Tory Turd of the Year 2011

Frances Maude the cabinet minster for handling the Public Sector dispute. Just like thrity years ago under Thratcher he is attempting to set the public against the many trade unions involved in this dispute. It is however worth taking a look at what at the background of this True Blue Tory minster who has serves in both the Thatcher and Major governments and even more recently during his time in the shadow cabinet formed a key figure in the Deregulation Task Force just before the financial crisis!  However Mr. Maude has railed against irresponsible lending by banks and mortgage companies! But was accused of hypocrisy for receiving more than £100,000 as a director of a company that has profited from sub-prime mortgages; sub-prime means making loans to people who may have difficulty maintaining the repayment schedule. These loans are characterised by higher interest rates and less favourable terms but with the lour of high profits for the bankers.  He is the son of the former Conservative Cabinet minister Angus Edmund Upton Maude who was educated at Rugby School and Oriel College, Oxford, so typical true blue Tory there. Currently his personal net wealth is estimated at £3m. Despite this, during a discussion on Newsnight on 22 October 2010 he argued that a 5% cut to his £65,738 salary was equal to the 'pain' suffered by Britain's poor! During his time as the shadow minister for the cabinet office, he attempted to claim the mortgage interest on his family home in Sussex. This arrangement was rejected by the Fees Office. Two years later, Mr Maude bought a flat in London a few minutes walk from a house he already owned. He then rented out the other property and began claiming on the new flat. The taxpayer has since covered at least £35,000 in mortgage interest payments. Now against this background Mr. Maude will now arrange for an attack on the unions and their public service members for not moving into the real world on pensions and terms of conditions. This will of course help to shift the focus away from the government and the flat-lining economy we currently have. It’s a strategy of divide and rule; setting private sector against the public with the same old faces at the top picking up the financial rewards year on year. It’s the same select privileged group at the top who reap the many and varied financial rewards but as usual the people at the lower end of society are used as cannon fodder to clean up the after mess of the banking crisis. The unions will have to smarten up for this fight, the spectra of a News International Fox News channel may have receded for now but the spin of this Tory lead coalition could manage to shift and deflect so much onto the public sector unions. People have forgot about the birth of Trade Unions and why the Cooperative was setup. Less than a 100 years ago we were subjected to dreadful working conditions with virtually no schooling for our children and the NHS was a dream what many though would never be accomplished. 

Hunting Repeal

Commenting on the “The hunt vote hope for repeal”, I did think that apart from all the old rubbish about hunting being ever so more popular, that the usual photographs depicting the traditional hunting scenes could have easily come from last year. In fact I thought the newspaper could have saved some money by using last years photos again, who would have known the difference! and would the majority of us truly care I wonder.

I was in Chard town centre where the Cotley rode into town. They did not publish their meet, they have gone underground with even their web site being taken down, what have they got to hide! The numbers attending yesterday outside the Guildhall I felt were down considerably as were the riders; which incidentally costs around £8000 to maintain a hunter mount and hunt subscription; but where indeed does this 250,000 number come from? Perhaps the Countryside Alliance spin factory!

However I thought the main thrust of the debate would have been the mess that DEFRA has found itself in this last year. By this I mean Jim Paice’s boss Caroline Spelman and her shambles over the aborted sale of the nation’s forests, quickly followed by Jim Paice’s own mess when he failed to deliver the ban of performing wild animals in circuses. A ban so widely supported by the general public. He was ridiculed by his own party by his pathetic performance and feeble excuses in the Commons during the debate.

With the badger cull trials scheduled to start in the South West after the summer Olympics, I am sure many commentators will be surprised that to raise the prospects of a repeal on the Hunting Act, and summarily allow the Countryside Alliance a perverted victory would be the equivalent of shooting ones self in the foot with both barrels.

A repeal of the Hunting Act is as welcome as increased bonuses for bankers or tax relief for the wealthy.

If we end up with the situation that foxes, deer, hares and soon to be badgers are to be hunted or shot in the countryside and the NFU and others support these activities then they risk driving so many more people into becoming Vegetarians or Vegans and the farming industry like the traditional English countryside may never recover.

Next year the stakes are big!

Boxing Day 2011 Cruel Hunting

Destroy the Unions

Many right wing Tory MPs are now demanding an end to full-time union work in the public sector, an end to any employer costs for Union Reps and an end to the modest funds supporting union learning and modernization. So in response David Cameron and his Ministers are set to consult on cutting back paid time off for union work and ending the role of full time Union Rep a legal rights that have been in the workplace place for nearly 40 years.

It’s the same old tactic of divide and rule with the ‘sound byte’ taxpayers money should not be used for union work! But on the other hand it’s OK for many private companies to be supported by the taxpayer either during startup or the expansion phase; and many given National Insurance holidays for taking on staff.

No one likes to see taxpayers money  being used inappropriately and so one should cast our minds back a few years to the ‘Expenses Scandal’ when David Cameron and Chancellor George Osborne were in opposition and acted with greed as both are fabulously rich with David Cameron having in excess of £30m, and George Osborne estimated worth is £4m and will inherit a great deal more as heir to the Osborne baronetcy. Yet these two men had structured their personal affairs so that British taxpayers financed mortgages on their second homes of about £300,000. Neither needed to have mortgages on their second home, and neither man needed to claim the second home allowance from the taxpayer, yet they both did. Again another shadow minster at the same time Frances Maude who is now the cabinet minster leading the attack on the Unions. Now famous for allegedly purchasing a flat in London, close to a house he already owned, before claiming on the flat and renting out the house he then attempted to claim the mortgage interest on his family home in Sussex. This arrangement was rejected by the Fees Office. But unperturbed two years later, Mr Maude bought a flat in London a few minutes walk from a house he already owned. He then rented out the other property and began claiming on the new flat: the taxpayer has since covered nearly £35,000 in mortgage interest payments and has a personal net wealth estimated at £3m. Was that good use of the taxpayers money?

There are around 200,000 people acting as Union Reps who are prepared to help their work colleagues by giving advice, formally representing them in grievance and disciplinary hearings and negotiating with managers. Many also have more specialist recognised roles improving workplace health and safety, training, equality and environmental considerations. It is reasonable to conclude that Union Reps may reduce staff turnover, deal with any disputes in an independent and swift fashion, increasing overall productivity an asset to both managers and employee and possibly even paying for themselves through the work they do. 

What the Tories are attempting to is throttle the trade unions at their roots in the workplace, as Unions rely on a sense of fairness and on the service these volunteer Union Reps give to help their work colleagues. No union will be able to survive if all support and services for members must be provided by full time union paid officials and paying the market rate of the on site support facilities.

These changes are being progressed by a Prime Minster born into a life so privileged and then goes on to employed Andy Coulson, the former disgraced News of the World editor, as his Director of Communications on entering Downing Street. This was following the cultivation of Rupert Murdoch and Rebekah Brooks of the media giant News International who holeheartly supported his party at the last election through its media enterprises.

One rule for the rich and privileged and another for those who seek to make life better for others.

The Rich Will Inherit the Earth if We do Nothing!

If anyone thought that the planned strikes were nothing more than an inconvenient regarding child care that day or just public sector workers crying ‘Wolf’ over their pension changes then they need to think again.

We have in this collation government a collection of millionaires, members of the aristocracy and wealthy business people waging an all out war on the British workers. David Cameron him self is worth £30M and George Osbourne £5M but he will inherit a lot more. Nick Clegg and his Spanish lawyer wife and simply loaded and so far removed from the day to day financial crisis most people face daily.

Now whether these workers are highway engineers, dustbin men, nurses, teachers or headmasters; they are being targeting for the mistakes of the bankers, hedge fund managers and others in the financial sector.

Good public sector pension are in the front line of the battlefield to be overrun then they will move on to the conditions in work place. 

As the Business Secretary Vince Cable and the Chancellor George Osborne announced that the Government intends to start the dismantling many of the hard fought and long-held employment rights won over many years so that companies could have a more ‘flexible’ and ‘dismissive’ approach towards their employees; i.e. to make it easier for bosses to sack there workers. If these measures gets on the statute books then every employer will be able to tear up their HR policies and replace them with the simple phrase:- "Do as you are told or you are fired". This is just another example of the government being paid by business and applying policy for business needs only. These changes will make it harder for hundreds of thousands of workers to bring cases of victimisation, unfairness and bullying at work and these changes will affect all of us today and our children and grandchildren tomorrow, with all the hard won advances in the working environment starting to evaporate as uncertainty and insecurity become the norm in the workplace.

The rich will get richer and the poor poorer and those in the middle will end up working harder and longer for less. But just to rub salt in the wound, no one voted for this and no one offered it at the last election. Cameron and Clegg have just decided that past mistakes must be paid for and by those who had no part in the making of the crisis!

These are the words of the Governor of the Bank of England and he’s probably a Tory too!

Cameron, Osbourne and Johnson but a few!

The Lib Dems - The New Tories

Continue reading the main story

Unfair dismissal: Vince Cable ponders new 

hire-and-fire rules

Ministers want views on whether firms with 10 or fewer employees should be

able to sack staff without risk of a tribunal if they pay compensation.

Staff who work for small businesses could lose their right to claim unfair

dismissal under plans being considered.

Business Secretary Vince Cable said he wanted the process for getting rid of

staff to be "simpler and quicker".

Unions oppose the idea. Labour called for measures to make it easier to hire

people rather than to fire them.

Announcing a consultation on changes to employment legislation, Mr Cable

said he wanted to help firms expand without making existing staff feel insecure.

If this package gets on the statute books then every employer will be able

to tear up their HR policies and replace them with the simple phrase:-

Do as you are told or you are fired". This is just another example of the 

government being paid by business and applying policy for business

needs only. These changes will make it harder for hundreds of

thousands of workers to bring cases of victimisation, unfairness and

bullying at work.

If anyone wants evidence that the Lib Dems are supping with the devil

this is it. As for the Lib Dems, well done Mr Vince Cable, just go and

join the Tory party and be done with it as no one will ever trust your

party ever again.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-15844614

The Liberal Democrats - Supporting the Tories

Oliver Letwin - Dumping Paperwork in the Park!

Oliver Letwin is no stranger to controversy; he is reputedly the person who advised Margret Thatcher to introduce the poll tax, which caused riots in the 1980’s, and had to go into hiding during the 2001 general election campaign after advocating public spending cuts that went further than the Conservatives had announced. He is another Old Etonian Cabinet Minster in this government and is thought to be independently rich.

However this did not stop him claiming expenses, since 2004, he has claimed more than £80,000 of expenses for a cottage in Somerset close to his Dorset constituency. The property is in an isolated area and Mr Letwin claims for the cost of heating fuel and emptying the septic tank. The most controversial claim was made in September 2006. An invoice for £2,145 was submitted by Mr Letwin for works to lay a new 25mm pipeline to replace the existing leaking pipeline under the tennis court of his country home.

While in opposition he did make a claim that set the Tories aside as still the nasty party when he stated that he would rather beg on the streets than send his children to a state school!

I think the notion of dumping recyclable paper into a park bin sets him unfavourably apart from the average citizen, irrespective of the classification of the paperwork. Most people understand the need to recycle and not just dump in a park bin for someone else; a servant I suppose, to sort out.

Pure contempt for ordinary people.

The Cruel Season

Saturday the 29^th of October is the start of the new Fox Hunting season and perhaps we should perhaps pause and reflect as to what foxing hunting is today in the modern countryside. This is where vehicles, riders and hunters are all wired with salient navigation and robust mobile communication providing detailed terrain mapping and route management.

Guardians of countryside traditions you will often here the hunters call. But with all these modern trappings the terrier men, sometime called countrymen, will be out driving there Kawasaki Quad bikes adored with boxes of terriers, spades, metal rods and root cutters ready to unearth any fox who dares not to play ball with the hounds and seeks refuge underground. All these facilities together with dozens of dogs and human followers to persecute a defenseless wild animal in a one-sided ritual to titillate sadistic humans out for a days so called hunting. 

The Countryside Alliance will again be promoting hunting and all its positive attributes to the general public, media, politicians and rural communities. The spin will go along the lines of “Fox hunters are the true representatives of rural England, binding the countryside together as farmers and landowners unite in a common cause.” But in reality they are as representative of rural England as Eton and Harrow Colleges are of our education system.

Publicly the hunts will be saying that they meet 'with organizers laying a scent for the hounds to track. Monitors nationwide, however, testify that for most Hunts this is merely a charade, designed to thinly disguise the fact that they are carrying on hunting as if the ban didn't exist, with the same callous disregard for the welfare and feelings of their animal victims and with many individuals appearing to arrogantly consider themselves above the law. Time and time again reports emerge of the chaos caused as hounds riot and trespass, attack livestock and peoples pets, stamping over gardens and damaging property.

Journalists are apparently consensually beguiled by the Countryside Alliance, while the few Monitors beat desperately on the door of the media, which is rarely opened. 

The current Police Minster Nicholas Le Quesne Herbert (Nick Herbert) was a former Public Affairs Officer of the British Field Sport Society (BFSS) which is now the Countryside Alliance. This may explain why police forces up and down the country do little or nothing enforcing the Hunting Act. The same parallels exist between the Metropolitan police and the early days of the phone hacking scandal by News International; phone hacking, what phone hacking!

The ban on hunting; including stag, hare, fox and mink, or is it otter now, is overwhelmly supported by the general public, but the hunting traditions of the heredity privileged and landowning elite who have always acted outside the realms of any government seem to have played heavily on the police for any enforcement of the ban as the hunters riot around the countryside; the untouchables in full purist of the inedible.

The National Trust AGM

As we enter the autumn is must soon be time for another National Trust AGM; and this years its on the 29th October 2011 at the Royal Concert Hall in Nottingham. The pro-hunt group strangely name FONT; Friends of the National Trust via the Countryside Alliance web site always provides voting information to ensure that the pro-blood sports agenda remains in place within the trust, however this year you have to register to view the information; yet more secrecy! 

This is rather sad and as the National Trust have over 4 million members, but sadly only around 35,000 bother to vote.

The vast majority of NT members are interested in visiting the many stately homes, rolling estates and gardens during the spring and summer months. But come the darkness of autumn and winter the hunters and shooters come out to play. The National Trust openly states that the greatest danger to the trust is from climate change, but I believe that another danger exists and that is the stranglehold that the blood sports fraternity has on the National Trust which is after all a registered charity setup to preserve the gems of our countryside and the variety of wildlife that live on it, not for providing fairground stalls for the shooters and live prey for the hunters and hare coursers.

But to return to FONT, I have always been amused regarding this group, located deep in hunting country in the Exmoor on the  village of Crowcombe in  Somerset. It’s rather like a group of pedophiles setting up a charity called for example the New Children’s Society; where they offer help and assistance to schools, clubs and parents at sporting and social events. People would naturally assume that here was a wonderful helpful group of nice people devoting so much time and effort to be with our young children!  Then the cruel dark side would emerge, but alas far too late to prevent the damage.

Sometimes when the label states this product may contain nuts, and we are initially dumbfounded and confused – then later much later we stumble across these nuts in most unexpected of places!

Long Live St Paul's Tent City

I think it is rather a cheek that Liam Fox should portion any part of his demise on the hounding of the press. Now we all have some idea of what was going on and he had to go and one wonders why he did not go sooner?

We just need to look back of the Tory press hounding of the last governments ministers; in particular the series of Home Office ministers; David Blunkett, Charles Clark and Jacki Smith. The current Emigration minster Damon Green was apparently behind so many of the stories appearing on the front pages of the Daily Mail and Express regarding the job he was emigration job he was shadowing at this time.

Rather interestedly if it was not for the efforts of some journalist we could be subjected to a Rupert Murdoch Fox News channel delivering a rather right wing bias on the news. But alas the Murdoch’s News International group was out foxed by good journalism. We still don't know all the details of the Dr Fox case and the money men who back him, directly or indirectly. Also it is rather pathetic to offer the feeble excuse or get out clause that he did not make any financial gain from this situation.

He proved himself to be untrustworthy and still does by his recent statements. 

I think most people and that is a very significant majority in this country know that this Tory lead government weren't elected and are only where they are because of the LibDem collaborators. Who have turned their back on any claim to be the voice of liberalism. They have chosen to support the party of privilege and patronage over liberty and equality and they have treated with contempt the voters who chose to vote LibDem in direct rejection of the Conservatives. They have disowned those who made a positive choice to vote LibDem in order to see their policies implemented. They have betrayed the party workers who have worked hard to promote the centre left of politics by rushing to the rescue of the political right.   

Nick Clegg and his followers must take a large portion of blame for the covert policies such as the manipulation of corporation tax in the budget, the bailouts, the continued lack of controls over (now) publicly owned companies, the increasing rollbacks of worker's rights, the VAT hikes so the cost of living rises despite wage freezes. The selling off of the NHS so that if you're poor you're buggered, the increase in tuition fees so only the rich can afford a university education; so they stay powerful gaining more influential positions in society. It’s the usual divide and rule tactics and the usual portrayal of the working class in a dim light, the corruption is top down

There is hope and perhaps the activities at St.Paul's tent city which is getting an awful lot of coverage at present. This may be the emergence of real opposition against corporate greed and the failed and corrupt banking system.

Lets hope that the church does not cave into pressure from the Conservative Christians and perhaps speaks out against the ravages of the bankers and this corporation friendly government.

It was a few months ago that the Archbishop of Canterbury did try and voice his concerns regarding the actions of the governments policies but he was shouted down by the well groomed and Eton trained debater David Cameron. The Archbishop seems to be very quiet now, perhaps like one of his predecessors, afraid that he will be slain by government supporters!

I understand that there is a Conservative Christian group and that the Great Badger slayer Caroline Spelman is a member. If this government and there supporters get anymore power and control in this country you may soon need a Tory party membership card to enter a church!

A Return to Life on Mars - 80s Here we come!

So as unemployment increased to 8.1% nationally and the unemployment total for 16-24 year olds hit a record high of 991,000 in the last quarter, an unemployment rate of a staggering 21.3%.

From a personnel perspective my own son graduated in July 2005 and since then has worked in a series of part-time or temporary jobs, each and every one paying the minimum wage; typically in office administration. One job in Taunton, (a well known Department Store Head Office)  lasted 11 months, it seems the situation changes when you try and stay in a job for more than a year. As he signed on the Job Centre; staff said his job and others were being advertised; what sort of business ethics are in place when big High Street companies act like this!

Wages and job security are suffering when what is required is good jobs with good pay and conditions and ongoing training to develop a skilled workforce, not a pool of unemployed workers who are used and abused by employers, rather like raw materials in the ‘Goods In’ section of a factory. Stagnating wages and low paid service sector jobs as private business reaps the high profits from once state provided services and facilities, is this life we want for our children and our grandchildren?

The Employment Secretary, Chris Grayling, said that what the UK was now seeing was "the impact of the international financial crisis". But I believe that the Tories are using the economic crisis as cover, they are simply carrying on where Thatcherism left off; redistributing power from working people to the wealthy elite. The last Conservative government achieved it largely through many anti-union laws and suppressing workers' rights together with a massive shift of the burden of tax from direct to indirect taxation. 

Its amazing what you can get away with mass unemployment as the rich people's wealth rise over 30% in the last few years and with a top 1% lifting a hefty 23% slice of the national pie!

Perhaps we may see further reductions in company corporation tax, at a low of 24% as means to create new business incentives; sorry create more jobs!

Vince Cable seems very quiet at present, perhaps emerging as the new Mr. Bean of the financial world as Baron von Osborne runs amok with our economy!

Shooting for Fun

With the start of the Pheasant season on the 1st of October it was interesting to see that the British Association of Shooting Association (BASC) are taking the unusual line of ‘saying hey lets eat what we shoot’ for a change; in an attempt to turn the sport into a food sourcing exercise!

With the proposed badger cull trail for the West Country I was surprised that Badger Burgers were not on the menu after all they will be shot ‘free running’ and above ground! Why we could have a version of Beatrix Porter’s Cook Book with featured menus such as Water Ratatouille, Brock Burgers and not forgetting the old favourite Toad of Toadhall in the Hole!

But on a more serious note a lot of money is being used to provide live targets for the sport of shooting with little concern for the birds lifecycle as DEFRA Farming Minster Jim Paice tore up the new welfare regulations for the rearing of game birds as one of his first acts in taking office, not a wise move if its entering our food chain on mass.

Now together with the election of Simon Hart, previously Chief Executive of the Countryside Alliance this could herald in the opportunity to push forward the Countryside Alliance manifesto of countryside pursuits which includes shooting wildlife as a grant legible sport.

To encourage children to take up pursuit shooting fuels an unethical demand for the range of targets that can be shot and then this goes on to create the demand for even more live targets, which usually results in more wildlife being classified as a targeted pest.

I have no problems with clays or target shooting, but if you introduce children to shooting as a form of wildlife management it opens up the whole shooting scene for them and also to be knowingly cruel is demeaning to the person who is perpetrating the cruel act and will perhaps be diluted on children introduced to shooting live targets by there peers and does this make for well rounded adults?

I still fail to see how the double barrel shotguns are seen as the tools of the trade for many countryside people working in wildlife conservation as I have never seen any reports of our wildlife returning the fire at these shooters!

Nick (Tory) Clegg

So as Nick Clegg gave his conference speech has he proudly raise the Liberal Democrat standard along side the Conservatives on the single issue that matters most - the economy. "Not easy, but right, not easy but right," he kept repeating. But as a range of economists, including those at the IMF this week are saying that Plan A may need to morph into Plan B. In which case Clegg really missed an opportunity and again, we have Clegg acting as the front man for Cameron, "Yes I know people are suffering" softly softly, but the cuts are needed? But the speed and depth may have put this country back into recession and can you really cut your way out of a downturn? Rather than the fanfare about small initiatives such as summer schools and the pupil premium, Clegg could have given his party hope by stating that they will lead from the front before we plunge into a double-dip recession, ordinary party members will demand a change of course and to be fair, Vince Cable has been hinting at this all week, but on this crucial issue, Clegg had little to say. Former lovable leader Charles Kennedy, offered some advice just before Clegg’s speech staying stop fighting on so many fronts and pick a few important fights and win some of them. The economy is the one fight Clegg should have selected and call on Vince Cable’s support but the problem is as he so clearly showed on the platform that he is at one with the Conservative party on the economy and both parties are still happy to to lay all the blame on Labour which today has little mileage left as the global financial crisis continues to rage. I still hold the view that Clegg is a dead man walking, regardless of how long the coalition lasts. The next leader of the Party will surely be Tim Farron and I am sure he is already contemplating when and where to place the knife in Cleggs back; summer 2013 is my best guess. Many centre and centre left Liberal Democrats party activists need hope and many may be starting to desert as their Parliamentary Party become unmanageable and disconnected from the grass root members and supporters. Now logic says they should all hold fast, but how many will have the stomach and heart for that, especially knowing their Tory 'colleagues' are smirking behind their backs and with there long knifes at the ready come the next election!

A Truly False Moralistic and Condemnatory Rhetoric From Frances Maude!

As Frances Maude sets a collision course with the public sector unions and the coalition government it is worth taking a look at what at the background of this Tory minster who has serves in both the Thatcher and Major governments and even more recently during his time in the shadow cabinet formed a key figure in the Deregulation Task Force just before the financial crisis!  However Mr. Maude has railed against irresponsible lending by banks and mortgage companies! But was accused of hypocrisy for receiving more than £100,000 as a director of a company that has profited from sub-prime mortgages; sub-prime means making loans to people who may have difficulty maintaining the repayment schedule. These loans are characterised by higher interest rates and less favourable terms but with the lour of high profits for the bankers.  He is the son of the former Conservative Cabinet minister Angus Edmund Upton Maude who was educated at Rugby School and Oriel College, Oxford, so typical true blue Tory there. Currently his personal net wealth is estimated at £3m. Despite this, during a discussion on Newsnight on 22 October 2010 he argued that a 5% cut to his £65,738 salary was equal to the 'pain' suffered by Britain's poor! During his time as the shadow minister for the cabinet office, he attempted to claim the mortgage interest on his family home in Sussex. This arrangement was rejected by the Fees Office. Two years later, Mr Maude bought a flat in London a few minutes walk from a house he already owned. He then rented out the other property and began claiming on the new flat. The taxpayer has since covered at least £35,000 in mortgage interest payments. Now against this background Mr. Maude will now arrange for an attack on the unions and their public service members for not moving into the real world on pensions and terms of conditions. This will of course help to shift the focus away from the government and the flat-lining economy we currently have. It’s a strategy of divide and rule; setting private sector against the public with the same old faces at the top picking up the financial rewards year on year. It’s the same select privileged group at the top who reap the many and varied financial rewards but as usual the people at the lower end of society are used as cannon fodder to clean up the after mess of the banking crisis. The unions will have to smarten up for this fight, the spectra of a News International Fox News channel may have receded for now but the spin of this Tory lead coalition could manage to shift and deflect so much onto the public sector unions. People have forgot about the birth of Trade Unions and why the Cooperative was setup. Less than a 100 years ago we were subjected to dreadful working conditions with virtually no schooling for our children and the NHS was a dream what many though would never be accomplished. I just wonder if we are slipping back into these dark old days as we watch our aspirations and horizons slip away and once again foreign travel will be the remit of the wealthy.

The Boardroom Bonanza - The Top Pay Just Goes Up and Up

Companies have been busy cutting costs in recent years by slashing the pension provision for employees across the board. This has seen much of the private sector workforce shut out from the best final-salary related schemes, but the boardroom has shown no such restraint. As directors pay has risen like a rocket with many of the packages becoming ever more complex. The average FTSE 100 director has accumulated a pension worth £3.6 million; a sum that can only be dreamt of by an ordinary worker. In fact the 36 top executives in the UK earned at least £500,000 last year, with 14 of them who were on over £1 million a year. There's no such thing as a poor bookie-and that certainly applies to Brian Wallace, finance director of Ladbrokes. His pay almost doubled (+93.3%) to £1.3 million as result of a £560,000 bonus - equivalent to 113% of his basic pay - being paid in 2010 against no bonus the year before. A huge hike in his bonus powered George Walker, president of the US operations of the power generation equipment group Aggreko, to £677,000 - a 57,4% rise on 2009. Rupert Soames, chief executive of the group, only managed a 46.1% rise, but he did get £1.3 million in 2010. Jez Maiden's pay and benefits package increased by almost half - 48.6%, The finance director of bus and train operator National Express moved ever nearer the £1 million a year mark with a 2010 pay packet worth £923,000. These startling new statistics revealed in this report on executive pensions for the High Pay Commission, were compiled by Incomes Data Services using latest available data from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) and National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF). The report shows that only a third of private sector employees are enrolled in a pension scheme but almost all FSTE 350 companies provide a retirement scheme for their directors. As ever with pay at the top, it is one rule for the workforce as it is exhorted to put up with poor retirement pay so that companies can stay competitive, and another one for the boardroom where generosity remains totally unchecked. The largest pay and benefits package this time around went to Samir Brikho, chief executive of engineering and project management group AMEC, with £2.1 million. His annual cash bonus rose to 121% of his basic salary; in money terms up to £1.1 million against £612,000 in 2009. Overall, his pay and benefits package was 23.7% larger in 2010 than the year before. The figures in the table only include basic pay, annual cash bonus, cash value of benefits and add-on pension allowances. They exclude the long-term bonuses awarded in shares and pension contributions to a defined benefit or defined contribution scheme. Never before has Tory Chancellor George Osborne’s statement “we are all in this together” been shown to be so completely false. I now understand why the top one hundred business leaders openly supported the Tories at the last election; they were in it for themselves and my how they have been rewarded!

Is it time for Cameron to go?

David Cameron's approach is unnecessarily moralistic in the extreme and his condemnatory rhetoric begs me to pose the question 'Is this the worst Prime Minster ever?'

I am dismayed that he has created a concoction of revenge, repression and stigmatisation as a response to the riots - and some of his 'tough' policy proposals are either wholly impractical, simply wouldn't be legally permissible or would clearly just make matters worse. He just seems to be spouting the first rightwing saloon-bar invective that comes into his head. I do not see any signs of dependable leadership let alone charismatic statesmanship with David Cameron and it is unsettling that the Home Secretary Theresa May, and others, sadly simply go along with the complete madness of reducing police numbers which in this current climate only confirms that view.

It’s barely over a year with this coalition government and the majority of the cuts have not taken place and with the recent large hike in unemployment this week; reducing police numbers begins to look like total madness.

David Cameron’s focus therefore on the evils of 'gangs', while addressing the subject of riots leaves him open to the charge that he was a member of the Bullingdon Club gang when he, Boris Johnson, George Osborne and others would habitually trash restaurants and country pubs in the Oxfordshire countryside would just chuck a load of money down as they were leaving to pay for the damage, because they could afford it. Let us not forget the drugs issue which Cameron never resolved and never gets mentioned any more!  However he is not the right person to lecture and moralise about the drugs and gangs culture.

With the dreary and bleak economic situation apparently set to continue indefinitely, it's hard to see a path to survival, let alone success for David Cameron.

Another year or two of this chaos and incompetence and the rolling stone of the News International phone hacking yet to reach is climax will surely damage the Prime Minster even more. It’s like with the Bullingdon Club gang he chose the wrong set of friends.

We know Cameron loves foxhunting and delights in shooting helpless birds and deer for 'sport' and would doubtless love to be able to join his fellow hyper-privileged fellow gang members in paying thousands to be allowed to blast grouse to bits from the 'Glorious Twelfth' on Scottish moors.

Just how can the Liberal Democrats remain supporting his leadership when George Osborne states that the higher income tax rates may need to be removed as they are not collecting sufficient revenue? This is down to the many and varied tax avoidance schemes in place. The rich have become like the Greeks, never paying there fair share of taxes. This is another centre piece of Liberal Democrat policy that is being thrown out of the Coalition.

The country did not vote for this style of Coalition government and the austerity measures they are engaged in; there is no mandate for this course of action. We are not like Greece or Ireland and I don't think Britain is broken or sick either. I think it's fraying at the edges in certain areas, and I think anti-social behaviour has become far more common and tolerated more. It's not broken but a portion of society seems to have lost the right to live their lives free from harassment and abuse. Another portion seems to have no stake or say in our society and hence is marginalised and drops under the Radar of both the enforcement and welfare agencies.

 Britain is not broken, not yet at any rate and we need to build for the future and that means spending money, and to quote our very own David Cameron, “We can’t go on like this!” No David we can’t go on like this and this applies to you!

It's a riot

Who remembers Dixon of Dock Green - Fair and quality policing without fear or favour?
With the upsurge of violence in our towns and cities where looting is being widely reported, perhaps we need to stand back and review where we are regarding this situation. It is so easy to waffle on about the criminality of the individuals involved in the looting, theft and the other criminal activities, but why are they doing it and how can it be stopped.
The police and in particular the Metropolitan police have not had good press lately with the bribery and phone hacking sandal and they are now leaderless at present.
The handling of the shooting of Mark Duggan in Tottenham may have been the trigger but they are lots of other reasons for this build up of pressure.
Its high time the police and in particular the Chief Constables disengaged with the higher echelons of the establishment and re-engage there police force with the general public at large.
The banking crisis and the subsequent demonstrations during the G20 meeting which resulted in the death of Ian Tomlinson, clubbed by the Metropolitan police on his way home just serves to indicate how disconnected some police are from the community they purport to serve!
It was the police that warned during the start of the austerity measures that cutting the police force budget when youth unemployment was rising was a dangerous move where they may not have sufficient numbers or budget to maintain the rule of law.
This year alone we have seen the student demonstrations against the tuition fee rises and the loss of the Educational Maintenance Allowance (EMA) soon followed by the TUC march last March which brought teachers, court workers, NHS and Social Services workers together for a united stand against the cuts. During these protests they have been other pressure groups in action. The direct action group UK-Uncut and the Internet based 38 Degrees and again the Metropolitan police could be accused of being heavy handed in the way they have dealt with the UK-Uncut group by detaining them for some 36 hours for a peaceful sit-in.
Of course the government does not help by promoting one of the business leaders targeted for tax avoidance by the UK-Uncut group to a government advisor! This again indicates that the police have disengaged with the public and are happy to fly there standard with the ‘big money’.
Youth unemployment is very high and jobs in short supply, students are forced to pay much more and many new graduates have a degree and a large debit with at best a low paid unskilled job or none at all. The bankers still get there bonuses and the rich just get richer with many more people slipping into poverty. Something has to change, we only need to look at the Middle East and the Arab Spring uprising to see the sea of change that people demand when things are corrupt and unfair.
Its high time the police and in particular the Chief Constables disengaged with the higher echelons of the establishment and re-engage there police force with the general public at large. The shooting of Mark Duggan, justified or otherwise and the apparent contempt for his family are another systemic failure of the police.
Now is the time that people are the priority rather than business and property and the police now fully engage with the society and community they are suppose to serve.
However on the political front just how many people voted for this Coalition government and the austerity measures they are engaged in. The role of News International may have had an undesirable effect on the election result, but we will never know. If politicians ignore the voters and decide to go down a different path without a clear mandate then how are people supposed to relay there disapproval and anger at this situation. And young people when angry let it be known and it would be unproductive to demonise them even more; they need to be engaged in society and be stakeholders in our future.

Hunting & Hacking

Now that we are entering the Cub Hunting or Autumn Hunting as they now like to call it season, which is a very secretive and cruel activity, where all the local hunts will be training there new hounds how to kill young fox cubs as part of a pack of hunting dogs. This activity is usually conducted early in the morning or late afternoon and evening when scenting conditions are at there best.

As this activity commences a dictatorial effort is underway to undermined the Hunting Act. This is seen by the Countryside Alliance Chief Executive Alice (Two Horse – took both her horses to university) Barnard, The Horse and Hounds publication and the Vets For Hunting group now renamed Veterinary Association for Wildlife Management (VAWM) . All attempting to undermined the Hunting Act by stating that hunting foxes with a large pack of dogs, a mounted field, with both foot and vehicle followers and of course the usual squadron of terrier men on Quad Bikes, all equipped with spades, metal rods and terriers is the best method to manage our wildlife and in additional seek to dress this grossly unequal contest as sport and part of our heritage.

Interestedly with the proposed badger cull by night time shooting of the free running badgers and the after effects of perturbation (scattering of surviving badgers) and fox hunting continuing which is very disruptive to all wildlife. This seems to have been forgotten from the equation as this government declares open warfare on our native wildlife. As on one hand we are told that with badgers, both TB affected and healthy badgers will be culled by marksmen at night, but for the fox the local hunt rabble will be released on it as complete and total chaos is unleashed in the countryside.


Rather like the Murdoch News International situation the Countryside Alliance is far to close to David Cameron; for example Simon Hart the former Countryside Alliance Chief Executive is now the Conservative MP for Carmarthen West & South Pembrokeshire. This is proof of the political polarisation in hunting. Why even David Cameron was until recently a member of the Heythrop Hunt in Oxfordshire, and has Lord Astor, a regular with the Old Berkshire Hunt and who is also David Cameron’s father-in-law, and the vice-chairman of the Hunting Act Repeal Committee, which is to lead the campaign to repeal the ban and allow this activity to continue under the feeble ‘self regulation’ banner, a huntsman and a former director of public affairs at the British Field Sports Society; now known as the Countryside Alliance which he helped to set up.

Nicholas Le Quesne Herbert (Nick Herbert) the current Police Minster and a former Public Affairs Officer of the British Field Sport Society (BFSS) which is now the Countryside Alliance.

This could explain the lack of police effort regarding illegal hunting activity, a very similar situation with News International and the Metropolitan police!

So much for David Cameron’s promise of openness and transparency before the last general election.

 


 

The Tory Countryside Killers (No Lib Dem MPs within DEFRA)

The Randomised Badger Culling Trial (RBCT)  acknowledged by the Government as the prime source of authoritative research continues to argue that badger culling is not viable, poses significant risk of increased diseased spread, and is not the way to resolve bTB. They argue for tough cattle control measures, much improved testing, and the development and use of both badger and cattle vaccines.

Caroline Spelman is simply pandering to the needs of farmers to kill something. They need an scapegoat, someone to blame for there poor husbandry. In the background they are reports that groups are being set up to monitor the interaction of cattle and badgers on farms via night vision equipment with the view to include associations such the Young Farmers Club (YFC) and agricultural students to get involved in the culling process. With this proposed culling being done by the shooting of free running badgers this seems more like a Fairground attraction rather than a series scientific attempt to resolve the situation and it will cause overwhelming damage to the countryside forever.

Now early badger vaccination trials are very promising, so why has the Government cut back on vaccine research which promises a long-term solution, free of all the negative impacts of perturbation and public anger?

By allowing this cull to take place DEFRA, Caroline Spelman and this animal hostile government is in effect creating a new Blood Sport; ‘Badger Shooting’ i.e. the shooting of free-running badgers; which seems likely to increase perturbation and as a direct result the level of bTB in cattle will rise and like all Blood Sports groups they will claim that its all part of the countryside management plan.

I am sure we will soon see Fox Hunting, Hare Coursing and Stag Hunting back on this goverments agenda!

Is This Cameron's Watergate?

Just over 18 months ago one of the papers in the News International group, The Sun was leading with the story regarding the then Prime Minster Gordon Brown concerning his dreadful and disrespectful act of getting the name of solider Jamie Janes killed in action in Afghanistan wrong when writing to the soldiers Mother. This was compounded with Mr Brown’s failure to bow at the cenotaph during the Rembrance Sunday wreath laying ceremony. All eyes were on poor old Mr Brown and the long knifes were out!

David Cameron sat quietly while poor old Brown was figurately battered to death, not once did he question the torrent of media abuse directed at Brown by his ‘friends’, after all he had a lot to win by staying silent.

I suppose that the only other area we have seen such a concerted attack on a public figure is usually against a beleaguered England Football manger following a string of poor results and an early exit from the competition!

But here we have the mighty Rupert Murdock News International Empire and the Chipping Norton set deciding who make there chum David Cameron the next Prime Minster. Their job was made easier with the MPs expanse scandal, yes a few Tories were caught out with moot cleaning and duck islands. But as it was on Labours watch people were more than ever ready for change.

The effects of Tony Blair and his Iraq war, the global financial crisis and expenses scandal made it totally acceptable to target Gordon Brown even more, he was in effect a dead man walking, but just to be sure he was killed off at the general election, the full force of the Tory supporting Murdock empire was arranged against Gordon Brown and the tired New Labour.

But who would have guessed that as we watched the dead returning through Wotton Basset that the Murdock press would be hacking into the dead service personnel’s relatives’ phones looking for material for new headlines.

David Cameron’s close association with these people brings into question his ability to be a Member of Parliament never mind the post of Prime Minster; and will he call off Christmas with Rebecca Brooks this year or perhaps take her a food parcel in her new HMP guesthouse?

As for Vince Cable, Nick Clegg and the rest of the Liberal Democrats members of this government, do they really know who they are sleeping with and what they will catch in time for the next general election? This will compound there problems as apart from betrayal on tuition fees for the so called good of the country, everyone will question their honesty and moral judgment.

9^th November 2009 Sun leading with Remembrance Gaffe and the error prone letter Mrs Jacqui Janes received about the loss of her son Jamie killed in  Afghanistan .

The Sun says ‘Bloody Shameful’

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/campaigns/our_boys/2722174/Mum-Jacqui-Janes-at-war-PM-is-humbled.html

I just wonder if the Telegraph will turn its attention onto the Lib Dem MPs rather like they did with Vince Cable, in an attempt to divert attention away from the embattled Cameron. As this newspaper group has a lot to make up as the News International almost wore out the path to Number 10 with there frequency!