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!