough to follow this kind of lead). Nigg Clegg, the true master of talking out of your arse is off again, this time he says we can be self-sufficient in energy by 2050 without building new coal-fired or nuclear power stations. He has announced a massive five page (yes five full pages!) ‘Apollo Project for UK Energy Independence’. The main thrust of his brilliant plan is to......   more »

But, I am an old cynic. I dont trust any of these new Quango's and am looking for the real reason for this about turn. The Government are planning to introduce many very controversial questions into this forthcoming census, and never being one to miss an opportunity to gather even more information about us, why is this call to abandon this census coming now.   more »

It has become known that the Russian Federation’s armed forces illegally stationed on the territory of Georgia are mounting yet another provocation. In particular, Russian servicemen with the use of appropriate equipment are building a fixed control checkpoint on the Senaki-Poti highway, in the vicinity of the entrance to Poti, on the so-called 7th kilometer.   more »

The Home Office is reportedly preparing to spend a nine figure sum on a single database containing details on all UK communications According to The Register the Home Office is already working on implementing its plan for such a system, which is not official policy and has been questioned by the information commissioner.   more »

Vytautys Landsbergis was President of Lithuania in 1991, when he helped fight off a bloody attempt by the Soviet Union's army to overthrow his country's government. He now is a member of the European Parliament for the conservative EPP-ED group. He speaks out with a warning for everyone in Europe.   more »

My compliments to the good people of Birks Road in Huddersfield, who showed some true Yorkshire grit and gave the rest of us a lesson in how to make our local councils sit up and take notice.   more »

This from Nation of Shopkeepers...class.

The Liberal Democrats have released a discussion document for their autumn conference which promotes the introduction of national road pricing. They are delusional if they believe this proposal will endear them to the voting public and they clearly do not understand the economics of road pricing. The document entitled "Fast Track Britain: Building a Transport System for the 21st Century" clearly details their policy will be to introduce mass road pricing with vehicle tracking.   more »

With every telephone call, swipe of a card and click of a mouse, information is being recorded, compiled and stored about Britain’s citizens. An investigation by The Sunday Telegraph has now uncovered just how much personal data is being collected about individuals by the Government, law enforcement agencies and private companies each day. In one week, the average person living in Britain has 3,254 pieces of personal information stored about him or her, most of which is kept in databases for years and in some cases indefinitely.   more »

Insects cause climate change. That is the latest insane claim by eco-nuts about the reason for climate change. More than 100 of Southeast Asia's hardiest bugs measured up this week in Bangkok, where experts met to discuss new ways of controlling the pests, which they say are a major contributor to global warming.   more »

From the details coming out of Ashgabat in Turkmenistan and Moscow over the weekend, it is apparent that the great game over Caspian energy has taken a dramatic turn. In the geopolitics of energy security, nothing like this has happened before. The United States has suffered a huge defeat in the race for Caspian gas. The question now is how much longer Washington could afford to keep Iran out of the energy market. Gazprom, Russia's energy leviathan, signed two major agreements in Ashgabat on Friday outlining a new scheme for purchase of Turkmen gas.   more »

How much of the following sounds so familiar that it is frightening. When you read this, think of NuLab, of Blair, Brown and all the anti Terror legislation passed in the last 10 years, how it has all been rammed through with only token words from the opposition despite you loosing many freedoms and rights, then think about the Tories (who have opposed little to date and even suggested many anti freedom bills such as gagging the FOI Act, of Cameron, of the sham that David Davies pretend election was and how they will continue in the same vein when elected to Government.   more »

"The information about Russian passports that Ukrainian citizens hold causes serious concern and needs to be thoroughly checked by SBU in the light of the situation in Georgia ", she said. According to Herasymiuk, a people's deputy in Crimea and chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on National Security and Defense, is calling on special services to identify Ukrainians with dual citizenship.   more »

Am off partying this weekend, ex services types and a couple of landlords....what a mix....

May recover late Sunday sometime...

Gordon Brown has finally joined calls for the immediate withdrawal of Russian forces from Georgia. But Brown's pathetic move to make a few phone calls only followed an announcement that Tory leader David Cameron will fly to Georgia on Saturday in a show of support for the beleaguered Caucasus republic.   more »

We have learned from England Expects that following the discovery that Commissioner Vassiliou appears to have breached the rules set down by the European Charter of Fundamental Rights, Godfrey Bloom has just put in a follow up question to the Commission.   more »

EDS has filed a restraining order against Transport Trading Limited, a Transport for London subsidiary, to stop it handing the £100m-a-year Oyster contract to Cubic Cubic and EDS were majority partners in TranSys, which ran London's Oyster scheme, reports the Register. TfL was renegotiating the contract with both partners, but after failing to get better terms from EDS it decided to hand the whole project to Cubic.   more »

Ukrainian politicians are calling on President Viktor Yuschenko, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and Verkhovna Rada Speaker Arsenii Yatseniuk to terminate the agreement on deployment of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Crimea because of its participation in the military conflict in Georgia.   more »

President Victor Yushchenko raised the prospect of revoking an agreement that allows Russia to use the Crimean port until 2017 if Russian commanders defy the new restrictions. The presidential decree (Decree No. 706/2008 of August 13) requires vessels blockading Georgia to ask Kiev's permission to return to the treaty port.   more »

NATO has barred a Russian ship from joining its multinational anti-terrorism patrol in the Mediterranean in apparent retaliation for Moscow's military action against Georgia, a NATO diplomat said. The Black Sea patrol ship Ladny had been due to take part in NATO's Operation Active Endeavour in August and September involving anti-terrorism exercises and practising search and rescue operations at sea, Russia's navy command said last month. It had already arrived off the coast of Turkey to take part in the operation.   more »

The World is at a very dangerous crossroads. America in alliance with NATO and Israel has embarked upon a military adventure. The Bush administration has launched with the approval of the US Congress a naval blockade directed against Iran, which could be a first step towards an all out war. Military sources report a massive deployment of US and allied naval power in the Persian Gulf, the Arabian Sea and the Red Sea directed against Iran. For Iran, a naval blockade enforced by some 80 war ships stationed in Middle East waters and off the Iranian coastline is tantamount to a declaration of war.   more »

The US is sending troops to embattled Georgia in the form of a humanitarian aid exercise, President George Bush said. Mr Bush said military planes would deliver supplies in a move which would put American forces in the heart of the region. The president said he was concerned that Russia might be violating the ceasefire in Georgia and he expected all Russian forces to withdraw.   more »

Wednesday, August 13, 2008 Teleconference Transcript of President Saakashvili's Briefing Held at 13:00 CET, Wednesday, August 13, 2008 Good morning. The President of Georgia will make a brief statement, then answer questions.   more »

John Macdougall, Labour MP for Glenrothes in Fife, has died today from cancer of the lungs. The Press Association has a biography here.

Our sympathies are with his family and friends.

No sooner had Operation Brimstone ended -- a mega joint U.S., British and French naval exercise held in the Atlantic Ocean where the allies practiced enforcing an eventual blockade on Iran -- when, according to numerous reports, the armada set sail for the Gulf waters -- and a potential showdown with Iran.   more »

Although languishing in the middle of summer holidays, there was some activity in the European Parliament in Strasbourg last week when part of the ceiling of the main plenary room collapsed. Last Thursday (7 August), the ceiling of the main hemicycle where up to 785 euro-deputies from the 27 member states assemble to vote on EU laws partially caved in two takes.   more »

The Tories were in disarray today over their stance on the big brother state and the use of anti terror laws being used for non terror purposes as Grieve and Pickles put forward opposing views.   more »

The Guardian reports that Shadow Home Secretary Dominic Grieve is to propose amendments to the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act so that it is simpler for the police to conduct surveillance on those suspected of non-terrorist offences.   more »

Pensioners whose homes were vandalised with graffiti have been threatened with fines of up to £1,000 if they do not have it cleaned up. Elderly residents were already upset after the vandals sprayed paint over the wooden fences separating their homes from a path running behind their back gardens. But highways staff in Prestwich near Manchester sent them stern warning letters giving them 21 days to remove the graffiti or face court under local authority planning rules. If convicted they could face a maximum fine of £1,000.   more »

Alistair Darling rejected a third request for an immediate meeting with estate agents as tension grew over suggestions to lift stamp duty, a move which has paralysed the property market as buyers pull out of purchases until an announcement is made. . Whitehall sources told The Times yesterday that there was increasing irritation within the Treasury at No.10 over the fallout of the stamp duty proposal, which Mr Darling and department aides have been left to field.   more »

In the "old days", when God was an Englishman who loved to watch cricket, those who attended church could be sure of a robust sermon promising "fire and brimstone" delivered from the pulpit by a crusty old vicar. However, in Nanny's Britain, such a verbal ear bashing is now rather unlikely. For why? Nanny's chums from the local council's health and safety orifice have decreed that the pulpit in the Church of All Saints, in Wyke Regis Weymouth, presents a clear and present danger to the health of the vicar.   more »

The Mail is reporting that the Civil Nuclear Constabulary (CNC) will secretly be transformed into a new Critical National Infrastructure Police, which will mount armed patrols around all key installations nationwide -- including power stations, phone and computer networks, oil and gas pipelines, ports and airports.   more »

the Useless Tory Party’s answer is still to continue the same level of spending more or less as they are with a few fashionable tweaks and gimmicks. Once, this stupid and wrong policy could at least be excused by fear that the New Labour Monster might gird itself and slay the Conservatives once again with its dreaded Blairite death rays and the help of the shameless BBC. With that fear gone, it is obvious that the Cameroon rabble support the Blairite programme not because they are timid or feeble (though they may well be) but because they are in fact Blairites.   more »

Who is actually running Britain. Nominally it should be the Prime Minister Gordon Brown, but this lame duck traitor is not. He is only a front man, and a dire one at that. Brown is no more in control of Britain than Robert Mugabe. An as yet unnamed elite, lawless organisation is actually running the country by stealth, in effect a silent insurrection from within. The control must be total, absolute, and lead top-down from the centre.   more »

Tim Yeo used his casting vote as chairman of the all-party Environmental Audit Select Committee to push through a report, published last week, which backed the decision by Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, that new, higher rates of vehicle excise duty (VED) rates should apply to previously-purchased cars. He is paid £40,000 a year as non-executive chairman of Eco City Vehicles Plc, a company which plans to market a hybrid car which would qualify for low rates of VED under the new tax regime, due to its low carbon emissions.   more »

This story appeared briefly in my feedburner, posted at 12:43 but now, surprise surprise, it has been taken down.

Italians applaud as troops quash 'Gipsy crimewave'

I wonder who ordered that.....bit too sensitive is it whilst the Russian invasion of Georgia is going on...

Move on, nothing to see here, all is calm across Europe..move on...

Lawful Rebellion. Some one recently asked me the question; what is Lawful Rebellion? Rebellion in itself has a number of different meanings and is in fact quite close to another word that seems to be on everyone’s lips; Revolution. Defined meaning of Rebellion; 1. Refusal to accept some authority or code or convention. 2. An act or show of defiance toward an authority or established government.   more »

Using Anti-Terror laws, confidential personal details of millions of passengers flying into and out of Britain should he handed over to the Government to help them fight crime, ministers will say today. Immigration minister Liam Byrne is also likely to say that these powers to probe passenger records should also be extended to other forms of travel like the Eurostar train service between the UK and the Continent.   more »

FRANCE played an active role in the 1994 Rwanda genocide, a report unveiled today by the Rwandan government said, naming French political and military officials it says should be prosecuted. "French forces directly assassinated Tutsis and Hutus accused of hiding Tutsis... French forces committed several rapes on Tutsi survivors," said a justice ministry statement released after the report was presented in Kigali.   more »

I am truly fed up of these convenient mistakes the State keeps making in regards to so-called terrorist attacks. Anyone would think they were doing it on purpose to create a dialectic in which the State can implement totalitarianism. Our government is infested with communists afterall.   more »

This is part 3 of an ongoing series of posts outlining my understanding of Libertarianism and its benefits and consequences.   more »

This is part of an ongoing series of posts outlining my understanding of Libertarianism and its benefits and consequences.   more »

People seem to have some peculiar perceptions about Libertarianism, so I thought I'd offer my personal take on Libertarianism in a series of posts: what it is, how it might work in practice, etc.   more »

There is a debate going on at the moment over just how much state propaganda is being promulgated in the press and on TV. It is true that the press have always favoured the incumbent political party and progressed their policies, partly to remain in favour to get the best stories, but this example in the Telegraph is just piss poor reporting as well.   more »

Germany's top court has ruled that the smoking ban introduced across the country earlier this year is unconstitutional. The ruling came after a case brought by the owner of two small bars, who claim that their business has been unfairly hit by the smoking ban.   more »