Corbett: harness the hagfish

From Cuntbett's website:

Farage flatters himself that he and the pipsqueek remanents of UKIP are my target

This from a man who sat there in the committee and said that the only people who would be affected would be the Ind Dem group of which Nigel Farage is co president. And he wonders why there are people saying this was to target UKIP. From a man who published a phamplet containing a load of bollocks called 'the truth about UKIP' or some such shite and who probably wakes up in the middle of the night thinking, 'I'e got something else to write on UKIPwatch!!!'

Listen, Corbett, you might have managed to convince yourself on this one but we simply don't believe you because we know that you are a fanatical euro federalist who wants to sell this country down the river and have us all one country. Presumably this is because you can't actually get a proper job, and certainly wouldn't be elected in a directly elected contest, even by your Labour colleagues. You were the rapporteur on the EU constitution and on the Lisbon Treaty. You spend your time writing new laws to further undermine accountability and democracy and don't even live in the country you are paid to represent.

Also, next time you decide to try to defame me, don't just walk past me like you haven't done anything wrong. I am a bitch and I am vindictive.

Oh no, please...no...

I am more than a little disturbed that Big Brother 9 is on its way to punish us. I have a better idea for these programmes; take anyone who wants to be in it, shut them in the house and then leave them there. Same for the one where a bunch of twats go to Australia and pretend to 'rough it'.

The worst thing about Big Brother is that it imposes on us endless lines of z list celebrities like Chanelle, who cannot even spell her own name correctly. She, for example, has a porn video out where the words are in some kind of lyric form



Is that the next step in her 'posh spice' fascination? To see how far you can get in the music business whilst being devoid of talent?

If you thought the singing Frenchies were bad...

This

Will have you screaming at the screen.

And don't forget, that these people get to make laws that affect the UK but you can't vote them in or out.

And note, the Tory MEP talking about the role of the EU in foreign policy...

Batshit approves of criminals in positions of authority

Some weeks ago I wrote a letter to Batshit asking him if, as Foreign Secretary, he approved of the appointment to the position of EU Justice Commissioner going to Jacques Barrot, who as we know was given an eight month suspended sentence for embezzlement.

Well today I received my answer:

Dear Trixy,

Thank you for your email of 7 May to the Foreign Secretary about the appointment of Commissioner Jacques Barrot. I am replying as Desk Officer responsible for the European Commission.

The issue you raised was fully discussed in the European Parliament at the time of Mr Barrot's appointment in 2004 as Commissioner for Transport. The European Parliament Legal Service concluded at the time, in their opinion of 25 November 2004, that there were no grounds to oppose Mr Barrot’s appointment.

We are confident that Mr Barrot will make a valuable contribution in his new role as Commissioner for Justice, Freedom and Security, and we look forward to working with him over the coming months.

Considering that the story was unknown by Euro MPs, even group leaders like Toady Watson, I can't imagine that the legal committee was too aware, and that they only approved the decision as it would make them look stupid and in the EU it's a case of all of them or none of them and a new lot instead.

But, whilst trying to avoid answering the question, he does say that the UK are happy for Barrot to hold this position. We look forward to seeing Ian Huntley as Minister for Children, Jeffrey Archer as Chancellor of the Exchequer and David Blunkett as Minister for women's affairs.

update on EU groups

present text

2. A political group shall comprise Members elected in at least one-fifth of the Member States. The minimum number of Members required to form a political group shall be twenty

Amendment by Richard Corbett

2. A political group shall comprise Members elected in at least one-quarter of the Member States. The minimum number of Members required to form a political group shall be thirty.

This amendment was voted down twice. The first time, Corbett stated in the Committee that the only group this would affect would be the Ind Dem group. That woke up the Greens and other smaller groups into realising that the plan here was to keep large groups who can be easily controlled in the same way that big businesses are easier to control than lots of small businesses.

What happened after this was voted down was that against the Parliament's own rules, the amendment was voted on again but without the specific details and MEPs were collected from around the parliament building to bulldoze it through. And through it went. So this amendment is part of the report which will be voted by all MEPs but it was allowed to happen without the details of what MEPs were voting on being actually written down. Andrew Duff, a Liberal Democrat and pro-EU politician who talks about 'post national governments' said that the committee had no right to do that. But who cares about the rules, eh? They're only there to stop people railroading the project of unification.

When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.

When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.

When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.

When they came for the Jews,
I remained silent;
I wasn't a Jew.

When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.

Just pop that in there for posterity, really...

But then the truth has never really been an issue to most of these people. A friend of mine wrote to the Daily Mail asking how the EU could pretend to be pro democracy when it was ignoring the wishes of the people three ft away from it. This was following the protests in the European Parliament calling for EU wide referendums. Corbett took this to mean that the person writing it, who was a member of staff, was illegally in the Chamber. He tried to get him fired for that without bothering to check the details. Four months after the protest had taken place his boss received a letter asking about this. It took all of 30 seconds to establish that the guy in question had been in the gallery observing and the complaint was just inaccurate vindictiveness.

But let's not let the truth and even more importantly, democracy, get in the way of the mission. Let's take a look at another amendment from the Constitutional Affairs committee:

'Calls on the Commission to take account of possible requests by the European Parliament to activate the infringement procedure against a State accused of having breached a parliamentary prerogative and requests to be informed by the Commission, in writing and in full detail, about the reasons in the event that the college decides not to take the action as requested.'

Which says, in essence, that if the Treaty of Lisbon isn't passed, they want the parliament to be able to take national parliaments to court for infringing EU law which the Treaty allows. Which does beg the question, how can some people like batshit say that this Treaty strengthens the role of national parliaments?

Our last chance. Ireland, say NO to Lisbon

The man with his thumb down in the German speaking section is Richard Corbett. Telling his party, representing Labour voters throughout the UK to vote against that amendment.

The true nature of federalists

From The Telegraph today:

The European Union assembly’s political establishment is pushing through changes that will silence dissidents by changing the rules allowing Euro-MPs to form political groupings.

Richard Corbett, a British Labour MEP, is leading the charge to cut the number of party political tendencies in the Parliament next year, a move that would dissolve UKIP’s pan-European Eurosceptic “Independence and Democracy” grouping.

Under the rule change, the largest and most pro-EU groups would tighten their grip on the Parliament’s political agenda and keep control of lavish funding.

The proposals to change the sizes for the numbers needed for a group have already been rejected once in committee but Richard Corbett is nothing if not anti democratic and persistent and so submitted the same amendments again. UKIP managed to ensure that we had members in committee to vote against it but when it is put forward in plenary the EPP and the Socialists will hold the balance and it will probably be passed.

There are also proposals for the president to have to approve the questions from MEPs which go to the Council and the Commission and for there to be a maximum of 3 a month from each MEP.

Words failed me when I read this: that a man unelected by the British people should have the right to decide what questions British MEPs can ask is preposterous. It cries of dictatorships, actually. Once again, when this goes to plenary the big groups will have the power to decide on the fate of other MEPs. It was through written questions and the failure of the Commission to answer them that Nigel Farage got enough support for a motion of censure on the Commission President.

This is nothing more than censureship by the socialist pro Europeans to stem the tide of skeptics and the withdrawalist movement.

Richard Corbett made it perfectly clear that the only group who would be affected would be the Ind Dem group, lead by his bete noir and containing the group he hates so much. Hence his dedication to UKIPwatch, purveyors of lies about UKIP since 2004.

Remember when you come to vote in the euro elections next year what these people are like and how they are even trying to demolish democracy to get their way.

And the people of Ireland remember: you are our big chance to stop this Treaty. They are lying to you and saying that you will be alone, but you will have more friends than you could imagine. They might not be Communist friends who hate you and just want your money, but they would be ones who valued your opinion.

Because let us not forget: that in the plenary session MEPs voted to reject respecting the results of the Irish vote. In the same committee, Corbett's chum Jo Leinen wants the parliament to keep the same powers over national law and the courts as it would have had in the Treaty. Even if the treaty is not accepted.

Anyone who thinks the EU is a good idea has a very skewed view of democracy.
UPDATE:

England Expects tells us how badly behaved they were from a first hand view...

Farewell flight of the Dakota

The 15th July looks like it will be the final flight of the Dakota, an aircraft which is acknowledged to be the safest aircraft which has ever been designed.

And yet, it is 'safety' regulations which has ensured that past this date, they will never be allowed to carry passengers.

The EU-OPS legislation has laid down requirements that are impossible or impractical for vintage aircraft and so the airliner that made flying profitable for airliners and safe for passengers is embarking on a farewell tour.

Brussels regulation have demanded that all air passenger planes are fitted with oxygen masks but the Dakota does not fly high enough to use them.

They also insist that all exits are fitted with escape slides, but the doors of the Dakota are only 4 ft from the ground and slides would not be financially practical, even if they did exist.

It's another example of 'one size fits all' EU regulations which are destroying yet another part of our history and taking away enjoyment for thousands of people, for no other reason than meddling bureaucrats.

So another vintage aircraft is banned from taking to the skies, another part of our history sentenced to gather dust and another season of MEPs and EU civil servants congratulating themselves for a job well done: passengers who were never in danger saved from themselves, companies gone out of business and past times swept away. All in a days work for our friends across the channel.

The Dakota can fly when it's full of holes and yet EU paperwork has managed to ground them. They were used extensively by the allies in the Second World War when enemy gunfire couldn't stop them.

As my chum Godfrey Bloom said, "You could whack them with a mallet and they'd still be safe to fly which tells me one thing: that the EU fundamentally misunderstands air safety."

My father went on a farewell flight yesterday; a tour which shouldn't be happening because they shouldn't be banned. If we weren't in the EU, of course, we wouldn't have to.

The mainstream media, alas, are far too busy reporting about blondes with plastic knockers and some footballer I don't care about doing something I'm even less interested in than trying to raise attention of another piece of EU legislation strenghtening the cause of us leaving and being able to govern ourselves. But then, that would highlight a huge hole in the Tory campaign to be the next general manager of the UK leisure centre. And we couldn't have that, could we.

It amused me on this rainy day....

UKIP watch left a comment (well two, but they were the same thing) which I didn't allow because they decided they knew who I was. They did, however, leave a subtle message which was that they couldn't read.

This is why i fucking hate socialists. They took my post on the actions going on in Italy with regards to the Roma and decided to tell me that I was racist because I was endorsing it!

No, cheekychops, have another go. I simply informed people that EU law was superior to national law and that you federalists who hate democracy are happy that policies a party was elected on can be overruled by the unelected EU.

I now ask The Devil and Mr E to come up with a suitable punishment for Archbishop Corbett and his followers for not only this display of ignorance, but for holding liberty and democracy in such contempt.

Fire away (she writes, dreaming...)

How to be a Lib Dem: a step by step guide

1. Campaign by promising a referendum on an important EU topic. If necessary, tell voters, especially in the South West, you are eurosceptic. It's a lie, but by the time they find out it will be too late.

2. Shirk on election promise of supporting a referendum by creating a diversion such as a referendum on a completely different issue. Make a fuss when things don't go your way, but secretly be releived.

Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg defended his decision to tell his MPs to abstain, and maintained that he instead wants a referendum on the "real" issue - Britain's membership of the EU.

3. When voting on a referendum you promised lie to voters, via main stream media, that you would have voted for a different referendum if you'd had been given the opportunity, but that the one being presented isn't the one from your manifesto. Talk about wanting an 'open debate'.

He said "as the dust settles" people would see the Lib Dems had been "very consistent" in their view that the "real question" to be put to a referendum was Britain's long-term EU membership.

4.Hold 3 line whip to abstain; ignore snide comments that 'only the Lib Dems would have a three line whip on not doing anything from prominent opponents of the EU.
5.Break sigh of relief when promised referendum is not passed, in no small part due to your broken promise.
6. Campaign against referendum when it reaches the Lords and ensure that leadership never mention anything is occuring there to avoid public scrutiny.
7.Remain calm when presented with option to have your 'desired' referendum. Always remember Lib Dem fall back position: if in doubt, lie.
8. Do complete u-turn. Ignore comments that you should be supporting the amendment in the House of Lords calling for a referendum on membership since you have been calling for it, including on high profile morning radio programmes.
9. Vote against the referendum you desired to avoid a referendum on what you promised. Send out anonymous spokesman to talk about why you want a biased referendum on an issue you think you have the better chance of winning even though the amendments requesting a referendum by you and another party were identical.

Peers also voted late on Tuesday on an amendment by UK Independence Party peer Lord Pearson calling for a referendum on Britain's continued membership of the EU.
Lib Dem peers abstained - despite their party's backing for such a referendum.
A Lib Dem spokesman said the party did not want to "give succour" to eurosceptics by voting with the UK Independence Party.

10. Go back to stage 1 and repeat, ensuring to be consistent in your inconsistences.

Lord Strathclyde (Leader of Opposition In the House of Lords, Parliament; Conservative)
My Lords, does that mean that the noble Lord and his party will abstain on the question of the referendum when it arises?
Lord McNally (Leader, House of Lords; Liberal Democrat) Link to this | Hansard source
No, my Lords, we will not abstain on the referendum.
Noble Lords:
That is a third position!

I think it's fair to say that I hate politicians more now than when I started working in politics. I also have a deep loathing for people in the mainstream media as they encourage 'our rulers' in their behaviour.

But now my hate has developed into an all consuming anger which is eating away at me. I can't watch the news any more as I want to shoot the TV. Last time I read a paper I ripped it up and jumped up and down on it screaming 'liars!!!' and I certainly can't bring myself to watch the goings on in Parliament; the real Parliament in Strasbourg or the admin centre in Westminster.

I had another e-mail from my father pointing me in the direction of a story on the Beeb about some cunt at some council painting lines around a car. He points out that yellow lines to stop parking used to be there to safety reasons. Now, they are just another way of squeezing the tax payer dry, particularly the motorist whom the government hate.

I have also been discussing the next General Election and that also makes my heart sink. You see, for some reason people think that a Tory government will be any different from this one. I grant you, there are a fair amount of people who know that they are as bad as Labour, but their view is that at least they won't actually be Labour. Because especially with the Lisbon Treaty, what can the government in Westminster actually do? Those of you watching the debate on the Treaty in the House of Lords will know that the government are unable to answer the simple question 'what area of our lives can the EU not legislate over?'. (Yes, there is a debate in the Lords. It's been happening for a couple of weeks and has had some startling admissions from the government and fantastic debate but no one has got round to telling the media this.)

On Monday, for example, Lord Owen, the man who started the SDP and quit Labour over their anti EU policy said that since the 1980s the politicians have been ignoring the views of the electorate over the EU and that in itself was anti democratic. And this from a former foreign secretary.

"We consistently move forward with greater European integration against the will of the British people. We can argue about particular opinion polls at particular times, but there is a steady opposition to what we are doing in Parliament, which has been going on, I would say, since the early 1980s, which is a long time for Parliament to be in opposition to sustained public opinion".—[Official Report, 19/5/08; cols. 1328-29.]

We were also told by the government why there was not going to be any reform of the CFP. Okay, it took some time, but this policy which is one of the world's biggest environmental disasters and has caused havok for the British fishing industry, all but killing it:
Lord Bach said:

I want to sit down because we have other important business to attend to. However, these are important matters, and the noble Lord, Lord Pearson of Rannoch, has been waiting a long time for what I am about to say. I am going to tell him who is on our side, or closer to our view, rather than those who are not, so he will have to work it out for himself. As well as us, at least eight other countries in the EU are what we now describe as reform-minded. They are: Sweden, Denmark, Netherlands, Germany, Estonia, Latvia, the Czech Republic and Malta. It is important to have allies in this important enterprise.

Which means that the reason we can't control our own fishing policy isn't because the British don't want to, it's because the French, Spanish, Italian, Irish, Finnish, Lithuanian, Bulgarian, Romanian, Greek, Austrian, Slovenian, Slovakian, Portuguese, Cypriot, Belgians, Luxembourgish, Hungarian and Polish don't want to. So that's nice.

Much more important to write about it some twat to superglued his knob to a fishing line or a dog which can do its times tables. Fuck the future of our country: show me a budgie that knows all the words to 'whistle down the wind' and I'll be set for life!

A recent conversation with a political observer left me depressed and wondering why there are so many people out there who like to encourage politicians to behave in such a vile manner. She said to me that the threat of the EU wasn't there anymore. This was said in all seriousness by someone who had only a few weeks ago been writing about how appalling it was that we as a country were not able to have a referendum on the EU Constitution. Think how often it was in the papers and on the news. People knew about it and were talking about it and the journalists were outraged. We wanted a referendum! But now one part of the ratification process has gone through the Commons they've forgotten that. They'll let them get away with lying, they won't choose to remind people that they have handed away another chunk of our country to the unelected European Commission even though no government is supposed to bind its successor.

It really is no wonder politicians lie when they are allowed to get away with it time and time again. But then, how can we expect them to change if we offer no incentive to do so? Like shoot them when they tell a lie. That would work with some of them, I suppose, but ones like Brown and Mad Nad are such pathological liars that they'd be dead within a few seconds of opening their mouths. Now, there's a thought....

Ridiculous survey on shoes

Croydonian has written about a survey from France which says French researchers have revealed that the average Frenchwoman has just nine pairs of shoes.

I have just shown this to my French colleague who informs me that she owns a damned site more pairs of shoes than nine and her very young niece (less than a year old) has more than nine pairs for winter alone.

I have tried to count how many pairs I have and you probably won't be surprised to know that it's more than nine. I did my changeover for the spring/summer season and put nine pairs away and took nine out and there were still two full shoe racks with 'all season' shoes and the designer shoes still in their boxes and bags, with shoe trees.

I do hope the French aren't letting the side down, but I suspect it may just be a stupid survey.

Never forget who our real masters are

I have been sent an e-mail from an MEP assistant in Brussels who writes about the action Italy are taking against illegal immigrants. From the Mail:

Hundreds of illegal immigrants were arrested in a nationwide roundup in Italy yesterday, with dozens immediately deported.

The operation followed rising anxiety in Italy over the scale of illegal immigration, with tempers flaring in Naples where vigilantes set alight a Roma gipsy camp.

Silvio Berlusconi was elected to a third term as prime minister last week after promising to crack down on illegal immigrants who are blamed by many Italians for a rising crime rate.

Burlusconi was elected by the Italian people with that manifesto pledge.

Dear MEPs especially Italian,

I kindly ask your attention to the happenings in Italy today.

Number of Roma camps have been burned down as a serious case of persecution against the Roma. The Roma NGO representatives from Italy have been calling me to report about cases where even access of Roma to public services is not allowed in this hours of Anti Roma hysteria in Italy.

They then go on to say that the whole thing was staged, even though the main issue started when someone from Romania murdered and raped an Italian woman.

What is happening here in Italy after the elections is SCARY!! Seeing the TV images of yesterday's pogrom
in Naples reminds of 1933-35 in Germany. We are all becoming a bit nervous, not to say scared!!!

Don't forget, you are allowed to compare right wing people people who like direct democracy 'Nazis' but you can't call someone who, for example, likes to have dictatorial presidential powers anything vaguely like that.

But, always leave the best 'til last:

I also hope the Slovenian Presidency will find some courage to tell the Italian Government that Anti-Romani actions are forbidden to take place in the EU.

Which I think translates to 'I don't care if this was a manifesto promise you voted for, the Soviet State of the EU don't like it and so we will make you stop and remind you of who really controls the country.

And yet people think staying in the EU is a good idea...

In the beginning

In the beginning God covered the earth with broccoli, cauliflower and spinach, with green, yellow and red vegetables of all kinds so Man and Woman would live long and healthy lives.

Then using God's bountiful gifts, Satan created Dairy Ice Cream and Magnums.
And Satan said "You want hot fudge with that? And Man said "Yes!"
And Woman said "I'll have one too with chocolate chips". And lo they gained 10 pounds.

And God created the healthy yoghurt that Woman might keep the figure that Man found so fair.

And Satan brought forth white flour from the wheat and sugar from the cane and combined them.
And Woman went from size 12 to size 14. So God said "Try my fresh green salad".
And Satan presented Blue Cheese dressing and garlic croutons on the side.
And Man and Woman unfastened their belts following the repast.

God then said "I have sent you healthy vegetables and olive oil in which to cook them".

And Satan brought forth deep fried coconut king prawns, butter-dipped lobster chunks and chicken fried steak, so big it needed its own platter.
And Man's cholesterol went through the roof.

Then God brought forth the potato, naturally low in fat and brimming with potassium and good nutrition.

Then Satan peeled off the healthy skin and sliced the starchy centre into chips and deep fried them in animal fats adding copious quantities of salt.
And Man put on more pounds.

God then brought forth running shoes so that his Children might lose those extra pounds.

And Satan came forth with a cable TV with remote control so Man would not have to toil changing the channels.
And Man and Woman laughed and cried before the flickering light and started wearing stretch jogging suits.

Then God gave lean beef so that Man might consume fewer calories and still satisfy his appetite.

And Satan created McDonalds and the 99p double cheeseburger. Then Satan said "You want fries with that?" and Man replied "Yes, And super size 'em".
And Satan said "It is good."

And Man and Woman went into cardiac arrest.

God sighed . And created quadruple by-pass surgery.

And then ............ Satan chuckled and created the National Health Service.

My quotation of the week

goes to UKIP Peer Lord Willoughby de Broke. Not because he's UKIP or because he is very sound, but because I cannot imagine anyone else saying it in the House of Lords or, indeed the Commons:

On the Olympic Games, recently, in London, we had unfortunate demonstrations when some Chinese goons in rather unfortunate track suits were guarding the flame.

It made me smile. And debates from the chambers rarely do so.

In his Press Conference today, Gordon Brown said

any new social care system must respond to the reality of increasing longevity, and provide fairness for those who work hard and save for their retirement.

The old one was quite good until you came along and stole people's retirement from them, you selfish bastard.

The PM said he fully understood people's anxieties and wanted them to be able to save for old age "in a way which insures them and protects their houses and their inheritance".

Why would anyone trust that their pension scheme is safe when you are supposed to be in charge of the country? People don't easily forget that you are a money grabbing tax fiend whose actions have seen thousands of people who should have retired by now still working or doing menial jobs just to keep afloat.

And as for protecting their houses and inheritance, it was your party who started robbing mourners of what was rightfully theirs by your death taxes, which were nothing more than a way of getting back at the people your lot are so jealous of. If you really wanted to help people protect what's theirs you should take a look at the UK Independence Party's policy on IHT: getting rid of it. It only raises about £3bn a year which is what you lot spend finding things you've lost, it's inefficient and it's triple taxation.

Stop talking shite or fuck off you hypocrite!

End of the phillips curve?

Unemployment up by 14,000 to 1.61 million and inflation jumps to 3% in April according to the CPI which normally underestimates the true rate of inflation.

Which would point to the Phillips curve being made null and void by an incompetent government.

Could it be that we are going back to the 1970s and stagflation? Flares are making a comeback after all...

Pot, Kettle

The Lib Dems: All things to All men. Or that's what they'd have you think. The people who instructed their canvassers to lie to people about what the party actually stood for. Whose leader just stood up in the House of Commons and said:

We already knew that the Tories will say anything to get elected - but now it's clear the Prime Minister will try anything to cling to power.

Okay then!

at least 18 months more

I have the unfortunate job of having to read the 87 pages of spin entitled the 'Draft Legislative Programme'. It's clearly written by the sales department and contains nothing meaty in it, apart from the usual communist ideas of 'if you're poor enough and work for us we'll help you buy a house' and 'we must bankrupt this country in the name of climate change by 2050'.

But it does seem to signify that we'll be having a general election in 2010 rather than 2009 because they have lots of things they are announcing in the early part of 2010. Which is a shame.

And what gets me is that there will still be millions of, apparently mentally retarded people, who will vote for them to get into power again!

Although voting for the Tories is only voting for a change of management. By then, the Lisbon Treaty will be in place and the Tories won't want to do anything about that because they love the EU.

It's so depressing. I'll have to cheer myself up with the knowledge that a few more years of being in the EU and led by Communists and soon I will be able to claim political asylum somewhere.

Tory campaign theme tune?

Which makes me think that come the next General Election we could be listening to the sweet strains of


Oh, joy....

How is 'rail workers threaten national strike' a news story? Surely more groundbreaking would be 'rail workers don't threaten national strike'?

A word of warning

Don't buy your phone from Phones 4 u. DO NOT under any circumstances get a Samsung U600 and tell anyone who calls up about some insurance you took out with phones 4 u in store to fuck right off.

I bought a phone from a Phones 4 u store in Edinburgh. They brought me out a nice phone which they said was top of the range blah blah. I asked if it made and received calls, which they said it did, which was ideal for my purposes of using it to make and receive calls.

So I get a phone and I take out insurance with the intention of canceling it after a couple of months when the phone has lost it's value.

The Monday morning I am back in the office when I get a phone call from a company saying they are Phones 4 u and talking about the insurance I purchased, saying that price I had to pay is being cut. Not it's a new deal they're offering me on top of my insurance I've already purchased, because that's the insurance they're talking to me about.

Alas, when I open my bank statements, £39.99 has been taken from my account by a company called 'future phones'. These people don't appear to be able to answer their phones and have not bothered to contact me with any records of why they have taken money from me.

Over the few weeks following my purchase from Phones 4 u I was bombarded with calls from people trying to sell me insurance. I asked one girl where my details were published that people felt they could continually call me and she said Phones 4 U had given it out. I also received two letters from a company I had never heard of both informing me of the monthly direct debit they were going to take out of my account (they had my account details) for, guess what! Phone insurance. I asked them who the fuck they were and why they were trying to con me twice over and they said that Phones 4 U had sent them my account details as I wanted more insurance. Oh yes. More fucking insurance.

The irony is, of course, that despite having crooked companies stealing from me left, right and centre, when I actually wanted to use my insurance I can't find the fuckers. I need to use it because the phone I was sold is as feeble as an anorexic after a hike up Everest. I took it out of my handbag and there was a crack on the screen. I hadn't been throwing my bag around since it's a rather expensive Jimmy Choo bag. The other place it had been was on my desk at work. Again, it's a desk. The most vicious thing on it is a tiger, and he's a stuffed toy. It's not made out of bricks and granite and other phone perils.

Nevertheless, having sent my phone off to Phones 4 U for them to repair it, I get a letter back saying that the circuit board was cracked and it's my fault for throwing it around. One minute my phone works fine, the next minute it refuses to take charge. (from the charger, not boss things in my handbag around). This is my fault, they tell me. That's very convenient for them, I say, seeing as it had to be sent off to a warehouse where they 'investigate' it and then they send me a letter saying that if I want it back I am going to have to pay for it. This, of course, means that if I want to get anyone else to look at it I have to pay Phones 4 U.

So I have insurance I can't use, a phone which has been taken from me and won't be returned unless I pay the ransom money and which is broken anyway but they won't fix because they tell me I've been throwing around against walls.

Because if my use of the phone as something I want to keep in my handbag has broken it, then it's not suitable to be imposed on a phone using public. Robust is what we want, not weedy, fragile things that break because you've put them on top of your contacts book rather than in a feather bed.

I think that the managing director of Phones 4 U requires a letter from me which I shall copy into the relevant regulatory authority.

But in the mean time, don't use phones 4 u or get a Samsung U600.

Town Halls cosy clubs for councillors

It is a phrase coined by Nigel Farage MEP, that between Labour, Tories and the Lib Dems, you can not put a cigarette paper between them on major policies.

From Cllr Steve Allison we find out that so close are they, they have joined together into cosy little cabals in town halls:

The Lib/Lab/Con is also united in their determination to hold onto the cosy club they have developed in Town Halls up and down the country. The lib/lab/con club operating in Hartlepool exists to make it very difficult for Independents or even worse any other political party, from getting any significant influence over the local government process.

The Lib-Dems and Tories would much rather see Labour controlling all the Committees in Hartlepool than have Independent or UKIP Councillors anywhere near positions of authority.

UKIP are frequently attacked by people who don't tend to understand politics or, indeed, policy, who say they just 'split the Tory vote' and let Labour get into power. When you have situations like this, surely it's more pertinent to ask the Lib Lab Con why they bother to stand against each other given that they agree on at least 80% of policy decisions; i.e that it should be the EU who make the laws, not Westminster.

Just say no..

From the April 1 edition of the FT:

Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Danish prime minister, has said he is not a candidate to become president of the European Union…Conjecture in the Danish media that Mr Rasmussen was positioning himself as a candidate for the permanent EU presidency increased after he said in November that his country would hold a referendum on joining the euro by 2011

News just in is that the Danes will have a referendum on membership of the euro in September.
Ten years since the currency reared it's ugly head and I am very glad that the UK is out of it. It's vital that a country has control over its monetary policy and the slowdown we are currently experiencing and will experience some more requires maximum flexibility which you can't get when your interest rates are controlled from Germany as part of a policy for at least 15 other countries...
You've done it before, Denmark, so do it again. Just say no!

Superb quotation from a colleague of the man involved in the shooting in Chelsea yesterday:

One said: "This is a personal tragedy. It is nothing to do with the chambers. Our thoughts are with his family.

Just in case you didn't get that, he worked for them but it's nothing to do with the chambers. Sorry and all that, but 'leave us out of it!'

Polly: why is she still employed?

I for one can't believe that someone pays her to write this god-awful shite, not to mention the glaring inaccuracies:

Victory will stifle Tory Euro-frenzy, letting Cameron escape his mad pledge to take Conservative MEPs out of the mainstream EPP into a little ragbag of neo-fascist stragglers. Where Cameron sees obstacles he will deftly side-step them, for the Conservatives are no longer the stupid party. Watch them win the Crewe and Nantwich byelection, easy.

For your information, Pol, the EPP is lead by Joseph Daul:

Joseph Daul, who was elected on Tuesday by the centre-right European People's party, is part of an inquiry into the diversion of €16m (£10.6m) of agricultural money in the 1990s that has also ensnared three former agriculture ministers. The eurosceptic UK Independence party unearthed the allegations yesterday.

Whereas the ragbags you speak of, you hateful, bile filled spiteful harridan, are people who risk their salaries to campaign for what the voters elected them to do. You know, like campaign for a referendum and unearth what is really going on in the EU? Campaign to stop the tide of directives from an unelected Commission and to bring about some kind of accountablility until the day we can, I hope to sweet Jesus and all his lovely sandals, leave this monstrous organisation.

But since the EU is a socialist wank fest you'll love it, Pol. Bet you wish you were an MEP so you can splash around in it all to your hearts content.

Royal Mail, royal mess up.

I had the enjoyable task of trawling through the Post Office review today and, as I have been saying for over a year now, the dramatic changes in the postal market have been brought about because of EU legislation.

In 2006 the UK's postal market was fully open to competition and in 2006/07 Royal Mail reported their first losses of £29 million in 350 years.

The report said that small businesses and domestic consumers haven't benefited but they weren't likely to as those areas of the market are costly. Businesses come in and cream off the profitable business post, leaving Royal Mail to fulfill the Universal Service Obligation of post box collection and door to door delivery a minimum of six days a week.

Of course, Post Office Limited is part of the Royal Mail Group who used to help subsidise the POL with the profits they made from their business post. But since they don't have those profits anymore, they are taking every last penny they can from renting out the sub post office buildings etc. and the government have to help keep POL alive with state aid, which of course they have to ask EU permission to do.

So 2,500 post offices close because the UK government cannot possibly keep subsidising the post office under the Common Market rules without substantial changes being promised. And don't forget the former article 308 which says

If action by the Community should prove necessary to attain, in the course of the operation of the common market, one of the objectives of the Community, and this Treaty has not provided the necessary powers, the Council shall, acting unanimously on a proposal from the Commission and after consulting the European Parliament, take the appropriate measures

Essentially, if you can say that something is 'in the course of the Common Market' then the Commission can do what they like, irrespective of opposition. Nice, eh? Good old democracy.

You see, post offices as such aren't a Service of General and Economic Interest which would allow them to have state aid under article 88(3) of the EC Treaty and it's only the facility which provides cash to people which is considered as such. Ergo, if these services can be performed in another way or location then subsidy is not required and the post office closes. The difference is about £50 million a year. The government has permission from Neelie Kroes in the European Commission for roughly £150 million for the next three years but since maintaining the post office network costs £4 million a week according to Alastair Darling, that leaves a £58 million shortfall.

As the former South East chairman of postwatch said to me:

It says the obvious: that the whole change and downturn in Royal Mail's fortunes is driven by the EU and there is no prospect of EU policy changing.

The other huge problem for Royal Mail is the backward looking Communication Workers Union who, in order to keep jobs for the boys, like to sort mail three times. Other countries have automatic sorting for upwards of 75% of their deliveries but in the UK it's only about 50%. For the others, the mail is collected, sorted and then thrown into sacks and then sent to another sorting office where it's once again sorted and then thrown into sacks and then driven somewhere else. Clearly, this is not a good use of money or labour.

But what really irritates me about this whole situation is that people simply aren't being told the truth. Take the comments of that rodent lookalike, Sarah Teather:

"The Government really should have seen this coming. Asking the Royal Mail to compete on the open market, without first making sure it had the resources to do so, was always bound to compromise the company.

Successive Conservative and Labour Governments have starved Royal Mail of investment. Royal Mail urgently needs a cash injection to allow it to modernise and compete with the private sector. Selling 49% of the Royal Mail shares would allow major investment without breaking the public purse.

Liberalisation appears to have had little impact on choice for the consumer and small businesses. Investment in the Royal Mail would allow it to innovate and compete properly, without one hand tied behind its back.

The Liberal Democrats who voted for Postal Market liberalisation way back in the 1990s despite these cautions being made at the time, and repeatedly since as we're now on the third postal services directive. See, fucking liars. The Tories are no better, of course, since they like to parade around their towns and villages talking about saving the local post offices when their MEPs also voted for the liberalisation and they also want to stay in the EU which has hamstrung successive governments over so many issues.

And Labour, well. For cabinet ministers to parade around trying to 'save' their local post offices when it's their lot who have overseen this huge fiasco is, admittedly what we expect of them but disgraceful none the less.

And the media? Well, they're none too keen on even mentioning the EU angle. A journalist at the BBC told me that the EU directive wasn't mentioned in the report. How they can possibly say that when I had the report in front of me and it repeatedly mentioned it is quite astonishing. I suspect they just don't like to admit that the Parliament they are monitoring and the politicians they know don't have the power they think they have. It's easier to ignore it than find out how laws in this country are really made. Just think if they had to monitor the work of the European Parliament, or if they covered the number of new laws the European Commission makes every week!

Much easier to just pretend it isn't there. So we don't get to find out the real reason behind so many decisions made in this country. And it makes me sick, it really does.

What is it about the German speaking people at the moment?

The bodies of three German babies have been found stuffed in a basement freezer and their mother has been arrested...There have been a number of similar cases in Germany.
In February, police were called to a home in northern Germany where a dead child was discovered in the cellar.
In January, a 28-year-old German woman was charged with manslaughter after the remains of three babies were discovered in her house and the home of a relative. That woman has denied killing the three babies.
Another woman was convicted of manslaughter in 2006 for killing eight of her babies in eastern Germany.

Just stop it, will you!

Back to the grindstone

After a lovely few days I come back to the news and find that nothing has changed in politics world. Gordon Brown is still a cunt, the Tories are basically still centre left and MPs are still stabbing each other in the back.

Today's prize for 'person you'd least like to have as a colleague' goes to Tony Lloyd MP who says:

the only MPs who wanted to depose the leader were "malicious" or had "personality defects"

You should know, eh, Tone?

Brown has decided he's going to do something to turn around this disastrous phase in Labour's life. Alas, it doesn't involve retiring or getting someone who has studied economics to make his policies for him which is a pity, but there we go.

Instead, he's going to tinker around with the exterior:
The Prime Minister could veto plans for a national pay-as-you-throw bin scheme and scrap a deeply unpopular 2p rise in fuel duty in a bid to woo back disaffected voters.

There is also speculation that he will act to keep food costs down, as well as introducing help for home-owners threatened with repossession and an extension of shared equity schemes for first-time buyers.

Don't buck the market, Mr Brown. I have a feeling that the downturn in house prices is coming about because the market is overvalued and houses are trying to find the equilibrium. That means that people like me might actually be able to afford a house without joining one of your communist 'key worker' schemes. And as for keeping food prices down, what are you going to do? Abandon the ridiculous EU bio fuels policy and stick two fingers up to the CAP?

Unlikely. You'll just dither around and we'll have more fucking posturing but nothing fundamental will change. No, how could it when at the centre is a hard line authoritarian socialist fuckwit with a power fantasy?

Honestly. Was it worth coming back, I ask myself.

London elects

Well, my contacts at the vote say that it looks like a win for Boris which will be utterly wonderful for London. yes, I'm not a Tory, but I think Boris is a bloody good bloke and had I had a vote in London he would have been my second preference. I hate Ken Livingstone so much I probably would have been happy to have my toe as mayor instead of him.

Not the BNP, though.

They're having a moan saying some of the ballot boxes were not sealed when they arrived which, in strong Labour areas I wouldn't be surprised about. But they've been amazingly lucky during these elections. Because of the complete media blackout on any small party since the Standard decided that fourth candidate would be the Communist Green Party (hoping to take the green vote away from Labour rather than a party who may take the vote away from Boris, showing in one easy step that even they didn't understand the voting system) the BNP will pick up the protest vote.

When they announced their policies, they had page leads in papers like The Times, they had full page coverage in the Mail and other people were campaigning for them, thinking they were discouraging people from voting for them. These are the sorts of people that think disgruntled, put upon Londoners will listen to some sanctimonious twat in a kaftan. So a big thank you to the media, particularly the Evening Standard. Your behaviour has helped ensure that small parties who offered a reasonable alternative got no coverage whilst the BNP were made to look like the only option.

I hope you're ashamed of yourself.

Why I don't like Labour No. 87629489248

Martin Salter, MP for Reading West, said: "We are still the single biggest party in Reading. Out campaigning, I'd never seen so many posh public schoolboys wandering around council estates looking lost.

Is that a chip on your shoulder, or are you just pleased to see me?
Wanker.

Gordon Warns

The international community not to engage in a protectionist backlash

But is fully supportive of a supranational organisation which decides our trade policy for us, subsidised industries in the EU which can't be bothered to compete on the world stage because they are socialist and which wholeheartedly rejects free trade which makes us all rich.

So once again he's a hypocritical fuckwit with no concept of economics.

Good-o.

well, readers...

Shall I?

Poll in the top left...You decide! It's more important than the silly votes today, anyway.