Ind Home launches today

Unlike LabourList, which is shite, IndHome.com is a place for debate on Independence-related politics and, of course, the European Union.

One very interesting article which caught my eye was the hypocrisy of the Conservative European Election campaign. I suspect it doesn't mention their massive support in Brussels for deeper integration nor the fact that it was a Tory MEP, Van Orden, who lead the drive for Bulgarian criminal gangs to have free run of Britain.

It's focusing on the Lisbon Treaty, because that's the only drum they have to bang if they don't reveal how fucking awful they really are. And even on that they're duplicitous:

So significant is the Lisbon treaty that David Cameron refuses to pledge a retrospective referendum, or even its repeal, should the treaty already be in force when The Conservatives take the keys to Number 10!

Mr Cameron again refused to say whether the Conservatives would hold a referendum if they won the next election but the treaty had already been ratified by all the member states.

He simply repeated the previous formula that they would “not let matters rest there”.
Well, I’m afraid that “not letting matters rest” is not good enough. Be honest with the people and explain exactly what the Conservative Party’s stance is on the issue. The voters deserve an unequivocal statement on what voting Conservative means.

Go read the rest.

Some things never change...

Readers may remember the rather amusing story in the News of the World

The evening our reporter arrived in Brussels Wise demonstrated how generously the daily allowance stretched by dining at posh restaurant Jacques on taxpayers' cash.

After a slap-up feed of herring to start, followed by steak and a whole bottle of wine to himself the podgy, bearded bon viveur chortled: "I've spent whatever-it-was pounds tonight and I'll still make a humungous profit. Thank you very much!"

Wise-who boasts of having a cellar of 1,000 bottles of wine at home-added: "I have a simple philosophy. You and your parents are paying for me. Sorry, tough!"

Well, it seems that some things never change. From Gary Cartwright, Wise's staff member in the European Parliament, this little e-mail found its way onto the internet:

You will be familiar with the tradition of celebrating the start of a new week in Tom Wise's office (2 M 115 - Brandt building)...

Tonight, at 6pm, we will have our last get together, and we hope that you will join us for some very special, and very old, rather fine wines, dating back as far as 1960! .... and of course a bite to eat.

We look forward to seeing you......

I presume that's some of the wine picked up:

At 2pm he sauntered off to a private appointment. In the afternoon he attended meetings on biofuel and windfarms but left before the end. Then it was time for a shopping trip, where he splashed out on six bottles of red wine and huge bags of crisps.

Or maybe on another shopping trip?

All right thinking UKIPpers must have been so glad that Farage and Whittaker insisted that he was kicked out, despite protestations and continual bullshit from certain other MEPs shrouded in jealousy.

political language

Madame Trixy is getting a bit narked at the use by our media, particularly the BBC, of the phrase 'European Union' rather than 'Europe'.

Unless, for example, this new hyped up illness stops at political borders, the correct term is the geographical one. Far be it for me to suggest that the BBC is so intent on our continuing and deepening membership of the EU that they want to make the two synonymous, permanent and irreversable...

A reminder

The Sun today have jumped on the bandwagon and launched a campaign to let all Ghurkas stay, and then will presumably claim all the credit if there are any changes in the rules.

However, this kind of comment without justification makes me spit with rage:

The Home Office decision came weeks after Romanian rapist Ali Majlat admitted committing vile sex attacks so he could be sent to a British jail, learn English and live in comfort. He got his wish with an indeterminate sentence. Yet brave Gurkhas are to be sent home.

That is because Romania is in the EU.

The PM cannot throw this Romanian rapist out, indeed he couldn't stop him coming into the country because of his criminal convictions. It's only people like Geert Wilders who are excluded on grounds of national security because they have an opinion on something which the government doesn't approve of.

Now, can I just reiterate that Labour, Tory, Lib Dem and Greens all want to stay in the EU. They are all in favour of EU expansion, including Turkey, and are all aware that because of Qualified Majority Voting this will not make legislation more difficult to pass. They might use that as a reason if they're pretending to want the EU to have less control but it's not true.

So that means more people like Majlat will be able to stay here and take advantage of our soft, bloated welfare state which encourages people not to work and gives those who have done wrong an easy ride.

I also can't remember when the Sun told people that we should leave the EU either. I do hope that they are well aware of EU legislation if they are writing about the consequences of it.

I am sure their defence editor does, after all his father is a Lib Dem MEP and he himself has said that he is in favour of an EU army. Bet he doesn't tell that to the troops when he's trying to be their best friend in Helmand.

MPs expenses - a new window of opportunity

What a surprise. After three years troughing Tom Wise has been charged 38 days before the European Elections. I'm sure our darling state, who consider membership of the EU to be a matter of national security, had nothing to do with it. Still, at least UKIP can say that they get rid of their bad apples, unlike other parties.

But now Gordon Brown has made an announcement that he wants MPs to clock in and out, just like MEPs.

Gordon Brown was blasted yesterday after rushing out plans to clean up MPs' expenses that could see them pocket up to £260 a day extra just for turning up.

The Prime Minister wants to introduce a Brussels-style daily allowance system which could see them get as much as £174 a day for accommodation and £86 for meals on top of their £64,000 basic salary.

MEPs of course who were subject to considerable attack by journalists last year following a secret report the European Parliament refused to make public. The leader and Chief Whip of the Tories in Brussels lost their positions although not their salaries, of course.

Den Dover was the one who I think must have had a dad who was the judge in his case. Michael Lea of The Sun caught him signing in at 7 in the morning before following him catching the eurostar home, and if memory serves me correctly took a lovely shot of him with his mouth open.

Now, Dear Old Den took the case to court saying that he was paid that day because he was up until the early hours working hard. What can you say to that? I seem to recall Godfrey Bloom writing at the time saying many the time he caught the lift, bleary eyed at 4 in the morning after working for hours on amendments for tractor brake lights. Seems perfectly reasonable to me.

So should these proposals go through - although it looks highly unlikely - at least it opens a whole new opportunity for journalists to camp outside offices or barriers catching out MPs signing in and then buggering off.

And that's without even monitoring what they're up to.

Because of course, now 75% of our laws come from Brussels, it can't be a huge amount. Maybe whilst these expenses are being altered they should also cut the salaries to show a true representation of how much power they now have? Okay, you'd have to get them to admit that we've handed over the vast majority of our law making abilities to a group of fanatical civil servants, but MPs are nothing if not honest, loyal and true.

And just for good measure.

Although nothing should surprise me...

this does!

All this stuff about Dolly Draper rather takes my mind tumbling back to my time as a student. Draper, then the National President of the Young Fabians was giving a talk to the York University Labour Students. I as the Chairman of the Student Tory association ambled along to hear what was being said and ended up in the bar afterwards (Vanbrugh if I recall).

Well the Conversation went on until past closing time and fascinated by experiencing for the first time both the moral vacuity at the heart of the growing New Labour project, (this must have 1992) and its extraordinary will to power and ambition I invited Draper back to my house to continue the discussion and kip over - he had missed the last train to London.

Go read the rest!

Things to be thankful for.

It's been a joyous few days for those of us whose opinion of politics and politicians had descended so low they were now firmly resident in the great London and Metropolitan.

Let's take for granted that the departure of someone whose job appeared to be a cross between Goebbels and Himmler is a good thing: something which has been backed up in a truly wonderful article by Alice Miles in the Times.

Some of the words that tumbled yesterday from the mouths of Labour former victims of the No 10 briefers were more suited to people subject to chemical attack than to mere political hostility.

“The most lethal attack machine in the history of British politics,” said one; “they have polluted the core of British politics for years.” “Licensed to kill, by Gordon,” said another.

“Red-on-red action,” muttered a third. “These e-mails are the minutest tip of the iceberg. For years and years and years it has not been the Labour Party’s political enemies who have been on the receiving end, it’s been people in the Labour Party."

Why did they let him get away with it for so long, and will anything truly change? Aren't whispers in corridors the life blood of political hacks, without which a paper's political pages consists of tweaked PA copy almost identical to its rivals?

In economics, the model which would take place in our utopia is one of perfect competition. To reach this ambrosial economic situation requires unhindered access to information. Such a thing is hardly able to happen in the world of politics and yet, knowing what is happening, what the people we pay are doing with our money and what MPs and the government actually get up to is something that everyone should be able to access.

The developments of last weekend really have hit the establishment hard. It follows hot on the heels of the internet informing the main stream media that, actually, we did rather like the speech made by Dan Hannan in the European Parliament and perhaps they'd wake up?

The not-so-whispered concerns among hacks is that how did Guido get the e-mails before they did? Why was he the first port of call? Sunday papers in particular need those big scoops brought about when someone calls them with a scandal, or a video or some e-mails. They pay thousands of pounds for them knowing that it will draw in the punters to buy their weekly rag. It's their life blood.

And now some upstart blogger who hasn't done a graduate trainee scheme or worked on a regional paper has been running rings around not only the seemingly terminally foolish Dolly Draper and the political editors of the nationals but magnificently called the bluff of these spin doctors.

I can see why they're concerned, but the running of this country and the actions of the people who do it is too important for the information not to be published. How dare people being paid from the public purse spend their time thinking up such deceptions? How low must one sink to try to divert democracy in such a way by seeking to alter the view voters have of an opposition party with such lies?

The internet has many pitfalls, but the quick, cheap dissemination of important information is one of the reasons we should revel in our new found power over people who seek to control the information we have access to.

If economics flourishes with information, then politics - an industry where the abuse of power can dominate opinions, actions and pay cheques, will surely benefit as people realise that they aren't safe from the voter finding out.

And with the internet and blogs in particular, those who stand to lose the most can't lunch or bully everyone.

Greens: the Watermelon syndrome

I know it's all very trendy to recycle and catch the train and put shit rather than chemicals on your vegetables, but as people like The Devil have pointed out, there is a dangerous side to this green fanaticism.

Here is a prime example. About 12 minutes into this programme, the Leader of the Green Party and MEP for the South East, Caroline Lucas, responds to questioning from UKIP candidate David Campbell Bannerman, saying that flying a lot is the same as stabbing someone.

Honestly.

She also says, earlier in the programme, that we shouldn't build airports because it encourages people to leave the country to go on holiday, spending their hard earned government tokens abroad, and that is a bad thing.

The Greeniewatch website point out:

The modern environmental movement arose out of the wreckage of the New Left. They call themselves Green because they're too yellow to admit they're really Reds. So Lenin's birthday was chosen to be the date of Earth Day.

These people are standing in the Euro Elections where they will rejoin the group headed by Danny The Red. It doesn't just stop at recycling, they want to control how you live.

You have been warned.

UPDATE

The Mail have the story too.

Votes for convicts?

The European Union wanting prisoners to have the vote has been circling around for a while, but it seems as though our representatives in the federal discussions decided to bend over and drop their trousers last night.

THOUSANDS of rapists, killers and ?paedophiles will get the right to vote after ministers caved in to pressure from Europe, it emerged last night.

Justice Minister Michael Wills said the ?Government would change the law to allow most prisoners to have their say at elections.

The plans could see as many as 28,800 criminals serving less than four years being treated the same as law-abiding members of the public. Offenders getting the vote could include those guilty of manslaughter and terrorist offences.

This is an absolute disgrace. Could I just raise a point with our delightful government and highlight that going to prison is not just about removing crazy people from the way of law abiding citizens, it is also supposed to be a punishment.

In a democracy there are rights and responsibilities. If you aren't responsible, e.g by breaking the law, then you lose some of your rights. Rights are part of a balance which makes society work. If you want to ensure that you have the right to vote, how about you ensure that you don't break the bloody law?

Breaking into someones house, for example, is a bad thing and quite clearly the wrong thing to do. You have no right to be there, to take things someone else owns, to frighten them, to ruin their property and invade their privacy. You should therefore be punished and locking you up and not letting you vote is fair enough in most people's opinions.

But this proposal is also deeply insulting to women. Now, I know the EU don't particularly like women and they certainly have no respect for them. The patronising attitude emanating from the buildings in Brussels, Luxembourg and Strasbourg shows they think that women aren't capable of looking after themselves and need men to help them. They also like to pass damaging legislation to stop them getting employed, such as granting them the potential to bankrupt a small business.

But knowing the fight women went through to get the vote in many countries, to then grant that right to people who break the law is an insult to the memory of those women who won that right. The Suffragettes and also those women who took on the jobs made vacant by men going to fight in the First World War.

So women, let's not have these guys desecrate the memory of those who worked so hard to allow us to participate in democracy. Let's exercise the right we now have and vote against those morons who want us to be run from Brussels and think that law breakers shouldn't be punished.

It's on June 4th and it's easy to do.

Obama and Turkey and Qualified Majority Voting

I guess it must be easier for the USA to only have to concern themselves with one country rather than 27, but I don't see why President Obama should start saying that Turkey should be in the EU.

The president also reiterated that the US government strongly supported Turkey's bid to become a member of the European Union.

"Europe gains by diversity of ethnicity, tradition and faith - it is not diminished by it," he said to a round of applause from the audience. "And Turkish membership would broaden and strengthen Europe's foundation once more."

Perhaps Barroso, now the EU is considered 'a country' and is present at the G20 - watch this space for their seat at the IMF which was included in the Finance Minister's Statement last month - and Brown had a word with him in London?

It's timely before the European Elections in any case. For Obama is supporting the position held by Labour, Tories, Lib Dems and Greens that Turkey should become a full member of the EU meaning that they get to trough at the pot of money countries like the UK pay massive amounts into. It also means that their population of 110million plus can have free movement across all borders.

And how penetrable are Turkey's borders? Only 10 per cent of the country is actually in Europe with the rest in the Middle East, right next to Iraq. Will it not just end up being a passageway for more migration on the already cracked nipple of the British Welfare State?

I know the Tory line in the past has been that if you have more countries in the EU then the pool becomes wider and more shallow, but given that that was an A-Level question in 1980 and was also used as a reason for Greece to join, it's a straw man because it's simply not true.

I wonder how many people in Britain are even aware of the prospect? Given the general ignorance and lack of coverage given the monstrous state, something I'm sure our politicians actively encourage, will they know the implications and even who is in favour and who is against it?

I see today that a top British judge has spoken out against the European Court of Human Rights, saying that it imposes laws like a federal court. Well, that's because it views itself as a federal court, just like the European Court of Justice. EU law supersedes UK law, although I once again raise the question of how many people actually know that.

Bring on the campaign, I say. Let's have debate and honest and information making its way towards the electorate.

And if Geoffrey Van Driver starts campaigning in the Eastern Region, blathering on about border controls, I will personally get a van, a loud speaker and a lot of leaflets so they know about his actions with Bulgarian entry to the EU.

UPDATE

The usually very sensible Alex Massie has completely the wrong end of the stick.

the EU has been a boon to freedom and there's much to be said for expanding its borders to give more people the opportunity to enjoy the benefits of membership.

This on the day that the internet snooping directive was launched!

Today, an EU directive comes into force which will compel all internet service providers to retain information from all emails and website visits. Data from phone calls and text messages will also be stored and made available to the government, its agencies and local authorities. Having seen how local officials have abused anti-terrorist laws, it's not hard to imagine the damage to privacy that will ensure.

These powers were brought in by a statutory instrument and so were not debated by either house. The accepted view is that the Home Office now bypasses parliament by lobbying Europe directly in the knowledge that the measures they desire will go undebated and unscrutinised, then be smuggled into British law as a European directive.

It is difficult to think of anything that makes the House of Commons look more feckless or more redundant.

Also I would like to raise a point of order regarding the concept that it will be nigh on impossible for decisions to be made.

Er

QUALIFIED MAJORITY VOTING?

ANYONE?

Lessons in the EU. That's what we need.

Round Up

Well done to everyone who isn't currently having a real downer with the news and the written word, and especially to those in this week's Brit Blog Round Up

I'm off to organsise my shoes.

Flint: the sham minister

I'm still furious about this story

Caroline Flint, the Minister for Europe, has admitted that she has not read the Lisbon Treaty, the controversial document which codifies the rules of the European Union.

And yet Ms Flint has no problem sticking her pert little snout in the trough and making sure those voters who she lied to in the manifesto - that little chestnut about the British people being able to have a vote on their future - pay for her to like the high live.

The report out this week showing the amount our MPs claim has the Europe Minister on £158,773 all in, the second highest in her county of South Yorkshire.

So the woman clearly can read, she's just decided that she'd rather read the rules on how she can shaft her constituents rather than doing her job.

Because not reading it and then telling the public how fucking great it is is a dereliction of duty and it's an abomination to our parliamentary democracy and whatever standards we are supposed to have in British politics.

At the last election there were two other people who wanted that job and yet it went to someone who cares so little about the role she's been given to do, the lavish expenses, second houses, plush offices and cars, that she just didn't bother. She's such a slave to the party line she'd rather polish her nails and swish her hair and just let it all pass by than actually check to see if what she is saying bears any resemblance to the truth.

The woman is an embarrassment and a sham. I've fucking read it, why couldn't she?